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Five ideas to improve the NBA All-Star Weekend

LeBron in his Miami Heat days. (Image: NBA)
Roar Guru
29th January, 2014
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Every year the All-Star Weekend comes and goes with various exhibition games, skills challenges and sideshow contests, and every year the talk before and afterwards is about how do we make the weekend better.

This year isn’t any different, so here are my suggestions to make the weekend more enjoyable for players, fans and the NBA.

1. Hold All-Star Weekend in the Caribbean… and outdoors
You always see the quotes from players and coaches about how they love the All-Star break as it gives them a few extra days to revitalise their aching bodies in preparation for the run to the playoffs.

What better place to do that for those that do have to attend than the sun-soaked, tropical waters of the Caribbean?

With the amount of money the NBA rakes in each year it could justify flying everyone down there for a weekend to play on a purpose built outdoor court (a la NHL outdoor ice style) right next to the beach and a five-star resort.

If a court can’t be built then why not dock an aircraft carrier off the coast of a tropical island and play on the deck, just like they did in this college game?

Wouldn’t it look great on TV with the camera emerging from a palm-lined basketball court under floodlights to a panoramic shot of a pristine beach and the azure waters of the Caribbean.

That looks a lot better than an NBA court you have seen many times before.

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2. Allocate roster spots on the Team Chuck-Shaq game for fans
The Rookie-Sophomore game, or the Team Shaq-Chuck game as it now known, is a bit of a lame affair. Sure you get some spectacular dunks, ankle-breaking crossovers and a high-scoring game but what purpose does it really serve apart from being a poor man’s All-Star Game?

Bragging rights really aren’t mentioned after the game and who won is quickly forgotten, so why not add in a bit a comedy to the mix in the form of complete amateurs?

Run a competition where the fans enter a ballot or have to submit a video of something crazy they did on a basketball court for a chance to grab one of the four roster slots (two per side) in the Team Chuck-Shaq game.

It would be every basketball fan’s dream to be able to play against an NBA player with the world watching. Imagine how funny it would be to see a fan from Turkey, China or Australia try and go 1-1 against Trey Burke or Anthony Davis – especially if they managed to score on them.

3. Change nothing about the All-Star Game
Why does everyone want the All-Star Game to change so it means something?

Suggestions like playing for home court advantage in the NBA Finals make little sense. Why would someone like Kevin Love care who gets home court advantage if the T’Wolves don’t look like making the playoffs?

There would be a giant uproar if a LeBron James or Kevin Durant injured themselves in the final minute of a close All-Star Game chasing down a loose ball that would otherwise be let go in the current format.

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Trying to create a fake reason to make an exhibition game matter is pointless in a weekend that is all about celebrating the NBA and having a bit of fun.

There is nothing wrong with watching a no defence, high-scoring pickup game between the NBA’s best players, so why not enjoy it for what it is?

4. Have actual celebrities play in the Celebrity Game
Every year we get the same mix of former players, third-tier musicians/rappers, WNBA players and B-grade television actors who are only known to American viewers as “that guy off that TV show”.

Occasionally we get the likes of Usain Bolt, Kevin Hart or Justin Bieber to spice things up, but wouldn’t it be cool if we had A-list celebrities strutting their stuff on the floor?

Imagine if we had a team from the Hollywood scene usually spotted at Lakers games captained by David Beckham and coached by Jack Nicholson up against the East Coast Madison Square Garden crowd, captained by Ben Stiller and coached by Spike Lee.

Surely if they love to watch games then they secretly want to star in the Celebrity Game.

5. Hold a Legends Game
We currently have past players involved with the Celebrity Game but they don’t really go all out against rappers and TV personalities (unless you are Scottie Pippen against Justin Bieber).

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Wouldn’t it be fun to pit members the 1992 Olympics Dream Team against the 1996 Olympics team?

Given the amount of smack talk over the years about who was the better team it would be great to see Jordan, Pippen, Magic, Ewing, Robinson, Barkley and crew go up against Shaq, Hill, Payton, Miller, Olajuwon and Hardaway.

Sure, most of them may be old (fat) men now and Grant Hill is only a year removed from the league and would dunk on everyone, but do you think Michael Jordan doesn’t still want to beat up on Reggie Miller? Barkley versus Shaq?

If all the players wore small mics then imagine the priceless smack talk we would get.

These are just some ideas to give the All-Star Weekend a little boost. Feel free to add in your own ideas in the comments section.

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