Why Nobody Cares About The NBA Finals Anymore [Deep Dive]

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Huge thanks to Desmond Novack and ‪@three_cone‬ for assisting on the edit!
secret extended cut: • secret free extended cut
0:00 intro
1:56 Sponsored by Fabletics
3:09 Bill & Red's Excellent Adventure
13:00 Bird & Magic: Twin Dynasties
22:41 Black Jesus
33:45 Shaq & Kobe
40:34 Fundamental
49:41 The Last Dynasty
54:20 The Era of No Dynasties
1:17:02 The Death of the Dynasty
1:19:52 The Depth of the Dynasty
1:24:20 Playmaking & Philosophy
1:29:00 The Power of Friendship
1:31:33 The War For Gary
1:35:59 Distractions
1:40:55 Product
1:43:34 Message 2 All Dorks
1:45:45 So is the NBA Broken?
1:52:26 Continuity, Decline, and Hope
1:54:14 Thank You
#nba #basketball #documentary

[@rustybuckets]

Check out FABLETICS.COM/RUSTY!

[@Ramparkenny]

For the record the undisputed best duo of all time has to be magic and kareem, they were both in their prime when they won(38 year old kareem won fmvp), while kobe wasn't in his prime for his first ring at least

[@mastermace7770]

Great video dude

[@razkable]

To be honest the last 2 finals have been underwhelming and no one sees tatum as generational and luka got exposed and sucked same for kyrie....

[@razkable]

Truth is after mj in 98 before steph the finals really lost fans besides lebron people haters and lovers alike...nobody really cared about the lakers finals outside of kobe fans....curry brought people back like mj magic bird

[@razkable]

Hopefully we get shai and brunson in the finals next year...2 guys we all can get behind...I would say ant but he getting over hyped

[@RV-ni7tl]

From someone who isn’t from the states I have to say I love basketball but the amount of advertisements and breaks in the nba is insane. It’s just a money making scheme at this point, entertainment and the game comes second

[@justwhy7449]

Thats televised sports for you

[@hardywoodaway9912]

@@justwhy7449no that’s american sport today. watch football in europe… 90 minutes game and only one halftime. no pauses, no timeouts, no breaks in between. yes I don’t mean handegg

[@maxshirley21]

that is unfortunately how sports in america are. just recently did they start putting small ads onto uniforms, but for decades, games have been dramatically dragged out due to commercial timeouts and family friendly entertainment. I would gladly trade for the sporting environment of most other countries: minimal, if any, commercial breaks. less family friendly atmosphere, and less unrelated entertainment. cut out the crowd games. ditch the commercial timeouts. I see games in other countries where the crowds are truly raucous. the atmosphere is hostile, not to deter families, but in attempt to disorient the opposing team. the games start, and the action only pauses in between periods or when a team uses a timeout. it looks like the way sports should be played. they’re far too commercial and neutered here in the states. physical ads aren’t enjoyable to see, but they’re a good trade off if you lose the unnecessary breaks for tv and the “entertainment” gimmicks of american organized sports.

[@GothPaoki]

It's a big reason why i dislike American sports at a whole. Especially rugby. The finals are unwatchable.

[@josephmatthews7698]

That cracks me up considering all the ads in this video and sports KZbin in general. Sports youtubers be desperate as heck for sponsors and ads.

[@failzapper]

"[Auerbach] literally leveraged the racism of St. Louis in the '50s into helping a Civil Rights Leader become the winningest player in NBA History." fucking lmao

[@dreadthedreads4567]

Might be the single greatest finesse in sports history 😂

[@lokimanezero]

A two hour Rusty Buckets video? We are eating good tonight.

[@ugoeze7360]

Per my waist size, I’ve been eating good for a while. Not going to turn this buffet down.

[@shoeless1137]

Literally eating dinner watching this

[@kronostartext6948]

Ikr

[@benlight5264]

@@shoeless1137 same just inhaled a lasagna

[@s2l4t9]

BSOLZ said it best y’all have to prop the upcoming players better yall spent the whole year shitting on Tatum and the Celtics saying they would lose and how they were boring and a fluke team,who would want to see that if that’s how it’s advertised ?

[@ke3p1tco0l2]

This comment deserves infinitely more likes.

