We complain about the NHL a lot but compared to the NBA .......

[McBaevid]

I've just recently started hating the product that the NBA puts out, watching Golden State dominate the league from players they drafted and developed themselves was amazing, watching that POS Kevin Durant join the team after having his former team spanked by them was too much. The "Big 3 Era" will go down as the worst era in the NBA. Thanks Lebron!

 

[acor]

The NBA is a star-driven league, and I love that. They know how to market their stars, they know how to protect their stars, and they know how to give fans the best experiences. Sure, this year may have been building up to a collision course between Golden State and Cleveland, but the NBA almost always has more drama in their playoffs than the NHL. I mean all you have to do is look back at last season. The 73-win Warriors had to come back from down 3-1 just to get to the finals, and then the Cavaliers had to become the first team to ever come back from 3-1 down in the finals to win a championship.

I've always liked the NBA's soft cap system way more than the NHL's hard cap. I think it gives you maximum flexibility while still having to manage a salary cap and giving an owner a chance to say "you know what, let's go for it. I'm all in" or "I just don't see us competing, let's sell off players and contracts."

I hate the NHL's parity. Yes, it's nice to see different teams succeed but the rivalry and history GS/Cleveland are making is incredible. I wish the NHL had that.

You can go watch NBA and its so called "stars"... IN NHL "stars" will NEVER be more important than teams, and I love it...

 

[Josepho]

Different outcomes based on the varying skill levels of different teams is fun.

Random outcomes based on luck are not fun. There's so much parity in the NHL that nobody can get a real advantage and it comes down to bounces. Luck is always a factor but it's too much in the NHL.

The Penguins have been the second best team in the vast majority of the 20 games they've played in, and they've got a good chance to win the Stanley Cup.

I like the idea of not knowing who's going to win, but I do agree with you.

The NHL is usually just a matter of who can stay healthier and/or whoever has the hotter goaltending.

 

[Hockeyholic]

The NHL is a league who televised their most important series on NBCSN. A channel not available to basic cable. That is why they are and always will be a fringe sport in America.

Furthermore, the NHL has zero personalities sans Subban. Every interview is a cliche.

 

[BonMorrison]

Inferiority complex is real with NHL fans, eh? I don't even like basketball and I find the *****ing about it nauseating.

 

[hockey17jp]

I agree and I'll also add that it seems the most fixed league of the big four. Officiating can literally pick the winners.

Having said that, it doesn't matter because they continue to be a bigger deal with bigger stars, better ratings, more successful, etc. I don't get it

They'll always have better ratings because hockey is expensive to play, whereas basketball is almost as cheap as it gets to pick up. More kids play basketball, which means more people will watch the NBA.

Also the NHL is horrible at marketing which is another big reason why the league isn't as popular. A lot of people couldn't tell you a single player on most teams not named Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington, or any of the other teams NBC focuses everything on.

 

[1specter]

I'm not sure why people want predictability. Upsets are what make sports exciting...and for all the crying about the lack of dominance, we did have the Blackhawks win 3 Cups, Kings 2 Cups, Penguins 2 Cups with a chance at 3 (4th time in the finals now btw) and Bruins 1 cup + 1 other finals appearance in an 8-year time frame.

Hell, the NBA has actually had more unique champions in that same time frame. Lakers, Mavericks, Heat, Spurs, Warriors and Cavaliers.

This thread is hilarious. What do you exactly want to do to change it? Rig hockey so that the calls favour superstars? Screw over the small market teams with a soft cap? I don't think I've heard NBA fans complain about the product as much as this year. Hell, even Charles Barkley openly slammed the league on air.

 

[TheSituation]

I don't like basketball. But why hockey fans on HF can't seem to get over the fact that basketball is much more popular and mainstream and enjoyed by many more people than hockey is something I will never get. Basketball finals are like 4x as highly rated. Don't like? Don't watch.

It's the most embarrassing inferiority complex I've ever seen. As if the SC Final has been riveting at all.

 

[beertelescope]

Is it okay to enjoy both sports? Asking for a friend.

 

[Suntouchable13]

You know what drives ratings? Star power, skill and dominance. The NBA could try for parity and have a Raptors vs. Utah finals and no one would give a damn.. the Cavs & Warriors could meet in the finals another 4 years straight and they'd dwarf any parity driven finals in ratings.

so the very thing you hate is the very thing that makes the NBA a much more dominant brand than the NHL.. imagine a Ottawa vs. Nashville final (with Weber instead of Subban) and think about how many casual fans are tuning into that?

So what is the point of those teams then? If Ottawa vs Nashville would be boring then why even have those teams and not let them have a chance to win?

 

[Nino33]

I don't like basketball. But why hockey fans on HF can't seem to get over the fact that basketball is much more popular and mainstream and enjoyed by many more people than hockey is something I will never get. Basketball finals are like 4x as highly rated. Don't like? Don't watch.

