With steroids fully encompassing the MLB’s attention, player misconduct and a certain dog-fighting scandal doing the same for the NFL, the NBA has continued a steady move back to where it had found itself throughout the ’80s and ’90s.
When Michael Jordan retired in ’98 and then came back and retired in ’00, the demeanor of the NBA took a huge blow. The Nielsen Ratings of the 1999 NBA Finals dropped 7.4 points, from 18.7 to 11.3. In losing Michael Jordan the NBA lost not only huge endorsements, but fans and the greatest basketball player I’ve ever been privileged to see in my lifetime as well. It may have taken some time, but the NBA is back and is just as strong as it was 10 years ago, gaining a stronger international fan base while inoculating itself with young and diverse talent.
After losing Jordan, the NBA looked at their predicament and tried to remedy it to the best of their abilities. ESPN and the national media helped their cause by continually hyping up 16 and 17 year old players by showcasing high school games on national television and thrusting these teens into the limelight. The NBA hoped to have found potential saviors in the likes of Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James. But boy, did they hit the jackpot.
The NBA age restriction rule took effect directly after the 2004 Draft in which Dwight Howard was selected first overall by the Orlando Magic. Fast forward to today and each of those players’ stat lines read like a straight-A report card.
Howard is averaging a double double with 21.7 points per game and 14.5 rebounds this season, a two-time All-Star and not to mention coming off a huge win in the Slam Dunk Contest. Who really cares if he didn’t actually dunk the ball when he donned a Superman cape? The man was so high up he was able to throw the ball in the basket.
Continuing on, Anthony is also a two-time All-Star averaging 26.3 ppg and 7.3 rebounds this year while leading a Nuggets team that, if they can stay ahead of Golden State, claim a spot in the playoffs in a now even more stacked Western Conference (I’ll touch on that later).
Then you turn to King James. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he is the one carrying the torch for the future. The 23 year-old is averaging 30.2 ppg as well as 8.1 rpg and 7.5 assists, almost identical to Michael Jordan’s stat line in his fifth year in the NBA (32.5 ppg, 8 rpg and 8 apg). Not to mention that this man-beast has won the All-Star MVP award almost 67 % of the time he’s played in the game (2/3 for those not counting) as well as scoring the 29 of the team’s last 30 points in the Eastern Conference Finals leading his team to the NBA Finals while scoring 48 points and showcasing one of the most spectacular individual performances ever seen.
Yes, one may argue that with all this talent the NBA has still been posting continuous all-time low Nielson ratings but there are two factors that must be considered. First, the NBA has seen the resurgence of fan-attended games with attendance steadily increasing over the past several years. Instead of watching games on television or simply not watching at all, fans, especially younger fans, are making their way out to the games. The league has set attendance records in both the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons and looks to be on pace to surpass that mark once again.
Secondly, the whirlwind of blockbuster trades within the past week or two has already and will continue to broaden the NBA’s fan-base. In the month of February alone Shaq, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Ben Wallace and Mike Bibby have all changed jerseys. Mark my words, the Western Conference Playoffs and even possibly the Eastern Conference, now with the exciting prospect of a newly formed Cavaliers team taking on the “Boston Three-Party” in the Conference Finals, this year will be the most exciting basketball seen since the days of the short shorts, knee-socks and Bill Laimbeer. So while you’re flipping through the channels watching Roger Clemens in Washington or happen to see Adam “Pac-Man” Jones flying off the top turnbuckle, stop and watch the NBA, you won’t be disappointed.
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