NBA Decline

Submitted by Black Socks on

 

So tonight I watched my first NBA game on TV in about 5 years.  It's incredible how far this league has fallen.  There is very little effort given, the teams rarely move the ball well, and the skill level is down significantly from years ago.  Where are the skilled big men?  Why all the complaining to the refs?  Unreal.

It's telling that there is no thread on the NBA while there's a thread on Atlectico soccer, whatever that is.

What does the NBA need to do to become relevant again?  Can it be reveresed or will it continue on the post-Jordan silde?

LSAClassOf2000

May 25th, 2014 at 7:55 AM ^

I couldn't find many updated stats on the average ratings for the regular season, but the NBA Finals data that I found was interesting. 

According to the average ratings for the Finals, the zenith of NBA postseason viewing came with the end of the Bulls' run in the 1990s with the 1998 finals averaging an 18.7 on NBC. Only nine years later, we have the least watched Finals with the Spurs-Cavaliers getting averaging a mere 6.2, although that has much more to do with the markets involved in the actual series, I would think. In any case, with the rise of the Heat, the ratings have gone up to 10.7 as of last year, which is still not impressive but a slight improvement. 

From what I could find for the regular season, the typical viewership for a game on cable is higher than on the networks, but even TNT only tops out at a 6.0 for some game (3.0-4.0 seems more common) and some games on the networks struggle to hit 2.0 depending on the opponents. From the look of things, regular season viewership has declined a lot since the Jordan years but looks like it has flattened out some lately. 

SWPro

May 25th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^

One thing to consider during the bulls run was Jordan. Even when he was playing it was pretty clear that he was above elite. This was something that was realized very early. There was a mindset in the sports world that you needed to watch this guy cause otherwise you were going to miss something very special, once in a lifetime maybe.

 

It also helped that as that mindset start forming the bulls in general started dominating the league. It also helped that they were in a pretty sizable market (as you mentioned).

MichiganTeacher

May 25th, 2014 at 8:00 AM ^

Regular season NBA ratings on network TV since 1996[2]
Net. Year Rating
NBC 1996 5.0
NBC 1997 4.7
NBC 1998 4.6
NBC 1999 4.3
NBC 2000 3.3
NBC 2001 3.0
NBC 2002 N/A
ABC 2003 2.6
ABC 2004 2.4
ABC 2005 2.2
ABC 2006 2.2
ABC 2007 2.0

Sorry for any formatting issues.

I'm pasting in the finals ratings year by year from 1988 - 2013. There is significant and persistent decline.

I'm also pasting in the regular season ratings from 1996 - 2007. Ratings were more than cut in half. ABC averaged a 2.9 in 2013, which was a decline from the previous year. There was a slight bump from 2007-2012.

CBS 1988 Los Angeles Lakers 4, Detroit Pistons 3 15.4
CBS 1989 Detroit Pistons 4, Los Angeles Lakers 0 15.1
CBS 1990 Detroit Pistons 4, Portland Trail Blazers 1 12.3
NBC 1991 Chicago Bulls 4, Los Angeles Lakers 1 15.8
NBC 1992 Chicago Bulls 4, Portland Trail Blazers 2 14.2
NBC 1993 Chicago Bulls 4, Phoenix Suns 2 17.9
NBC 1994 Houston Rockets 4, New York Knicks 3 12.4
NBC 1995 Houston Rockets 4, Orlando Magic 0 13.9
NBC 1996 Chicago Bulls 4, Seattle Supersonics 2 16.7
NBC 1997 Chicago Bulls 4, Utah Jazz 2 16.8
NBC 1998 Chicago Bulls 4, Utah Jazz 2 18.7
NBC 1999 San Antonio Spurs 4, New York Knicks 1 11.3
NBC 2000 Los Angeles Lakers 4, Indiana Pacers 2 11.6
NBC 2001 Los Angeles Lakers 4, Philadelphia 76ers 1 12.1
NBC 2002 Los Angeles Lakers 4, New Jersey Nets 0 10.2
ABC 2003 San Antonio Spurs 4, New Jersey Nets 2 6.5
ABC 2004 Detroit Pistons 4, Los Angeles Lakers 1 11.5
ABC 2005 San Antonio Spurs 4, Detroit Pistons 3 8.2
ABC 2006 Miami Heat 4, Dallas Mavericks 2 8.5
ABC 2007 San Antonio Spurs 4, Cleveland Cavaliers 0 6.2
ABC 2008 Boston Celtics 4, Los Angeles Lakers 2 9.3
ABC 2009 Los Angeles Lakers 4, Orlando Magic 1 8.4
ABC 2010 Los Angeles Lakers 4, Boston Celtics 3 10.6
ABC 2011 Dallas Mavericks 4, Miami Heat 2 10.2
ABC 2012 Miami Heat 4, Oklahoma City Thunder 1 10.1
ABC 2013 Miami Heat 4, San Antonio Spurs 3 10.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nbatv13