[@drolleskate6164]

I agree. It’s been lebron this Steph that the last decade and a half now leaving little room for anyone else. Now that they are older and getting ready to retire in a couple years they need to start showcasing the INSANE amount of young talent and stars they have. The league hasn’t been this balanced in literal decades and if they play their cards right it can be massive success for the NBA. They keep tearing down the young guys to prop up the old guys even though the old guys haven’t been winning anything. Let them go and start focusing on the future

[@ajfanotreally2523]

@@drolleskate6164people wanted teams winning finals organically, and not the super team route. They got just that with the Celtics, bucks, nuggets. Yet they still complain about those series and they also had horrible ratings. The fans are horrible and the league only cares about money.

[@wildheart2978]

Yup. They failed Tatum and The Celtics. The finals storyline should have been: Can Boston finally get over the 16-year hump vs the return of Kyrie/Luka winning his first ring. Instead, it was just trash Boston. Make them look weak. Huh?? That doesn't make the finals look appealing and hurt The Celtics/Tatum rep with casuals.

[@cribate7548]

@@ajfanotreally2523They are a business of course they care about money. People always seem to realize that late

[@logann29]

if you're asking a mega corporation like the nba to stop the over monetization than i have bad news for you

[@kenw2225]

Nba doesnt care about u.s. fans. U.s. interest been declining, so theyre looking overseas. Im sure advertisers love it. New markets to get viewership

[@tigerwoods373]

@@kenw2225maybe but the US market is the biggest, ignoring that is just foolish. Maybe they can pick up some viewership overseas but it won't be better than the US. Other countries already have sports they like. They may watch casually but if there is a good game of say soccer, they'll choose that over basketball. Even if it's a regular game vs a playoff basketball game. What team are they going to follow? They're mainly American with a few Canadian teams. How loyal can they be to a team they have no ties to? I think they want to be like the nfl who has been playing games in London for years now. They used to have some in Mexico and they had some in Germany. They usually send Jacksonville, who was one of the four newest expansion teams and doesn't have the biggest fanbase. They aren't neglecting the American market for that. If anything it makes it better for viewers. You wake up on Sunday and at 10 the game is London is playing. Then you have the regular 1 and 4 slab of games followed by the night game. I'm actually surprised how well they do in London. The times I've seen the stadium is packed.

[@ponyboygolden963]

NBA and EA probably Chinese finger trap style jerk each other off then pillow talk new ways of monetizing their consumers

[@morganendicott1239]

I agree with the other years finals being boring but anybody who thought the 2021 finals were boring don't love basketball

[@razkable]

Yeah giannis playing well in game 2 after the injury cp3 showing out then booker playing well bucks win 2 close games and the game 6 50 point giannis game was iconic...

[@loopseeker]

best finals in recent memory fasho

[@calvinharmony1]

Who said that? Ya be coming up with fake enemies 🤣

[@clev5678]

⁠@@calvinharmony1Isn’t the topic of this video the idea that nobody cares about the recent finals? And he includes 2021? Are you awake in there?

[@nauy4612]

I argue that the 2020 Finals was a great series too.

[@user-uo3tb5we1z]

This is not a video, this is a two part documentary. Mad respect for the production value alone. This could be shown on any streaming platform. Well worth the wait.

[@JDubs1464]

I can’t believe I’m hearing Rusty positively talk about the Celtics, I used to pray for times like this man.

[@DanteSlappedyouwithfacts]

Ok gay millz calm down

[@scottbrayton9484]

wilt had the talent to do literally anything he wanted on a basketball court, the problem is just that he played in an era where people didn't know exactly what the best thing to do on a basketball court was.

[@lmchankins]

News reports kept saying all Wilt was, was a scorer and nothing more. That 67 season was a giant F U to the NBA media of the time

[@BeerAndJointsAllDay]

@@lmchankins same people say Larry Bird was just a decent shooter and nothing more ahahahaha

[@H41030v3rki110ny0u]

​@@BeerAndJointsAllDayImagine that man with the greenlight to shoot like players today get, along with the spacing

[@gugga2745]

im placing an uber eats order for a pizza while i click on this and look up and see nearly 2 hours, guess ima eat the whole pizza and watch this

[@idontwatchfilm5727]

Hope you enjoyed your pizza

[@Quentinthemudkip]

I hope you didn’t, you ain’t give me piece 😂

[@thecommonmanpodcast6051]

1 thing I have to point out. There were a LOT of blowouts this postseason. The conference Finals were painful to watch. It’s not a choose one or the other scenario:2024 or 2016. My favorite post season in would be the 2019 postseason as it was full of moments, games 7s and a new champion out of nowhere.

