Which leads me to the pre game shows. I don’t want to hear what Mike, Tim, Bill, Steven or Greg think the teams or players should do. I want more information on what they are doing. Why is it that only football pre games or in game analysts talk about plays? Why can’t we get some basketball analysts who break down games and tell us what plays are being run, how the defenses are reacting to them and whats working or not working? Give me something of substance beyond “Duncan has got to show up”. “Joe Dumars told Rasheed to take his shot when they were in the elevator together.”
We have gotten some in game analysis about where certain players like to shoot from… mostly Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan, and that Chauncey Billups likes to shoot 3s in the 4th quarter, but beyond that it seems like the announcers assume the fans not only know nothing about the game, but they want to keep it that way.
One of the best features, I think in Sports Illustrated is the scouting reports on teams and players. Give us some knowledge from the people who get paid to scout the league. The more we can give insights from insiders rather than listen to what Ben Wallace’s wife told him for the 9th time (it was ok as a fun fact the first time), the more involved fans will be with the game.
Watching the games on TV would be 5x better if they did this. Tell everyone what strategies and plays each team wants to run, what kind of defense they like and how they do it. Use visual representations and video tape of what they're talking about while they talk about it. Break down the game like a scout or coach would. Show us what's really going on. That would be far, far better than "X has to step it up".
Animated diagrams of plays, detailed breakdowns of each teams' philosophies. And I don't mean "they both play hard-nosed D". I mean specifics. Do they play one on one forcing the star to beat them? Do they trap aggressively? How good are they at rotating? Do they try to force the ball to a certain area of the floor? Do they try to force the ball a certain direction on drives? Which way?
Same goes with offense. I'm tired of "they're a slow it down, grind it out team" or "they're a fast-paced, run-and-gun" team. SHOW ME what they run. What they try to do. What do the plays look like. All they'd need is someone explaining it while the picture is something like what you see here on nba.com:
(Click on the picture of the play to see the animation; that animation is what I have in mind)
I don't know how else to say it. I would love love LOVE it if this were to happen.
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