In reply to by MichiganTeacher

Maizenblueball

May 25th, 2014 at 2:38 PM ^

I blame the decline on the San Antonio Spurs being good!  

Just kidding...sort of.  There are plenty of other reasons for the NBA decline too.

In reply to by MichiganTeacher

TheLastHarbaugh

May 25th, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^

If you factor in international ratings and attention the NBA's stock has never been higher. They smash Football, Baseball, and Hockey around the globe in terms of popularity. IIRC, basketball is now the second most popular sport in the world behind only soccer. The NBA is the biggest part of that.

The playoffs this year have been crshing it in the ratings for ESPN and TNT.

The NBA will probably never be more popular in the US than it was during the Jordan era, but that's because MJ is probably the biggest sports superstar of all time.

You want to talk about a sports league MGoBlog loves that America refuses to watch even more than the NBA, it's the MLB. The ratings for the World Series are abyssmal, and have been steadily declining while the NBA's popularity has increased of late.

Here is a chart showing the NBA Finals ratings next to the World Series ratings since 1984.

The NBA is winning.

MichiganTeacher

May 25th, 2014 at 8:11 PM ^

How about a graph showing the NBA finals rating vs the NFL championship game? Probably need a logarithmic scale to get them on the same chart. :)

Also: MJ over Babe Ruth and Pele? Gonna have to check back in a century on that and see how he's doing. I don't think he'll surpass Ruth. I suppose he has a chance, though.

The real mitigating factor for the dismal NBA ratings is that ratings, viewership, and fractional shares are down across the board in (almost) everything for TV. People just have other stuff to do. They aren't even watching TV on TV anymore. And when they do, there are way, way more choices, so that splinters the audience. So the NBA could cling to that rationale. But, on the other hand, that NFL championship game sure has hung in there. And soccer ratings are soaring, even on a historical scale.

TheLastHarbaugh

May 26th, 2014 at 1:47 PM ^

No sport in the US beats the NFL and that wasn't my argument.

People on MGoBlog constant prattle on about how the NBA is dying, dead, and nobody watches it. Yet MGoBlog pretty clearly loves them some MLB, but the MLB has slipped down to be just about even with the NBA (while the NBA has been trending up).

So my point is it's just good old fashioned blind hatred for the NBA that isn't rooted in any sort of logic. If the proof that the NBA is horrible is in the ratings, then the MLB must be just as horrible, with just as terrible a quality of play, and hockey must be a bunch of four year old just learning how to skate, because the NBA has thoroughly crushed them in the ratings this post-season.

People will bag on the NBA but then uphold the virtues of college basketball, which does in fact have a pretty embarrassing level of play. I love basketball. It's my favorite sport, but you couldn't pay me to watch some random college basketball game that didn't involve Michigan, the NCAA Tournament, or a potential NBA lottery pick.

I'm a diehard NBA fan. Give me a Spurs-Heat game over any NFL game. The quality of play in the NBA is vastly underrated and usually the people who make such statements are like OP.

"So I haven't watched the NBA in 5 years because I don't like it, but yesterday I decided to watch one game and I didn't like it (surprise). Now let me tell you everything that's wrong with the NBA, why the players suck and everything is terrible."

It's ridiculous.  

Also, "I don't watch the NBA because they don't play defense anymore." Even if that were true, thanks for the most hypocritical sports statement ever, NFL fan. I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of Matthew Stafford and every other Bob, Dick, and Harry throwing for 4000 or 5000 yards, shattering NFL yardage records left and right.

johnthesavage

May 24th, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^

Simply, you're wrong. Besides that, you just admitted you've watched one NBA game in five years, which of course makes you utterly unqualified to judge the quality of the action in the league in general, and ESPECIALLY to judge the change in this quality over time. I mean, seriously, get out of here.

panthera leo fututio

May 24th, 2014 at 11:54 PM ^

This comment describes 95+% of anti-NBA gripes. "I never watch the game, but let me tell you how much it's declined. THUGS TRAVELING LAZY THUG ISOLATION TATTOES. Also, let me tell you about how defense is so much better in college basketball, which explains Adam Morrison's career shooting percentages."

