2 ms·

No one cares about the All-Star game because it is, in the words of Jaylen Brown, "it's a glorified layup line". It's not meant to be competitive, the whole sch

No one cares about the All-Star game because it is, in the words of Jaylen Brown, "it's a glorified layup line". It's not meant to be competitive, the whole schedule of the weekend doesn't lend itself to it being competitive and if anyone did take it very seriously and get injured (imagine if Lebron's finger broke when it got stuck on the rim) people would be bitching about "why the hell would you play that hard for a game that doesn't matter when the finals stretch is coming up??" and they'd be right. I dunno what they need to do, but one idea might be to offer serious financial incentives, e.g. a million dollar reward for the dunk contest and something similar for MVP of the All-Star game.

HDThoreaun 4y ago
the all star game does have financial incentives. 25k to losing players, 100k to winners. Apparently 75k isn't enough to convince the players to try. I think it makes sense when considering how much they have to lose with the playoffs coming up. I think this is where the midseason tournament idea can come in. 75k might be nothing to the max contract guys in the all star game, but half the players on every team are on minimum deals making around a million. The 75k would be big for those guys and I think the peer pressure from them could be enough to get the stars to really go out there and give it their all. As far as the all star game goes, I'm not sure fixing it is possible or even that necessary. What's wrong with it just being a harlem globetrotters game? Sure the ratings won't be great, but maybe that's just something the league has to accept.
- xwowsersx 4y ago
  Right, it's just not enough apparently. And yes, totally agree - nothing wrong with it being a glorified layup line. My point is just that unless the game itself is made truly competitive, I don't think there's much that can done to increase viewership. There's a lot of other things they can do though to gain viewership across All-Star weekend in general.

HDThoreaun 4y ago

the all star game does have financial incentives. 25k to losing players, 100k to winners. Apparently 75k isn't enough to convince the players to try. I think it makes sense when considering how much they have to lose with the playoffs coming up. I think this is where the midseason tournament idea can come in. 75k might be nothing to the max contract guys in the all star game, but half the players on every team are on minimum deals making around a million. The 75k would be big for those guys and I think the peer pressure from them could be enough to get the stars to really go out there and give it their all. As far as the all star game goes, I'm not sure fixing it is possible or even that necessary. What's wrong with it just being a harlem globetrotters game? Sure the ratings won't be great, but maybe that's just something the league has to accept.

xwowsersx 4y ago
Right, it's just not enough apparently. And yes, totally agree - nothing wrong with it being a glorified layup line. My point is just that unless the game itself is made truly competitive, I don't think there's much that can done to increase viewership. There's a lot of other things they can do though to gain viewership across All-Star weekend in general.