Why are NBA Players allowed....

[jeffre]

Why are NBA players allowed to not give 100% effort at all times by their coaches? How and when did this happen? I think most of us would agree that in 99% of NBA games the players just kind of go through the motions until the 4th quarter. I just dont understand why that is. When I watch a college basketball game the players seem to give 100% effort for the entire game. And if they dont the coach will bench them. In college there is way more diving for loose balls, suffocating defenses, and just generally more hustle. If you ever watch a college basketball game and during a commercial flip the channel to an NBA game the NBA game looks like it is in slow motion. NBA players even admit after games that there was a lack of focus, or effort to begin the game. Here is a quote from one of the Bobcats after last nights game--"It was just a lack of focus and not being prepared to play I guess" . I hear this same quote from players and coaches in the NBA all the time. WHY?? As a fan, every game I watch I want to win as much as any other. It's discouraging to think that as the game is starting you as a fan care more about the result of the game then the players playing it. I just dont understand how the coaches have lost total control of NBA players where they dont really have any recourse if their players arent trying.

Bottom line is I watch the Bobcats because they are my home team and I always root for home teams because I know how beneficial it is to a city to have a winning team. But if Charlotte didnt have an NBA team I would never, ever, watch an NBA game again. It truly is brutal.

[DanielWheeler]

Guaranteed contracts.

[amour217]

Guaranteed contracts.

Exactly...if you were pretty much guaranteed never to be fired from your job AND you'd make a ridonkulous amount of money, you'd drag it sometimes too. Heck, I make peanuts and there are days where the day goes by at work and I felt like all I've done is stare at the wall lol

[TattoodCats4life]

Thats it...

Take May as an example, His NBA career shall be short of course, but he has still made $5 mil in his career (per basketball-reference.com). Of course he spends like an NBA player, but if you handed me 5 mil for playing as little as he has, I'd be just fine with that, and I'd stretch it to make it last my life give or take.

Think about if you had a job where work or not, try or not, you still get not only paid, but PAID!!! Would you bother every night?

[Ghost Kat]

College players don't always give 100 % effort everygame. Personally i think it has alot to do with Coaching and getting your team motivated and who your opponent that game is. Maybe sometimes there are games you just know you can't win, then people kinda give lack luster effort.
College players are usually playin to get to the NBA, NBA players are usually playin to support a drug habit, multiple kids and that million dollar house they bought their mother.

[MattD]

more games, higher skill level, less at stake

i tend to believe often because some players are so good it looks like theyre not trying or the defender is not trying when really they are. but even if they arent, their incredible abilities allow them to come back and play in the 4th. look and the mavs and minn game where the twolves were up by 29 and lost... plus drop one game and its not the end of the world

[dnbman]

more games, higher skill level, less at stake

i tend to believe often because some players are so good it looks like theyre not trying or the defender is not trying when really they are. but even if they arent, their incredible abilities allow them to come back and play in the 4th. look and the mavs and minn game where the twolves were up by 29 and lost... plus drop one game and its not the end of the world

I tend to agree. Also, I think college games look more energetic because guys compensate for lack of skill with hustle. They're not necessarily more focused or better defenders. They just run around more and get caught in traps more. At least, that's what I see a lot of when I watch college games.

[Ampsportsduo]

I for one, am mailing it in at work right now. Basketball players that take nights off drive me nuts.

[SWedd523]

You can really tell that the majority of NBA players coast through the season when the playoffs come. Players can't afford to play 82 games full out and still have something left in the tank. When the playoffs come they really turn up the intensity and it really shows.

I think age has something to do with it as well. College guys go from 18-22 or so. That's a pretty high point for physical fitness and endurance. You can't truly expect a 30 year old man to go out there and push hard and not get worn down.

I really think passion for the game has the most to do with it. When guys are in college they do it for the love of the game (obviously not for million dollar contracts) so they play hard all the time. They HAVE to play hard in order to get drafted to the NBA, but once they get their and play year after year after year, well.. they kind of don't worry about it as much.


I, for one, would much rather watch college basketball. I'd trade watching my Tar Heels play Duke or another good team or March Madness over any type of NBA game.:bowdown:

[Ghost Kat]

I, for one, would much rather watch college basketball. I'd trade watching my Tar Heels play Duke or another good team or March Madness over any type of NBA game.:bowdown:


But would you trade that NBA game for a Pac-10 , Sun Belt, SWAC or Conference USA game. I'll agree ACC basketball is some of the best basketball to watch on earth. But most college teams aren't very good or entertaining to watch. The same can be same about most NBA teams. IMO it depends on who is playin.

[SWedd523]

But would you trade that NBA game for a Pac-10 , Sun Belt, SWAC or Conference USA game. I'll agree ACC basketball is some of the best basketball to watch on earth. But most college teams aren't very good or entertaining to watch. The same can be same about most NBA teams. IMO it depends on who is playin.
If that was my area or the conference "my team" played in then yes. I'll admit I'm highly spoiled by ACC basketball but college basketball in general is where the passion is. Just because the less (mid) major schools don't have the same talent level doesn't mean they play as hard. They may play even HARDER for the simple fact that after those four years, it's it for them and their basketball career.

College basketball will always be better and more exciting to me when compared to the NBA

[TheBeagle]

Don't think it fits in with "Bobcats Talk" section, but it's a good discussion. As a lifelong Tarheel, I can't say too much without coming off smug, but having seen thousands of ACC games since I was 4 or 5 (to show my age, I remember as a type watching Len Bias tear the Heels a new one in their first loss at the Smith Center in '86, I think it was), I think those of us in ACC country are spoiled by the level of play. Outside of the ACC, it's aesthetically painful to watch a college basketball game. Outside of an occassional game, the other conferences are by and large abysmal. Their RPI and such might not indicate it, but from an Xs and Os, enjoyment of watching a good game being played by good players, non thugball, college basketball isn't worth watching until March Madness, the best time of the year for me.

As for the NBA, if it weren't for the Cats, I wouln't watch a game either (as I didn't during the "interregnum" of Charlotte franchises) until the playoffs.

Overall, I think like CarolinaKat: it depends on who is playing, and what is at stake that determines, for me at least, what is the more enjoyable game to watch. There's no contest, I'd rather watch, for example, the Heat play the Clippers instead of watching UC-Santa Barbara play Hofstra in a regular season game. Likewise, I'd rather watch Wake play Miami instead of the Bucks and the Cavs.

I guess to really prevaricate the issue, I love both the NBA and college equally, it's just determined by conditions.