Tonight we got to see impressive 2nd half performances by arguably the best overall player and arguably the best shooter to ever play, both playing within (pretty fucking intricate) team offensive and defensive concepts, for the right to face a GREG FUCKING POPOVICH team in the finals. And yet the game has gone to shit.

panthera leo fututio

May 25th, 2014 at 1:32 AM ^

There have definitely been some rough spots -- I've been disappointed with the Thunder all postseason, most of the East is still a relative tire fire, etc. But we're still likely to see two legitimately great teams in the finals in the Heat and Spurs. And what's the comparison group? Whatever you feel about the excitement and loyalties at play in college, the level of play in (even a relatively down) NBA playoffs is massively higher. And I'd also argue that overall quality of play in today's game is at the very least comparable to the Golden Era of the mid-/late-80s.

TheSacko221

May 25th, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^

Dude the game has declined. I have watched NBA basketball my whole life and if I was able to carry the ball and take 2-3 steps I may have gotten a big time scholarship and or made the pros. When I played you had to stay on top of the ball every dribble. Now you are lucky if anyone ever stays on top of the ball.



Each drive is started with a push off or out stretched arm to create space. When Jordan retired the league was desperate to "create" a star and this force Shaq on everyone and that began the ignoring of the rules. Fundamentally the NBA is horrible.

TheLastHarbaugh

May 26th, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^

That was because of the lockout season as the article suggests. The article also talks about how ratings and internet traffic are up.

"There are only about 10 teams worth watching."

LOL, that's true of every single professional sport, Chuck.

Also, Chuck has been calling this one of the best playoffs he's ever seen, especially the first round.

wolverine1987

May 26th, 2014 at 4:55 PM ^

I heard Barkley make a similar argument to my link this year during the regular season as well. And he is not alone in that. I watch the NBA regular season a few times a year and a lot of the playoffs, which are excellent, but you can say that about every sport as well. IMO the regular seaon is often brutal in the NBA in a way thet you can't say about the NFL or really the other major sports either.Btu that's just my opinion.

TheLastHarbaugh

May 26th, 2014 at 5:10 PM ^

I watch Inside all of the time. Barkley this year has ragged on the Eastern Conference as being as bad as it has ever been, while the West has been as deep as it has ever been. That's true to an extent but context matters.

The Bulls were most people's favorites to win the title this year from what I remember prior to the season (either them or Miami), but they lost Derrick Rose to injury. What can you do? They proabably would have had the best record in the East with a healthy DRose.

The Knicks won over 50 games last year but completely fell apart due to injuries to pretty much everyone but Carmelo.

Everyone expected the Brooklyn Nets to be a title contender, but they lost their best player (Brook Lopez) to injury, and Deron Williams was either out or playing hurt most of the year. KG was also out or banged up most of the year. They just never really got it going.

So that's 3 of the 5 title contenders in the East that got blown up due to injury. There is probably more talent in the NBA than there has been since the early 90s. 

People forget as good as teams were back then, they were just as bad. Go back to the end of Jordan's first 3peat. The Dallas Mavericks won 11 games that year and lost 71. That's 8 games worse than the horrifically bad 76ers and 4 games worse than the Bucks. There were quite a few 65 to 70 loss teams in the 80s as well.

There have always been haves and have nots. If you go back to the years the Pistons won titles with Zeke, there were several teams who failed to win 20 games.

get-on-my-lawn

May 24th, 2014 at 11:18 PM ^

The NBA is relevant. Maybe a poor choice in wording? The quality has gone down, yes. But as far as playoff ratings go and profit goes, im pretty sure it is doing just fine. How else would you explain the salary players are getting these days. Inflation surely hasnt accelerated that much in that short of a period of time...

sadeto

May 24th, 2014 at 11:21 PM ^

Why did you watch an NBA game? Was there a particular reason? I see no reason to, and haven't in 15 years, and I love basketball. 

TV ratings are meaningless, just look at the other crap people watch. 

JamieH

May 25th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^

The 89 Pistons would beat the Heat about 110-85 and leave their team so battered that they probably wouldn't even want to play game 2.  That is assuming they got to play under 1989 rules. 

