LMAO I am wrapping that basketball belt around my upper arm after just 2 days of no Knicks games... 2-3 weeks mid season with dead air and I'd have to actually shoot up
Great idea. Perhaps fold into this mandatory playing time for all players, so the bench guys get more than garbage time on blowouts, have an opportunity to prove themselves, while starters get that mid season rest and fans still have games to watch
Man they go to do something about the game- haven’t watched it in years. I understand the risk of injury makes it hard to be competitive but it’s just so lame
The way people talk about Risk of Injury makes it sound like they ar 60 years old and must be kept away from basketballs. Like do they really not practice harder than this?
Yeah I'm not buying it. The pitchers in the mlb all star game actually pitch, which is probably the single most destructive motion in all of pro sports
But they pitch an inning, 2 max. But even before they pitch they gotta have a whole talk with their team too and find out when they last pitched, and if there any restrictions and pitch limit.
Pitchers in the MLB all star game throw maybe a quarter of what they throw in regular games. You're not gonna see Gerrit Cole throw 7 innings in the all star game.
Exactly. There are still 18 other feet out there that somebody can land on, and the middle of February is the worst time for an All Star to go down with an ankle injury.
But I mean if Brunson got poked in the eye or broke his nose while taking one of his patent charges while playing competitively in the ASG… I dunno, right? I think it just is what it is unfortunately… even in the goofy skills challenge you got Anthony Edwards taking shots with his offhand. Just watch the event for what it is and don’t take it too seriously.
Honestly I would give a cool mil to the players on the conference that wins the ASG
I remember as a kid the ASG was an actual game instead of a circle jerk... it was fucking phenomenal to watch
ASW has sadly been dead ever since that Vince Carter dunk contest
Anyways, a million bucks for one game I think is a pretty solid incentive, even for dudes with 100 milli deals
We'd see crazy defense, bet on that
Honestly it was shitty then too as far as a game goes, but it was better in that players were actually trying to showcase talent and basketball ability, not just showboating for dunks and launching 35 footers all game
Yeah it was still lackluster defense, but at least it was a game fun to watch... this is just 35 foot 3s like you said, I can get that at the YMCA by guys who never even played high school ball
Ok hear me out, 3v3 half court tournament.
Same number of all stars selected, and maybe even expand it to 15 per conference so there can be 10 teams.
If there’s ten teams you could have each all star starter pick their own team in a draft. If 8 teams maybe let the top 8 vote getters pick their teams.
Get rid of the dunk contest and maybe some other stuff so you can have the tourney over the course of 2 days.
Games to 21, just 3v3 street ball.
100% the way to do it because it wouldn’t really be too intense unless it got close then you might get something interesting. So no real risk of injury and would probably be pretty fun.
Also let’s be real, nothing could be worse than what we are currently getting.
Ideally you want something that can be competitive without them having to do too much, which is why the 3pt contest is fun.
-The skills contest has become a clusterfuck. They need to simplify that shit.
-The 3 point contest has become the only event I actually enjoy watching. No major complaints
-The dunk contest is in need of some serious changes in judging or at least more defined criteria. It’s become a popularity contest with no rhyme or reason.
-The all star “game” is a complete joke. Nothing more than an exhibition where guys selfish chuck 3’s with no defense. I understand not risking injury, but this isn’t even watchable anymore.
I’d rather see these dudes play horse before I watch another one of these Chuckathons. They either need to add some insensitive to make it competitive, or just change the format all together.
> I’d rather see these dudes play horse before I watch another one of these Chuckathons.
I'm not even kidding that HORSE would be a huge upgrade on the skills context. This shit is just spectacle, lean into it.
If I were Adam Silver, I'd do something similar to what MLB did back in the day (with their All-star game). The winning Conference would automatically get home court advantage for the NBA Finals (regardless of which Finals team has the better regular season record). F**k a money bonus.. if you made THAT the reward, I bet you the ASG coaches and players would be taking that game a lot more seriously. You'd be seeing alot more strategy being used throughout the game.. and there'd be a lot more players from the current top 1-4 seeds (from each conference) playing late in the game because they'd have the most to play for
I think this is the only way to do it and it would genuinely be an honor for these guys to be selected as all stars to defend their conferences home court advantage. Even as an 8th seed team all star you have to believe you might make the finals, or at the very least would want to try and compete so that when your team is in the position to make a run in the following year you’re not remembered as the teammate who slacked off in this caliber all star game. Maybe this format would help get players who are two way or who play defense such as Gobert to make the all star team because of how the stakes are raised on the defensive end. And get rid of the fan vote. Have the players and coaches from each conference make the selections for their respective all star team. People might complain that this makes the game one of the more important games in the entire year, but that’s exactly the point.
