About a month ago, the NBA released a new idea in hopes of saving their All Star Game. Anyone who watches that game (and the entire weekend really) knows it’s certainly not what it used to be, and as a result, we were given this new idea

Today, the league announced this has been approved and is coming our way in a few months

At the time this was first announced as a possibility, I blogged about how this new format in my opinion doesn’t really solve any of the issues that currently exist with the All Star Game. How does this solve the whole “the players are mailing in this game” thing? Just because there’s some sort of fugazi tournament and “pick up” style? How does any of that guarantee that players will try more and actually give a shit which is the actual problem with the All Star Game? I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but the whole thing seems a little unnecessary. I’m not even someone who is anti-new ideas. I love the Play In, I think the NBA Cup is fine and is serving its purpose. Change and innovation don’t always have to mean things are bad.

But this All Star idea? This may be where Adam Silver loses me. Change for the sake of change while coming up with something that in theory doesn’t even really improve anything seems like he’s maybe a little drunk with new idea power and is just addicted to changing things by adding more “tournaments”.

You don’t take my word for it, just listen to Kevin Durant

See, this is a guy who gets it. Look at his face while all the rules are being explained. It’s how I think we all feel

I also have to agree with KD in terms of his idea to revamp the game and bring us back to the glory days. Hell, I even blogged it at the time

Maybe it’s because I’m an old now, but I honestly think all you need to do is go back to the classics. East vs West, players get to wear their own jerseys, you know, like the good old days. Enough of this captains/picking rosters bullshit or fake tournament gimmicks.

All you hear right now in NBA discourse is how people are longing for the days of the previous era, and you can’t tell me this new pick up idea will have a better success rate/interest level than if we just went back to the glory days of the All Star Weekend. Few people on the planet have played in more All Star Games than Kevin Durant, so I tend to put some weight into his opinion. Even he knows that reviving this shit

is the way to go. If you want rivalries and players to give a shit, go back to pitting the East vs the West. The second that went away and guys just picked their friends, all the intrigue was lost. Sure there was that one year we had Giannis vs Harden beef, but overall the product has suffered. 

And like KD also said, maybe this is just something we’re going to have to see in action before we know if it was a good idea or not. I’m open to that possibility. But I also think trying to be so outside of the box in an effort to spark interest and compete level when really you only have to keep things simple is how you turn people off. Not everything needs to be some complicated fancy new idea or gimmick. Sometimes it’s OK to go backwards and give the people what they want, especially when it comes to the All Star Game.