NHL or NBA, what to watch this season ?

[JasonFromMiami]

lol, you're talking about the dead puck era.

Mogilny: 76 goals

Selanne: 76 goals

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More like the golden era

Dead puck era was from 1995 to 2004. That was in 1993.

Right !

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For sure, i might have turned into a cranky old bastard, but i really belive the 90´s were the best for sports, and even music and movies, before CGI messed everything up.

[Still MIGHTY]

You don't need to see the puck, you need to see the carrier. It's amateur hour here.

Seriously.

When I hear/see people with anti-hockey sentiments along these lines in this thread, I don't even bother. And I'm one of the more fervent hockey missionaries you'll find haha. But If that's your baseline about hockey, you know absolutely nothing and I can't help you.

[Sport]

I was forced to watch a lot of the NBA in college because I went to an Ohio school with 10,000 kids from Cleveland at the peak of Lebron's first stint with the Cavs. Also I'm a huge hockey fan. I believe that because of this I have slightly less bias than the average hockey fan or hoops fan because I've actually gone out of my way to watch both.

And because I've watched both I believe that I can more fairly assess the two leagues and it is my conclusion that the NHL, despite all of the buffoonery in their front office, is a better competitive version of its sport than is the NBA.

Reasons:

- more parity, stars are better spread out among teams/don't openly sign with teams so they can play with their friends.

- There's more teams capable of winning it all. In a given year there's about 8-12 teams that could win the championship if things break their way. In the NBA there's 4, at the most.

- because of the last point this creates a far more compelling postseason. The NBA's tournament doesn't really begin until the conference finals and it's not the same rigorous marathon that the hockey players go through even if it's the exact same format. Look at the Kings – they were one game away from elimination in round 1, turned it around to win the whole thing. You’ll never see that same kind of delicate, constantly on-the-brink, type of play in the NBA

- There are marquee markets in the NHL for free agents, but it's not prohibitive to building a winner if you're not one of those marquee markets. In the NBA it's far harder to break out if you’re not one of the hip markets.

- An NBA regular season game is an exercise in uselessness. 43 minutes of lazy defense for the last five minutes that actually matter. I don’t know how or why someone would watch the first quarter of an NBA game. What’s the point? Further: I find it hard to get excited for a scoring play in an NBA game because it’s literally 2% of the total score of that game. Conversely, a hockey game could theoretically end 3-2 with all five goals coming in the first five minutes. You have to watch the whole thing.

- Playoff atmospheres are more intense in hockey. I was at the Blue Jackets-Penguins game 4 last year and it was the single loudest place I’d ever been. I was in Denver for a Nuggets-Thunder playoff game a few years ago and I couldn’t believe how flat it was. It was the first playoff game I’d ever been to in any sport and it was disappointing, frankly. Last season I watched a Bulls-Wizards playoff game in Chicago and it was a joke. A few days later I was watching a Blackhawks playoff game in the same building and it was an electric atmosphere. Not saying there aren't good playoff atmospheres in some NBA cities, but I think crowds are far more rowdy in the NHL.

- And a slew of others, but this post is getting long.

[OnWis97]

I was forced to watch a lot of the NBA in college because I went to an Ohio school with 10,000 kids from Cleveland at the peak of Lebron's first stint with the Cavs. Also I'm a huge hockey fan. I believe that because of this I have slightly less bias than the average hockey fan or hoops fan because I've actually gone out of my way to watch both.

And because I've watched both I believe that I can more fairly assess the two leagues and it is my conclusion that the NHL, despite all of the buffoonery in their front office, is a better competitive version of its sport than is the NBA.

Reasons:

- more parity, stars are better spread out among teams/don't openly sign with teams so they can play with their friends.

- There's more teams capable of winning it all. In a given year there's about 8-12 teams that could win the championship if things break their way. In the NBA there's 4, at the most.

- because of the last point this creates a far more compelling postseason. The NBA's tournament doesn't really begin until the conference finals and it's not the same rigorous marathon that the hockey players go through even if it's the exact same format. Look at the Kings – they were one game away from elimination in round 1, turned it around to win the whole thing. You’ll never see that same kind of delicate, constantly on-the-brink, type of play in the NBA

- There are marquee markets in the NHL for free agents, but it's not prohibitive to building a winner if you're not one of those marquee markets. In the NBA it's far harder to break out if you’re not one of the hip markets.

