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The 3rd Down Conversation
Fading All Stars & NBA Nostalgia
This episode dives into the transformation and struggles of the NBA All-Star Game, examining player motivations and the implications of recent events. D Turnipseed raises questions on how to improve the competitive spirit of the league while discussing the intertwining themes of nostalgia and modern-day performance standards.
• Discussion on LeBron's last-minute withdrawal from the All-Star Game
• Debate over giving players million-dollar bonuses to increase competitive spirit
• Insights into how nostalgia is affecting perceptions of the NBA presently
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what's up? What's up? It's the third down conversation, your place for sports and entertainment. I am d turnip seed and on today's episode, the nba all-star game, how can the league incentivize players to actually compete? Le LeBron backing out at the last second was that selfish. And lastly, does the NBA have a nostalgia problem? Well, I'm going to break all that down and, as you know, I'm real, I'm authentic and I'm always in context. Let's ride.
Speaker 1:The NBA All-Star Game is just not what it used to be. I'm sure people are tired of hearing about how the league was during MJ's time or how the league was during Kobe's time, but those guys, guys competed and when it was winning time, they gave effort, they locked in. It is believed that your alpha superstar sets the tone for that game. D Wade has said that, kenya Martin has said that. So LeBron does have to wear a little bit of this. As to why the game has become what it has become, one player stated that if the league gave each all-star a million dollars, then their effort would increase, and that's just wild to me, because it shouldn't take a million dollars to compete for fans. Plus, the NBA already gives cash incentives and that hasn't worked. So you saying give y'all more. Come on, man. So how can the NBA incentivize this game? What methods could they use? Because at this point they trying everything like what they did this past year. It was. It was confusing. It was way too many stoppages, it was like a four-team tournament. It was so confusing. They need to take a page out of apple's book and keep things simple. Customers like simplicity. The easier to understand, the better.
Speaker 1:So I've got a couple potential fixes for the All-Star game. The first thing I would do is go back to the traditional East versus West. All this picking captains and drafting a team stop, it's just, it's overkill. It's overkill, you don't need it. So go back to just East and west. That's my first thing. The second thing I would do is add three additional all-stars to each team, so each team has 15 players. Each player will play at least one quarter and then the fourth quarter. The best five will play.
Speaker 1:The third thing I will do is introduce the Elam inning. The Elam inning is something that's come from the basketball tournament TBT that occurs in the summertime and it's created to have a more natural ending to the game. With a team that is losing, it's not worried about the clock running out, but instead can focus on defense and trying to meet the target score. The target score is determined by the current winning team score and then adding 12 points to it. So if the winning team has 50, you add 12 to that. That makes it 62 as the target score. This target score will be introduced at the six minute mark of the fourth quarter. At that point the clock turns off and it's just basketball and you just compete and see who can get to the target score first.
Speaker 1:The fourth thing that I would do is award home court advantage in the NBA finals to the winning team, again just trying to add incentives to the game. We have to give the players purpose. I think if we can give the players that, why that reason as to why am I here competing? I think ultimately we can make it a better product and make it a better game and make it something that the fans will appreciate from an entertainment standpoint and a competitive standpoint. I hope you guys enjoyed that first segment and if you haven't had a chance, go ahead and hit that like button, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and a five-star review will sure help a brother out. Remember shows will drop every Tuesday and follow me on socials at the Third Down Conversation. Now let's continue the show and jump into segment number two.
Speaker 1:So a few hours before the All-Star game was about to tip off, lebron announced that he wasn't playing in the All-Star game. He didn't give anybody a heads up, he didn't tell Adam Silver who was the commissioner. He just was doing his press availability for the All-Star game and just said that, uh, I might play. A lot of people criticized LeBron for it. A lot of people called it selfish. Some people say that he should have gave a quicker notice so that they could have replaced his spot. People felt like Norman Powell could have been a quicker notice so that they could have replaced his spot. People felt like Norman Powell could have been added or LaMelo Ball could have been added if LeBron had have told the league sooner rather than a couple hours before the game started. But then I ran past a clip between Chandler Parsons, who was a former NBA player, lou Williams, a former NBA player. Take a listen to this exchange between Chandler Parsons and Lou Williams.
Speaker 2:Chandler's saying that the league and players in the league have basically been forced to indulge LeBron's family dream and to have Bronny be there, which is fine, we've accepted it. It is what it is. But he couldn't be bothered to give anybody a heads-up notice more than 30 minutes before the game starts so that A somebody else could have been there. And if it is in fact because you didn't want to play against the rising stars, then that's just who's going to be in there, so so again, you have a team of rising stars.
Speaker 1:If LeBron James sits out, who's going to replace him?
Speaker 3:All of the guys that were going to replace him are in the game. Trae Young was in the game.
Speaker 1:The only person that was left on the bubble was LaMelo.
Speaker 3:Ball, that's it.
Speaker 2:So you think his ankle and foot thing started 20 minutes before the game started.
Speaker 1:Or do you think he's had a few days with heads up? So again, so again. Now that's an interesting take, that LeBron was um protesting because he did not want to play against the rising stars. And what Chandler Parsons was saying is that's odd, because you're making other guys in the NBA play against your son now. That's an interesting perspective. I'm not sure I agree with it, but it does make you think a little bit and ask yourself was he protesting Like? Was he turning his nose up at the fact that they were going to have to play the rising stars?
