A Year For The Basketball Purist

Remember the 1990s when the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls were all the rage in the midst of their dynasty? Regardless of which town you were in, you didn’t have to go far to see someone wearing Bulls’ paraphernalia of some kind. If you had an extra ticket to a Bulls’ game during that era, you had no problem finding someone to attend with you, even if you lived somewhere other than Chicago. The game’s popularity expanded in this star-crazed society; folks would purchase tickets to games with no guarantee of a view of the court if Michael was in town. Then in the late 1990s the dynasty ended and you’d have been hard-pressed to find a Bulls’ jersey in Chicago. The casual basketball fan, who represented the spike in attendance and television ratings worldwide, had lost interest and left the sport to the purists once again. Due to recent events, 2019 appears to be a year for the basketball purist–who will watch the game regardless of who’s playing–as well.

THE PURIST AND THE CASUAL FAN

There’s nothing wrong with being a casual fan of any sport. Not everyone is interested in the intricacies involved in making a play work. For busting up the annual family entertainment budget to see one live sporting event, folks want to be entertained as well. We may be critical of the casual fan for only coming around when the going’s good (and for voting in Chicago’s B.J. Armstrong as a starter in the 1994 NBA All-Star Game), but to be truthful, a sport like basketball suffers ratings-wise when only the purists are paying attention. The casual fan kept the NBA afloat when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird came aboard, and plenty of non-sports fans tuned in during the Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls’ championship years.

College basketball has also proven to be dependent upon recognizable star players, and with the top high-schoolers sticking around for only one year before making themselves NBA Draft-eligible, more teams with upperclassmen and roster stability but fewer household names are making extended runs in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, the one-and-done players tend to gravitate towards the more recognizable basketball programs, and if that player/team combo doesn’t advance far into the tournament, it’s a double hit.

That brings us to 2019, a year for the basketball purist like we haven’t seen in at least a decade.

And why is that?

AN NBA POSTSEASON WITHOUT LEBRON JAMES

Basketball fans who’d normally tune in to root for or against Lebron James, in addition to those who just wanted to watch a legend at work, don’t have that option during this year’s postseason as he rests his tired 34-year-old frame after a decade of year-round basketball. The good news is that the “Lebron versus Michael” arguments won’t be quite as prevalent this summer.

The bad news is that Lebron’s absence has been accompanied by a noticeable decline in television ratings, at least through the first round. Several non-competitive first-round series haven’t helped, and for the first time since 2010, the Eastern Conference representative in the NBA Finals will not have Lebron on its roster. And though the Eastern Conference semifinal matchups are compelling and loaded with top players, there is no clear favorite.

Parity is not a friend of NBA ratings, either.

Historically, the NBA’s formula for maximizing interest has been clear: dominant team, dominant player, or Lakers versus Celtics. The only one of those options available for the 2019 postseason are the Golden State Warriors, who still have to be considered the favorites despite not looking like their usual dominant selves lately. Their Western Conference semifinal matchup with Houston will help drive up the ratings, but Portland versus Denver or San Antonio is a purist’s special.

A NON-MARQUEE NCAA FINAL FOUR

The 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament’s Final Four was once again played in a football stadium, on a stage. All the recognizable teams with the one-and-done 19-year-olds headed for the NBA in June checked out of the tournament before reaching the regional finals and prior. There were no mid-majors crashing the party this time, no George Masons or Butlers or Loyolas. But despite the fact that all four participants were members of so-called power conferences: Michigan State (Big Ten), Texas Tech (Big 12), Auburn (Southeastern Conference) and eventual champion Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference), there was a distinct lack of buzz surrounding the big event.

Outside of Michigan State, none of the other participants were regulars this deep into tournament play. One has to wonder if schools like Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, or a handful of other schools recognized as basketball powerhouses must be part of the proceedings in order to generate excitement. In other words, on that Final Four stage, only about 10 of the 350-plus Division 1 basketball schools would garner interest from other than the true basketball junkie, at least two of those schools would have to be involved and they’d better meet in the final game.

AND WE WERE JUST WORRIED ABOUT THE MID-MAJORS

So even with all the discomfort caused by the mere possibility of mid-majors sneaking into the Final Four, an all-power conference four including, say, Wake Forest (ACC), Vanderbilt (SEC), Iowa (Big Ten) and Baylor (Big 12) wouldn’t have common folks planning their weekend and following Monday evening around the event, either. And we saw what happened in New York when a small school (Lipscomb) advanced to the NIT Championship game. With the one-and-done rule/age limit possibly eliminated in a couple of years, this is what the future holds for college basketball.

The good news is that since the Final Four contests are now held in these cavernous venues, over 70 percent of the folks attending won’t be able to see that a mid-major or non-powerhouse is on the stage anyway.

PURISTS CARRY THE LOAD IN 2019

We’re not quite at late 1970s level in terms of apathy towards the NBA, but the league has to be concerned if its ratings are buoyed only by the presence of players who come along only once every couple of decades, and its remaining star power isn’t quite enough to attract viewers.

We scoff at the idea, but this is a case where the “next” generational superstar is needed. And this needs to happen before or soon after the Golden State Warriors current roster disbands, before Lebron James (who will turn 35 in December) retires and before the Lakers AND Celtics are championship material at the same time, which could take awhile.

The purists will carry the freight in the meantime.

Photo by Ramiro Pianarosa on Unsplash