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NBA Summer League Wild Overreaction Thread

If I'm ESPN, I'm refusing to broadcast summer league games in the future without some kind of guarantee that the high profile draftees actually play, barring legit injuries. Fans don't tune in to watch no names playing for two-way, G-league spots, or European contracts. They tune in to see the big names who are the future NBA stars. It's in the league's best interest that they play as well. It's the launching point to create fan interest, market potential marquee players, and create buzz for the upcoming season.

It's like the teams are some nerdy kid and the high profile picks are new Star Wars action figures that the nerd is too afraid to unwrap because it might scratch them. Holy hell, we're now load managing summer league. What a frig'n joke.

Perhaps some of these players are legit injured, but as Andy Larsen pointed out in a recent column, injury reports are routinely manipulated, unreliable, untrustworthy, and all too often can't be taken seriously.

What may be rational for the team or individual player is not rational for the league as a whole. I'm not sure that the league office can do, but it can't not do anything, or summer league is going to end up like the All Star game: an exercise in pointlessness that will turn fans off rather than draw them in.

There's so much about the modern NBA that is almost begging fans to disengage.
 
Schrödinger's Gerbil said:
If I'm ESPN, I'm refusing to broadcast summer league games in the future without some kind of guarantee that the high profile draftees actually play, barring legit injuries. Fans don't tune in to watch no names playing for two-way, G-league spots, or European contracts. They tune in to see the big names who are the future NBA stars. It's in the league's best interest that they play as well. It's the launching point to create fan interest, market potential marquee players, and create buzz for the upcoming season.

It's like the teams are some nerdy kid and the high profile picks are new Star Wars action figures that the nerd is too afraid to unwrap because it might scratch them. Holy hell, we're now load managing summer league. What a frig'n joke.

Perhaps some of these players are legit injured, but as Andy Larsen pointed out in a recent column, injury reports are routinely manipulated, unreliable, untrustworthy, and all too often can't be taken seriously.

What may be rational for the team or individual player is not rational for the league as a whole. I'm not sure that the league office can do, but it can't not do anything, or summer league is going to end up like the All Star game: an exercise in pointlessness that will turn fans off rather than draw them in.

There's so much about the modern NBA that is almost begging fans to disengage.
Click to expand...
Bro it's July. What else is ESPN going to show?
 
Schrödinger's Gerbil said:
If I'm ESPN, I'm refusing to broadcast summer league games in the future without some kind of guarantee that the high profile draftees actually play, barring legit injuries. Fans don't tune in to watch no names playing for two-way, G-league spots, or European contracts. They tune in to see the big names who are the future NBA stars. It's in the league's best interest that they play as well. It's the launching point to create fan interest, market potential marquee players, and create buzz for the upcoming season.

It's like the teams are some nerdy kid and the high profile picks are new Star Wars action figures that the nerd is too afraid to unwrap because it might scratch them. Holy hell, we're now load managing summer league. What a frig'n joke.

Perhaps some of these players are legit injured, but as Andy Larsen pointed out in a recent column, injury reports are routinely manipulated, unreliable, untrustworthy, and all too often can't be taken seriously.

What may be rational for the team or individual player is not rational for the league as a whole. I'm not sure that the league office can do, but it can't not do anything, or summer league is going to end up like the All Star game: an exercise in pointlessness that will turn fans off rather than draw them in.

There's so much about the modern NBA that is almost begging fans to disengage.
Click to expand...
I generally think you make good points in your posts, but I can't go with you here. Summer league is for development. Period.

If ESPN wants to latch on, that's fine, but their goals should never eclipse the goals of the team in preparing their youngsters for what's coming up (including managing injuries) and giving a chance to players we'll never hear of again.

I don't really see your point about the failings of the "modern NBA" here. Back in the day, there was either: a) no summer league at all, or b) only very small summer leagues that only some NBA teams participated in and that had rather poor attendance and TV coverage. These days we have wall-to-wall coverage of all games with all teams participating. And yet we have posts all over the internet now that seem to suggest that the NBA is conspiring to withhold their players from us by having teams following their doctors' advice.
 
idiot said:
I generally think you make good points in your posts, but I can't go with you here. Summer league is for development. Period.

If ESPN wants to latch on, that's fine, but their goals should never eclipse the goals of the team in preparing their youngsters for what's coming up (including managing injuries) and giving a chance to players we'll never hear of again.

I don't really see your point about the failings of the "modern NBA" here. Back in the day, there was either: a) no summer league at all, or b) only very small summer leagues that only some NBA teams participated in and that had rather poor attendance and TV coverage. These days we have wall-to-wall coverage of all games with all teams participating. And yet we have posts all over the internet now that seem to suggest that the NBA is conspiring to withhold their players from us by having teams following their doctors' advice.
Click to expand...
After seeing Tatum, Haliburton, Lilliard all go done with the most serious injury a player can have
nobody wants Flagg, Bailey, Harper etc to miss entire season or more with an Achilles injury
Many people want to shorten season because of too much wear and tear on players
 
I honestly wanted to see if Emoni Bates in the summer league again, just to see if he improved but Cleveland has cut ties with him, and is now an unrestricted free agent after two years later. Wow...
 
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