[@AlbanianGoose]

Yeah but they pacers series was tight game after tight game

[@SortaNonymous]

​@@AlbanianGoosePacers could have had as much as a 3-1 series lead, but they couldn't win a close game to save their lives or their families. We were surprisingly close to both joyous memes and almost certainly a better Finals, but we just can't have nice things.

[@TheBlackestKnight21]

It’s been the way the last 4 playoffs, every team gets a 20-30 point lead and every series is basically 5-6 games with the exception of the early rounds. No drama

[@PanzehVideos]

That's not really a thing the league can deal with, most of the close series were in the first and second rounds, and people claim to want parity.

[@RandallBalls]

Is 2019 when Kawhi had the most b******* shot in history and eliminated my Sixers

[@Tolstoy111]

Krause didn’t draft Jordan. That was Rod Thorn under previous ownership. Jerry Reinsdorf bought the team during Jordan’s rookie year and hired Krause.

[@wattwatkins3574]

He doesn't know bud.. This is a guy trying to act like he knows... Rule changes made this league bad

[@brando7266]

​@@wattwatkins3574no defense

[@tgsmoothe]

I was wondering if someone was gonna say something....

[@akeme25]

@@wattwatkins3574Obviously he did a lot of research to know a lot, he just seemed to have looked over this one.

[@iamdanyc93]

First of all: the atmosphere isn’t the same without the playoff and finals logos on the court.

[@SemajRaff]

That’s cool but if the play ain’t there, then people will complain about that on top of a pretty court

[@TheBlackestKnight21]

@@SemajRaffexactly it’s not just about presentations modern day NBA basketball sucks. Football pro and college and college basketball and college baseball and MLB and UFC all clear it pretty easily for me. I can’t watch the refs and I can’t watch 90 3 pointes a game and I’m tired of seeing teams go up 25 points and just quit. It’s just a weak product

[@SemajRaff]

@@TheBlackestKnight21 you’re speaking facts

[@Romanus-]

@@TheBlackestKnight21yep. The amount of 3’s has killed the game. Never have there been so many blowouts. It’s basically whoever makes the most 3’s win. People like to see close competition

[@Mornings]

This vid finna go crazy when I put it on at 1am

[@moneymitch1303]

What people often forget is that injuries ruined the blazers dynasty in the 70s. They were 50-10 before Walton went down, he still won the MVP, and the blazers were still the 1 seed. I swear man our big men are cursed 😭

[@akeme25]

I agree because who at the time was gonna stop them at full-strength? The Sonics? The Bullets?? 😂😂😂

[@fortynights1513]

Glad that message for Dorks is in there. Some days we forget that not everyone engages with a product the way we do.

[@jbizz80]

Buckets, this is the type of analysis we will never see on network TV again. Salute to your entire team. Hell of a video.

[@fortynights1513]

The League Pass rant is so accurate.

[@nvm9040]

The Minneapolis lakers was technically the first dynasty by winning five championships in the decade led by George Mikan

[@Shay416]

Oh shit so the Lakers moved to LA from Minneapolis?!? Crazy. Didn't know that

[@nvm9040]

@@Shay416 they moved to la in the early parts of Elgin Baylors career

[@ELGUAPOIV]

It's simple. People have shorter attention spans and would rather just watch the highlights after the game.

[@JawaPenguin16]

This attention span excuse is so sad

[@ryangreen2493]

No not really since most of the finals are watched by adults before 24 and older. If it was only kids maybe yku would have a point but it's not. Maybe the nba just got boring. Play stops for the weakest fouls, player throw themselves onto the ground or into their defenders and complain, it has too much politics in them. The nba got boring recently, it just has

[@BeerAndJointsAllDay]

TikTok is ruining humanity...

