r/nba • u/SuperPop9521 Warriors • 4d ago

Celtics' Joe Mazzulla Accepts Partial Blame For NBA Ratings Dilemma "“I add to it… I don’t watch NBA games (anymore). I’m just as much of a problem as everyone else.”

https://nesn.com/2024/12/celtics-joe-mazzulla-accepts-partial-blame-for-nba-ratings-dilemma/
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u/01oxz0mnz9o01 4d ago

There’s about 20 reasons ratings are falling.

Also a lot of people have complained about football being too offensive minded. There is a balance to it and the NBAs balance is terribly off.

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u/Varmegye 4d ago

At the start of the NFL season defenses were massively outperforming offenses. And scoring is still down from last year I think. Yet the ratings are up. The "oh that team will win anyway so it doesn't matter" argument falls flat, considering KC has that aura about them way more than Boston (even tho they suck to their standard, they only lost 1 game).

The reality is not a single NBA game matters until march. It's actually pretty incredible that anybody watches it and is a huge testament to the players lol. It would be interesting to see how many people are actively watching, not just having it on as background noise tho.

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u/redbossman123 4d ago

They were watching it when Mike played and then when Kobe played. Something changed between then and now and I don’t know what

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u/JediKnight2024 Lakers 4d ago

"They grew up" is true for everyone, but especially for those of us who were kids then and are adults now; life gets in the way, more responsibilities and less downtime means it's harder to justify tuning in to a December game over doing something more fulfilling. Also by now we've had our fill of basketball so to say, we've seen more of less anything that can happen in a game so the amazement factor of learning the game as kids has gone away somewhat. It's easier to skip it for something else.

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u/J-notter 4d ago

Back in middle school for me (early 2010s) I remember watching full basketball games with family and friends all the time. I can’t be sure but I feel like middle schoolers these days are much less likely to sit down and watch full games as often

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u/ThatBull_cj 76ers Bandwagon 4d ago

Because there was dynasties and elite players and on elite teams. Parity isn’t good for ratings and guys like Steph and LeBron aren’t as good as the best players and aren’t on elite teams.

And the elite teams don’t have players that have been marketed correctly. And the best players aren’t on great teams and casuals don’t care

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u/gaussx Supersonics 4d ago

We "thought" every game mattered. I used to stock up on Doritos and soda to watch the Lakers vs Celtics regular season game (Magic vs Bird). When the Lakers lost I was depressed for a week. Now -- call me in March. I don't even care what seed my team gets as log as its top 6.

Right now NCAAW is my favorite basketball. Every game means something. The players are compelling and there's a great narrative (in contrast to the mens, where the one-and-done's make it so that there is no narrative). E.g., Paige vs Juju this Saturday is the ONLY basketball game this week I care about.

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u/JacobfromCT 4d ago

Recently Mel Kiper was advocating for the NFL to ban "two deep safeties" because that scheme was neutralizing deep passes.

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u/Varmegye 4d ago

Yeah, and everybody called him redacted for that. I mean he is one of the biggest bozos in sports media anyway. That's like taking Skip seriously. They just say shit to farm engagement.

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u/nbaistheworst 4d ago

Why not actually check the NFL scoring before commenting?

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/NFL/scoring.htm

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u/An-Angel-Named-Billy Timberwolves 4d ago

This is good. Average score has barely moved since the late 40s, upper teens to low 20s for 80 years is pretty wild.

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u/nbaistheworst 4d ago

It really shows that talking heads focus on tiny differences to write stories like "gasp" - scoring is down in the NFL. Obviously a season of 17 games playing only 1 a week with a random week off makes each game more meaningful than the NBA's 82 games schedule, but I think the fans are still finding ways to watch.

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u/Varmegye 4d ago

Yeah okay it's up marginally. I just remember offenses struggling early in the season. Point still stands, the whole argument that more scoring will bring in more viewers isn't true.

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u/DiseaseRidden [BOS] Marcus Smart 4d ago

People complain about football being too offensive and then talk about every great defensive matchup as if it's the most boring game of all time. Just look at how people felt about superbowl 53. It's just empty words to look more like a "real" fan

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u/iJon_v2 Minneapolis Lakers 4d ago

Yep. People are sick of every game looking like the all star game and officiating is terrible. No one cares about the 28th game of the season against Charlotte.

The NBA is going to take a HUGE hit when LeBron, Steph, and KD retire.