[bmitc]

> Personality is prohibited. This highly sanitized product is pretty lame to watch. If a player just delivers a nasty dunk and then even so much as looks at the guy they just dunked on, that’s a foul.

Aside from the league and refs, a major issue here is simply lack of personality. Players today are just carbon copies of each other. They all do that lame shoulder flex with their arms down (which looks dumb to begin with) and intentionally try to step over the defenders. Either that or the played out three pointer celebrations. Like, come on. Get a personality!

This is a stark contrast from personalities in the 80s and 90s who either treated dunks as business as usual, which is fine in my mind, or had stylistic celebrations.

Have any players of today even heard of Shawn Kemp? https://youtu.be/HQeMhYJe5JA. None of his celebrations were even insulting. They were just stylistic flairs. Not to mention that his, Jordan's, Dominique Wilkins', etc. dunks were far more stylistic than in today's game.

I blame today's NBA on the players as much as the league and organizations. They're just plain boring, from their personalities to play style. It's like just watching pickup games. There's no tension, no style, no personalities, no "must win" attitudes.

[m10i]

That’s in part what I mean when I say:

> the players would retreat into their personality shells.

These players want to express themselves more, but they’re afraid of punishments from the refs (rightfully so) or the league. It’s gotten pretty bad. Here’s some super quick examples:

- Jayson Tatum gets a tech for clapping because he was frustrated at himself: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=te6l2n2OjH8

- Lu Dort gets a tech for holding up a three sign: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jVowvZFlRR8

In a somewhat Pavlovian response to the ref’s, players are committed to self-censorship; verbally, as well as physically

[m10i]

Last night, Brandin Podziemski got a technical for pointing out that beer was spilled on the court: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmWLJXeGksY

This is the kind of mockery to professional sports and player expression that I'm talking about. It's rampant.

[thatswrong0]

This still largely goes back to the sanitization and reffing IMO. The refs have made themselves into main characters. Techs get thrown out for almost nothing. The refs need to stop ruining moments like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_NxoC_LObU

If you want personality and style, you've got to let the players play, be emotional, and sometimes be assholes.