Positives and Negatives about NBA All-Star Weekend 2023

The NBA All-Star Weekend was last weekend, and it got mixed reviews from fans, writers, and personalities.  While there were several moments I enjoyed, there were also some rough ones to get through.  In this post, I am discussing some positives and negatives of the weekend, as well as some ways to improve the All-Star Game, ranging from realistic to satirical.

 

Positives

The Dunk Contest

I think it is unanimous that this was the best part of the weekend.  The event is always fun to watch, while Mac McClung was exceptional in the event.  Even the dunks that didn’t score as well (including Trey Murphy III’s second round and Kenyon Martin Jr.’s first dunk) were often fun to watch.  That said, McClung’s highlights easily stole the show.

 

The setup of the Rising Stars Challenge

After years of the Rising Stars Challenge not resulting in an exciting game in different formats, the NBA tried something new:  4 teams in a knockout tournament playing shorter games.  I was initially skeptical, but I loved it.  Even when a team took a bigger lead, it was a quick enough game that there was rarely a lull in the action.  I also liked the lineups being mixed up and not solely being international vs. U.S. or rookie vs. sophomore.

 

Teammate rivalry

The most fun part of the game was when Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum went at each other and played one-on-one.  It is sad that this is deemed exciting when they both played contested isolation and the other 8 players stood there confused that it was being treated like a legitimate game briefly, but this was one of the few moments in the game where there was competitive defense and aggressive offense.

 

The 3-Point Contest…for a few shooters

While the event wasn’t as good as in the past, I love this event.  Watching Tyrese Haliburton score 31 in the first round was an incredible feat.  Damian Lillard scoring 26 points in each round and Buddy Hield totaling 52 were both a lot of fun to watch.  While Jayson Tatum struggled at first, he went on a tear near the end, which was fun to see.

 

Julius Erving

While the NBA has generally been conflicted in honoring its legends, it is tough to argue that Julius Erving paved the way for the success of the dunk contest (as well as the dunk in general).  It made too much sense for him to be one of the individuals presenting the Dunk Contest trophy given his legacy.

 

Giannis Antetokounmpo being the cheerleader for his team in the Skills Contest

While Giannis Antetokounmpo was injured and could not participate in the Skills Contest with Team Antetokounmpo, he was being the world’s biggest cheerleader and appeared to be the only one caring about an event that was a trainwreck (more on that in a bit).  It was a nice bit of passion that was often missing from multiple events.

 

Hometown pride

Utah fans were treated with Lauri Markkanen elevated to starting in the All-Star game and their own players winning the Skills Contest.  In general, Utah fans seemed to be happy about both of those, as well as Markkanen’s presence in the 3-Point Contest.

 

Self-Awareness

Most of the players and coaches criticized the shape of the All-Star game this year, which was not surprising.  Many of the broadcasters were willing to poke fun at what was going on in different events, especially the Skills Contest.  Luka Doncic was quick to critique how the draft went.  Everyone was willing to poke at Giannis Antetokounmpo for getting the draft mixed up when trying to draft Ja Morant (including Giannis).  If it isn’t going well, at least have fun while realizing it, which they did.

 

Accidentally watching the first round of the 3-point contest in a foreign language

I was at my girlfriend’s parents’ house for Saturday of All-Star Weekend for her nephew’s baptism.  While I watched the Skills Contest downstairs, I went upstairs for the remaining competitions.  I turned on a TV when my girlfriend was still in the shower, where TNT was in a different language (I’d guess Portuguese since they speak the language, though it sounded a bit like Spanish at times).  I was unable to adjust the language, so I watched the entire first round of the 3-point contest in a language I didn’t understand, which was quite the time.

 

Negatives

The All-Star Game

The game usually has minimal defense, but this year was a total trainwreck.  There were very few instances of any defensive attempts, which made for a rough game.  On top of that, it became a blowout by the end of the game, which made it even more painful to watch.  The game is typically a rough game to watch, but the fact that Jayson Tatum broke the All-Star Game scoring record without anybody caring reflects how brutal of a game it was.  It was clear that the majority of the players were not trying at all.  I also think it hurt that several stars were injured and had to miss the whole game or portions of it, including Kevin Durant, LeBron James (out for the second half), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (out after the first play).