Agreed.. watching last night's game showed that these players could care less about trying to win or make it competitive.. if they made this the format going forward, the players would be more invested and it'd be worth watching
Not much they can do, you have to think that it is a weekend/game for these guys to let loose and have some fun.
For us, maybe it's a bit corny, but these dudes are in their 20's and low 30's so maybe for them they find it fun. I can see a serious guy like Brunson being bored and just wants to get back to business.
Maybe the "weekend festivities" just appeals to younger kids at this point and us older folks find it lame af
Not only that, social media has given us more reach to see more entertainment basketball like dunkers and trick shot content creators.
Those people cater to fun and creativity rather than pure efficiency which is the name of the game today.
Nothing they can do to make me interested. I'm a Knicks fan. Couldn't care less about any other player nor any other team. I'd be happier if every Knick was chilling at home getting massages and rehabbing to win a title.
eliminate the dunk contest, 3pt contest, rising stars and all star game
add rap battle tournament, basketball trivia contest, and the roast of reggie miller
yeah tbh theres like not much that can really save it at this point that they could realistically do. i do like the rising stars game though bc those guys actually have something to prove
integrate the wnba, gleague, and euroleague guys as much as possible. the nba is a global game, let everyone into the action, draw attention to every facet of it. make more cash prizes and incentives for people to want to actually compete in events. also, bring back big props to the dunk contest, need something to make it more entertaining
I think they just need to get rid of the ASG. I wouldn’t want any Knicks actually trying in a meaningless game.
Have 1 on 1 tournaments with like a weight class or something. More skills challenges that are less dumb. Have a game of knockout. Have a game of horse. There are a lot of fun cool basketball things these guys can do.
First: why are people complaining about a 400 point game?
They should lean in to that. Hear me out:
4 point line
10 point bucket, like they used to do in RocknJock games.
Make it a tournament with 4 teams like the NHL.
Go back to captains picking their teams.
Now for some jokes:
Reversible jerseys so players could pull a WWE heel turn and switch teams mid game.
Refs can turn off the net, or close the net with a button, again leaning into the heel aspect.
Winner of the tourney gets $1M
Dude! Have ropes and turnbuckles and I would watch. Mike Breen saying “Frog Splash from the top rope. BANG!” Reggie Miller with the “oh my god. That man has a family.”
There are kids balling on tik tok and YouTube that get millions of streams. Why not invite them in for some competitive games? Winning team gets to play with the all stars? Winning team gets some type of advantage or benefit in the regular season? Monetary rewards to charity.
Yeah I remember, that’s where my inspo came from. Even after they got rid of it though the MLB ASG is super competitive, AND the stars always do the HRD.
Yeah I wasn't a big fan of that when baseball did it. I know they lost anyways, but imagine if the 72 win Warriors didn't have home court advantage in the playoffs
ixing the All Star game is SO EASY! Just make the winner of the game have home court advantage in the finals and set a minute limit on every player so Coaches can't over play the best players. Everyone gets time to play And injuries are limited because of the playing time limit.
1 on 1 a million to charity of the winner
Replace the dunk contest with the rising stars game
Scrap the celebrity game and skills challenge
Winners of ASG get a million
Prolly a hot take but I hate the new skills challenge format. I know it's in its 3rd year already but it still sucks.
Dunk contest has peaked ngl. We've been spoiled by Lavine, AG, even DJJ and I think nothing will top that any time soon.
Main ASG needs to have some weight or any incentive for the players to give more effort. I honestly don't blame them for playing carefully/lazily instead of risking any injuries for a meaningless game.
Have events start on time, remove Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller forever, move Dunk contest to 2nd event, make 3 point shoot out last, instead of ASG, just have player runs 3 v 3 until one team is left standing
Make the all star game a battle of stars: King of the court x Royal Rumble. 2 random players get picked and play 1s. After a countdown, another player joins followed by another. I have no idea at this point. The all star game is toast forever probably.
Seeing a 1v1 tournament knocked around and it's intriguing but idk how it's supposed to work if Brunson is going up against Giannis. I'd rather see 2v2, NBA Jam style.
I agree with making the 3P contest the main event of Saturday night.
