After Sunday’s NBA All-Star event, there were opinions – and more opinions – being expressed after Commissioner Adam Silver introduced a brand new tournament-style layout.
In my opinion, the tournament itself was fine, but the event, in its entirety, flopped. Let me explain.
The All-Star game hasn’t been competitive for years, which a lot of people don’t appreciate and I completely understand. You want to see the best of the best compete against each other. In fact, Kobe Bryant once said the fans want to see “the best pick-up game in the world.”
However, in today’s age, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. Ever.
You could say there’s too much at risk if you play competitively and get injured. I’m sure teams don’t want their players going 100 percent during this game, either.
Celtics’ fans: Just imagine if Jayson Tatum went down and missed the rest of the season.
Also, the world is different now. The other day, my friend mentioned that when the game was competitive, the East Coast audience rarely got to see the stars out West due to the reach of the game not being as accessible as it is today. Therefore, players put on a show for the fans who rarely saw them play.
I’m totally fine with Silver changing the format from a glorified scrimmage to a mini-tournament. However, the way it was presented by the TNT broadcasting crew made the evening beyond unenjoyable.
I understand this was the last All-Star game played under Turner Sports, so it wanted to make a splash, but in my opinion, Turner made it way too much about itself.
Kevin Hart is funny, but his jokes quickly got boring, and the broadcast kept taking commercial breaks every 10-15 points scored, so there was no real flow to the tournament.
Then, when you finally got to the championship game, during the first media timeout, the broadcast did this entire celebration of the TNT crew and presented them with gifts.
Listen, they’ve been doing it for years and deserve their flowers, but they should have done it another night. Or, they should have done the celebration before tip-off and not in the middle of a game for 20 minutes.
Tatum said it was hard to get back into the flow of the game after the celebration.
I think this mini-tournament can work – it may have even worked the other night. However, there are ways to make the festivities even better.
In the official in-season NBA Cup, players are incentivized to win. Each member of the team receives $500,000 if they win the whole thing. Incentivize the All-Star game, whether it’s a cash prize or home-court advantage in the finals (if they return to East-West).
Look, I don’t think All-Star weekend is dead, but I think there are ways to make things more exciting.
But, hey, let’s cross that delicate bridge when we get there. Go Celtics.
