I wonder how Cordillera NBA fans are taking this load management thing in relation to patronizing NBA games?
LA star Lebron James of the Lakers started this trend earlier in his career and Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers took it to another level last year.
This is basically the missing of games by a player without any other reason than to “rest” their bodies.
It is a program employed by NBA teams and players that analyzes the activities being demanded from a player and compares them to the abilities the player has. If a team determined that the body of the player cannot absorb and perform the required activities at a required level, they skip some of those certain activities, including actual live games in the regular season.
Local audience preference
Unlike the US fans who generally support their teams, the fans here watch games enjoying a variety of teams and superstars, leaning more on the superstars side.
While this statement is more of an opinion rather than a statistic, the Philippines geographical location in relation to the NBA teams base and the general love of Filipinos for basketball back this up. Being an outsider, local fans generally don’t support a team. They rather enjoy watching a team or a player perform.
So while there are local NBA fans who want to see how the Lakers, or Celtics, or Clippers, or Warriors team play, a lot also become glued to their screens to watch Lebron James take a lead for the Lakers, or see Stephen Curry and James Harden shoot, or mesmerized at Russell Westbrook drive to the basket, or marvel at Kyrie Irving’s handles.
This preference is what made successful NBA teams more popular and NBA stars a desire to watch here.
Of course, a number of casual sports fans of foreign teams in this side of the world generally don’t want to be associated with losers so they normally become band wagon fans and root for the winning team as well as present themselves as be fans of the more popular players than those lesser known ones.
And yet, there are the die-hard basketball fans who will stick to their favorite teams and players no matter what condition are they in. And they are generally not satisfied with anything less than the entire 82-game schedule.
This is what makes us unique in comparison to the US fans, who will buy tickets to root for their hometown teams and visit arenas to consume food and drinks.
Becoming global
It is also undoubted that the NBA became a multi-billion industry when it worked and achieved its goal of reaching global audiences.
In the case of the Cordilleras, the uniqueness of the talent in the NBA is generally what attracts them.
Cordillerans don’t normally see their top basketball players dunk, or shot from afar, or simply play at outrageous levels. So when they see these NBA players penetrate the lane and throws it down hard, or shoot from 40 feet, or display team play that they could only imagine, they become instant admirers and crave for more of the action for general entertainment purposes.
It is simply the nature of sports as a form of entertainment. It is like an action or adventure movie where the movie with better stunts, fast moving action, and popular performers dominate the viewership.
Playing without the Stars
It is for this reasons that it generally turns off the local audience when the best player sits a game.
Would the local NBA follower watch a Clippers game without a healthy Leonard, or a Lakers game without a healthy James, or a Houston Rockets game without a healthy Harden, or a Brooklyn Nets game without a healthy Irving?
Many might not.
It is why NBA players and teams should think about this load management thing, especially when it involves actual games.
NBA games are products advertised by the schedule and the lineup. And when a product delivered is not what was advertised, it turns off the paying audience.
And while local fans don’t directly affect ticket sales and arena income, we do affect the income generating capability of both the league and the players.
Was it true that some of you, readers, acquired a certain gadget because Kobe Bryant or Steph Curry endorsed it?
Did you buy a certain brand of notebook or some kind of school paraphernalia because a picture of Lebron James wearing an LA Laker uniform and playing in an NBA game was on the cover?
Are you wearing a certain pair of sneakers just because Air Jordan once wore it?
The NBA is a billionaire and the players are multi-millionaires partly because of the local audience’ adoration.
Did the NBA wonder why they could be arguably a more popular league here in the Cordilleras than the PBA and why there is definitely more NBA related products that flood the market compared with its local counterpart?
It’s generally not that Cordillerans don’t patronize their own, it’s more of the NBA having more entertainment value to offer than the local league.
And with the advent of technology where any NBA can now be available on demand, it becomes unfortunate when the NBA stars choose to sit down games when they are healthy to play.
It really turns the audience away from a good game.
By Armando M. Bolislis
Illustration by Don Ray Ramos