NBA Newsflash: All-Star Edition

Published by Gagan on February 23, 2008

hanewsflash2.jpgNot since the 2000 slam dunk contest has the NBA All-star weekend been this riveting. Vince Carter had everyone and anyone off their seats eight years ago and Dwight Howard captivated the crowd this time around with an array of props, capes and no shortage of theme songs. Even though I am of the belief that the “Superman” dunk should not constitute as such, it was still a throw-down and deserves full marks as he really took the time and effort to think through his ideas well before the contest had begun. So much so that after the dunk they even played the Superman theme. With all that said though, the game itself was still a bore, even with the close score. Good moments were few and far between and most of the hype about All-Star weekend was regarding the future of Jason Kidd, who has since been officially moved to the Dallas Mavericks.

Some things have to change during All-Star weekend; here are a few ideas that would make the weekend itself, not the hype around it, much more interesting:

Out With The Old
The dunk contest and the three-point shootout both engage the fans and are mainstays during the weekend, so they’re not going anywhere. Thus, say bye-bye to the skills competition and the Shooting Stars event, which features one current NBA player, a WNBA player and an NBA legend. I see no point to the latter event at all, except maybe that it helps promote the WNBA more. But, let’s be real here, I doubt there are even a handful of people in the entire country that will now start watching the WNBA on a consistent basis. It just isn’t worth the time that is put into the event. I have to admit, I was a fan of the skills competition at first, but looking back now it just doesn’t do anything. When you see a guy like Dwayne Wade lollygag his way to the finish line and miss the final layup numerous times, that just makes it look like he doesn’t care about the event itself nor does he respect the numerous fans that actually paid and came to the arena to watch the festivities. I’d be irate with him if I was the NBA. I don’t want to hear about the injury excuse either because then he shouldn’t be participating at all.

In With The New
Get some new competitions to replace the ones that would no longer exist. There are numerous ideas that people have thrown out there, and many of them are upgrades. Here are two events to replace the ones that would be axed:

HORSE: Anyone familiar with basketball or anyone who has played basketball in their life time knows about this game. It is extremely fun and allows you to try different things while on the court. We could really see a player’s imagination come into play in this event and the fans would love it. Get four players, put a microphone on them and see what happens. This event would probably take 20-30 minutes total and would really market the players personalities a great deal. The only players that have to be a must in this event are LeBron James and Rasheed Wallace.

SUDDEN DEATH: This is an event I have made up myself and have not heard of before. It is a rip off of the “Around the World” game that many kids play growing up on the courts outside. Take two players each from ten teams currently in playoff seeding and let them take turns shooting. If a player makes it, they move onto the next round where the same thing occurs, if they miss, then they are eliminated for the duration of the event. They would start close to the basket and with every shot made, move two feet straight back. It would take no more than 10-15 minutes total if organized well and no commercial breaks.

US vs. World All-Star game
Change the All-Star game itself. This is way overdue as rarely have these games been interesting. The 2008 All-star game was one of the closest in years and yet the entertainment value was still mediocre at best. There was a two-minute sequence in which Dwight Howard and LeBron James stole the show with numerous dunks but beyond that it was really hard for the crowd to get into the game. Then the only reason they got into the game late was because of Chris Paul and him being the crowd’s favourite. It is hard for an All-Star game of any sport to garner much attention, but the NBA can make a quick and easy fix. Change the format from East vs. West to USA vs. World.

No longer can the argument be made that this cannot be done because there aren’t enough good international players. The international team would showcase players such as Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Manu Ginobli just to name a few. It would be interesting to see the different styles of play among the two teams.

If Toronto was to be awarded the 2010 All-star game these changes would be perfect considering Toronto is an international city and you can use the theme of multiculturalism for the event. If Toronto is not in the running for the 2010 game then these changes should be made as soon as possible. Now more than ever many mainstream writers are letting it be known publicly how boring the game itself has been in recent years. With the NBA fan base in the US probably maximized, these changes would garner a lot more interest than the current crop of activities on a global scale.

This article was written by:

Gagan - who has written 8 posts on Hoops Addict.


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