[@JawaPenguin16]

@@ryangreen2493 "grrr i cant focus on things unless its spoon fed to me in highlight form"

[@wattwatkins3574]

Rule changes ruin the league... When you make the league soft and short and lack defense and rim protection and rebounding and post play on both sides of the ball for 3-point shooting people catch on to what the league has become and when the US gets killed overseas in Fiba and Olympics starts to show today's NBA rule set isn't the best basketball being played... What real fans that have been watching since the 80s have noticed and why they complain about it

[@bigsoulja73]

Hoodie Melo Untucked Kyrie Glasses Rusty

[@moneymitch1303]

Smiling Kawhi?

[@HorizonOfHope]

Rusty really is a legend for emphasising how well built the Showtime Lakers and Bird Celtics were. Kareem is THE all-time two-way centre. Magic is THE point guard. The 86 Celtics have the best front court ever. And these squads were together for a decade.

[@emersonmanning1124]

I think this idea of ratings equating to quality is a bad measure (yeah yeah I'm the millionth person to say this). I find I've still enjoyed the playoffs and the finals. I think dynasties are good for bringing in the casual fan but basketball fans can still enjoy the finals. I think the lack of aura around the finals has more to do with the lackluster presentation than anything on the court (except for the lack of a 7 game series, those tend to stick out in people's memories), and the lack of a dynasty now will also only likely make the next dynasty feel more special. Enjoy what is present today, and be excited for what's coming tomorrow.

[@scruffd0g193]

We haven’t had a great 7 Game Series NBA Finals since 2016, the dynasty era is dead, media refuses to talk about the next generation of basketball and is squeezing every last drop of the LeBron, Curry and KD era.

[@JmanTV647]

Much needed video from a much needed channel.

[@alonedownthere47]

8 minutes in and i already know this is gonna be a banger. good to see you back with another one of these man! genuinely great to see your growth from like 5 years ago or however long I've been watching

[@gardenpop]

Before getting deep into the video ima give my opinion. Yes people just don't care as much about the league and the championship. But, does that matter? Basketball and the league are a fundamental part of culture and it will be so for a long time to come. NBA players will still get their bags, and championships and legacies will still be built. Now back to the vid.

[@MegaMjjordan]

It’s does compared to the days they had the trophy on uniforms & court with narrators/interviews before the game

[@gardenpop]

@@MegaMjjordan That stuff can return. I'm not advocating against that. I'm just saying that the NBA is a very profitable and popular league, especially compared to other leagues and other NBA eras. Is it truly a terrifying travesty that new viewership records aren't being set?

[@MegaMjjordan]

@@gardenpop I agree! It definitely can return but they just pull whatever out their asz because they think the numbers matter. They’re popular enough but like Rust said if they get lazy eventually those numbers will be a concern for especially if it gets to nfl numbers

[@loganglenn817]

As one of my youth coaches said, Magic is Yugi and Bird is Kaiba.

[@user-dh3ez1ky7i]

never in my life would i expect a ball coach to even know wtf that is. i really must be gettin old

[@majinbobbyhill828]

I think I remember seeing an old clip where Magic shouted, "its time to duel!"

[@danielshaltes911]

I wanna continue this analogy: Charles Barkley is Joey; scrappy, talented, but ultimately just a half step behind the best of the best. Jordan is Pegasus: a showy, flamboyant sociopath willing to destroy anyone in his way. Kelly Oubre is Duke Devlin: just damn sexy.

[@BrickyRiver0712]

​@@danielshaltes911👀

[@loganglenn817]

@@danielshaltes911 Dillon Brooks is Weevil.

[@ColonelAngus3]

I never knew bill russell also coached during his last years. That’s so wild

[@davidroos935]

Literally stepping onto a 2 hour train ride. Thanks rusty

[@RichD2024]

Great work on this Rusty!

[@LucianoCantabruel]

Because being still talking all the time about MJ and having and Icon living his 20th year in the NBA, this is like living in the past forever, the longer it gets the more boring it is. New brands grow small from that perspective. We should past the page , start focusing in the present for once, send Bron to play domino with Michael and let the young players make something of it.

[@SemajRaff]

Bron is needed. We need a guy everyone likes. I honestly can’t think of the guy we’d root for once he’s gone.

