Interest has waned in the NBA in recent years, and I can safely say I'm speaking on behalf of thousands of sports fans across this country. Attendance, ratings and merchandise sales would all back me up on that point. Several factors can be pointed to in regards to the reasoning behind the drop-off in popularity for the NBA. The image of players, the lockout, the emergence of new up and coming sports and entertainment options, but none of those may have played as major a role as the product itself.

The high paced, beautiful, fluid game of the 80s and early 90s had become replaced by essentialy football on the hardwood. Fast breaks, deft passing, smoothly run offenses and the pure jumpshot were pushed to the wayside in favor of lock down defense, shot blocking big men, bruisers banging on one another inside and of course, the cliche'd lost art of the mid range jumper. The NBA game seemed to reach a pace of play that rivaled that of baseball, despite the fact the rules of the game were designed to prohibit such slow and plodding shows. 

I can't pinpoint the exact time my interest in the NBA began to taper off, but it had a lot to do with watching the plodding, methodical style of the San Antonio Spurs reel of NBA championships. The ever intense, but often difficult to watch Heat/Knicks rivalries that had more contact and physical play in Madison Square Garden than most heavyweight fights of that era had something to do with it. It had to do with the Lakers dumping it into Shaquille O'Neal and allowing his brute force to force his way to the basket and force the Lakers into NBA titles. A game which once required skill on an almost artistic level now was just all about brute force. The athleticism, the grace, and the creativity that helped make guys like Dr. J, Dominique, Jordan and Magic so much fun to watch were no longer the traits required to win NBA titles. Now it was all about being more physical, being bigger, and being stronger. Not neccessarily about being a better basketball player.

Basketball games were supposed to be about offense, and scoring, and being able to be creative to make things happen with the ball in the hands of great offensive players. There is a reason the great nicknames were "Air", and "Pistol Pete", and "Magic". It's because of the amazing things they did offensively. Michael Jordan is one of the greatest defensive players of all-time, but it's his offense that made fans buy his jerseys, and his offense that carried his Bulls. Basketball games were supposed to feature both the winner and loser scoring in the triple digits. However, during this century that has changed. You were seeing playoff games with scores in the 80s. You were seeing teams who would eventually win championships, or play for them, score under 70 points in playoff games. How can professional basketball players fail to score 70 points with a shot clock and 48 minutes to play while high school teams at the same time can score more than that, without a shot clock, and in just 32 minutes? Something wasn't right.

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