- An NBA regular season game is an exercise in uselessness. 43 minutes of lazy defense for the last five minutes that actually matter. I don’t know how or why someone would watch the first quarter of an NBA game. What’s the point? Further: I find it hard to get excited for a scoring play in an NBA game because it’s literally 2% of the total score of that game. Conversely, a hockey game could theoretically end 3-2 with all five goals coming in the first five minutes. You have to watch the whole thing.

- Playoff atmospheres are more intense in hockey. I was at the Blue Jackets-Penguins game 4 last year and it was the single loudest place I’d ever been. I was in Denver for a Nuggets-Thunder playoff game a few years ago and I couldn’t believe how flat it was. It was the first playoff game I’d ever been to in any sport and it was disappointing, frankly. Last season I watched a Bulls-Wizards playoff game in Chicago and it was a joke. A few days later I was watching a Blackhawks playoff game in the same building and it was an electric atmosphere. Not saying there aren't good playoff atmospheres in some NBA cities, but I think crowds are far more rowdy in the NHL.

- And a slew of others, but this post is getting long.

These two bold items combine to be very key for me. Of course, I come from one of the irrelevant bad-weather, non-cosmopolitan cities. Two stars are so key that when they join forces, it can change the entire landscape of the NBA...which has some good interest-generation but also puts certain markets at disadvantages.

That cannot happen in other sports (see A-Rod). Hell, I live in a cold-weather, non-cosmopolitan city that actually did this (Suter and Parise) and the team remains a 7 seed for the forseeable future. In hockey, you can't just build a super team when nobody is on the ice for over half the game. That's a good thing if you are in a less-than-important market. So, even if friends do get together, it's far less of a guarantee (I think that's a good thing) but also, free agents ignore weather a bit more since most of them grew up in cold climates anyway.

Throw in the preferential treatment to stars (and teams?) from the officials, and there are several reasons I'd prefer the NHL from the standpoint of liking the two sports about equally.

If you like basketball better, that's one thing. But all else equal, I like the NHL better.

[Nyk33]

As someone that was mostly a fan of the NBA (I was a fan of baseball as well but that waned) only for many years I can understand why many people would not want to watch the NBA int its current form. I have even started to drift away from the NBA and have found in interests in soccer and have discovered hockey a few years ago thanks to this board. However I have to take issue with two of your points McCarty.

There are marquee markets in the NHL for free agents, but it's not prohibitive to building a winner if you're not one of those marquee markets. In the NBA it's far harder to break out if you’re not one of the hip markets.

This has already been discussed in the NBA Anti-Thread but I believe that strong front offices are much higher factor than the market a team is in. Otherwise the San Antonio Spurs wouldn't be continuing on in their march of dominance while the Knicks (who have been terrible for over a decade), Nets, & Lakers are pretty much afterthoughts in the conversation this season.

Playoff atmospheres are more intense in hockey. I was at the Blue Jackets-Penguins game 4 last year and it was the single loudest place I’d ever been. I was in Denver for a Nuggets-Thunder playoff game a few years ago and I couldn’t believe how flat it was. It was the first playoff game I’d ever been to in any sport and it was disappointing, frankly.

Anecdotal evidence isn't really enough to convince me of this. This would be like me using the crowds at a Thunder and a Coyotes playoff game and then stating that the NBA has a better playoff atmosphere. From the little time I have watch both sports at the same time

Now in the interest of fairness allow me to offer my own complaints about the NBA that haven't already been stated.

Media hype of athletes = The NBA has an annoying amount of focus on individual stars. The LBJ Cleveland return game was a ridiculous show of pageantry for a team that hasn't even won anything yet. There was even a damn concert near the Q with Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons. I thought the infamous celebration Lebron had when he went to Miami was bad but that surpassed it. The only way I would see that in the NHL is if Wayne Gretzky bathed in the Fountain of Youth and then signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"Superstar Calls" = The fact that this is accepted by fans and the media as nothing more than a sad staple of the NBA is horrible.

[Sport]

As someone that was mostly a fan of the NBA (I was a fan of baseball as well but that waned) only for many years I can understand why many people would not want to watch the NBA int its current form. I have even started to drift away from the NBA and have found in interests in soccer and have discovered hockey a few years ago thanks to this board. However I have to take issue with two of your points McCarty.

There are marquee markets in the NHL for free agents, but it's not prohibitive to building a winner if you're not one of those marquee markets. In the NBA it's far harder to break out if you’re not one of the hip markets.

This has already been discussed in the NBA Anti-Thread but I believe that strong front offices are much higher factor than the market a team is in. Otherwise the San Antonio Spurs wouldn't be continuing on in their march of dominance while the Knicks (who have been terrible for over a decade), Nets, & Lakers are pretty much afterthoughts in the conversation this season.

