Channing Frye: “Nostalgia is killing the NBA. The ‘90s weren’t that great”

[FTBS]

He makes a valid point, that is similar to what I have said. There is no benefit to being face of league because you are just gonna get overly scrutinized and compared to the legend of a nikka from 40 years ago. To this day people are more invested in Mike and protecting his legacy than the actual game. I get it, I used to be one of them.

Wasnt necessary or relevant to bring up Kobe. Kobe actually was the first target of the MJ mafia and I know because I was on the front lines . Its just that at some point it went from MJ vs Kobe to MJ and Kobe vs. Copying MJ went from being a diss to an honor. It went from being a threat to a continuation of the legacy.

The issue, as I have said numerous times, is that people dont actually like basketball...they like Mike. Thats why you have the constant comparisons because people dont care about or even understand the game outside of the Mike prism.

Objectively 90s ball was ass. Slowed to a crawl, nikkas with no business in the league in rotations due to expansion. But Mike was around doing Mike shyt and we was kids so nikkas my age and older see nothing but roses. Mike is the GOAT but the era in which he cemented his GOATness was not. Two things can be true.

Mike aint coming back. Our youth aint coming back. The game now aint perfect but its what we got. nikkas are free to pine for Mike or the way it was all they want but its gone so all you doin is making yourself miserable and missing out on the good stuff from today.

 

[Devil Plisken…CMS]

He makes a valid point, that is similar to what I have said. There is no benefit to being face of league because you are just gonna get overly scrutinized and compared to the legend of a nikka from 40 years ago. To this day people are more invested in Mike and protecting his legacy than the actual game. I get it, I used to be one of them.

Wasnt necessary or relevant to bring up Kobe. Kobe actually was the first target of the MJ mafia and I know because I was on the front lines . Its just that at some point it went from MJ vs Kobe to MJ and Kobe vs. Copying MJ went from being a diss to an honor. It went from being a threat to a continuation of the legacy.

The issue, as I have said numerous times, is that people dont actually like basketball...they like Mike. Thats why you have the constant comparisons because people dont care about or even understand the game outside of the Mike prism.

Objectively 90s ball was ass. Slowed to a crawl, nikkas with no business in the league in rotations due to expansion. But Mike was around doing Mike shyt and we was kids so nikkas my age and older see nothing but roses. Mike is the GOAT but the era in which he cemented his GOATness was not. Two things can be true.

Mike aint coming back. Our youth aint coming back. The game now aint perfect but its what we got. nikkas are free to pine for Mike or the way it was all they want but its gone so all you doin is making yourself miserable and missing out on the good stuff from today.

Youth culture prevails
nikkax out here saying Kendrick is the goat
Mike & whomever aren’t making appearances on TNT
Either your dope is strong or it isn’t

 

[ItWasWritten]

Horrific take

Up to about 2018 the NBA was fine and nobody was complaining - why do people keep going back to the 90s ?

 

[Consigliere]

Anything and everything but the product on the court.

Ok.

 

[Love Sosa]

What world is breh living in where Steph and Jocik are being criticized, specifically for not being Jordan? Yes fans are into the Bron/MJ thing but that’s been going on for 20 years at this point, not some new recent phenomenon. Nostalgia is the reason teams have fan bases to begin with. People are bored with the product. I see mfs getting nostalgic about 2016 NBA ffs

 

[NYC Rebel]

Horrific take

Up to about 2018 the NBA was fine and nobody was complaining - why do people keep going back to the 90s ?

You didnt read. We posted the complaining.

 

[NYC Rebel]

What world is breh living in where Steph and Jocik are being criticized, specifically for not being Jordan? Yes fans are into the Bron/MJ thing but that’s been going on for 20 years at this point, not some new recent phenomenon. Nostalgia is the reason teams have fan bases to begin with. People are bored with the product. I see mfs getting nostalgic about 2016 NBA ffs

People were bored with the product the moment MJ left.

 

[WhenWeWereKings]

I HATE NBA discourse. The 90's nostalgia nuts and the "they were plumbers back in the day" zealots are both equally annoying.

