The NBA has been battling declining ratings all season. Many fans and pundits have blamed the on-court product, with the game now featuring an over-reliance on the three-point shot and every team seemingly having the same identity.
Some have even blamed the NBA’s tolerance of load management, in which teams allow their star players to sit out of games in order to avoid wear-and-tear on their bodies.
One ESPN analyst for the NBA thinks that a part of the problem is the coverage of the sport itself.
“My feel is that the balance is a little bit off, that I think that we should balance it a little bit better,” Brian Windhorst recently said, according to Awful Announcing.
“There are lot of times on an average NBA night where there are absolutely amazing performances in some of these games.”
Windhorst spoke about a recent matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors, in which star Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn’t able to go. Damian Lillard and Steph Curry still had a great battle, resulting in a Warriors victory.
However, the post-game analysis was primarily focused on the Warriors’ acquisition of Jimmy Butler in the trade market.
“My viewpoint is not that we shouldn’t talk about Jimmy Butler — I mean, there’s a lot of interest in that,” Windhorst said. “There was a stretch in that game where there was incredible shot-making back and forth between Steph and Lillard. And this game, in and of itself is not really that remarkable.
“It’s not that I think it should be all one way or all the other way; I think the balance is a little bit off. I think there should be some more celebration of the night-to-night greatness that we see in the league.”
Windhorst also voiced his issues with those who are taking exception with the on-court product and calling it “boring.”
“It’s an instantaneous indicator to me that the person who is saying that is not really watching the games. Whenever I hear that, I kind of turn off because I’m really not interested in what that person keeps saying,” he said. “As somebody who’s covered the game for 22 years, I reject the notion that the game isn’t being played at an incredible level in the NBA. I think part of the reason is there’s not enough celebration over the night-to-night greatness that happens.”
It’ll be interesting to see if networks heed Windhorst’s advice.