Obviously some teams will be the exception and obviously there's an element of management skill involved. That's why I said it was far harder to break out, and didn't say it was impossible. It does make the Spurs' success that much more impressive.

[Rockstar Matt]

I agree with everything McCarthy is saying. Please note that I say that as a person who grew up watching basketball, playing basketball and continue to still do so at least once or twice a week. I love the sport of basketball. However, the NHL is a better league and will offer more exciting action on a consistent basis than the NBA.

[Nyk33]

As someone that was mostly a fan of the NBA (I was a fan of baseball as well but that waned) only for many years I can understand why many people would not want to watch the NBA int its current form. I have even started to drift away from the NBA and have found in interests in soccer and have discovered hockey a few years ago thanks to this board. However I have to take issue with two of your points McCarty.

There are marquee markets in the NHL for free agents, but it's not prohibitive to building a winner if you're not one of those marquee markets. In the NBA it's far harder to break out if you’re not one of the hip markets.

This has already been discussed in the NBA Anti-Thread but I believe that strong front offices are much higher factor than the market a team is in. Otherwise the San Antonio Spurs wouldn't be continuing on in their march of dominance while the Knicks (who have been terrible for over a decade), Nets, & Lakers are pretty much afterthoughts in the conversation this season.

Obviously some teams will be the exception and obviously there's an element of management skill involved. That's why I said it was far harder to break out, and didn't say it was impossible. It does make the Spurs' success that much more impressive.

I never said that you stated that it was impossible for small market teams to break out.

I said that strength of front office is a stronger factor than what market a team is in.

[Stampman]

Personally I would watch the NHL--for a few reasons

But here's one people seldom consider-one reason I prefer hockey to basketball is I am not into watching guys run around in tanktops & shorts.

[The_Admiral]

That you chose that of all things as your objection to the NBA leads me to believe that you are.

[alxy8s]

Not sure why you would have to pick one or the other.

Since you're "from Miami," the better local option is the NBA. You'd be sort of a fool to build up any attachment to the hockey team that, contrary to popular belief, exists.

Every criticism I've read here of the NBA is true enough, but I love it anyway. The 2 sports seem different enough to decide between them, though I still don't see why that's actually a choice you would have to make.

[TorinK92]

Saw a few NBA games allready, seems very repetative, and the NHL lacks the many superstars of the 90´s - Which sport is the best choice for entertainment value to follow this year, NBA or NHL ?

Let's play "what's wrong with the south Floridan fanbases!"

[JasonFromMiami]

Personally I would watch the NHL--for a few reasons

But here's one people seldom consider-one reason I prefer hockey to basketball is I am not into watching guys run around in tanktops & shorts.

Well, then it´s a good thing you were not around to see short-shorts.

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Lesser clothing in sports is a good thing imo, that way you can see if players stay fit and don´t get sloppy, see their different physique, insted of just a bunch of players you can only distinguish by the number on the back.

Think that why i never got into football, impossible to get to "know" players.

[Cosmic]

Yeah, I always confused Byron Leftwich and Doug Flutie.

[JasonFromMiami]

Saw a few NBA games allready, seems very repetative, and the NHL lacks the many superstars of the 90´s - Which sport is the best choice for entertainment value to follow this year, NBA or NHL ?

Let's play "what's wrong with the south Floridan fanbases!"

Not true, the Heat are great this year, playing even better without Lebron, so it would be easy just to watch every Heat game, but that does not mean the NBA is better to follow this season. NHL could be having a more exciting season, hence the question

[The_Admiral]

JasonFromMiami is a poster to watch in 2015.

[monkeypower]

Well JasonFromMiami, I think you've already made up your mind about what you're going to watch. It's the NBA.

And if seeing the player's physique is something you look for in sports and too much equipment distances you from the players, I don't know what to tell you. But I bet your favorite sport is mens Olympic Diving. They only wear Speedos and they're pretty ripped.

[Tigers6884]

JasonFromMiami is a poster to watch in 2015.

How so?

[monkeypower]

JasonFromMiami is a poster to watch in 2015.

How so?

It's the admiral's running joke. You don't want to be a Poster To Watch.

[OnWis97]

JasonFromMiami is a poster to watch in 2015.

How so?

It's the admiral's running joke. You don't want to be a Poster To Watch.

Also known as the TomTucker Pre-Season Honor.

Feels Good Man.