What Is the Deal With National Coverage?
by MadTown Hoops on Jul 12, 2009 12:56 AM CDT
12 comments
I do not understand the national media’s response to the Bucks’ summer. A good example of how folks outside of Wisconsin view the Jefferson trade and loss of Villanueva is Yahoo’s team report for the Bucks:
"NBA officials are still baffled as to why Bucks general manager John Hammond didn’t even extend a qualifying offer to veteran F Charlie Villanueva. Villanueva was coming off a quality season and he’s still only 24 years old. What’s more, the Bucks have a dearth of reliable power forwards on their roster. Villanueva ended up signing a contract with the Detroit Pistons.
Bucks owner Herb Kohl has a reputation of sometimes meddling in the team’s player personnel decisions. Some observers felt Kohl may have been behind the Bucks’ recent decision to trade veteran small forward Richard Jefferson to San Antonio for virtually nothing (Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto, the last of whom was then traded to Detroit for Amir Johnson). But Bucks general manager John Hammond said Kohl didn’t mandate any salary dump and that it was strictly his call to make the trade and open up more "options" for the team."
To those that have actually been following the Bucks, these moves aren’t “baffling”, they are shrewd basketball decisions based on the Bucks’ unenviable position as a lottery team that is near the luxury tax threshold. Many at BrewHoop even suggested similar moves as the best we could hope for. These are the steps towards building a better team, and yet we get no respect at all.
Also, I don’t get why it is that players are suddenly seen as better as soon as they leave Milwaukee. Mo left and became an All Star after putting up similar numbers on a better team. Jefferson leaves and suddenly he’s not a one dimensional player whose injuries and regression made him prematurely over-the-hill, he’s a versatile defender and offensive dynamo who makes the Spurs “younger” and a “contender”. Now Joe Dumars is being hailed by some as a genius for signing Charlie V. I guarantee you that if the Bucks had matched, they would be lambasted for overpaying a defensive seive. The double standard, that implies that not currently successful small market teams inherently suck, is really starting to get to me.
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I thought the same thing about the coverage on the Jefferson trade. He played slightly above mediocre in Milwaukee, but now since he’s a Spur, he’s the piece that puts them back as the title favorite… Am I missing something?
RJ's weak point is his D, presumably,
and the Spurs have enough of that around him that it won’t make them too much weaker.
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Good post
Frustrating to be a fan of the Bucks. I am a Bucks fan but also just a plain basketball fan in general. Like to see the NBA and media promote more young players from all corners of the league not just a few big city teams and players.
That’s the thing. It seems that big market, especially big media market teams (Knicks, L.A., Boston), get major focus because those cities have larger populations. To the NBA, it seems, larger populations = better ratings. But the problem is obvious. Those teams don’t always make it and we are left with finals like this year’s, an intriguing underdog is ignored by the general public despite a bankable star (Howard) because nobody gets the chance to know who he is. It’s self-fulfilling, more people watch Celtics-Lakers not only because of larger markets, but because across the nation more people recognize their stars. The NBA needs to promote more players on more teams, so that fans aren’t bored by the feeling that Kobe/Lebron is inevitable or feel ripped off when it doesn’t happen.
Also, the league suffers when those major focus teams with “tradition” hit a bad patch. Remember when the Knicks melodrama was covered in more detail than any other aspect of the league? It was a black eye that made the NBA seem like a joke to outsiders. The NBA needs to get better at making all thirty teams seem special, not just those few lucky enough to based in major markets. It’s embarrassing that the NBA ignores some teams, and oftentimes the NBA itself is the one that suffers most.
by MadTown Hoops on Jul 17, 2009 3:03 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
And Now This
This one is from Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated:
“1. Will the East emerge as the stronger conference? From top to bottom the East is superior, with only two teams (the depleted Bucks and Nets) incapable of making the playoffs. At least twice as many teams in the West (including the Kings, Grizzlies, Warriors, Timberwolves and Rockets) appear destined for the lottery.
In terms of contenders, which conference has the better trio? Is Orlando-Cleveland-Boston more formidable than Lakers-San Antonio-Denver? It’s going to be a close race, but right now I give the East the edge.”