Black Socks

May 25th, 2014 at 2:12 AM ^

That was a great 30 for 30.  Wow, think about the depth on those Pistons' teams:

 

Isiah

Joe

Dantley

Aguirre

Worm

Laimbeer

Mahorn

Buddah

Microwave

Salley

plus everyone's favorite - Fennis Dembo

You just don't see that kind of talent on one team anymore.  The '89 team was one of the best ever.  Who else vanquished Larry, Michael and Magic rather easily in one playoffs? Incredible.  Props to Jack McCloskey, WW2 vet.

TheLastHarbaugh

May 25th, 2014 at 3:53 AM ^

No no no. You've got it all wrong, you see. The 80s were filled with hogwash and haberdashery as far basketball is concerned.It was all showtime this, 3 point line that. T'were all a bunch of beef-witted showboating if ya ask me.

In my day the players were so great, everybody made an All-Basketball Association of America team because there were only 3 teams and everybody was an All-American, let me tell you. But that was the way it were and we liked it.

There was Hootin Pete Williams who could throw a ball clear over yonder mountains and through a hoop, and he woulda done it too if James A. Naismith hadntna changed the rules all hugger-mugger like in aught five to discourage such displays of athletic brilliance.

Old James and me use-ta get into it, that we did, bout who was better, his ol' boy Flappity Jack Boonstrah or Hootin' Pete.

James use-ta say Flappity Jack could run from here clear across to there afore you could say tiddly-winks. I says to him, "Why Jimmer Jam that's just clear out un-possible."

We'd sit out there and each peaches fresh off the tree jibber jabbing bout James' ol' duck on a rock. Now that was a game...

rob f

May 25th, 2014 at 10:01 AM ^

I know because I'm old.  And because I used hitch up the wagon to the plow horses and ride on into the telegraph station in town to read the play by play as quick as old one-eyed Sam could fetch it for me.  Those were the days, you bunch of wet-behind-the-ears-whippersnappers... 

Voltron is Handsome

May 25th, 2014 at 8:42 AM ^

Good point about tv ratings. 99% of the "realty" shows are absolute garbage, but this fucking country is hooked on that crap. If anything has declined, it is the overall quality of non-premium channel TV shows.

saveferris

May 28th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^

Sigh.  I'm old enough to remember when channels like TLC were actually called "The Learning Channel" and had programming dedicated to, you know, learning; rather than programming dedicated to exploiting toothless hillbillies or wedding fiascos or whatever....

Remember when the History Channel showed programming about history and not mumbling assholes hunting alligators?

Now get off my lawn!

HartAttack20

May 24th, 2014 at 11:40 PM ^

I feel the same about the nba as all other pro sports. If the teams I like aren't particularly good, then I don't see much of a reason to watch. I just dont have much emotional connection with the pro teams. The passion just isn't there in professional athletics. The skill level is definitely there, it just isn't as much fun to watch as college stuff. The skill level is almost a detriment, for me at least, because there isn't much parity. I'll watch the hell out of Michigan football even if they suck, but there's just something lacking in the pros.

nowicki2005

May 24th, 2014 at 11:47 PM ^

I hate when people say this. maybe during the regular season because its such a grind. most college players wear down but the NBA guys go 82 games and some the playoffs.

People always think they aren't that skilled. Why is it that a lot of your best college players will never get a sniff in the NBA?

There is ball movement. You can't play a true zone and pretty much have to play man. You take the best offensive guys in the world and you're supposed to stop them? Look at the Heat, you have Lebron. You spread the floor and he has room to do whatever he wants because you can't double off ray or Battier because they will hit a 3, even bosh. if it gets reversed to wade you have a rotating defense to one of the best drivers in the game. its not easy playing against NBA shooters and athletes

MGOTyrone

May 24th, 2014 at 11:49 PM ^

I agree with most of your post except the complaining to the refs. Players have been doing that for decades. Bill Laimbeer would complain to the refs after he would be called for damn near decapitating someone.

TheSacko221

May 25th, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^

Players today complain about everything. Sure the NBA used to have crybabies like Laimbeer and a few others, but now everyone cries. Everyone thinks they are a star. Mario Chalmers whines every second and if it was the 80-90's a role player such as him wouldn't dare complain because they would get a T Ina second. The players run the league as proof with the threat to sit out if Sterling isn't forced to sell. In her old days players wouldn't have a say and the owners would take care of the Sterling issue.