[@weplaydk2343]

​@@SemajRaffbut everyone doesn't like him. Bro is super hated, every little thing elicits hate..most recently with his son's draft

[@megavolt67]

@@weplaydk2343 Yeah, Bron isn't near universally liked by fans in the way MJ was in the 90s and beyond. What LeBron has always been since "The Decision" is polarizing. Some people love him, some people hate him.

[@janjankolovski2505]

Amazing video!

[@denzeljedgaddi6029]

aye glad to have u back!

[@israelbarnes4704]

Probably your best work yet rusty, good shit

[@111Jtg]

Beautiful video brotherman

[@KobeBryant-cm2cc]

Love the content brotha keep going strong ❤️

[@KobeBryant-cm2cc]

2 hours is crazy btw 😂

[@andysawyer647]

This is an amazing breakdown, Rusty. You and your team did a great job.

[@GothPaoki]

Can we just appreciate how much Marc Jackson and Van gundy were missed from the NBA finals coverage. Doris and jj were just meh. And it doesn't help that the broadcast team keeps reminding us about other teams and especially players that have nothing to do with the finals.

[@Renegade-kf8fp]

People were ranting that Marc was unbearable

[@GothPaoki]

@@Renegade-kf8fp they must be talking about a different Marc Jackson then...

[@MegaMjjordan]

Don’t forget C-Webb. Super solid as a commentator. Smooth voice

[@Romanus-]

Yeh the commentary was absolutely awful

[@TheWolferinDenver]

Doris and JJ wtf!!

[@champoopapi]

awesome video, keep it up bro

[@Romanus-]

Really enjoying the long form content. I’m sure it takes a ton of work and it definitely shows.

[@Kyrogus]

Incredible video, dude.

[@kenlen8029]

Quality of your videos keeps improving. This is good.

[@manzac112]

And honestly, I am actually fine not having a face of the league or a dynasty for two decades.

[@joelogbamichael7177]

You say that and I would normally agree, but that would damage the NBA irreversibly. The only way to keep a steady amount of viewers is with Superstars who get constant attention from Stephen A Smith and with dynasties being the favorites which means there is an underdog to root for. What you hope for would heavily reduce the amount of casual NBA watchers, which is something the league honestly can’t handle.

[@thomashigginsmusic]

@@joelogbamichael7177it would be detrimental to the league. They need dynasties in order to keep interest. As much as everyone says they like parity, the ratings say otherwise.

[@H41030v3rki110ny0u]

​@@joelogbamichael7177yeah, no casuals = no money.. not so different from video games tbh .. don't kill your casual fan base or your product will suffer beyond belief

[@weplaydk2343]

​@@joelogbamichael7177casuals are the lifeblood of any field in sports of entertainment. So your probably right. Also ppl underestimate the role Stephen A an sports media plays in all this as well. No doubt. For casuals, it's nothing like a dynastic villainous team to root against..

[@smoothsavage2870]

@@weplaydk2343 They have the villainous teams already. They just arent dynasties lol.

[@t-god2439]

Man you get so creative once the season ends guys make sure you like so he can keep doing vids like this

[@Iso_SSB]

2 hour video is some Kobe level grinding/dedication. W Rusty 🙏🙏

[@AfroSam16]

The year MY TEAM wins the NBA Finals is the year video essays go viral for claiming the NBA Finals is boring. Rusty told no lies I just wanna celebrate the chip man.

[@sorenj_]

Editing and quality is fantastic. Worth the wait and effort Jacob and Rudy great work.

[@MrJohnnyAOA]

You're the best. Keep it up Jacob!

[@aminezourhlal2952]

Amazing video.

[@NothinbutGreatness]

great video bruh

[@pillbox1240]

Excellent video. Happy to watch this!😊

[@TherealMatthias1998]

It’s been a pleasure watching you grow as a content creator. Can’t believe the guy who once argued John Wall was the best PG in the league is now making such great breakdowns

[@malikhagan4983]

i deadass had this on to close out my shift. you’ve blessed the world with this one

[@Qrayzyy]

unbelievable work from you guys. truly inspiring how well this is put together/edited. Thanks again for producing another great movie

[@athunderfan]

The invincible-esque titlecard cut offs are amazing 😂😂😂😂

[@zaidkidwai7831]

Keep up the great work man!

[@Toad22484]

Great video Rusty, the quality of this dive is legit amazing. Thank you for this!

