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I don’t think this is a particularly well written article, but I sort of agree with the sentiment. Basketball just isn’t THAT complex and the talent pool is hom

I don’t think this is a particularly well written article, but I sort of agree with the sentiment. Basketball just isn’t THAT complex and the talent pool is homogenous enough that most teams can find these archetypes and build rosters that get you to the playoffs. That said, trends are cyclical. Look at the role of the running back in the NFL. There will always be outlier players like Shaq who will buck the trends and exploit matchups.

relaxing 2y ago
“The NBA talent pool is homogenous” is the new worst hn take I’ve seen. If “most teams can build rosters that get to the playoffs” is true it’s only because the NBA playoffs are so big. I’d assume it’s false based on any interpretation of “can build” you pick. Realistically only a handful of teams compete for a championship in any given span of years.
epolanski 2y ago
> most teams can find these archetypes and build rosters that get you to the playoffs Not really, it's still 16/30 (I don't like playoff formats btw, so American).
- mopenstein 2y ago
  My country of Smugistan solved playoff problem years ago. Very simple: every Smugball team makes playoffs. If Americans and Europeans weren't so far behind Smugistanian education system, they would have figured it out too.
  - epolanski 2y ago
    It's not about being smug: 1) playoff format rends 6 months of games not very important, the biggest difference is in your seeding. That's..all? 2) another way it makes the previous 6/7 months pointless is that your entire season is based on a single set of games. You can be the best team in the league by far, but then if one player gets injured or you're out of form or unlucky it's over I just don't like leagues with a playoff system, you either have a league or you have a round robin, both seem directed toward squeezing tv rights, not awarding the best team of a season.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      Most sports pretty much have a playoff system to a greater or lesser degree. That said, basketball has pretty much always been one of the major US sports that can rely on a fairly small number of really good players and the rest don't matter nearly as much. Stars (pitchers, QBs, receivers, etc.) matter elsewhere but probably not individually as much as they do in basketball.
      - bdangubic 2y ago
        the most popular sport on the planet - soccer - doesn't have playoffs anywhere except USA
        ghaff 2y ago
        I mean there's the World Cup though that's a bit different. The US (or US + Canada) is big enough that having large leagues of top-level teams makes some sense to have playoffs.
        epolanski 2y ago
        The world cup is not a league, it's a tournament. My point is towards the regular season + playoffs which is imho lame. Imagine a formula 1 season where you watch 20 races and then the best teams play it out in the last 4. That's a giant nonsense in most sports but somehow it spread even to European basket and volley in the 80s, I guess under the American influx. I just don't like it.
        ghaff 2y ago
        That's your choice of course. I suspect that a lot of casual fans (raises hand) may largely ignore the regular (long) season but get more engaged in the payoffs, especially if they have a team they care about involved which has obvious financial implications for the teams involved.
        2y ago
  - TMWNN 2y ago
    >My country of Smugistan solved playoff problem years ago. Very simple: every Smugball team makes playoffs. Not that I disagree with the intent/target of your sarcasm, but there are US leagues where every team makes the playoffs. The Pac-12 did this with its conference tournament for most of its history, for example. One can argue that such is the logical conclusion of separately rewarding the winner of the regular season and tournament.
  - happycube 2y ago
    Ah, just like the Participation Trophy Bowl games in early December.

relaxing 2y ago

“The NBA talent pool is homogenous” is the new worst hn take I’ve seen. If “most teams can build rosters that get to the playoffs” is true it’s only because the NBA playoffs are so big. I’d assume it’s false based on any interpretation of “can build” you pick. Realistically only a handful of teams compete for a championship in any given span of years.

epolanski 2y ago

> most teams can find these archetypes and build rosters that get you to the playoffs Not really, it's still 16/30 (I don't like playoff formats btw, so American).

mopenstein 2y ago
My country of Smugistan solved playoff problem years ago. Very simple: every Smugball team makes playoffs. If Americans and Europeans weren't so far behind Smugistanian education system, they would have figured it out too.
- epolanski 2y ago
  It's not about being smug: 1) playoff format rends 6 months of games not very important, the biggest difference is in your seeding. That's..all? 2) another way it makes the previous 6/7 months pointless is that your entire season is based on a single set of games. You can be the best team in the league by far, but then if one player gets injured or you're out of form or unlucky it's over I just don't like leagues with a playoff system, you either have a league or you have a round robin, both seem directed toward squeezing tv rights, not awarding the best team of a season.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Most sports pretty much have a playoff system to a greater or lesser degree. That said, basketball has pretty much always been one of the major US sports that can rely on a fairly small number of really good players and the rest don't matter nearly as much. Stars (pitchers, QBs, receivers, etc.) matter elsewhere but probably not individually as much as they do in basketball.
    - bdangubic 2y ago
      the most popular sport on the planet - soccer - doesn't have playoffs anywhere except USA
      - ghaff 2y ago
        I mean there's the World Cup though that's a bit different. The US (or US + Canada) is big enough that having large leagues of top-level teams makes some sense to have playoffs.
        epolanski 2y ago
        The world cup is not a league, it's a tournament. My point is towards the regular season + playoffs which is imho lame. Imagine a formula 1 season where you watch 20 races and then the best teams play it out in the last 4. That's a giant nonsense in most sports but somehow it spread even to European basket and volley in the 80s, I guess under the American influx. I just don't like it.
        ghaff 2y ago
        That's your choice of course. I suspect that a lot of casual fans (raises hand) may largely ignore the regular (long) season but get more engaged in the payoffs, especially if they have a team they care about involved which has obvious financial implications for the teams involved.
        2y ago
- TMWNN 2y ago
  >My country of Smugistan solved playoff problem years ago. Very simple: every Smugball team makes playoffs. Not that I disagree with the intent/target of your sarcasm, but there are US leagues where every team makes the playoffs. The Pac-12 did this with its conference tournament for most of its history, for example. One can argue that such is the logical conclusion of separately rewarding the winner of the regular season and tournament.
- happycube 2y ago
  Ah, just like the Participation Trophy Bowl games in early December.