i have so many thoughts about this. not the least of which is that half of the league's problem is they televise dozens of people essentially saying the contemporary NBA is trash. i love basketball, i love the NBA, and i think the "ratings" issue is at least fifty percent made up, but let's put that aside and talk about what else went wrong with this format.
number one, the BIGGEST issue, there was damn near no basketball played. it was a 3 hour program with maybe 15 minutes of actual basketball. and i do think this kinda goes both ways. for the fans who were talking about how nobody cares about the regular All-Star game format and that the players are the ones ruining it, you kinda got served, right? because the most exciting aspects of these games were those rare moments where the players really let go, had fun, and did a bunch of crazy stuff on-court. yeah, it's not Game 7 of the Finals. we get it. there's no real stakes but this kinda weeds out anybody who was seriously arguing that a straight up basketball game could not be made to work. and then kinda the other way around too, right? maybe if it wasn't on the players, then it's on the league for not giving them a competitive format of play. you got served there too! because this didn't work on its own, and then on top of that, players may have been even less engaged than they were.
I won't be the ten millionth guy to claim I have the solution. everybody and their momma swears they know how to fix it. I don't! but I have some ideas I think could be pretty fun! so here's a brief run down of ideas I think could be incorporated. then of course, feel free to say your own or vent any annoyances you have with the league in the comments lol.
this is a pretty radical idea, but I think some version of a competition where your actual All-Star selection is actually in jeopardy is the way to go. think of it as defending their belt, or a competition to prove who is actually an All-Star. I've thought about this in a few different formats, and I can't really perfect it, but I think if you had some sort of All-Star versus All-Snub game, it might be cool. i dont hate or love bracket style but it could effective here. lets say you have 4 teams of 8 where the 2 teams who make it to the final keep their All-Star selections and everybody else loses and goes down simply as an All-Star "candidate." or idk some very vague version of that. not really married to any specific shape here just the broad concept.
other events to address, the Friday night game: Celebrity "Team" game where there are 4 teams of celebrities divided by the team they're a fan of, or maybe even the city they're actually from. one for the host city, always, and 3 other teams of like "Celebrity Bulls" or "Celebrity Warriors" or whoever are the other best teams in the league. the Celebs get real team jerseys with their names printed, they're coached by a player from the actual team, and the winner gets to boast that they have the coolest idk "cross media" appeal or whatever the hell. or maybe organize rec league basketball in 4 NBA cities, and the winners of each city's bracket comes in and plays for the title of Best Fans. some version of a Friday night game where fans are invested and engaged with an NBA team, but in a weird and wacky way.
OR- a 4 team bracket made of up of famous professional baseball players, professional hockey players, football players, and futbol players. they duke it out to see who is best.
3-point contest: let there be some mild distractions! lights and music, designed for each contestant by the OTHER players who are competing. give players the option to have the ball passed to them. maybe one of the balls they have to shoot is heavy as shit and another one is super light. i dont know. it doesn't need to be a major change just something a liiiiittle more crazy.
and the Dunk Contest, i have to be honest here- i think you have to leave it alone. i don't think there's a solution, but i know for a fact that if there's any chance somebody can come in and rejuvenate the energy just purely with their own ability to dunk, you DON'T wanna be the commissioner who stops us from getting that show. at some point, you gotta settle for real basketball. and real basketball, real dunking, is HARD. personally i think that any changes to the dunk contest CANNOT in any way make it an easier or less difficult contest in that sense. that, to me, would be an even grosser display and a travesty to basketball culture. if we have to endure a couple trash ones, so be it. the one change i could maybe suggest is that you get way more contestants, like 10 or something, and they all get 1 minute to try the craziest dunk they can do, rapid fire back to back contestants. fans vote on the best 3, and the best 3 go to the traditional judge style contest. i think a huge reason the contest feels empty is because so much of it is downtime. draw interest by having more players and making their attempts quick.
and then broader NBA "ratings" things: just make it possible for people to watch games. it is damn near impossible to actually watch most NBA games within the confines of the law LMFAO
so... those are just some of my thoughts and ideas. would love for this to be a discussion for people to bring their own ideas in. and as always... no hate. keep it nice in here brah. peace.