I'm 43yrs old. I remember old heads (including former players) criticizing 90's and 00's basketball something fierce. This has always been an issue the NBA has faced for whatever reason.

It's amazing watching the grind it out, slow basketball style which gave us regular 79 to 83 final scores, being romanticized now. In real time alot of people hated it and the ratings reflected it.

I think the biggest problem the NBA faces is that there are no distinctive styles of play that differentiate the teams. (Generally speaking)

The other glaring problem the NBA faces is that its media arm is complete trash. You cannot have your own media folk openly and continuously trashing the product. Group think is a real thing.

With that being said the present-day NBA does have glaring issues that need to be addressed some of which are now cultural. I do not fuk with today's style either but I definitely aint tryna watch those old slog fests again either.

 

[ItWasWritten]

You didnt read. We posted the complaining.

Game was still watched , don’t care

 

[Rekkapryde]

Plumberball

 

[No1]

He makes a valid point, that is similar to what I have said. There is no benefit to being face of league because you are just gonna get overly scrutinized and compared to the legend of a nikka from 40 years ago. To this day people are more invested in Mike and protecting his legacy than the actual game. I get it, I used to be one of them.

Wasnt necessary or relevant to bring up Kobe. Kobe actually was the first target of the MJ mafia and I know because I was on the front lines . Its just that at some point it went from MJ vs Kobe to MJ and Kobe vs. Copying MJ went from being a diss to an honor. It went from being a threat to a continuation of the legacy.

The issue, as I have said numerous times, is that people dont actually like basketball...they like Mike. Thats why you have the constant comparisons because people dont care about or even understand the game outside of the Mike prism.

Objectively 90s ball was ass. Slowed to a crawl, nikkas with no business in the league in rotations due to expansion. But Mike was around doing Mike shyt and we was kids so nikkas my age and older see nothing but roses. Mike is the GOAT but the era in which he cemented his GOATness was not. Two things can be true.

Mike aint coming back. Our youth aint coming back. The game now aint perfect but its what we got. nikkas are free to pine for Mike or the way it was all they want but its gone so all you doin is making yourself miserable and missing out on the good stuff from today.

I do agree with his face of the league point but also people need to more from the player model to a team model and the media needs to promote that. Let Nike promote the players. The NBA media should be promoting teams and divisions. Of course you have stan wars and obsessions when NBA fandom was based on storytelling versus basketball telling.

 

[FTBS]

I do agree with his face of the league point but also people need to more from the player model to a team model and the media needs to promote that. Let Nike promote the players. The NBA media should be promoting teams and divisions. Of course you have stan wars and obsessions when NBA fandom was based on storytelling versus basketball telling.

That sounds ideal but is it realistic? NBA pushed players out of necessity. NBA tried to be like the other sports for years and was on tape delay and less relevant than college before Magic and Bird came along. It must be asked...are fans even receptive to that? You cant build fandom and loyalty overnight and we live in an era of streaming and job hopping and fukking around so people arent even tryna be loyal.

 

[NYC Rebel]

Game was still watched , don’t care

It wasnt watched.

“You dont care” is a child’s pout.

 

[Joe Sixpack]

He's 1000% correct

 

[No1]

That sounds ideal but is it realistic? NBA pushed players out of necessity. NBA tried to be like the other sports for years and was on tape delay and less relevant than college before Magic and Bird came along. It must be asked...are fans even receptive to that? You cant build fandom and loyalty overnight and we live in an era of streaming and job hopping and fukking around so people arent even tryna be loyal.

I feel like at some point you have to pivot as a business. Stars are already pushed by their brand partners. They don’t need to do it themselves on every telecast. It’s why they’re stuck in the past and I would argue this is that pre-80s moment. People have so many other things to watch, why watch the NBA? It has to come down to brand/team loyalty. Of course none of this matters if the players themselves don’t care about the brand but that’s another discussion. Think about the Olympics - why was it such a success and why was everyone tapped in to those games? It was our ultimate brand - Team USA versus the world. I’m not saying to stop promoting players overnight but that’s another discussion should be the long term project instead of all these gimmicks Adam is trying. He even said it himself on TNT - he wants the game discussed strategically the way football is.