Will this make the playoffs more interesting or less interesting?

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Same.. I never expected him to win dick.. he got helped hugely by the league when GS was whoopin his ass ..so they removed DG and let him win. The ratings wont budge.

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LeBron was just a consolation prize you afforded yourself during the realization of LOLWARRIORSWIN!!! Now unless you truly "fear the deer" / slob on giannis' knob or buy some feelgood drake endorsed crap you won't have that consolation prize of "maybe mr. """ GOAT """ can pull something out of his ass"

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I actually think the Eastern Conf playoffs become much more interesting without Lebron. Don't know if it will appeal to casual fans however

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I'm a casual fan and I'm much more interested in how the East will shake out.

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He wouldn't have done much better in the East, maybe a 6 seed and first round KO ...if called fairly.. the pacers should have KO'd him 2x if the refs didn't regulate it.

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Wonder what the major networks and the NBA hierarchy are thinking.

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I think they'll realize that his presence means fuckall, they will probably chalk it up to Steph, KD, Giannis or whoever from the East loses to GS as being the new " face" of the league.

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I’m a pretty big fan and I feel the same way.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

How does the NFL draft get higher ratings than almost all of our playoff games?

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Makes the East much more compelling — either Boston or Philly will make it out. Hoping for Philly.

I’m hoping Milwaukee.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

If that's the case then good for the NFL. Don't think it is though

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ABC Bosses will never let that happen.

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Pulling for Philly though I wouldn't mind Boston either.

Philly or more specifically Brown, had better figure out how to guard point guards. He also had better figure what he wants to do with Redick. Redick's defense is atrocious and he struggles getting his shot off at times. The problem is that if they bench him for long stretches it's not like any of the guys behind him can guard points or make jump shots either.

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less for me. was always interesting watching lebron v. GSW... didnt care about the matchup being the same each year... it was always amazing basketball played at its highest level... hope this years finals can be almost as good

The problem with Philly coming out of the East is that it vindicates all the nerds who think Sam Hinkie invented tanking. Believe me, I'd know, hell hath no fury like a vindicated nerd.

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with or without Lebron, I won't make it a point to watch the NBA playoffs.
Milwaukee.....If I run across a game, I'll watch to see if Milwaukee wins.

Regardless of sport....Stars don't make me want to watch. My local rooting interests do.

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Local rooting interests matter to me a little but frankly I will watch the NBA regardless of whether the Bulls are good or not. I watch for teams but I also watch for individual matchups. Nothing better than seeing the best of the best going at one another. NBA is unlike any of the other 2 major sports in that the potential for guys that play the same position can also square off one on one exists. Sort of like the game within a game.

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I know many feel this way.....it's what makes the NBA as popular as it is...star power just doesn't work for me.

November 19, 2016. Warriors v. Bucks
I took my son to this game. Curry, Draymond Green, Durant v. Giannis, Jabrari Parker. Plenty of star-power.

You know what happened? It was as predictable as one could possibly imagine. The Bucks were in the game..it was close and at the end, the team with all the stars won. Yawn.

The NBA experience was fine. The place was FILLED and loud. I just find predictability to be a bad selling point. I wouldn't be against going to another NBA game.....but I'm not motivated to seek one out, either. That's just me.
https://www.google.com/search?q=2016+november+19+bucks+warriors&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS843&oq=2016+november+19+bucks+warriors&aqs=chrome..69i57.9712j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#sie=m;/g/11c6skykhz;3;/m/05jvx;tb2;fp;1;;

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I get that you just don't like basketball but you can literally describe any sport this dismissively.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

The tickets are pretty expensive too. If you want decent seats for an NBA game it's probably going to cost 3 figures a seat or more.

LeBron screwed up the NBA when he did his move to Miami with Wade and Bosh. It was only a matter of time before a young team with underpaid stars could follow LeBron's move to recruit a superstar like Durant and put the competition out of contention for a championship.

The NBA used to be based around throwing the ball into a dominant center. If the NBA removed the 3-point line now it would totally change the game. It might make them not shoot the ball from 30 feet from the hoop and it would make a 20 point lead almost insurmountable. Plus the big guys who play back to the basket might get back in the game.

I'm not suggesting that removing the 3-point line would be a good move, but someone like Stephen Curry probably makes a ton of young players only practice shooting threes. It would probably make more sense to expand the court and move the line back a couple more feet. How many times in an NBA game does a guy step out of bounds because he has gigantic feet? If the 3 point line is a little deeper there might be less incentive as the shooting percentage goes down.

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God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.

It's not even close. yes....star pitchers get a wider strike zone. Star Wide Receivers get the benefit of pushing off defenders. Sydney Crosby gets treated like piece of fine china.....it does happen, but the NBA is a whole different world. It's fine....the NBA is popular and most like it just fine the way it is. to me...it's a turnoff for me.

For the record....basketball itself is fine. I'm enjoying the tournament like MANY. Funny...the biggest star of the NCAA and next #1 draft pick just get sent home. THe final four has a collection of teams that does not include Duke, NC, Kentucky....best tournament I can recall in recent memory.

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Most people consider it the worst tournament in recent memory

But it would be pretty easy to get the NBA to be like March Madness. It has nothing to do with star power and everything to do with single elimination tournament vs 7 game series.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Single elimination is different. Make the first two rounds a best of five and then you would see more upsets. Same thing in the NHL.

You would also have the added benefit of wrapping up the NBA/Stanley Cup Finals before July.

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The Final Four last year was garbage as hell. Yeah you had a nice story in Loyola but the game itself was garbage. Championship game was garbage too.

The upsets are fine but once you start bumping off all of the top seeds then you have 11's and 12's in the Final Four. This usually makes for a rather shitty game. Usually your 12's have to play out of their mind in order to beat top teams and once that happens they are done.

I haven't watched a minute of the tournament and frankly i don't think that I have missed anything.

Everyone talks about the greatness of College Basketball and how it differs so much from the NBA yet the only guy I heard about all season was Zion Williamson. He was their version of Lebron. Last year it was Trae Young aka Steph Curry.

They don't do anything but hype (and exploit) star players too.

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I haven't watched a minute of something but I'm also going to use my personal knowledge of it based only on second hand accounts as proof of something, and then double down by citing a guy who lost in the first round on a bubble team the year before!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You are misconstruing the point yet again. I don't have to watch to know that 90% of the conversation this season has been about Zion Williamson.

I also watched the Final Four and Championship games last season and was bored out of my mind. They were terrible.

If you don't believe they were terrible then explain why. I'm sure you won't however.

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College ball is so great. So much better than NBA.

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I agree.

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