It’s hard to put my finger on the exact problems but it feels worse than the typical decline of large subs.
This thread posted today in response to the protest shows a lot of what I mean: https://old.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/14cbtjv/who_here_is_in_favor_of_just_replacing_these_shit/
Mob mentality, selfishness, scapegoating, lack of critical thinking… It’s just so toxic compared to where it was even a year ago.
I’m excited at the prospect of building a more positive, welcoming place here to discuss the NBA.
I think the NBA product, specifically the announcers and commentators, fail to feed a more nuanced product to their viewers. Marc Jackson’s “you gotta play harder,” or “you have to want it more than the other guy” just doesn’t build a deep respect for the flow of the game, or the underlying strategies and tactics being gamed out. Baseball is much better in that regard, and I think it has kept the meme dilution away from the game.
Van gundy gives some good breakdowns every now and then and I know some ppl hate her but so does doris
I agree, there are still gems like Breen as well. But the fact that more than half of your national broadcast team is dedicated to lamenting lines such as, “I hate that teams do X now,” or “AD looks unengaged every other game” despite elite defense just allows casuals to parrot the soundbite. You see it all the time on r/NBA, and it’s impossible to have actual discussion beyond that. This goes for “analysts” too, so it’s a multi-front effort to disparage their own product.