Bob Ryan retired from his legendary career as a sportswriter over a decade ago, but the basketball guru still has plenty of thoughts about the modern game. Ryan joined Gary Tanguay on the Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast at NBA History & Storytellers on CLNS to discuss his discontent regarding the NBA All-Star Game, which he believes has lost all of its charm.
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Ryan passionately declared that he wouldn’t be watching “any of that nonsense on Sunday”, referring to the NBA’s midseason festivities as a relic of the past. He made no attempt to hide his anger and disgust at the current state of the All-Star Game where players are no longer interested in showing up to compete for the fans.
“This crop has taken what was a fun thing and have insulted it,” the 78-year-old said. “They have deteriorated it, they have desecrated it.”
Ryan even called out Commissioner Adam Silver for the farce. “They just have allowed this game to go off the rails and of course now, finally, Adam Silver gave up,” the former Boston Globe journalist added.
Ryan also lambasted the players for not caring about the exhibition match. He questioned why personal pride means nothing for many of today’s top talents and wondered why they didn’t take advantage of the opportunity of playing alongside other All-Stars.
The four-team gimmick of this year’s All-Star Game is simply just another distraction from the fact that the matchup is no longer competitive, the 78-year-old claimed. He recalled the good old days when players would have a chip on their shoulders to not let the opposition Conference win. But that’s all gone now and has been replaced by load management, Ryan lamented.
The veteran sportswriter, however, is far from the only upset with the new All-Star format.
NBA All-Stars aren’t excited about the game’s new format
It seems as if players, fans, and media members all agree that the league’s experiment with this year’s All-Star Game is a recipe for failure. Kevin Durant notably criticized the format after it was announced earlier in the season. “I hate it, absolutely hate it”, KD told Suns reporters. “All-Star Game formats changing, all the formats terrible in my opinion and we should just go back to East-West.”
Nine-time All-Star Anthony Davis also questioned the new format. He echoed Durant’s sentiment that the league should simplify the competition and return to the East versus West format of old.
“I don’t know. I don’t really like it,” Davis told reporters. We’ll see how it goes this year and see if they change that or not. I think they can go back to East vs. West but four teams and multiple games, I don’t think a lot of players are gonna like that, personally. But we’ll see.”
Only time will tell if the NBA’s continued experimentation can turn the All-Star Game around. But like Bob Ryan said, it will be hard to bring the fun back if the players don’t care to try during the annual competition.
