The NBA has to fix all-star weekend

[SleepingHero]

I'm curious to know the thoughts of the board of what the NBA put out last night.

First off the Steph&Ayesha game show might have been the cringiest thing I've ever seen from the NBA. WHY is that there? I know it's because they're sponsoring the show and trying to promote it, but that's entirely missing the point of what All-star weekend is supposed to be about.

If you're a first time watcher of the NBA, why would the NBA want to direct your attention away from it's players playing basketball? 

Speaking of playing basketball, the skills challenge wasn't too bad, but it's a bad look when your players are routinely missing layups and heaving half court shots. Not really much "skill" there. Also DJ Khaled is so trash how does this guy keep getting work? He just ran around on stage shouting "WE THE BEST" "ANOTHER ONE" while the actual performers drowsily sang. 

The dunk contest.... I mean did anyone else get a feeling midway through that this might have been the worst dunk contest of all time and the NBA should just kill the event? The entire momentum of the night was slaughtered after Jalen Green missed his dunk attempt for the 45th time. Even the announcers were questioning why this event was last. The Cleveland crowd barely murmured when the dunks actually went in, as if to say "please end this I want to go home." 

Oh yeah about the announcers, who at TNT thought they should have DWade on the broadcast? He was worse than as a judge for the dunk contest. I don't understand for the life of me why TNT doesn't just pay Barkley all the money in the world and have him just do these events with Kenny and Shaq. The NFL got Madden for every big game because people loved Madden. People love Barkley and we see him maybe once a week in between halves. 
 
Literally the only thing good about last night was the 3pt contest. It was entertaining. Fast paced. I didn't even mind the overt advertisement of the DEW SHOT. 

Any thoughts on how to fix all-star weekend? I know David Stern wasn't perfect, but at least he knew how to market All-Star weekend and they were always somewhat fun under his reign.

[cow]

Convince the stars to get back into the dunk contest.  The dunk contest is the only thing interesting about the All-Star weekend with the exception of the last few minutes of the game.  I wish they'd go back to the more traditional 3PT contest too.  Having those Sprite balls and a money ball rack without removing the money ball from the rest of the rack just makes comparing the scores against historical performances less interesting.

[Jason Terry]

Mid season tournament. Winning players get $1 million. Winning team gets a draft pick between lottery and back end of 1st rd. One stage in December. One stage at all star break. Have it in Vegas every year. Take a few games off the regular season length

[SleepingHero]

Convince the stars to get back into the dunk contest.  The dunk contest is the only thing interesting about the All-Star weekend with the exception of the last few minutes of the game.  I wish they'd go back to the more traditional 3PT contest too.  Having those Sprite balls and a money ball rack without removing the money ball from the rest of the rack just makes comparing the scores against historical performances less interesting.

I was thinking that too. The money rack doesn't make much sense to me. They'd never get rid of the SPRITE MOUNTAIN DEW ZONE™ because they'd never deny the sweet advertising dollars they bring in.

I remember reading an idea of bringing a 3v3 tournament of current and former players, like the BIG 3. How cool would it be to see Baron Davis vs. Deron Williams again? I'd much rather see that over a celebrity all-star game. 

They should also host more events of just players goofing off. I don't know what but I really enjoy watching Luka and Jokic throw the ball at each other. I mean wouldn't it be fun to watch an all-star game dodgeball contest? 

I'm just spit balling, but last night just wasn't it.

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Mid season tournament. Winning players get $1 million. Winning team gets a draft pick between lottery and back end of 1st rd. One stage in December. One stage at all star break. Have it in Vegas every year. Take a few games off the regular season length

So instead of an all-star game you'd scrap it entirely and run a pseudo playoffs? 

I don't mind the mid season tournament idea but that prize is too good and breaks the draft. The only real prize is money and a trophy. If teams buy in and give it prestige then it could mimic the types of soccer cups we have every year.

[vfromlmf]

Each of 30 NBA teams will send one player to a Saturday night charity tournament. 

A live lotto ball drop will reveal the names of 10 players to captain 10 3-man teams. 

The other 20 players will then line up, and the captains will pick teams in a two round draft. 

The 10 teams will be ranked and seeded using an algorithm sponsored by 2K Sports.

Teams will be placed in a bracket with four rounds of games.

Games will be half court tournament of Make-it-take-it to 21. 

All of this will be live, from drawing names, picking teams, and 9 games to 21.

The winning three man team will earn $1 million for a local charity from the winning captain's home city.

[SleepingHero]

Each of 30 NBA teams will send one player to a Saturday night charity tournament. 

A live lotto ball drop will reveal the names of 10 players to captain 10 3-man teams. 

The other 20 players will then line up, and the captains will pick teams in a two round draft. 

The 10 teams will be ranked and seeded using an algorithm sponsored by 2K Sports.

Teams will be placed in a bracket with four rounds of games.

Games will be half court tournament of Make-it-take-it to 21. 

