Mid-April is often my favorite time of year.
That’s typically when trees start budding up here in Massachusetts, temperatures hit 50 for the first time in months and the basketball court just down the street from me thaws out for good.
I’ve been playing pickup basketball with the same group of guys for two years now. None of us say a word to each other from early October to the second or third week of April, but by the time the dog days of summer roll around, we’re spending three or four days a week at the court, knowing everybody’s daily schedule by heart.
No tendency has gone unnoticed at this point. Everyone knows I have absolutely zero left hand. At the same time, who’s pulling up for 3, who’s not, who’s not passing even if their life depended on it and who doesn’t have any clue how to use their 6-foot-9 frame has all become public knowledge, too.
There’s something truly special about pickup basketball. Not just the game itself, but also the relationships you build, the things you learn about people, the beef that stems from a play that was or wasn’t a foul. It’s all just great.
But I only want to associate pickup basketball with the court down the street from my apartment. Not the NBA All-Star Game on national television.
The league went with a new format this season, and boy oh boy did it suck. Four teams, three games, one winner when it’s all said and done. First team to 40 wins. No clock needed. And guess what? One of the four teams didn’t even have All-Stars on it.
Yuck.
Usually the NBA is pretty good when it comes to bringing innovative ideas to life so that fans continue to stay engaged. It’s clear that that’s what the league was going for here, but this was a massive, massive miss.
Of course, All-Star Games of years past were nothing to write home about, either. Zero defense was played, with things quickly turning into more of a skills competition and a stage for players to show just how viciously they could throw down a dunk or how far their shooting range can reach.
It’s gotten to the point now where I’d be perfectly fine with players getting All-Star nods, then just enjoying their week off. No game needed. The title is enough. Isn’t that all we really care about anyway?
We watched pickup basketball on Sunday night, and I can almost guarantee you that you’d be more entertained by spending an hour at any YMCA gym across the country or your local park—if it’s warm enough to be hooping right now.
Let’s hope and pray that we never have to see this All-Star Game format ever again. If the NBA does decide to reuse it, ratings are going to continue to slide and fans are only going to become more agitated.
Things can’t get any worse at least, right?
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