Can Shaq vs. Kobe save Basketball??

[Diesel]

On diesel's blog, I have talked about how confrontation is shaping our society.

I think this is best seen with yesterday's going ons. You had Detroit/Indy and Miami/LAL in the NBA. For a whole week they hyped Shaq/Kobe on ESPN. I get the feeling that the people at ESPN/ABC/NBA really feel that the only way to get people interested in Basketball again is with Shaq vs. Kobe. They are probably praying for a Miami/LAL finals.

I think they are barking up the wrong tree. Confrontation sells, but the league has so many new stars now. I mean, KG, Bron, Wade, and Mello should all be sellable.

Really, the sad thing is that KG has never received the spotlight and he is arguably the best player in the NBA. It's D. Stern's need to have another Bird vs. Magic. Maybe KG should have started a war of words in the newspaper before his game with James a few days ago. Maybe they should start a rivalry. Maybe KG should put an open challenge to Shaq/Kobe/Tim/Bron...

Maybe that can save the NBA.

Because I think that people will lose interest in shaq/Kobe.

Or better yet, maybe Stern should sell the game itself. And go back to selling teams. Then again, who would you sell?

[Plainview1981]

Like I said, I'd love to see more Suns type teams. You

have the pure shooting PG.... The athletic Shawn Kemp

like PF.....A bunch of swingmen that can run up and

down and score on anybody while not totally being a

bad defensive team. If you look at the Suns Marion/

Joe Johnson/Amare/Outlaw are all fairly good defensive

players until the Mavericks team of Dir/Finley/Nash/

Jamison. I think Wade and James are better players to

promote at this time rather than Kobe Bryant. I feel

that playing in Minnesota has hurt KG. You think he

wouldn't have more respect if he was doing this for

a franchise like LA/Boston/Chicago/New York or even

Philly..some where like that.

They are trying force a Heat/Lakers and Shaq/Kobe thing.

but if you watched the game yesterday it appeared that

Kobe bryant took the game as a personal challenge and

Shaq did not. Shaq played a really good team game while

Kobe forced things last night. Even his 9 turnovers do

not tell the entire story.

[Brxa]

No need promoting and hyping anything. Basketball is a great game in itself.

What they need to do is restrict some of the players wages, so that way, the owners wouldn't be losing money and raising the ticket prices sky high, so some real fans can afford them and come in watch the game, and make a real atmosphere. Not bunch of corporate asshalls, that need to be 'SOLD" on the game.

[Packfill]

Shaq v. Kobe is what is wrong with basketball. More and more fans are associating themselves with a particular player rather then a particular team which makes it harder to develop a fan base.

I would love to go back to the days where the hyped rivalry was Lakers v. Celtics, Pistons v. Bulls, etc. rather then the individual matchups marketed today. That was what was refreshing about Detroit's title last year - a team concept.

[Plainview1981]

I agree with you some... THe Kings and the Mavs fans

seem to exceptions. I dont think the Kings fans just

go for Chris Webber or Mike Bibby. They are actually

fans of the team. Kobe/Shaq have been overexposed. On

the other hand, it's tough for fans to get into teams

when each team has such few good players. I mean, a team

has a star or two at the most and the carry the rest of

the team. Take Shaq away from the Heat... How do you

root for the Miami Heat when Wade would be the only

really good player on there? Most TEAMS really aren't

that good these days.

It's easy to root for a team that has loads of good

players. Boston had Bird/McHale/Big C/AInge/Dennis

Johnson... Lakers Kareem/Johnson/Scott/Cooper/Worthy/

Mcadoo/Green. Micheal Jordan changed the NBA. While

it was good then... Now the effects of MJ hurt the

league more than help it. Not that it is all because

of him.... Expansion and players attitudes have played

apart.

[Diesel]

People can't get behind teams because the league is so watered down that most teams have a lot of marginal talent and maybe one star that stands out. In the league, you find Sac, Dallas, and Detroit being the exceptions. Also, FAcy makes it hard to stick with one team. When you look around, all the talent has been traded or has moved...

[Wretch]

It seems like every incarnation of the best teams from yesterday were far better than their counterparts of today. Championship teams like Detroit, Boston, Chicago, and LA fought with runners up like Utah, Clevland, Seattle, Portland, and even Atlanta and these games were hotly contested. Of course, you always knew who was going to whoop ass in the end...but it was nothing like it is today.

It has been said enough, but balance still plays the biggest role in interest in sport. Face it, everybody loves a dynasty...a powerful team; but watching a strong team pound the crap out of everyone else with little to no resistance is just flat out boring. That's what made the WC playoffs so interesting. All the great matchups between LA, Sac, Dallas, San Antonio, and Portland were countered by pointless games in the EC. With balance returning to the East, and new challengers popping up in the West, it's going to be fun to watch.

For the most part, good teams have always had 2 or 3 REALLY good players surrounded by strong compliments. I think today's teams are still fairly deep and could matchup okay; but the NBA is marketing the players over the team and that is actually working against them for the very reasons you said.