[@Traytable]

This is your best one yet, Rusty. Small things, like the music in the background of the Wilt example (it's a good example, please don't attack me) really make this one

[@arthurduarte7705]

Great video!! Also, that ad was absolutely hilarious😂

[@loganbennett5452]

Love to see how far your production calue amd style of your videos has come along. Definitely some of the best basketball content out there!

[@jessiesteele2675]

Man this was an excellent video and such a thorough, well thought out, well put, and entertaining analysis. Awesome content man, much appreciated!

[@iansanzari8431]

best one yet proud of u jacob

[@benjordan2606]

Awesome awesome vid bro you’ve been getting better at storytelling since the first long form vid.

[@DarkEmoNinja]

YUHHH RETURN OF DEEP DIVE

[@magenta3037]

as someone who was a deeply invested in following basketball 2010' through 2016' , graduated college and lost cable, this was an amazing documentary that was entertaining and informative. What you spoke about in the "War for Gary" section about the sport being divisive of the casual consumer vs real fans of the sports, that is being reflected in a lot sports (I'm a martial artist). Money usually breaks up an assortment of communal aspects, especially when it requires long term cultivation. Since things are cyclical it makes sense that slowly its coming back to some of it's original roots, can be misconceive as antiquated vs being a required foundational precept. Thank you for this!!!

[@funnydude2329]

I watched this while getting an arm pump in the gym, you the goat rusty🗣️🐐🔥

[@grottyband8052]

I’m loving this documentary-style stuff!

[@chocktaebolanca757]

Fantastic video

[@M-Cherian]

Great video - loved the love for Magic.

[@kingk8384]

Keep going rusty 🎉

[@kensuter1441]

Dude. The cat is the star of the frat house every game we stream. I could never unsub from a real ball knower like this

[@CalvinLangatMMA]

This video was well researched and put together! I learnt a lot and are looking at NBA finals through a different lens for the first time. Hope this gets the views it deserves Rusty 🤞🏿

[@adamtwarowski1053]

I love the video so much. A couple thing to add: -1.) I know this is nitpicky, but Cooper was not the first DPOY. Before him was Sidney Moncrief (x2), then Mark Eaton, and Alvin Robertson. -2.) A thing that needs to be pointed out with the 70s is that we were robbed of a lot of talent. Rampant drug abuse aside, Bill Walton was had such a high peak before his injuries, and we were robbed of what should have been the best player in the league in the transition between Kareem's era and the Magic/Bird era. For reference, can you imagine if Steph Curry's lower body injuries robbed us of his superstar career post-2016, only for him to resurface a few years later as a cool 6th man on the Nuggets? Because that would be the equivalent of what happened with Walton

[@kajechai]

Brother, this is a masterpiece

[@KingKai992]

simply, thank you.

[@yakovthememegod6364]

return of the king

[@kensuter1441]

If you’re looking for video ideas, a rundown of the Aba would be awesome. A bunch of great players are totally forgotten by today, and even those who did make it to the nba aren’t seen as the greats they were.

[@rustybuckets]

This is in the cards in the future for sure

[@railenherman6482]

What I really hated about the Finals was how many ads there were on and off the court. It’s just so ridiculous that we constantly have to be bombarded with KZbin TV ads or the same repetitive commercials during ad breaks. It got to the point where I joked about having a basketball game in the middle of the commercials.

[@cj.9738]

The dip in numbers is 100% because of illegal streaming, its just a better service than what the NBA offers. League Pass is absolute ass, and too expensive for most people outside the US. The price would be justified if you could watch old games or something with the same subscription but you can't even do that so its not worth it.

[@markcarey67]

There is the added factor that a lot of the audience for basketball is younger than for other major sports and many of them have figured out ways to stream games that would not show up in viewership statistics. I grew up in the 90s Bulls era and got back into basketball when I started playing it socially again (quite surprised that one of my old favourite teams the Golden State Warriors were suddenly very good) and by that point I had not watched or owned a television for over 15 years.

[@coltonfink8154]

Woah man the quality in this video is insane

[@danielk6664]

Completely agree

[@dallas4eva738]

Great video! You're my favorite basketball KZbinr.

[@jimkazama00]

Not gonna tell you how to run your own channel but I love this long form, high effort format you guys have been producing. I learn a lot from them. Keep it up!

