NBA All-Star Court

[jewbanpimp]

The NBA has gone with a whole new level of simplicity with the court for this year's All-Star Game.

And by simplicity, I mean boring. Very, very disappointing. I know basketball teams have been moving towards less paint and more exposed wood in the fast few years, but seriously, couldn't they get a little more creative than this?

[dfwabel]

Well, I' m not so sure about how you want the maple to look, but I think that your opinions on boring are very subjective. There are three "grades" for maple flooring within any company regarding basketball or similar flooring and the NBA and NCAA use Grade 1 (the top grade). Shades of varnish make all floors look different regardless of the grade of maple. Since it is a jogsaw puzzle for the floor, what the NBA does now is very hard to replicate. Therefore, look at this story for the 2008 regionals and other courts.

Story on how NCAA floors are made

[SmoothieX]

This is a case of the pendulum swinging toward the other extreme from the paint everything inside the three point line fad from the 90s. It will eventually pass. I can't stand it though. They call it the paint for a reason.

Give me something like the Knicks or Bulls have. One color for the paint, another around the baseline.

[Arts11]

i don't mind the look. maybe a bit more color around the paint area, but overall, i prefer it if it weren't all razzle-dazzled

[GeauxColonels]

I LOVE the look. Some othe courts lately have been painted up way too much with GIGANTIC logos on the courts. This one looks great.

[powersurge]

Although I agree that the court looks pretty Spartan, it does let the wonderful All-Star logo standout and take center stage (weak pun intended)

[jewbanpimp]

I think that your opinions on boring are very subjective.

I agree that this floor, along with most other NBA and NCAA floors, are truly unique works of art. I understand that they must take hundreds of man-hours to put together and I respect the craftsmanship of each of them to make the courts look like one piece even though none of them are. That being said, had I called it "bad," "ugly," or anything else value-laden, I would agree with you. I can see why you would say the same about boring as it teeters on that line. However, my comment was more about the design painted on the floor, not the wood itself.

You are absolutely correct in referring to the high quality of the maple that distinguishes this court from most. Aside from that, the design painted on the floor lacks originality in my opinion. The only art ON the court - again, not counting the workmanship and artwork of the floor itself - is the logo at half court, the "NBA Cares" logo and the paint out of bounds. This is the All-Star Game... it's the centerpiece for the league! The court should reflect that. In my opinion, this does not.

Alex

[JBPerry]

side note: did the New Orleans Arena get a new scoreboard?

[MORE TV]

I like the floors. Looks like the Hornets old floors before they played 2 season in OKC.

[nyk]

I love the floor, lets see how long it will take for NBA to have their floor designed exactly like that

[JQK]

nO!111!!1 LetS Put lOTS off PAiNT EvrAwherE!

I'd prefer professional NBA courts look professional, and not like a Jackson Pollok painting.

[McCall]

Make the lane, or "paint" area as has been referenced, the same darker wood like the majority of the floor, and leave inside the arch light, and you'll have a winner.

[The_Admiral]

Is it really asking too much for there to be paint in "the paint"?

[Hoopskid]

i think they left it blank because of the uniforms.

I like Playstations preview a lot more:

http://www.psu.com/media/articles/nba08psp...iew/nba08_1.jpg

It actually uses the all star logos instead of the NBA cares one.

[GeauxColonels]

side note: did the New Orleans Arena get a new scoreboard?

I don't think so. It's looks the same as it has all year long. Why do you ask?

[Old School Fool]

[ShinyHubCaps]

The paint-less look has been represented worse than this (see: Charlotte Bobcats). My guess is that they wanted to paint it, but they used all the paint making the NBA Day of Service look like more than an hour out of the players' day (painting homes, that is).

[jhans203]

The paint-less look has been represented worse than this (see: Charlotte Bobcats). My guess is that they wanted to paint it, but they used all the paint making the NBA Day of Service look like more than an hour out of the players' day (painting homes, that is).

Not very funny. Tasteless if you ask me.

[AAO]

The All Star court was beautiful this year.

Two thumbs up to the NBA for one of the best All-Star branding jobs in its entirety.

[ShinyHubCaps]

The paint-less look has been represented worse than this (see: Charlotte Bobcats). My guess is that they wanted to paint it, but they used all the paint making the NBA Day of Service look like more than an hour out of the players' day (painting homes, that is).

Not very funny. Tasteless if you ask me.

Honestly, I heard that the players were only there for an hour, and they made it look like it was a whole day of service. What's tasteless in that?

EDIT: I can see how you perceived it as tasteless, but it wasn't meant to be. It was just a shot at the day of service, which was only a couple hours at most. Let's not think that the NBA is single-handedly restoring New Orleans because they edited it to look like such.