FanHouse did the gruntwork of assembling a list of how many times each NBA team will appear on national TV. By national TV, we mean ESPN, ABC and TNT -- the number of folks who get NBA TV or purchased the League Pass are a minority, unfortunately. Here is the breakdown, busted up into categories with the number of appearances in parantheses.The Rodney Dangerfields: Charlotte (0), Indiana (0), Minnesota (0), New York (0), Sacramento (0), Atlanta (1), L.A. Clippers (1), Memphis (1), Milwaukee (1), New Jersey (1), Oklahoma City (1), Toronto (2).
The Familiar: Philadelphia (7), Golden State (8), Miami (9), Chicago (10), Orlando (11), Utah (11), Washington (11), Houston (13), New Orleans (13), Portland (13), Detroit (14), Denver (16).
Your New Basketball Wives: San Antonio (19), Dallas (21), L.A. Lakers (25), Boston (25), Cleveland (25), Phoenix (25).
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eight times for Golden State is ridiculous/offensive. They missed the playoffs last year and aren't going to get there this season either. Let's watch a team score 110 points/game and lose on national television WOO HOO!
This is ludicrous. Why does the NBA insist on setting it's late-season schedule so far in advance? I understand there's a lot to be coordinated, but Stern is lashing a lot of hopes to a few teams that may end up being terrible. I wish I could count the number of times last season I had hoped to watch teams from the west battle it out for playoff spots, only to be treated with Chicago-Miami for what felt like the 30th time. Is anyone really that enamored with Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, or Miami this year? What happens when Baron Davis takes the Clippers to the top half of the West? Or when Bosh and O'Neal make the Raptors a top 10 team? Is it likely? Probably not, but it wasn't very likely that Utah and New Orleans would become two of the most entertaining and talented teams in the league last year, teams that I would sit down to watch over Detroit, San Antonio, or Dallas.
The NBA will remain on the bottom of the food chain until Stern realizes that it's more important to put out the best product possible, and make it accessible to casual fans than to hope that people will watch basketball games because they recognize D-Wade from a Vitamin Water commercial.
Boston, L.A., Cleveland belong on the top of the list, and Milwaukee, Indiana, Minnesota, and Sacramento belong on bottom, but to think that you can predict in August how attractive a team will be to watch in February is asinine.
Houston and Portland should get more air time, as they will be the primary competition of the Lakers for the top seed in the Western Conference.
Wow, that looks like a disaster for NBA revenues.
ZERO appearances for the Bobcats, the team from the biggest city in the US?
This is why I get League Pass... so i don't have to resort to watching San Antonio 20 times a year...
1 game each for the Baron's Clippers and the New Look Nets™ and 20+ games for the Mavericks, who are going to be terrible, and the Spurs, who nobody wants to watch? Does the NBA /want/ to make money?