[@jaksongraham9516]

Love to see more

[@galaxyvita2045]

wtfffffff great work !!!

[@jeremiahwatson3403]

This was one of the best videos I’ve seen on the NBA 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@adamgeyer1033]

Great historical analysis

[@Williscool]

Loved the channel for years man! Excellent video totally summarizes the whole super fans getting annoyed by dynasties versus casuals honestly preferring them. Not even close to as much of a basketball expert as yourself and a lot of others but I do know software. The problems you're seeing in the app that you were comparing about towards the end of the episode I googled the software jobs that the NBA has posted and frankly they're just not paying enough to get a good enough team together that would be able to fix them at the scale. So I'm sure there is a lot of churn on their team and they're using a lot of contractors that don't really care much as long as the app kind of works. They really need to up the salaries and have some kind of profit sharing / equity type of component to help with that.

[@rafaelmassara7588]

There’s a reason why games between the lakers and warriors are still the most watched of the season despite the fact both were play in teams. Despite all the new talent in the league, guys like KD, Steph and Lebron are still carrying in terms of marketability and fan attention because instead of using platforms like the NBA finals to establish this new era which may even be the greatest from a talent standpoint, they’d rather bombard you with commercials, come back for 30 seconds to talk about what LeBron ate for dinner and then go back to commercials when he was eliminated 3 rounds ago. What is a casual fan who isn’t fully invested in simply basketball gonna think?

[@JMRH705]

not even half way through but very very good video worth the wait

[@mobleymcfly]

Masterpiece

[@BrandonRadtke]

You look very healthy and well. I'm pleased to see that after a couple videos ago when you shared with us how much you were struggling with mental health issues and wanting to make a change in your life. You also noted that you wanted to make fewer quantity of higher quality videos and since that post I have very much enjoyed your latest videos and I think you absolutely nailed the sort of deeper higher quality content that you were after. I hope you're success continues! Great job, proud of ya ❤

[@toadeightyfive]

As someone who's primarily a baseball fan, I found this perspective really interesting, because the NBA's "ring/dynasty culture" is a lot different to how baseball fans conceptualize our own history. Only three MLB teams in the time period you covered would count as a dynasty by your criteria - the 1972-74 A's threepeat, the Jeter Yankees of the 90's, and the 2010's Giants - and even among those, I don't think they're considered as pivotal for the story of baseball as the Magic-Bird rivalry or the Bulls 6-0 run are for the story of basketball. MLB hasn't had back-to-back title winners in almost 25 years. A lot of the greatest and most popular MLB players (Ken Griffey Jr, Ernie Banks, Ted Williams, Mike Mussina, Tony Gwynn) never won a World Series, and most fans don't really consider that a knock on their respective legacies. A title is great, of course, but they're generally considered the climax for a great team or career, rather than a baseline requirement for greatness as some basketball fans seem to treat it. A lot of that is just because it's a lot harder to build a constantly winning team in baseball. In basketball, you can structure your offense around just one great player and still get results, like you said happened with Wilt or Luka. But in baseball, it's ALWAYS been about depth: your best hitter will always only ever get 1/9 of plate appearances, and your best starter will always only start every 5th game. The 2020s Angels managed to stack the two greatest superstars in the league, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, but never even *MADE* the playoffs because they had no depth beyond them; imagine if an NBA team had both SGA and Jokić but could only manage to win ~35 games a year! And as the quality of players continues to rise, the NBA could be heading towards that kind of roster construction. So if the NBA were to continue without a dynasty for an extended period of time, I'd wonder whether basketball fans would adapt by taking on a more baseball-ish mindset towards rings. Where a star player or great team can still be the "main character" and set the league's narrative for casuals without needing the continuity of a dynasty.

[@duncandumond9043]

This expository gained you a sub (after watching it three times)

[@alex_walters]

the goat has returned 🙌

[@H0tDawgWater911]

Love ya rusty

[@projectgraham414]

Rusty, I'm only 30 minutes in, and I can easily say that this is your most impressive video ever. You nailed Russell's importance, and well as Magic and Bird, and it's obvious you did your homework. A LOT of homework. Great job man👍👍👍👍

[@marknewsome2844]

the awful nike jerseys and phasing out white uniforms being the home defaults is also an aesthetic issue to the game