I'm one of the fans that doesn't like anything about the NBA, and...I don't watch! at all! ever! Haven't in decades!

I don't understand all the comments about the NBA on a hockey site (many hockey fans think the NBA's "personality" and "marketing" focus is not the route they want for hockey...they'd rather focus on the game than the PR); maybe you're confusing dislike for whining/jealousy/etc (it's not hockey fans on a basketball site!)


I couldn't name a player on Golden State, only know "they're good" because of HFBoards.....which as far as I'm concerned is information I don't need! HaHa

 

[Baemon Severson*]

NBA is a huge joke. Prima donna league with no parity,NHL playoffs blow it out of the water.

LeBron gets a leg cramp and needs multiple teammates to help him off, meanwhile Joe Thornton is playing with a torn MCL and ACL in the same leg.

Safe to say you've never had a leg cramp if you're posting this.

 

[Channelcat]

I don't even mind the lack of parity, its the games decided by officiating that bother me. We see more of this in MLS, EPL, NBA, NFL, CFL worse than NHL.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Yikes.

Yeah, safe to say there are some underlying issues there with that person when it comes to their dislike of the NBA, the people who play in the league and the fans.

 

[Baemon Severson*]

Different outcomes based on the varying skill levels of different teams is fun.

Random outcomes based on luck are not fun. There's so much parity in the NHL that nobody can get a real advantage and it comes down to bounces. Luck is always a factor but it's too much in the NHL.

The Penguins have been the second best team in the vast majority of the 20 games they've played in, and they've got a good chance to win the Stanley Cup.

Agree with most of this but there was an interesting discussion on twitter over the weekend between stats guys. Basically, analytics people see the Pens getting outplayed the majority of the time, but their skill has a way of transcending their actual performance if that makes sense. Just interesting discourse as the analytics community hasn't done a great job of accounting for skill and shooting prowess, at least, imo.

 

[Viqsi]

Think about it this way.

A basketball fan telling a hockey fan that's never seen basketball before about the Finals: "We have the Cavs and the Warriors. Arguably the greatest player of all time against arguably the greatest team of all time." Hey that's cool.

Now reverse it: "We have the Pens and the Predators. They've above average."

Personally I view them as "Foregone Conclusion versus They Still Win Things But It Won't Matter" and "Three of the biggest offensive stars in hockey history against the best defense in the NHL".

It's easy to spin these things when you have a clear preference.

and frankly I only know about it at all because I live in Ohio and therefore can't get away from hearing about the Cavs

 

[Baemon Severson*]

One last thing.

Most fans realize that the NHL's marketing sucks because they don't market their stars all that well. However, I do recall a time after the 2004-2005 lockout where Crosby and Ovechkin were everywhere. Maybe it's me being from a Philly suburb, but most fans I knew were sick of this phenomenon and tried to reason that this proved that the NHL played favorites. So which is it NHL?

 

[dahrougem2]

You can go watch NBA and its so called "stars"... IN NHL "stars" will NEVER be more important than teams, and I love it...

Yeah, that's great for a professional sports league. Don't focus on your star players. You sure know how to market.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

"NBA playoffs are better than NHL playoffs"

 

[acor]

Yeah, that's great for a professional sports league. Don't focus on your star players. You sure know how to market.

Soccer is most popular sport, more popular than clowNBA and its not a "star based sport" at all...

 

[Nino33]

You can go watch NBA and its so called "stars"... IN NHL "stars" will NEVER be more important than teams, and I love it...

Yeah, that's great for a professional sports league. Don't focus on your star players. You sure know how to market.

Actually it is great for a league when teams are bigger than stars! it's not a good thing that "star power" and "marketing" overshadows the actual sport (at least from fans of sport...those that are more concerned with image/marketing probably don't get the idea of the quality of the game being talked about at all)


From what I've read on HFBoards even NBA fans admit the NBA's a joke and the season's a waste of time (apparently because of the actions of star players who are "above the League")


If the NBA wants to focus on "marketing" and "star power" that's fine for them, but don't ask the NHL to ruin their sport too (the NBA sounds like American Idol or the Kardashians to me, like a scripted reality show focused on marketing/PR, not a sport)

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

Safe to say you've never had a leg cramp if you're posting this.

I still don't think a leg cramp is as bad as a torn MCL and ACL...

 

[Baemon Severson*]

I still don't think a leg cramp is as bad as a torn MCL and ACL...

I don't think anyone argued that it is. However, let's not act like it's some joke that a guy needed help off the court when you have a terrible leg cramp.

 

[Igor Shestyorkin]

I don't think anyone argued that it is. However, let's not act like it's some joke that a guy needed help off the court when you have a terrible leg cramp.

That's true. Plus your legs are kind of important for playing sports.

 

[dahrougem2]

Soccer is most popular sport, more popular than clowNBA and its not a "star based sport" at all...

Hilarious