 

The Skills Contest

I didn’t like the idea to make the Skills Contest a team-based effort in general, but they way they did it was a bit of a mess.  The first event, the standard course, was fine.  The second event, a passing event, was utter chaos to watch and I found too difficult to focus on what was going on with one player.  While the shooting might have been fine, the round was so terrible with Team Antetokounmpo and Team Rookie that I was sitting there with my girlfriend’s parents’ dog, Sushi, asking him how this trainwreck could occur (Sushi kind of stared at me content that he could sit with me while I was petting him).  I also hated the teams that they came up with.  I thought Team Rookies was ridiculous, Team Antetokounmpo was even worse given that one of the competitors isn’t in the NBA and another is only in due to his name, and Team Utah only worked because the other two teams were so abysmal.

 

The Draft

I found the All-Star Draft to be such a slog that I turned it off when I realized it would take a while.  I turned it back on after 30 minutes since I figured the game was about to start, only to realize they were still drafting players.  It took around 40 minutes and was not enjoyable to watch.  It doesn’t need to take this long to complete a draft, and even Luka Doncic responded saying it was too long when asked how he liked the Draft.  I was mixed about having the draft right before the game (I liked the excitement but didn’t love it logistically), but it’s clear they have a bunch of work to do for next year.

 

The G-League presence

I get that Mac McClung saved the All-Star game, but in all seriousness, I am strongly opposed to the number of G-League players they had in events.  They had an entire G-League team in the Rising Stars contest, which was made up of players who were playing in G-League Ignite in lieu of college and players not good enough to make an NBA roster.  I don’t understand the appeal of bringing in guys who either aren’t good enough to play in the NBA or are effectively college freshman (think if Nick Smith from Arkansas was playing in the game).  I’d much rather see someone like Shaedon Sharpe than any G-Leaguer involved.

 

The 3-Point Contest…for the rest of the shooters

When Tyler Herro scored 16 in the first round, that was bad.  Then Julius Randle scored 13, which was even worse (though not surprising since he’s not that good of a shooter).  Then Kevin Huerter, a good shooter in a slump, scored just 8.  These made the 20 that Jayson Tatum and Lauri Markkanen score look good and made everyone forget how bad Tyrese Haliburton was in the second round (17).

 

The presence of the Celebrity Game

I still don’t understand why this event exists.  I honestly believe it is solely there so ESPN can say they own the rights to one event during the weekend.  Does it actually result in viewership?

 

The promotion/scheduling of the NBA x HBCU Classic

I think it’s amazing that the NBA has this game, which was played by Southern University and Grambling State University this year.  That said, it was played at 4 PM on Saturday, a time when nobody pays attention and was not promoted that well.  I think having it either on Sunday or closer to when the events start is better, especially if they have it transition straight from the HBCU Classic into the Saturday night events.  That said, I doubt this will ever happen.

 

The emphasis on Karl Malone

I get that having the two best Utah Jazz players of all time, Karl Malone and John Stockton, involved in All-Star weekend would result in controversy, given that Malone impregnated a 13-year-old while in college and Stockton is an anti-vaxxer.  I also understand that it was inevitable that both would be at least in attendance given the fact that pro sports teams/leagues won’t be penalized for having them there.  That said, it did feel weird having Malone being so emphasized, especially as a judge of the Dunk Contest (where I told my girlfriend before the event started that he would be crotchety and not give high scores).

 

The fans on Saturday

After the Skill Challenge ended, the cameras cut to the crowd, which looked incredibly underwhelmed.  While several fans were cheering, almost as many fans looked like they suddenly realized why the tickets were so cheap on that day.

 

 

Bonus:  How to Fix the NBA All-Star Game

After another dud of an All-Star Game, the most popular talking point was how to fix the All-Star Game.  I have some serious arguments and some joke arguments (I won’t specify which are which, but you can probably guess).  As a note, 3 that I am ignoring are paying the players more money (since that is unrealistic), having a U.S. vs. International game (it won’t work; there were issues with the Rising Stars game and will make the game matter less), and having players be healthy (since that is obvious).

