To set the stage for this blog, I strongly encourage everyone to read Dante’s blog from this morning. As someone who appreciates long-form blogging and knows that Dante puts in the time and effort to produce interesting content, I enjoyed reading it this morning and I encourage you to do the same.

The last thing I want to do is tell someone what to like or that they’re stupid for having an opinion. It’s pointless and, frankly, makes you seem like a crazy person. People like what they like. As Shaq and Dante explained, many people say the NBA is unwatchable right now for many different reasons, whether it be the style of play, length of play, inconsistency of fouls, rule changes, or the viewing experience. I understand you and it’s completely okay if you feel that way.

However, as someone who watches pretty much every dribble in the NBA every night, I think it’s important to show the other side of the coin. That it’s not just 3PA and out of context two minute viral clips of crappy teams like the Lakers playing basketball in a game that was a blast. I have never really understood those who share the Shaq/Dante stance and take this approach. That would be like me showing clips of the Patriots offense and saying that NFL football is a slam dunk. No, the Patriots are dogshit (Sorry Old Balls). There is a difference. Watching “Josh Allen and the Bills” feels like you’re watching a completely different sport. The same goes for good and bad basketball teams.

Sorry, let’s get back on track.

The idea circulating among talking heads and on social media that the NBA is some kind of product that you can’t see is also confusing to me. I don’t give a shit about reviews and I don’t think they accurately reflect how many people are consuming the product. The year is 2024, the majority of people these days have found a way to stream all sports illegally. That will affect the numbers. If more people stream and ratings drop, that doesn’t mean a product is unwatchable. It just means that people are looking at it in different ways that aren’t being tracked.

To illustrate this point, allow me to explain what I mean, without even mentioning my beloved NBA champion Boston Celtics, who play the finest version of basketball not seen since the 1986 Celtics . This is cheating because no team in the league can replicate their style of play, so I’m leaving them out.

All you have to do is look at what happened last night.

First we had a regular season game between the Miami Heat and the Detroit Pistons. One of those games that only true idiots care about, but if you happened to watch, you witnessed one of the more tense endings of the season

The shooting, the execution on the track, the high pressure moments, the hilarious mishaps, it was all insanely entertaining! This is not a battle between two of the best teams in the league, on the contrary, these two teams kind of stink. The point is that as a “product” it was a great viewing experience (unless you’re a Heat fan, I guess). The Heat went on an 18-2 run in the fourth to close the gap and force OT, then got off to an 8-0 start in OT and still couldn’t close the gap. This game gave us something we’ve only seen 11 times this century

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Claiming that the game is “boring” or “unwatchable” is a load of bullshit in my opinion.

For the late night crowd we had an even better one Nuggets/Kings game viewing experience.

9 consecutive possessions with a basket, with the teams combining to go 7-7 from the floor and 3-3 from deep. There was a mix of 2s and 3s. A back and forth exchange with both sides throwing haymaker after haymaker. Elite performance, stars hitting great shots, high-pressure moments – this was another game that was both very exciting and very watchable.

Just like with MIA/DET, if you watch these clips and claim that this is “invisible” then I kind of have a hard time taking you seriously. This makes me think that the problem really is that you just don’t like basketball, and that’s okay. But these are moments that happen every night in the NBA, so I never really understand the mindset of the people supposedly watching. It seems more like a hot take that people are parroting because that’s the narrative right now, because if you took the time to actually watch it you’d see very “watchable” games.

That’s not to say there aren’t violent games or that teams don’t play nasty basketball for stretches. This happens all the time. Welcome to sports! My point is more about rejecting the idea that the entire league and the sport as a whole is an unwatchable product, even though that is very much not the case.

Listen to me say at the top of the blog: people like what they like. If you think the NBA is boring and unwatchable, then that’s your decision and probably nothing will change your mind.

But I think it’s important to show the other side of the argument. It doesn’t just have to be the Celtics, the Thunder or the Cavs. I’d argue that there are MUCH more moments like you see above on any given night than the viral Lakers clip or the NBA record for missed 3PA (not to mention the record for 3 p.m. set two days later was set up with GS/DAL, another game that… was a lot of fun). But that doesn’t mean the NBA can’t do anything to improve its product, because nothing is perfect. It is misguided to be on either end of the extremes. The NBA isn’t an unmissable disaster, but it’s not perfect either (Celts excluded, they’re pretty much perfect). As with most things, the real answer lies somewhere in the middle.

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As someone who watches every night, I would argue that the league has never been better, both in terms of talent and nightly intrigue. No lead is safe, even the “bad” teams can deliver extremely entertaining games, we have young and up-and-coming teams making big waves, we have teams playing at historic levels, the list goes on and on.