Adam Silver is Going to Kill Somebody; He Really Tried Hard

Adam, Joe Dumars and the league spent the last year trashing last season's ASG in Utah only to get the mother of all abortions in Indy.

NBA's All-Star Game has become unwatchable, and it also might be unfixable

… the most boring display of basketball you could ever see from players of this caliber. 

If it wasn't my job to watch that game, I would've changed the channel within five minutes. I can't imagine I'm alone in that sentiment. 

… it's a joke. … There wasn't one second of competition. 

…Damian Lillard… laced a pull-up half-courter. 

                                                      MVP Damian Lillard, the thrill patent on his face.
 

Tyrese Haliburton drained five 3s in 92 seconds. 

Whoo-hoo. 

I suppose there's a contingent of fans out there who think anything an NBA basketball player does is cool, but let me tell you, there is nothing cool or fun or entertaining about watching tall guys dunk basketballs on unguarded baskets. … Karl-Anthony Towns scored the dumbest 50 points in basketball history. 

The fact that the West made just 35% of its 3s is actually the most laughable part. Watching guys make 3-pointers against zero defense is boring enough. Watching them clank them from all over the court is more akin to punishment. 

… For most of the game on Sunday night my colleagues and I spent our time in a chat room dreaming up miracle-pill alternatives to spice up the snoozing game that was playing out in our backgrounds. 

So what we have left is a game that gets played out according to modern basketball's most time-honored unwritten rule: Nobody tries in All-Star games. Nobody plays defense. Nobody gets hurt. And nobody wins. Not the West, not the East, and certainly not the fans, who are being positively patronized by this apathetic product. 

If the players had any pride, they would give the fans that pay their salaries something worth tuning in for. But the league is soft now. You can hardly get players to play back-to-back nights inregular games. Good luck getting them to go hard in an exhibition. 

The right answer might be scrapping All-Star week altogether. Or just do the skills competitions, preferably coming up with imaginative ways to spice those up (Steph vs. Sabrina was great start). Name the All-Stars for the recognition, but forget the actual game. Build this extra week into the regular season, stretching the schedule enough to eliminate the majority of back to backs, if not all of them. 

[If that is what would happen, that is the solution. Brad Botkin writes that confidently. But for his confidence I would have a hard time believing it.]

At least then we could perhaps ratchet up the regular-season product, which is a priority for the league and should continue to be. 

That said, it ain't happening. The NBA All-Star Game makes too much money and isn't going anywhere. Next year, we're all going to be sitting here watching this same-old game talking about how stupid it is that nobody tries or cares. 

[That was the reason Adam went medieval! Adam's looking at the next TV deal and rights holders are disgusted with the ASG. He tried to make it more competitive and got...this. Tim Bontemps ESPN:  "Instead, it was another game with virtually no defense and with little to no life inside the building..." Fans are not going to pay! TV partners are not going to pay!

[I have a suggestion: The ASG is a must-stop on the circuit of strippers, hookers, and groupies. Team the players with the most popular women in a Pros-N-Hoes game.]