Quote Originally Posted by Thruster315 View Post
I honestly believe that was one of the biggest mitigating factors to why the agreement got done as fast as it did. The players and the management saw the apathy or the lack of outrage at possibly no NBA basketball. People didn't have the concern as they did when the NFL strike/ lockout occurred.

People were fretting and wringing their hands for the possibility of an NFL work stoppage. It was news and people were upset. When the thought of no NBA basketball, I don't recall people getting as upset and the talks between the players and management wasn't headline news.

I'm sure a part of this apathy is because of the multi-millionaire players' own doing. Some of them come across as snobs, entitled, and see themselves as bigger than the game. Prime example is LeBron James- for a guy who is as talented as he was/is, people saw him abandoning his Cavaliers to go play for the money- and it's not like he didn't have enough money to begin with IN Cleveland. That's not exactly an attribute that people relate to easily.

I think most fans don't relate well to NBA players and there's a disconnect there. It's not to say there aren't multi-millionaire snobs and thugs in the other sports but somehow they're much more accessible and easier to cheer for than your NBA superstar.

I respect the NBA players, their abilities, and the game of basketball itself but somewhere along the way I saw the NBA lose a bit of its connection with many of us fans.
I think that most of that is due to NFL not MLB being the nations pastime. Fans are not going to worry as long as football is there. Basketball fans can make the transition to college basketball and that would carry us thru April after that there would be a few people upset about no NBA. The players and owners can't go that long.