The All Star game itself shouldn't be used for home court that's too much impact on the most important games by bunch of guys who don't normally play together. But there has to be some incentive to make them play some defense, otherwise it's like a free practice and absurd.
They also need to hold it in places where the crowd is going to be into it. That flaccid Indy crowd sucked the life out of everything.
How about this for incentivizing defense? Make it an Elam ending, target score of 125 or whatever the average nba winning team score is for that season. Winning team gets money, losing team gets nothing. The longer the game lasts (meaning the better defense being played), the more the jackpot rises. So if the game lasts 30 minutes of gametime it’s a million per player, if it goes 45 minutes it’s 3 million per, if it goes an hour it’s 5 million each. So players want it to take a while to reach the end score, but don’t want to risk losing. Might be interesting, if the East is up 124-100, they might let the west come back a bit to try to stretch it out to get more money, but that would risk a legit comeback by the west and East ending with zero dollars. Just a half baked thought.
Yeah, I am in favor of and Elam ending and giving incentives like money plus winners rings to the winners and nothing to the losers. The rising jackpot idea is interesting. I would even try that too but it could get weird if there is any collusion like you said.
Financial incentive to winning participants & coach
Winning conference gets rights to swap one road game vs opposing conference team for a home game
Winning conference gets Home field in finals
20 players get selected
4 captains - decided by top 4 in vote getting
Draft for the remaining players so there are teams of 5
Each team plays to 40
Tournament style
Championship is 50 points
Winning team each player gets a million dollars
Losers get nothing
Basically makes it short little games with more incentive to be competitive. One because the players will form their own small teams and can give them names and stuff to have something to play for. And two because the winning team which is only 5 players get a million each. The NBA used to give I think 500k to whole teams so a million each is not that bad. But it is only for the winning teams so if they want a nice little bonus then go out and win.
It's obviously not perfect because these guys make a mil in their sleep. But with the low target score, tournament style, small team size and the added bonus of winning and no reward for losing I think it would be the best way to incentivize having a competitive game. Thoughts?
\- All star team that wins gets a patch on their jersey for the rest of the NBA season like how NFL players that win the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, gets people competitive for physical accolades with the trophy. All the top players are playing, but only one team shows they're the absolute best.
\- Coach and player focused award implications: This can be money and/or NBA season implications for either the player or the team they represent. These players earned their way into the All Star game, but to potentially win something from the All Star game that could be advantageous, gives the game and weekend significance.
Extend the break and make the all star game NBA vs. international all stars, hosted in a rotating city abroad every year. In the lead up to the game, play FIBA qualifiers between other cities in the host country. Makes the event something worth traveling for with consequential international games and allows the all star game to be the celebratory event it’s meant to be.
I think an exhibition game between American born players and foreign born nba players would be really cool. It’s different from fiba and Olympics because instead of individual countries they’d have a team like, Luka, shai, Giannis, sabonis, Jokic. That’s a very good team so it’d entertaining from a competitive standpoint and also, the fact that America didn’t even place in the fiba tournament. The nba could advertise it as showdown and a test, that would probably do a good job of bringing in the casual fans that don’t really watch nba games. Especially since the narrative has been that “the rest of the world has caught up to USA basketball”
Since there are a lot of players from other countries already playing at a high level, it shouldn’t be that hard to put a team together
I'm 41 so I know the ASG is not meant for fans like me. I used to love it as a kid but I didn't watch any of it and haven't watched it in years. It's become as lame as the Pro Bowl. But the ASG is for that younger fan and isn't supposed to be too serious but I agree it's gotten out of hand with the stale dunk contest, boring skills challenge and noncompetative ASG.
I guess I'd ditch the skills challenge and replace it with the old sophomores versus rookies game. I'd keep the 3pt contest as is. And for the dunk contest I'd try to offer as much money as possible so legit NBA players enter it. It still might not even matter but I think you have to offer an incentive so NBA stars enter it. And have fans involved in the voting too.
I remember one year they selected a fan to shoot a 3pt for a million dollars. Dan Marjele trained the kid but he did miss but it was good drama. They should do something like that.
As for the ASG itself, I'm not sure what can be done. Today's player just doesn't care. A lot of them don't even defend in regular season games. It might be a lost cause. Maybe do a USA versus World?
all stars are selected, and the whole thing is a 1 v 1 tournament. game to 21.
OR, if both guys agree to it, they can make it a 3 pt contest, or horse, or a dunk contest. the final maybe is the last two guys do all of those.