Speaker 1:It's possible. I mean, even Draymond Green came out and said that the rising stars shouldn't be on Sunday, that Sunday is reserved for the all-stars, shouldn't be on Sunday, that Sunday is reserved for the all-stars, that the all-stars should get all the shine and these rising stars, you know, have to pay their dues. In so many words, chandler Parsons stated that. You know, lebron knew his foot and ankle was already sore. He was already missing games for it. But Chandler asked a very good question there Would LeBron have played if Bronny was one of the rising stars? I think we all know the answer to that question he would have for sure played. Is it possible that Bron was upset that Bronny wasn't named to the rising stars team?
Speaker 1:And that may have led to his possible protest. Possibly. Again, I don't believe that. I don't believe that. I'm just kind of just throwing things out there as I'm like thinking out loud about it. But telling the league, commissioner, when you tell everybody else that you're not playing, that's not okay. For sure should have said something way sooner. Therefore, someone could have took your place. Norman Powell could have been a first-time all-star. Lam Norman Powell could have been a first-time All-Star. Lamelo Ball could have been a first-time All-Star. And if Bronny was on that rising stars team, oh yeah, you're playing. You're for sure playing. Please remember to like, subscribe, follow, Drop a comment, Leave a review. Five stars, please Remember. Shows will drop every Tuesday and I want you guys along for the ride and also follow me on social media Instagram, Twitter, YouTube at the Third Down Conversation.
Speaker 3:Nostalgia is killing the NBA. The 90s basketball Michael Jordan and Kobe was not as clean as y'all think it was. Y'all forget that Jordan left the league for two years. Y'all forget that Kobe rest in peace, quit on his team in the playoffs and did not shoot the basketball. So all this Kobe Jordan? Oh, he's not this, he's not that.
Speaker 1:That is propaganda you just heard a clip from Channing Frye, former NBA basketball player played for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He went through this whole breakdown as to why it's hard to find someone to be the face of the league. Now what he's alluding to in that clip is guys not wanting to be talked bad about. He used a explicit word. I won't use that word, but he pretty much said that guys don't want to be bashed on media outlets. Therefore they don't want to be the face of the league, which kind of gives credence to people saying that, let's say, not as mentally tough as the previous era. But I'm not here to debate that. If you want to think this new era is soft, go ahead. That's not my opinion. If you want to think the 90s was better, go ahead. I want to focus in on what he said about MJ and Kobe. He said that nostalgia is killing the NBA and nostalgia is just an affection for the past. He stated that the 90s wasn't as clean and highlighted that MJ retired or left the game for two years and how Kobe quit on his team when MJ retired. He retired because his father had just passed away. He was murdered, actually, and his father had always wanted him to play baseball. So, on the heels of winning a championship, losing your father, mj decided to leave the game to go play baseball because he knew that was his father's favorite sport. I don't knock him for that. I wouldn't use that as a well. Mj left because of the pressures, so I think he's missing the context on that. Now let's switch to Kobe. He states that Kobe quit on his team and what he's talking about is the 05-06 season. The Lakers are playing the Suns in the playoffs and this narrative that Kobe quit on his team is so, not true. It's so, not true, and the only people that really say this are the media, and the only people that really say this are the media. You haven't heard many players come out and say that Kobe quit on his team. They don't say that because they know Kobe is the ultimate competitor. But I'm going to back up what I'm going to say with facts, with numbers. As I started to research did Kobe really quit on his team? I came across a video from a guy by the name of Johnny Arnett that really broke this down.
Speaker 1:During the 2005-06 NBA season, kobe led the league in scoring. He averaged 35 a game that year. However, there was something very, very odd about that year for the Lakers. When Kobe scored not as much and got his teammates involved, the Lakers won more often. In fact, when Kobe scored less than 35, the Lakers were 15-3. When he scored 35 or more, they were 13-15.
Speaker 1:Now Phil Jackson is the coach. The offense that they ran the triangle, and Phil always felt it was best for the offense to be free-flowing. The triangle worked when the ball was moving, but when one player dominated the ball the offense became bogged down. He even told MJ this and got MJ to change his ways, aka trust his teammates to make the offense work, which would lead to wins During the playoffs against the Suns that season. The games they won Kobe averaged 23 a game. The games they lost Kobe averaged 39 a game on 49% shooting. So his numbers when they lost look great. But Kobe cares about winning. The series goes to a game seven and in the first half of game seven Kobe scores 23 points on 61% shooting. But the Lakers are down 15 going into the third quarter. This shows that Kobe trying to dominate the ball and force his offense was not working.
Speaker 1:So did Kobe quit? Nah, instead he tried to get his teammates involved because they had had success during the season when that was his approach. The end result did not work in the Lakers' favor. Kobe's teammates they shot 33% from the field. Combine that with the frustration that Kobe had with the organization. People just assumed that Kobe quit because he only took three shots in the second half. However, when you look at the numbers, put it all in context, it shows a player so desperate to win that he changed his game and did what everyone said he should do more pass the ball. But these are just my thoughts. Did Kobe quit? Nah, not Kobe. Nobody truly believes that this has been the Third Down Conversation. I am D-Turnip Seed. Jesus loves you and I'm out Peace. Thanks for watching.