 

Shorter games in a tournament style

The short way of describing this is by doing what the Rising Stars Contest did:  having 4 smaller teams that play shorter games in a tournament setting.  In the Rising Stars tournament, they had the games end after reaching a point total, which is what I think makes the most sense.  With current 24 players named, they could have 4 teams of 6; if they expand it to 28, they would have 7 per team, which makes a lot of sense.  The games were more enticing in this setting, which is something that could work in the All-Star Game.

 

Holding One-on-One tournaments (or two-on-two/three-on-three)

Many of the best players in the NBA thrive at one-on-one or isolation ball.  I think it would be interesting to hold a competition similar to that.  I also think having a three-on-three competition would be smart since the players who are All-Stars would typically thrive in a three-on-three setting, even if one-on-one would be difficult.  The NHL All-Star game tried something like this, and I think it is a brilliant idea.

 

Have broadcasters buy in

I thought something that not enough people appeared to be talking about:  if everyone wanted the game to be more competitive and the players to compete in the All-Star Game, why did they have Luka Doncic mic’d up while he was playing?  If the league wants to have a competitive product, they also need the broadcasting network (in this case, TNT) to take it seriously and not have players talking to them instead of competing.

 

Embrace the highlight plays

The highlight plays (deep 3’s, crazy dunks, alley-oops) tend to be the most exciting moments of the All-Star Game.  I’ve often wondered if it would be beneficial to embrace NBA Street style play and give bonus points for style points.  I think that having bonus points for style points would be intriguing.  I also think an easy way to get better defense is by penalizing teams for not defending (maybe subtract a point for bad defense?).

 

North Korean basketball rules

More points for dunks and 3’s?  More points on late baskets?  Losing points for missed free throws?  Won’t happen, but just leaving this here.

 

Insert a 4-point line…and a 5-point line

While this might encourage longer shots, the truth is that the All-Star Game will always contain long 3’s and halfcourt shots, especially in the 4^th quarter.  If players are trying to grow the lead on a deep 3, they might as well get another point out of it to end the game sooner.

 

Hold the game on a beach in Miami or Cabo

Several of the players would rather be on vacation instead of at the All-Star Game, and these locations are two of the more popular vacation spots among NBA players.  Why not combine these ideas and play on a beach at one of these?  They could rotate the venue each year and throw another vacation spot in the mix if needed as well.  I’m also in favor of them providing pina coladas to players on the court.

 

Flip a coin to determine if the game will be competitive

Every few years there is an All-Star Game that is competitive.  If they want there to be more frequently competitive game, have the league flip a coin prior, with heads being compete and tails being take it easy.  It would have to be a secret though, which would lead to several conspiracy theories.

 

Have G-League reserves replace players who aren’t trying

The NBA has embraced G-League players in the Rising Stars Contest and Slam Dunk Contest.  In this scenario, if an NBA All-Star isn’t trying, expel them from the game and replace them with a G-League player.  It should be noted that I think this is a terrible idea, but it oddly could work.

 

Convince players to start fake rivalries and then go one-on-one against each other

After seeing the hype surrounding the Jayson Tatum-Jaylen Brown matchup, imagine if there were several matchups like that.  For instance, how fun would it be if Kyrie Irving and Damian Lillard, for instance, doctored a fake rivalry and kept going at each other?

 

Change the media’s narrative of success

While I have believed this for years regarding load management, I never dared to write this; that said, Nick Wright has brought this into the universe, and I totally agree with him.  I believe that the reason you see players and teams not being as competitive outside of the playoffs is because of the media talking heads who pretend a player’s career is a failure unless they won a championship.  There is no way that Dominique Wilkins’ career, for instance, was a failure because he couldn’t individually defeat teams that were much better than him.  This is why players don’t take the All-Star Game or the regular season as seriously, especially since the Raptors did that while Kawhi Leonard did that (the NBA tends to be a copycat league).  I honestly believe the only way to change the game long-term is to acknowledge that there are levels of success even if a team doesn’t win a championship, allowing the regular season and All-Star Game to matter.  That said, I don’t expect this will ever happen.

 

 

What did you think of the All-Star Game?  Let me know in the comments!