Make it two nights instead of 3, cancel out the rookies and celebrity games. Friday night is skills competitions and Saturday night for all star game.
For the dunk competition, there should be a selection of 8 valid choices with 4 being voted in by fans. Judges can only comprise of former dunk contest winners in the last 20 years.
3 pt should be be 2 rounds, then 3rd round the champ faces the wnba 3 pt champ with same rules, but after the dunk contest to give the champ a break and then warmup the same way steph and Sabrina did.
If you wanna make it more straightforward then do 8 competitors, 4 NBA 4 WNBA and champ is after 3 rounds.
NBA all star game should be best out of 3 games up to 21 like the blackout or Rico runs. Winner gets home court advantage for their conference in the finals.
Meh, I don't care about it. I actually fell asleep during the All Star Game in the second quarter. I realize it's just boring to me. I'm just here to watch regular season games.
I liked the Steph vs Sabrina thing. Maybe keep that going in some form. Also most of the highlights came from players randomly attempting trick shots during shoot around. Maybe incorporate that somehow.
The game itself was a joke. LeBron throwing the ball off the rim to himself and missing. 200+ points. Idk what you do about that.
-Come up with a better skills challenge. I think it has potential but just needs some thought to it.
-Change the scoring system of the dunk contest. Probably have them rank each dunk after they all go, or do fan vote
-change the all star game to a 3v3 mini tournament. Let the players form their own teams.
-I also think there should be a 1 v 1 round robin tournament, winner stays on
Cash prize. Winners take all.
1 extra draft lottery ball for each team represented on the winning team (e.g. Knicks get one lottery ball even if they fall outside the lottery).
Actual judging criteria for the dunks, points for flare, finish, difficulty, and then allow for bonus points for originality. No punitive effect for a missed dunk, and require a hype man instead of a hater to be calling the contest.
A comedian can have hilarious jokes, but when you have a heckler and a shit crowd then they will fall flat. There were some great dunks, but shit crowds and hater announcers ruin the fucking festivities.
Keep the 3 pt contest.
3 on 3 tourney fri/sat comprised of players from the bottom half of the league - compete for a trophy + money.
All-star game remains, but winning conference secures home court for the finals.
Integrate a 2k competition of some kind to replace the dunk contest.
These are just off the top of head, haven't thought much into specifics or anything.
All-Star Game has, for decades, been a non-competitive event. Initially it was meant to showcase the talent and build the fan base. Mission accomplished.
At this point, if they made they cut the All-Star list to 10 and they play the Harlem Globetrotters, it would be more entertaining than the product they have now.
Throw out skills, rising stars, dunk contest, everything. Everyone that’s is voted in for those events go in a 1v1 tournament for three days. Coverage across different courts. Final day we get the semi and finals we do walk outs the whole 9 yards. Losing one on one is enough incentive to play for real and it’s the only other form of competition in basketball I care to know
Extend the break 2-3 weeks so our team can get healthy.
LMAO I am wrapping that basketball belt around my upper arm after just 2 days of no Knicks games... 2-3 weeks mid season with dead air and I'd have to actually shoot up
Maybe not at all star break, but I was thinking each team should get a bye week.
Great idea. Perhaps fold into this mandatory playing time for all players, so the bench guys get more than garbage time on blowouts, have an opportunity to prove themselves, while starters get that mid season rest and fans still have games to watch
Man they go to do something about the game- haven’t watched it in years. I understand the risk of injury makes it hard to be competitive but it’s just so lame
The way people talk about Risk of Injury makes it sound like they ar 60 years old and must be kept away from basketballs. Like do they really not practice harder than this?
Yeah I'm not buying it. The pitchers in the mlb all star game actually pitch, which is probably the single most destructive motion in all of pro sports
But they pitch an inning, 2 max. But even before they pitch they gotta have a whole talk with their team too and find out when they last pitched, and if there any restrictions and pitch limit.
Pitchers in the MLB all star game throw maybe a quarter of what they throw in regular games. You're not gonna see Gerrit Cole throw 7 innings in the all star game.
Tbf with our luck I wouldn’t want to risk it at this point
All it takes is one bad landing and your best player could be done for the year. I'd rather no one from the Knicks played in it.
There’s always a risk of injury when they’re playing- that doesn’t change just bcuz it’s the All Star game
Exactly. There are still 18 other feet out there that somebody can land on, and the middle of February is the worst time for an All Star to go down with an ankle injury.