All of this will be live, from drawing names, picking teams, and 9 games to 21.

The winning three man team will earn $1 million for a local charity from the winning captain's home city.

I like this one the most. The only downside I can see is teams sending end of bench guys, where it won't really capture the interest of casual fans.

But I'd love to see a 3v3 tournament kind of thing.

[MaxiThreeba]

The novelty of the all star game used to be getting to see players we only saw a few times a year because of TV scheduling.  We read the box scores and knew who the elite players were but all star weekend was when we got to see them all.  

We also weren’t fed endless highlight loops that desensitized us to incredibly athletic dunks.  We nostalgically wax poetic about the greatness of old dunk contests.  We then rant about how awful they are now when guys could do most of those old school dunks without even stretching.  

I think they need to make these Saturday night events part of the team event as well.  Select the dunkers, 3P shooters, skill participants and they are subject to a draft too.  Weight the Saturday night events into the score.  Create some competition between the two teams.  

As for the actual dunk contest; one idea for me is to lean into the nostalgia.  Make every dunker attempt 3 historical dunks in round 1.  Round 2 take it up a notch to the iconic dunk contest dunks.  Then the finals is the freestyle round.  

It takes the pressure off trying to invent 3-4-5 dunks to wow and impress.  You need 1-2 because the rest of the contest is all recreating things like Dr J, MJ, Vince.

[SleepingHero]

As for the actual dunk contest; one idea for me is to lean into the nostalgia.  Make every dunker attempt 3 historical dunks in round 1.  Round 2 take it up a notch to the iconic dunk contest dunks.  Then the finals is the freestyle round.  

It takes the pressure off trying to invent 3-4-5 dunks to wow and impress.  You need 1-2 because the rest of the contest is all recreating things like Dr J, MJ, Vince.

I absolutely LOVE this idea. Totally fixes that awkward silence while players keep missing their impossible dunks over and over. 

In fact I can't believe they haven't thought if that idea yet.

[dirkfansince1998]

Winner of the MLB allstar game used to have home field advantage in the finals but people didn´t like it.

[MaxiThreeba]

I absolutely LOVE this idea. Totally fixes that awkward silence while players keep missing their impossible dunks over and over. 

In fact I can't believe they haven't thought if that idea yet.

They could do a lot of things with the historical dunks too.  

- Spin the wheel to see which dunk you have to attempt; people love the wheel
- Bring out the legends whose dunks are being attempted
- Everyone attempts same dunk or each gets their own historical dunk to attempt
- Brackets to get to the freestyle finals

When they rip this idea from this board and save the dunk contest I will expect a check or at the very least some free tickets!

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Just get rid of the dunk contest. It's out lived it's usefulness. Jalen Green was a total embarrassment, trying to do these spectacular dunks, and didn't complete any of them. Most of the dunks have been done before.  The skills competition and 3 pt contest are the staples now.

[RasheedsBigWhiteSpot]

Rumor has it Cole Anthony is still trying to tie his shoes.

[Paul Gasol]

My idea from last year:

https://www.mavsboard.com/showthread.php?tid=852

[SwisherPrice]

The dunk contest is dead and there's no way to save it. Just swap it with the 3-point shootout and make that the final event of the night. It's just a buzzkill when the dunk contest turns into a dud and then the night is over. Plus maybe dunkers will have less pressure and can actually make their dunks on the first attempts

[Tunesquad23]

I agree with all of that. I also miss when the East Vs. West All Star games would compete against each other.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Steph is going ham at the AS game. He's 15-21 from 3 for 45 pts so far. 15 3's is a AS game record.

[SleepingHero]

Steph made that all-star game so enjoyable. I liked that Luka only played like 20 mins and took it very easy.

[Nowitzki Way]

The All Star weekend has become an unwatchable event. The dunk contest is terrible. I like the idea to have the contestants pick one of the legendary dunks already done. But i agree, its never going to be fun until the stars agree to do it.

The game itself is a joke, and has been for a long time. Go back to East vs West. This picking teams crap is stupid.

 If they are going to trick it up, why not go USA vs. the World? Id rather see this :

World Team

Luka
Embiid
Giannis
Jokic
Gobert
Sabonis
Ben Simmons
Siakim
Wiggins
Jamal Murray
Gilgeous Alexander
Vucevic
Rubio
Dort

USA Team

Lebron
Durant
Steph
Harden
Donovan Mitchell
Booker
Kawhi
Paul George
Trae
Tatum
Klay
CP3
Butler
KAT


That would be fun to see all that size on The World Team vs all the ball handlers on the USA Team

[ItsGoTime]

The All Star weekend has become an unwatchable event. T

Haven’t watched for a few years since getting rid of cable and a dvr. I haven’t missed a thing.

[Jommybone]

Move the trade deadline to the day after the all star game. Waive the tampering rules for anything that takes place on camera during game day. Let the players place bets on each other (limited to their all-star-game earnings) for a host of event and in-game happenings, again, as long as they do so on camera.