One thing that people aren't talking about is the nosedive that college basketball viewership has taken. In 2015, the championship game averaged 28 million viewers. In 2023, the championship game averaged 14 million viewers. Way fewer people give a shit about college basketball, and why is that? People might blame one and dones, but those were a thing well before 2015. And because of that, fewer people know who the NBA players are (if they even played college basketball). Back when CBB was bigger, people would learn who these great players were and get attached to them and therefore would follow their career into the NBA. If you make a list of the top 10-15 most famous NBA players in history, the vast majority were very famous before even being drafted. Kobe Bryant is the only exception I can think of who wasn't famous before getting drafted, but guys like Jordan, LeBron, Kareem, Magic, Bird were all very well known before their names were called.
a big thing imo is to track salaries to performance. drastically cut the guaranteed money and base a sizable portion of individual and team income to wins. they also need way better refereeing, and the LeBalco media lackeys should be banned from deifying this clown
Good convo. Duncan is interesting. I think he doesn't fully understand all the facets of Clark phenomenon, the coverage and the narratives. Today, one comment can change a lot.
While NBA is having a lot of criticism the Euroleague is having an absolutely amazing season with great physical point-for-point basketball. If americans cared actually about the basketball of things they would watch Partizan, Zvezda, Panathinaikos, Olimpiyakos, Milano, Barca, Real, etc. But you guys don't really care about basketball, you care about popularity of american nba players and how LeBron is perceived by conservatives. The drama of Jimmy Butler or whatever the fuck is second apron is more important to you than actual basketball game with stake on it. And it is fine. Just admit it.
"The modern demands of playing 82 games" more propaganda. When they're making 54 million dollars a year, why play? How does this guy not account for the business of the league when talking load management
There are so few good NBA games worth watching already, why would you want to make less of those opportunities? Making the NBA have less games isn't go to fix Zion or Yao Ming, those guys would still get hurt he would just average 25 games a year instead of around 40.
here's the solution to 82 games: shorten to a 20 game season, play outdoors at football stadiums on Sundays March-July. 3-4x attendance and ratings increase compensates for redution in game volume. Better quality play, healthy stars, meaningful games, etc.
his business relies on a thriving NBA; he's incentivized to sell and promote the league. that's also the true explanation for the collapse of ESPN - it's been all downhill since they became "partners" with pro leagues.
either too many games or too many bad teams that do play the same way. if u don't have a unique game changing player ur team plays just like the other 20 teams. and we have to stop saying NBA is better product now than it was before. well, world is different now. there's more content being produced than ever before and delivered almost completely frictionless, there is no unwritten law the NBA must be too big to fail. Nate Duncans point about refs calling by the book fixes a lot honestly (how many jump shots are push offs, how many moving screens?) but organisations have to stop this "hire, fire" coach thing every two years, how are teams supposed to have identity if apparently, from outside perspective, they only hire shitty recyclable coaches they have to fire in 2-3 years. literally, can win a championship and u suck? are there no college coaches worth promoting (brad Stevens saved modern Celtic basketball)? jerry sloan won no championships but jazz feel legendary cuz of the stability and decade plus of a coach developing a system.
i love nate's work
God put Nate on more. Get Danny too. He’s probably got some nba takes
Do more podcasts with Nate love you guys
Love this pod... keep em goin, Strauss.
One thing that people aren't talking about is the nosedive that college basketball viewership has taken. In 2015, the championship game averaged 28 million viewers. In 2023, the championship game averaged 14 million viewers. Way fewer people give a shit about college basketball, and why is that? People might blame one and dones, but those were a thing well before 2015. And because of that, fewer people know who the NBA players are (if they even played college basketball).
Back when CBB was bigger, people would learn who these great players were and get attached to them and therefore would follow their career into the NBA. If you make a list of the top 10-15 most famous NBA players in history, the vast majority were very famous before even being drafted. Kobe Bryant is the only exception I can think of who wasn't famous before getting drafted, but guys like Jordan, LeBron, Kareem, Magic, Bird were all very well known before their names were called.
Good convo Ethan. Agree with you about Caitlin Clark. One comment won’t make or break, but people will be watching closely
a big thing imo is to track salaries to performance. drastically cut the guaranteed money and base a sizable portion of individual and team income to wins. they also need way better refereeing, and the LeBalco media lackeys should be banned from deifying this clown
Good convo. Duncan is interesting. I think he doesn't fully understand all the facets of Clark phenomenon, the coverage and the narratives. Today, one comment can change a lot.
While NBA is having a lot of criticism the Euroleague is having an absolutely amazing season with great physical point-for-point basketball. If americans cared actually about the basketball of things they would watch Partizan, Zvezda, Panathinaikos, Olimpiyakos, Milano, Barca, Real, etc. But you guys don't really care about basketball, you care about popularity of american nba players and how LeBron is perceived by conservatives. The drama of Jimmy Butler or whatever the fuck is second apron is more important to you than actual basketball game with stake on it. And it is fine. Just admit it.
And all those players wish to make the NBA 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂.... ✌🏿
1:02:00 1,80
"The modern demands of playing 82 games" more propaganda.
When they're making 54 million dollars a year, why play? How does this guy not account for the business of the league when talking load management
Jordan didn’t push off on Bryon Russell
There are so few good NBA games worth watching already, why would you want to make less of those opportunities? Making the NBA have less games isn't go to fix Zion or Yao Ming, those guys would still get hurt he would just average 25 games a year instead of around 40.
titanic advanced-vocab combination.
here's the solution to 82 games: shorten to a 20 game season, play outdoors at football stadiums on Sundays March-July. 3-4x attendance and ratings increase compensates for redution in game volume. Better quality play, healthy stars, meaningful games, etc.
Nate couldn’t be much more out of touch with mainstream societal reality
Dumping on a lakers championship what is this bill Simmons pods?
Nate Duncan pod, get ready for your daily dose of NBA propaganda.
his business relies on a thriving NBA; he's incentivized to sell and promote the league. that's also the true explanation for the collapse of ESPN - it's been all downhill since they became "partners" with pro leagues.
what does this mean? he enjoys the NBA?
either too many games or too many bad teams that do play the same way. if u don't have a unique game changing player ur team plays just like the other 20 teams. and we have to stop saying NBA is better product now than it was before. well, world is different now. there's more content being produced than ever before and delivered almost completely frictionless, there is no unwritten law the NBA must be too big to fail. Nate Duncans point about refs calling by the book fixes a lot honestly (how many jump shots are push offs, how many moving screens?) but organisations have to stop this "hire, fire" coach thing every two years, how are teams supposed to have identity if apparently, from outside perspective, they only hire shitty recyclable coaches they have to fire in 2-3 years. literally, can win a championship and u suck? are there no college coaches worth promoting (brad Stevens saved modern Celtic basketball)?
jerry sloan won no championships but jazz feel legendary cuz of the stability and decade plus of a coach developing a system.