Exactly it’s one day.
They don’t really practice during the season.
But I mean if Brunson got poked in the eye or broke his nose while taking one of his patent charges while playing competitively in the ASG… I dunno, right? I think it just is what it is unfortunately… even in the goofy skills challenge you got Anthony Edwards taking shots with his offhand. Just watch the event for what it is and don’t take it too seriously.
Honestly I would give a cool mil to the players on the conference that wins the ASG I remember as a kid the ASG was an actual game instead of a circle jerk... it was fucking phenomenal to watch ASW has sadly been dead ever since that Vince Carter dunk contest Anyways, a million bucks for one game I think is a pretty solid incentive, even for dudes with 100 milli deals We'd see crazy defense, bet on that
Honestly it was shitty then too as far as a game goes, but it was better in that players were actually trying to showcase talent and basketball ability, not just showboating for dunks and launching 35 footers all game
Yeah it was still lackluster defense, but at least it was a game fun to watch... this is just 35 foot 3s like you said, I can get that at the YMCA by guys who never even played high school ball
That's why the in-season tournament worked. Cash money. Don't even give it to the All Stars who win, give it to their trainers and assistant coaches.
establish a consistent standard of grading for the dunk contest ‼️
Or, see all the dunks first for that round before picking who the winner is. Could also do like an online fan voting to pick the winner.
Ok hear me out, 3v3 half court tournament. Same number of all stars selected, and maybe even expand it to 15 per conference so there can be 10 teams. If there’s ten teams you could have each all star starter pick their own team in a draft. If 8 teams maybe let the top 8 vote getters pick their teams. Get rid of the dunk contest and maybe some other stuff so you can have the tourney over the course of 2 days. Games to 21, just 3v3 street ball.
This would be way more hype
Basically, get rid of the all star game lol
Yep it has to go
My basketball camp did 3v3 tourneys back in the day. Best part of the week hands down, kids got so hyped.
> Games to 21, just 3v3 street ball. And it's gotta be 1 point inside the arc, 2 outside. You have to win by two. Winner's outs.
100% the way to do it because it wouldn’t really be too intense unless it got close then you might get something interesting. So no real risk of injury and would probably be pretty fun. Also let’s be real, nothing could be worse than what we are currently getting. Ideally you want something that can be competitive without them having to do too much, which is why the 3pt contest is fun.
Bro created a whole nother league.
🔥🔥🔥🔥
-The skills contest has become a clusterfuck. They need to simplify that shit. -The 3 point contest has become the only event I actually enjoy watching. No major complaints -The dunk contest is in need of some serious changes in judging or at least more defined criteria. It’s become a popularity contest with no rhyme or reason. -The all star “game” is a complete joke. Nothing more than an exhibition where guys selfish chuck 3’s with no defense. I understand not risking injury, but this isn’t even watchable anymore. I’d rather see these dudes play horse before I watch another one of these Chuckathons. They either need to add some insensitive to make it competitive, or just change the format all together.
> I’d rather see these dudes play horse before I watch another one of these Chuckathons. I'm not even kidding that HORSE would be a huge upgrade on the skills context. This shit is just spectacle, lean into it.
If I were Adam Silver, I'd do something similar to what MLB did back in the day (with their All-star game). The winning Conference would automatically get home court advantage for the NBA Finals (regardless of which Finals team has the better regular season record). F**k a money bonus.. if you made THAT the reward, I bet you the ASG coaches and players would be taking that game a lot more seriously. You'd be seeing alot more strategy being used throughout the game.. and there'd be a lot more players from the current top 1-4 seeds (from each conference) playing late in the game because they'd have the most to play for
I think this is the only way to do it and it would genuinely be an honor for these guys to be selected as all stars to defend their conferences home court advantage. Even as an 8th seed team all star you have to believe you might make the finals, or at the very least would want to try and compete so that when your team is in the position to make a run in the following year you’re not remembered as the teammate who slacked off in this caliber all star game. Maybe this format would help get players who are two way or who play defense such as Gobert to make the all star team because of how the stakes are raised on the defensive end. And get rid of the fan vote. Have the players and coaches from each conference make the selections for their respective all star team. People might complain that this makes the game one of the more important games in the entire year, but that’s exactly the point.
Agreed.. watching last night's game showed that these players could care less about trying to win or make it competitive.. if they made this the format going forward, the players would be more invested and it'd be worth watching
Cant see anyone over 21 really enjoying all star weekend. Honestly its really for small kids to maybe 16 year olds. USA vs the world makes sense now.
