This year's Indiana All-Star Weekend was supposed to be the most spectacular event in Adam Shaw's 10-year tenure at the helm of the NBA, but it backfired.
After last year's All-Star Game recorded the lowest ratings in history, Shaw teamed up with the league's top bras, especially Joe Dumas, to create a more competitive game that would allow the players to give their all, rather than just trying to avoid injury and embarrassment.
Dumas visited all 30 teams' training camps throughout the offseason, emphasizing that the All-Star Game is not just a celebrity show. And Celtics legend Larry Bird raised his arms and shouted at the All-Star Legend Luncheon, begging the current stars to fight hard, and the audience applauded.
Twenty-four All-Stars stepped into Sunday night's game with pressure on them. Fans have long since grown tired of defenseless open dunks and long-range three-pointers, as well as situations where the other nine players barely run. This generation of players has been criticized for their All-Star Weekend performances, from top stars refusing to participate in the slam dunk contest to opting for dinner with their agents or marketing team instead of going to ** after the All-Star Game Saturday.
In the end, the East won 211-186 over the West, but it was just a walk-through with no defense, no desire to compete. This is by no means the scenario that Xiao Hua and Dumas originally envisioned, and perhaps it is also a wake-up call to Xiao Hua: the league is still dominated by players.
Shaw hoped that 2024 would be different, but unfortunately failed.
Gone are the days when Shaquille O'Neal had a camera in his hand and his boots** and Kevin Garnett cheering on Paul Pearce in the three-point contest. Instead, influencers flooded celebrity games and became props for slam dunk contests.
All-Star Weekend used to be a week for the NBA to showcase its best platform after the Super Bowl and before the start of the baseball season. It used to be a showcase for the league, and no matter how cold the weather in Indiana, the league wanted to show its development and strength.
However, this has not been the case in the past few yearsThe game lost its luster.
Mr. Shaw talked about changes, such as the removal of the points-chasing system that confused many, and the All-Star draft, which looked innovative but looked awkward when implemented.
We did our first player draft — and the first time I was captain in a Chicago game, it was all the way around with the scoring system," said 10-time All-Star Stephen Curry. ”
And then it got a little weird because of the draft. We've talked about it in a number of meetings. It's kind of like our privilege when you're in the arena, but you're here for hours before the game. It's very different from our normal game-day experience, like how we prepare our bodies and so on. So it's hard to get to the normal level. ”
Curry talked about the need for players to strike a competitive balance in midseason exhibition games.
I think it's a balance," Curry added, "and we talked about it a little bit. It's just the right energy for everyone to know the pace of the game, the physicality of the game, etc., and you can make adjustments, whether you're a starter, a substitute, or just a little more defensive. ”
I think it would be helpful to cancel the pre-draft so that people don't have to stand for long periods of time. The format of the East and West, it would be helpful to get more familiar with each other. Like you said, it's not going to be Game Seven, it's not going to be the playoff vibe, but it should be somewhere in between. ”
Shaw admits that when it comes to entertainment, the league may have gone a little too far.
I think we sat down and talked to the players, and we said, okay, we have to go back to basketball, back to basketball, so to speak. It's about the game. At the end of the day, it's how we're judged. ”
I think sometimes when you're in the All-Star Game and you're having fun with all the events and parties and all the other things, people often say to me – and I've been doing this for years – before the Sunday night game even starts: it's "Incredible All-Star Weekend!" ”
And then, of course, if the game is bad, then all of you are just doing your job and reporting to the world what's going on here, reporting that it's a bad All-Star Game because it's not going to be exciting. ”
Shaw said the league will continue to work to find a balance to make the All-Star Game fun and competitive.
We wanted to find a way to make the game more competitive while still being entertaining," he said, "We want people to enjoy watching it, but we also want the players to take it seriously." It's hard to do, but I think we'll find a way. ”
2024 NBA All-Star Game