Well, we’d better give up hope now, Bucks fans, Ian Thomsen says we are “incapable” of making the playoffs. What an ass. Earlier in the column he devotes one of his five points (#3) to the best strategy for New York to get better and land Lebron next summer. Later he drops this gem about the Spurs: “They reloaded by acquiring Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess and Euroleague standout Marcus Haislip.” No mention of Blair, but Haislip will certainly be the piece that gets them another five rings or so, I’m sure.
I think in general the national media is happy to find excuses to write off teams like the Bucks…they’d much rather say we’ll suck and write a “hey! these guys are surprising everyone!” piece later. And I can’t fault them too much for that since the Bucks haven’t been terribly relevant for some time, and so none of these guys follow the Bucks that closely.
But even if the Bucks lose Sessions it seems a bit unfair to say teams like the Knicks, Pacers, Pistons, and Bobs are clearly on a different level. If Redd and Bogut aren’t healthy then the Bucks have little chance of winning 30 games, but a healthy Bogut/Redd along with the new pieces can certainly get you to mid-30s wins. I don’t think it makes sense to project much beyond that at this point, but they’ve got a good coach and players who seem capable of complementing each other. That’s a recipe for overachieving, though I’m not sure what their ceiling is right now.
Bucks on TV...and any other small market team for that matter!
I agree that the NBA really doesn’t appear to promote, or even value, their small market teams. Being in Australia, we have very little NBA coverage on pay-to-view TV, and what we do get is generally Lakers/Spurs/Suns/Celtics/Heat and not much else. Sigh! You wouldn’t realise that there are 30 NBA sides unless you spend time on the net. Sadly, in the past 3 seasons, I can recall 3 televised Bucks games. 3!
That’s especially weird given the Bogut effect—do Australians who follow the NBA not particularly care about Bogut? You always hear about the Chinese fans loving Kobe and LeBron as much or more than Yao, but at the same time every Rockets game gets broadcast over there.
by Frank Madden on Jul 21, 2009 8:45 PM CDT up reply actions
It probably has less to do with the fanbase and more to do with the NBA’s lack of interest in gaining fans in non-target markets (anyone outside of Europe/China). I bet it’s hard to catch a Bucks game in Cameroon too.
by MadTown Hoops on Jul 22, 2009 12:34 AM CDT up reply actions
The Bogut Effect...
Sadly, boom time in Oz for the NBA was way back in the early ‘90s and since then, mainstream coverage, even on dedicated sports programs has pretty much disappeared. There was a little bit of hype surrounding Bogut’s #1 selection, followed by some half-hearted reports about his progress during his rookie year (i.e. his last second rejection of Duncan to win vs the Spurs), but that’s about it. It is hard to find Australians who actually have any idea what is happening in the NBA these days…especially weird considering we probably have more NBA players on NBA lists (Bogut, Brad Newley, Patty Mills and now David Andersen), or on Draft/collegiate radars (Joe Ingles, Luke Nevill, AJ Ogilvie) since the mid-’90s when such revered names (in Oz anyway) as Luc Longley, Shane Heal, Andrew Gaze, Chris Anstey and Mark Bradtke played limited minutes.
When it comes down to it, the only regular coverage we receive is on ESPN where we usually get to see two games a week of the same teams I mentioned in my first post. Anyway, to answer your question
- Do Australians who follow the NBA not particularly care about Bogut?
In my opinion, the answer is that NBA followers in Oz do really care about his NBA progress, they just don’t know where to find out the information as they are starved of options.
By the way, I love reading the posts you guys make on BrewHoop. Really insightful and informative – helps keep me ‘in the loop’!.
by Big Crazy Dave on Jul 22, 2009 2:41 AM CDT up reply actions
Thanks Dave!
Great to have your insight as well…look to forward to hearing more of your thoughts.
by Frank Madden on Jul 25, 2009 12:06 PM CDT up reply actions
Dave
I knew a few Aussie’s on Sactown Royalty who became Kings fans during the same era you became a “NBA” fan (Bucks or not). Coverage for a fan who wants to be a fan of a team other than the big 5-10 teams is always going to have trouble.
Hence why blogs are starting to become so popular worldwide.
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