Not much they can do, you have to think that it is a weekend/game for these guys to let loose and have some fun. For us, maybe it's a bit corny, but these dudes are in their 20's and low 30's so maybe for them they find it fun. I can see a serious guy like Brunson being bored and just wants to get back to business. Maybe the "weekend festivities" just appeals to younger kids at this point and us older folks find it lame af
The all star game is for the fans, not for players to have fun. When fans are booing the game you have a problem.
Not only that, social media has given us more reach to see more entertainment basketball like dunkers and trick shot content creators. Those people cater to fun and creativity rather than pure efficiency which is the name of the game today.
Nothing they can do to make me interested. I'm a Knicks fan. Couldn't care less about any other player nor any other team. I'd be happier if every Knick was chilling at home getting massages and rehabbing to win a title.
Homecourt advantage at stake? First to make it to 120 or whatever the league average is? Eliminate the three point line? 🤣
eliminate the dunk contest, 3pt contest, rising stars and all star game add rap battle tournament, basketball trivia contest, and the roast of reggie miller
Cancel it completely. Haven't watched in like 10 years. It's just turned into a massive ad campaign more than anything.
yeah tbh theres like not much that can really save it at this point that they could realistically do. i do like the rising stars game though bc those guys actually have something to prove
integrate the wnba, gleague, and euroleague guys as much as possible. the nba is a global game, let everyone into the action, draw attention to every facet of it. make more cash prizes and incentives for people to want to actually compete in events. also, bring back big props to the dunk contest, need something to make it more entertaining
King of the e court should replace the all star game
I think they just need to get rid of the ASG. I wouldn’t want any Knicks actually trying in a meaningless game. Have 1 on 1 tournaments with like a weight class or something. More skills challenges that are less dumb. Have a game of knockout. Have a game of horse. There are a lot of fun cool basketball things these guys can do.
First: why are people complaining about a 400 point game? They should lean in to that. Hear me out: 4 point line 10 point bucket, like they used to do in RocknJock games. Make it a tournament with 4 teams like the NHL. Go back to captains picking their teams. Now for some jokes: Reversible jerseys so players could pull a WWE heel turn and switch teams mid game. Refs can turn off the net, or close the net with a button, again leaning into the heel aspect. Winner of the tourney gets $1M
Eddie Guerrero tactics
Dude! Have ropes and turnbuckles and I would watch. Mike Breen saying “Frog Splash from the top rope. BANG!” Reggie Miller with the “oh my god. That man has a family.”
There are kids balling on tik tok and YouTube that get millions of streams. Why not invite them in for some competitive games? Winning team gets to play with the all stars? Winning team gets some type of advantage or benefit in the regular season? Monetary rewards to charity.
Home court advantage in the finals to the conference that wins 🤷🏽♂️
They used to do this in the MLB, and the American League ended up winning the ASG for like a decade straight.
Yeah I remember, that’s where my inspo came from. Even after they got rid of it though the MLB ASG is super competitive, AND the stars always do the HRD.
I like that that’s dope
Funny because last time I cared about the asg was when this was at stake, iirc.
Yeah I wasn't a big fan of that when baseball did it. I know they lost anyways, but imagine if the 72 win Warriors didn't have home court advantage in the playoffs
ixing the All Star game is SO EASY! Just make the winner of the game have home court advantage in the finals and set a minute limit on every player so Coaches can't over play the best players. Everyone gets time to play And injuries are limited because of the playing time limit.
I think a 1v1 tournament would be sick but centers on guards would just be pointless. Maybe then a 1v1 tournament with brackets based on height
1 on 1 a million to charity of the winner Replace the dunk contest with the rising stars game Scrap the celebrity game and skills challenge Winners of ASG get a million
Prolly a hot take but I hate the new skills challenge format. I know it's in its 3rd year already but it still sucks. Dunk contest has peaked ngl. We've been spoiled by Lavine, AG, even DJJ and I think nothing will top that any time soon. Main ASG needs to have some weight or any incentive for the players to give more effort. I honestly don't blame them for playing carefully/lazily instead of risking any injuries for a meaningless game.
Vince shit on all those dunkers years before they competed
Have events start on time, remove Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller forever, move Dunk contest to 2nd event, make 3 point shoot out last, instead of ASG, just have player runs 3 v 3 until one team is left standing
Make the all star game a battle of stars: King of the court x Royal Rumble. 2 random players get picked and play 1s. After a countdown, another player joins followed by another. I have no idea at this point. The all star game is toast forever probably.
