Credit to NBA commissioner Adam Silver for his willingness to experiment with a new All-Star format following last year’s epic snooze fest.
The only thing is, he might need to hit the drawing board again.
The NBA All-Star tournament, which was introduced Sunday and featured four different teams, received mostly negative reviews from players and fans. Three of the teams were composed of NBA All-Stars. The fourth? The league’s “Rising Stars” — so, primarily, rookies.
Draymond Green, who was an analyst for TNT during the event, didn’t hold back on his evaluation.
“We get the treat of watching the Olympic team play against a U-19 team,” Green said. “Come on, what are we doing? This is ridiculous.”
Here are four questions following the first year of the new format.
[NBA All-Star Game highlights: MVP Steph Curry leads Team Shaq’s OGs to victory]
1. What was up with the rookies?
Green undoubtedly had a valid point. What are rookies doing on the court on a night reserved for the league’s greatest stars? It was strange. It didn’t feel right.
But there was one advantage: It might have inspired the superstars to play harder. After all, they didn’t want to lose to a bunch of guys who can’t even get playing time on their respective teams.
The semifinal that featured the “Rising Stars” against the “OGs” was a back-and-forth contest with nine lead changes, five ties and neither team ever leading by double-digits. Compare that to the championship game, which featured all All-Stars, and saw “The OGs” lead by as much as 18 points over the “Global Stars.” Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht said the “Rising Stars” made the game more competitive for guys like Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden.
“They were crashing the boards hard, playing defense, so they were trying to win,” Knecht said.
That may be true. But even though it was more competitive, it wasn’t necessarily more fun. Fans want to watch their favorite players compete against each other, as opposed to watching their favorite players play a little bit harder against 19-year-olds.
Said TNT’s Kenny Smith: “I think they’re going to change the format back.”
2. What went wrong?
There were a lot of kinks with this new format. Among them: Players didn’t get a chance to properly warm-up. Anthony Edwards, who has a groin injury, said he decided to sit out the All-Star tournament because he wasn’t able to go through his pregame routine. When asked if he liked the new format, he didn’t hesitate.
“If I’m telling the truth, no,” he said. “Only because you didn’t get that much time to warm-up. That was another reason I couldn’t play. My groin is messed up and I didn’t get that much time to warm it up. I’m not a big fan of it. I think we all need to warm-up.”
Another issue? There were way too many stoppages of play for entertainment. Kevin Hart talked A LOT, including cracking an off joke that Shaquille O’Neal was “dressed like a porn director.” And during the championship game, play was stopped for about 20 minutes — with the “OGs” leading the “Global Stars” 11-1 — while the TNT crew of O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson were honored for calling their last game on the network. (The “Inside the NBA” crew will move to ESPN next season.)
It goes without saying that the players didn’t appreciate the extended pause.
“At the beginning, you have the energy, the adrenaline going,” Donovan Mitchell said. “Then you sit for 30-45 minutes. That was tough, to be honest with you..”
3. What about a one-on-one tournament in the future?
While many players have advocated for a return to the East vs. West format, fans would love to see a one-on-one tournament. Could you imagine watching LeBron James and Steph Curry going at each other? Or Kevin Durant playing Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Some players appear open to the possibility.
When Edwards was asked if he’d be willing to participate in a one-on-one tournament, he said, “Hell yeah.”
Could anyone beat you?
“I don’t know,” Edwards said. “I don’t think so. So, they need to make that happen for sure.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo also said he’d be in for that type of competition.
“If I had the chance to play one-on-one with anybody, I would love to do it,” Antetokounmpo said. “Anything that can make the weekend more exciting, more fun for the viewers, for the fans.”
Kevin Durant rejected the idea that players would oppose such a tournament because it could hurt their pride.
“We got our pride put on the line every night, man,” Durant said. “Somebody going to get dunked on, crossed up, it’s going to be on ‘House of Highlights.’ I don’t think that will be a reason why guys don’t play. I think that would be a solid idea. We’ll see what the format is. It wouldn’t be too bad with the cash prize.”
4. Wait, where was LeBron James?
In James’ news conference before Sunday’s game, he said he wasn’t going to play because of foot and ankle soreness. It was the first time James missed an All-Star Game and it snapped his streak of 21 straight appearances.
When prodded, James acknowledged that he wanted to protect his body ahead of the Lakers trying to make a playoff run. The Lakers, who shocked the basketball world by acquiring Luka Doncic at the trade deadline, are currently in fifth place in the Western Conference with a record of 32-20.
So, the Face of the League sat out to try and give his team the best possible shot at competing.
“With 30 games left and us trying to make a playoff push in the wild, wild West, I felt like it was very important for me to kind of take care of myself and understand what’s coming on [down the stretch],” James said.
Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.
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