I was shocked

As a lifelong basketball lover, I still watch. But I agree that I've never been more disinterested than I am now.

The style of play, the officiating, the flopping, just all contribute to these 130-125 track meets.

Your post is extreme, and you didn't really provide any specifics for as to why you hated it so much. Mind elaborating?

Officiating is fricking terrible. The league needs to allow defenders to defend and get rid of the throw up shots to get FTs.

The key to enjoy watching the NBA is to be sure you understand WHAT you are watching and adjust your viewing habits accordingly. During the regular season...most players AND teams...don't actually give anywhere close to their best effort...to win a particular game. Of the 3 major sports. the NBA is, by far, the worst in this respect.

So...you just watch teams that, relatively speaking, seem to make a solid effort. And...to get even deeper...you may, just watch a team because they have certain player(s) that seem to give a solid effort each and every night.
I have maybe 6-8 NBA teams that I can enjoy watching...and quite a few individual players...that I can "zero in on" during a game...and those individuals can make a game worth watching even though that team might NOT be worth watching, overall...JMO

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Could not agree more. Bring back games where teams make pivotal offensive and (are allowed to make) DEFENSIVE plays to win 93 to 92.

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Do you guys really remember the 90s? Were you even aware then?

I was and this is what people said: outside of the Bulls, the difficulty in teams getting to 100 points regularly was a major problem making the games borderline unwatchable. All of the uncalled fouls and hard play made the game boring. Bring back the 80s with showtime and scoring and fun.

And the NBA knew it. They even moved the 3 point line in for a few seasons to try to increase scoring, which in fact decreased scoring because it drew the defense in making it even harder to score.

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Do you guys really remember the 90s? Were you even aware then?

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I'm almost 40 so yea I remember.

In the 80s, teams averaged 109. In the 90s they averaged 103.

But Game 5 of the 05 Finals is still one of the best basketball games I've ever watched. (SAS won 96-95).

No-one is saying they want to see defensive players mauling scorers and getting away with it, but I also don't want to see teams shoot 43 free-throws in a single game.

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Don't reward flopping, swing throughs, or foul merchants. Reward good defense but also reward good offense.

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There it is. Spot on.

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In the 80s, teams averaged 109. In the 90s they averaged 103.

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According to basketball reference, your numbers are off. The 80’s are widely known as the decade with the highest scoring, so I didn’t even bother to verify if 109 is correct, but in the 90’s the average was 100 ppg. And really, that’s only because the first half of the 90s was coming down off the highs of the 80’s. By the mid 90’s, ppg dipped below 100 and hit an all-time low of 91 ppg in 1998-99. The average for the second half of the 90s was 96 ppg, and if you look at the 10 years from 1995 to 2005, the average was 95 ppg.

It was very boring. Offenses consisted of either throwing the ball down to the big man for a post up, or a guard clearing everyone out to go 1 on 1. It was an iso-fest whether it was a big man or a guard. Walk the ball up and iso. The game was slow and boring.

That’s why they changed the rules. They wanted to encourage a faster-paced, more team-oriented game, and I believe they achieved that.

And I don’t see how 3 pointers are boring. An offense breaks down a defense and finds an open shooter… that’s basketball. That’s what basketball is all about.