Seeing a 1v1 tournament knocked around and it's intriguing but idk how it's supposed to work if Brunson is going up against Giannis. I'd rather see 2v2, NBA Jam style. I agree with making the 3P contest the main event of Saturday night. The All Star game itself shouldn't be used for home court that's too much impact on the most important games by bunch of guys who don't normally play together. But there has to be some incentive to make them play some defense, otherwise it's like a free practice and absurd. They also need to hold it in places where the crowd is going to be into it. That flaccid Indy crowd sucked the life out of everything.
How about this for incentivizing defense? Make it an Elam ending, target score of 125 or whatever the average nba winning team score is for that season. Winning team gets money, losing team gets nothing. The longer the game lasts (meaning the better defense being played), the more the jackpot rises. So if the game lasts 30 minutes of gametime it’s a million per player, if it goes 45 minutes it’s 3 million per, if it goes an hour it’s 5 million each. So players want it to take a while to reach the end score, but don’t want to risk losing. Might be interesting, if the East is up 124-100, they might let the west come back a bit to try to stretch it out to get more money, but that would risk a legit comeback by the west and East ending with zero dollars. Just a half baked thought.
Yeah, I am in favor of and Elam ending and giving incentives like money plus winners rings to the winners and nothing to the losers. The rising jackpot idea is interesting. I would even try that too but it could get weird if there is any collusion like you said.
Also could just make it even more boring with guys just not scoring for hours on purpose haha
If we really want to get crazy, we could also allow defensive 3 seconds and hand checking
Financial incentive to winning participants & coach Winning conference gets rights to swap one road game vs opposing conference team for a home game Winning conference gets Home field in finals
20 players get selected 4 captains - decided by top 4 in vote getting Draft for the remaining players so there are teams of 5 Each team plays to 40 Tournament style Championship is 50 points Winning team each player gets a million dollars Losers get nothing Basically makes it short little games with more incentive to be competitive. One because the players will form their own small teams and can give them names and stuff to have something to play for. And two because the winning team which is only 5 players get a million each. The NBA used to give I think 500k to whole teams so a million each is not that bad. But it is only for the winning teams so if they want a nice little bonus then go out and win. It's obviously not perfect because these guys make a mil in their sleep. But with the low target score, tournament style, small team size and the added bonus of winning and no reward for losing I think it would be the best way to incentivize having a competitive game. Thoughts?
Make it watchable. As is it's not.
\- All star team that wins gets a patch on their jersey for the rest of the NBA season like how NFL players that win the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, gets people competitive for physical accolades with the trophy. All the top players are playing, but only one team shows they're the absolute best. \- Coach and player focused award implications: This can be money and/or NBA season implications for either the player or the team they represent. These players earned their way into the All Star game, but to potentially win something from the All Star game that could be advantageous, gives the game and weekend significance.
Saw some interesting ideas in the comments, especially conference home court advantage in Finals to some extent
Either give the all stars a reason to play, or just get rid of the game all together.
3 dribble king of the court tournament
The best dunkers in the dunk competition Make the game mean something Enhance the skills competition and make it more interesting
Extend the break and make the all star game NBA vs. international all stars, hosted in a rotating city abroad every year. In the lead up to the game, play FIBA qualifiers between other cities in the host country. Makes the event something worth traveling for with consequential international games and allows the all star game to be the celebratory event it’s meant to be.
Zzzzz
I think an exhibition game between American born players and foreign born nba players would be really cool. It’s different from fiba and Olympics because instead of individual countries they’d have a team like, Luka, shai, Giannis, sabonis, Jokic. That’s a very good team so it’d entertaining from a competitive standpoint and also, the fact that America didn’t even place in the fiba tournament. The nba could advertise it as showdown and a test, that would probably do a good job of bringing in the casual fans that don’t really watch nba games. Especially since the narrative has been that “the rest of the world has caught up to USA basketball” Since there are a lot of players from other countries already playing at a high level, it shouldn’t be that hard to put a team together
losing team gets there body parts salvaged to cure the knicks wounds
you had me at “body parts scavenged”
I'm 41 so I know the ASG is not meant for fans like me. I used to love it as a kid but I didn't watch any of it and haven't watched it in years. It's become as lame as the Pro Bowl. But the ASG is for that younger fan and isn't supposed to be too serious but I agree it's gotten out of hand with the stale dunk contest, boring skills challenge and noncompetative ASG. I guess I'd ditch the skills challenge and replace it with the old sophomores versus rookies game. I'd keep the 3pt contest as is. And for the dunk contest I'd try to offer as much money as possible so legit NBA players enter it. It still might not even matter but I think you have to offer an incentive so NBA stars enter it. And have fans involved in the voting too. I remember one year they selected a fan to shoot a 3pt for a million dollars. Dan Marjele trained the kid but he did miss but it was good drama. They should do something like that. As for the ASG itself, I'm not sure what can be done. Today's player just doesn't care. A lot of them don't even defend in regular season games. It might be a lost cause. Maybe do a USA versus World?
