Why does nobody care about NBA Training Camp?

Why does nobody really care about NBA training camp?

NBA training camp is upon us and here’s something you might have noticed…. Nobody cares. There’s basically a countdown from the end of the NFL season to the draft and then from the draft a countdown to training camp. There’s never really that much excitement about either of the NBA equivalents. The question I’m wondering today is why? Don’t let the first 6 or so posts fool you screen and roll out is going to pride itself on being a dual sport blog. So with that being said let’s roll up our sleeves into the nitty gritty of our first basketball post.

The NBA is a superstar driven league, this is apparent to anyone the size of the teams makes it apparent. While a one superstar on a group of 11 is valuable a superstar in a group of 5 is even more so. There are only 12 active players on an NBA roster when it comes to game day, while there are 45 on the NFL equivalent. Roster turnover in the NBA is about the same as it is in the NFL at 30% however it comes out to 3 NBA players as opposed to 16 in NFL. It takes a lot of the fun out of things like training camp. One of the big draws of NFL training camp is watching all of the new pieces meshing together to create a cohesive defense and offense. There are so many different parts to an NFL team, offense, defense, special teams and inside those sections even more specialized areas. You have your offensive line, QB, wide outs, Running backs and on defense your defensive line, linebackers, and secondary. The NBA has starting five that plays both offense and defense. There are significantly less permutations to imagine when it comes to NBA rosters. When it comes to NFL rosters you’re thinking how your players match up against other teams, how they’ll work with certain personal packages, how they’ll work with your coaches play calling. There’s just so much more information to absorb which tends to drives stat geeks like me into frenzy.

Otherwise known as the Lakers/Celtics Invitational

Just for a quick second I want you to do something for me. Name 10 NBA stars, not super stars just stars that weren’t top 15 draft picks. Can you do it? Seriously just 10. I got Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, Rashard Lewis, Gilbert Arenas, Carlos Boozer and maybe…. Monta Ellis? Zach Randolph? Gerald Wallace? The NBA is a league made up of the things we expect. Pretty much every single good player in the NBA a good deal of people thought they would be a good. The NFL is composed of undrafted and late drafted superstars’ not just stars, I’m sure we can all list quite a few.  Tony Romo, James Harrison, Antonio Gates, Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Hines Ward, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, and Brian Westbrook just off the top of my head. I’m a Lakers fan…………………oh sorry I was just basking in the collective glow of owning the NBA. They might as well call the NBA Finals the Lakers invitational. But outside of my ridiculous hubris the NBA seriously lacks parity. 8 teams have won the past 30 NBA championships. While their have been 14 different NFL champions in the past 20 years. Seriously how much fun is that for the rest of the league to basically know at the beginning of the year you have no chance? That’s what makes the NFL great. I’m a Raiders fan and we’re terrible, but every year I have hope, I have hope that this year; this year will be the year we finally turn it around. Teams like the Colts are so special in the NFL because it’s so hard to stay good in the NFL the fact the Colts have made the playoffs for 11 straight years is amazing. The Lakers on the other hand have missed the playoffs only 5 times in their entire existence. It happens almost every year in the NFL a worst to first story, how many times do we have stories like that in the NBA. Rarely if ever, that’s what made the Thunder so endearing last year they were an authentic 1 year turnaround story. They went from 23 to 50 wins, things like that never happen in the NBA.

Basketball doesn’t do enough advertising for training camp/pre season/draft. The NFL is an advertising machine that no other league in America can compete with, that’s clear. However the NBA can learn a lot from the NFL in the way that there is no offseason in football. They’re always holding your hand as they direct you to another stage of their product. Super bowl’s over??? Oh snap the draft is only 2 months away better start learning about college football players. Oh the draft just happened??? Training camp is just around the corner. The NFL is constantly creating anticipation for the next stage in its yearly football onslaught. There truly is no offseason. Normally after the NBA finals Is over there’s a lull and the draft and then another lull and then training camp. Free Agency can be interesting at times (queue Miami heat having a parade after having won…………what exactly??) This is probably the most anticipated NBA season in 10 or 12 years and opening night still won’t compare to that of the NFL. I think we all understand that to a certain degree we’re comparing apples and oranges here with the NBA and the NFL, but there are still a lot of things that David Stern should be stealing from Commish Goodell.

You could swear these guys won something...right??

Now the final question: What can the NBA do to fix it? The NBA has the final four; one of the most watched sporting events in America perfect for cultivating recognizable names for its league. They don’t take advantage of it because of its one and done rule. Nobody ever really builds any attachment to college basketball or college basketball teams because the players on those teams are only around for 1 or 2 years at the max. They should implement something similar to what baseball does either you come straight from high school or you go to college but you have to be there 3 years. That seems like a clear win win, players that want to come in straight from high school still can, while players who go to college will actually commit academically to a school as opposed to the ridiculousness of the one and dones of current college basketball. Secondly the NBA needs to do more to emphasize the importance of players 4-12 on an NBA roster. In the NFL we talk a lot about why the Offensive line and special teams is important and why a number of areas where we might not know the players are vital to a team’s success. How often do we talk about the importance of players who set good screens in the NBA or players who box out or are good help defenders? If the NBA wants to create a league where you want to monitor every move you have to a make a league where every player matters.