RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Luuuc]

Lonzo Ball and the NBA summer league spell trouble for the WNBA

[Happycappie25]

So much crap in that article so little time....yes the summer league is drawing more than people thought...but its 2 different things...article was written by a dude who think its still NBA STH who go to W games...it rarely is.

Yes there needs to be more juice to W games...yes there are schedule issues and overseas issues...and yes the 2 overlap...BUT...ESPN with their lame o coverage and excuse making should be the LAST people to bitch about the W lacking drama...I mean the LAST...I ranted more on twitter...that's enough negavitity for this rebkellian

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"Leave it to the NCAA women's basketball committee to turn a glass slipper into glass ceiling" Graham Hays

[sigur3]

The article is shit.

Next.

[miller40]

In the amount of space he dedicated to Lonzo he could have written an attention getting article on Taurasi sitting out to "rest" against the best team in the W (and presumably a team she hates hates hates losing against).

[Richyyy]

It's really a shame that espnW is a giant steaming pile of shit. There's been a visible effort to offer more coverage of women's sports on the BBC website in the last couple of years (along with other 'niche' groups like paralympic sport). I can't imagine the hit-rates for the pages are great, but the links appear on the main page of the sports section, right where they should, amongst everything else. The word 'women' only even appears if it's particularly necessary or relevant. Otherwise it just says something like 'Manchester City defeat Arsenal 2-1' as the headline, without feeling the need to actively distinguish.

Meanwhile, espnW actively sidelines and limits the coverage the main sports site in the US offers of women's sport. It's basically a lifestyle section without that title, so the actual coverage of the sport barely exists. Then there's stuff like this about everything the League is supposedly doing wrong and how it's going to die.

The WNBA has drama. It's just that no one much cares to write about it in these places, and even if they do, so little attention is paid that it fades away quickly. The use of Plum, and the drama around her potentially being traded, would've been a huge NBA story, but it doesn't count for guys like this because on an NBA scale no one really cares. Taurasi's a villain for plenty of people, and a hero for many others, but only if you're watching.

Sadly, the only story that really seems to have penetrated general consciousness in recent years is all the Glory/Griner drama, and I don't think the league really wants the major outlet covering them to be TMZ.

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Independent WNBA coverage: http://www.wnbalien.com/

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

The only reason there might be slighter greater interest in the NBA summer league is because of Lonzo Ball and because of BBB...two isolated entities. Lonzo is good enough to be an attraction unto himself, and I've even watched him play a few times because he plays basketball exactly the way it is supposed to be played. Because of his dad and the whole changing sneakers every night thing, I'm sure there's also people watching because they're salivating at the possibility of his failure.

Either way, this isn't detracting from the WNBA. Fans of women's ball will watch. Non-fans won't. The end.

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

[pilight]

Interest in summer league is growing because the NBA is promoting the hell out of it. Every game is on NBATV.

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I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[Richyyy]

[ArtBest23]

There was actually talk of the WNBA during last night's D league tourney final. The color guy asked the pbp guy along the lines of "Is Brianna Stewart a superstar yet in the WNBA" to which the response from the pbp guy was (not exactly but close) "no, I don't think so, not the way people expected her to be."


Ugh

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

[calbearman76]

Sorry to disagree, but the Summer League HAS become a phenomenon. Wildly enthusiastic crowds in Vegas, attendance exceeding 127,000, including a 17,500 sellout on the second day. Yes, Lonzo Ball contributed to the excitement, but even last season the attendance was over 100,000. That is $3,000,000 in ticket sales for exhibition games including only rookies and 1st and 2nd year players in a city without an NBA team.

Add to that the TV exposure on both NBA TV and ESPN that clouds out the WNBA, and I believe draws significantly higher viewership, and you have another problem for the WNBA. I love the women's game, but the contributors on this board are the real minority, and the answer is not to criticize this writer.

[shontay33]

I think the writer is blowing things out of proportion. The summer league was only for 18 days. The WNBA season lasts for 5 months or more depending on the Finals. Its not like the NBA has its summer league the whole time that the WNBA is in progress. I'm with most people on this board in that this article was a waste of time and that the writer could have actually focused more on what is going on in the WNBA .

[GlennMacGrady]

I think the writer's theory about curing the WNBA's attendance ills is nonsense. He says the cure is for the WNBA to have more villains and controversies including fights.

Do people pack NBA arenas because the sport offers villains, controversies and fights? I think it's rather because they like to see, want to see, hope to see top level talent exploding through space-time like high energy particle scattering in the Large Hadron Collider. Of course, some mystery about a hyped mega-talent may add to the drama, but still its about on-court talent, performance and excitement.

Blown chippies, airballs, galumphing bigs, disorganized teamwork, ref whistlemania, and endless Zapruder replays to slow down an already molasses pace -- that is all a sport for a different mind set audience.

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http://www.youtube.com/MagicBusBasketball

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

[Richyyy]

And is it still gonna sell out when the Lakers are good enough again to not have anyone in it worth watching?

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Independent WNBA coverage: http://www.wnbalien.com/

[NYL_WNBA_FAN]

If I read correctly, I believe people in attendance get to view all the games in the venue that day if they choose. If that's the case, I guess that changes the equation some in terms of attendance moving forward. Several games for 20 or 30 bucks is understandably a good selling point.

Though I think the Lonzo-mania is a special case between the kid, the dad and the different sneakers every night. Great player though. I've watched him twice and I rarely watch NBA summer league games. Whatever anyone thinks of Lavar, he's doing what he intended to do. People are paying attention, and isn't only because Lonzo is talented. It's a wider variety of factors, including those who want him to fail.

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The poster formerly known as LibWNBAFan.

[Silky Johnson]

Summer League generates a lot of interest because, unless you root for one of, like, 4-5 NBA teams, they're the only games you get to be excited about until next year's Summer League. It's the time of year when you get to break out your shiny new toys, err... draft picks, and get really hyped up over their potential... Until the regular season starts, and you get brought back to the hard reality that your team doesn't have a chance.

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Professional Hater. The Baron of #HateHard

My team no longer exists, so I'll have to settle for hating yours.

[pilight]

[awhom111]

[red805]

The Sparks game last Thursday that was supposed to air on Spectrum (old Time Warner) was replaced with the summer league game. I called Spectrum & complained. Then after being on the phone for half an our with Spectrum, I saw an e-mail from my Sparks rep that the game was delayed on tv until after the men's game, but the cable rep had no clue. I know the Las Vegas tournament was popular, but it was on 6 channels that I had.

[justintyme]

Ran across this essay in my feed and found it on point.

https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2017/7/19/15994162/wnba-2017-espn-espnw-sean-hurd-bullshit-discriminatory-reporting-womens-pro-basketball

[Bob Lamm]