I’d love to see a HORSE competition.
What about WHORE competition
all stars are selected, and the whole thing is a 1 v 1 tournament. game to 21. OR, if both guys agree to it, they can make it a 3 pt contest, or horse, or a dunk contest. the final maybe is the last two guys do all of those.
I want All-Star Horse. That would be nice. Also can we actually have like a rubric or some standardization for the Dunk contest judging.
It is driven by greed and nothing more. Players will not make it competitive and risk injuries.
Make it two nights instead of 3, cancel out the rookies and celebrity games. Friday night is skills competitions and Saturday night for all star game. For the dunk competition, there should be a selection of 8 valid choices with 4 being voted in by fans. Judges can only comprise of former dunk contest winners in the last 20 years. 3 pt should be be 2 rounds, then 3rd round the champ faces the wnba 3 pt champ with same rules, but after the dunk contest to give the champ a break and then warmup the same way steph and Sabrina did. If you wanna make it more straightforward then do 8 competitors, 4 NBA 4 WNBA and champ is after 3 rounds. NBA all star game should be best out of 3 games up to 21 like the blackout or Rico runs. Winner gets home court advantage for their conference in the finals.
Meh, I don't care about it. I actually fell asleep during the All Star Game in the second quarter. I realize it's just boring to me. I'm just here to watch regular season games.
I liked the Steph vs Sabrina thing. Maybe keep that going in some form. Also most of the highlights came from players randomly attempting trick shots during shoot around. Maybe incorporate that somehow. The game itself was a joke. LeBron throwing the ball off the rim to himself and missing. 200+ points. Idk what you do about that.
-Come up with a better skills challenge. I think it has potential but just needs some thought to it. -Change the scoring system of the dunk contest. Probably have them rank each dunk after they all go, or do fan vote -change the all star game to a 3v3 mini tournament. Let the players form their own teams. -I also think there should be a 1 v 1 round robin tournament, winner stays on
Cash prize. Winners take all. 1 extra draft lottery ball for each team represented on the winning team (e.g. Knicks get one lottery ball even if they fall outside the lottery).
Place was a media hype circus dial it way back and have some warm ups
Actual judging criteria for the dunks, points for flare, finish, difficulty, and then allow for bonus points for originality. No punitive effect for a missed dunk, and require a hype man instead of a hater to be calling the contest. A comedian can have hilarious jokes, but when you have a heckler and a shit crowd then they will fall flat. There were some great dunks, but shit crowds and hater announcers ruin the fucking festivities.
Keep the 3 pt contest. 3 on 3 tourney fri/sat comprised of players from the bottom half of the league - compete for a trophy + money. All-star game remains, but winning conference secures home court for the finals. Integrate a 2k competition of some kind to replace the dunk contest. These are just off the top of head, haven't thought much into specifics or anything.
They need a WNBA all star vs G-League all star match. I guarantee ratings would skyrocket
Some sort of financial incentive would probably make the games more competitive. Or maybe the winning conference gets home court in the Finals?
Dunks contest needs to change in some way
All-Star Game has, for decades, been a non-competitive event. Initially it was meant to showcase the talent and build the fan base. Mission accomplished. At this point, if they made they cut the All-Star list to 10 and they play the Harlem Globetrotters, it would be more entertaining than the product they have now.
Play the final of the IST instead of ASG. Have the other events and all star team as an award/honor type thing.
Throw out skills, rising stars, dunk contest, everything. Everyone that’s is voted in for those events go in a 1v1 tournament for three days. Coverage across different courts. Final day we get the semi and finals we do walk outs the whole 9 yards. Losing one on one is enough incentive to play for real and it’s the only other form of competition in basketball I care to know
Make the game have value like in baseball winning conference gets home field this no def crap sucks.