WHITE RIVER, Ariz. -- Now that the National Basketball Association lockout is apparently over, the league will be scrambling to save its season and to woo back fans. But in fact the long layoff and, more important, the shortened season may work to everyone's advantage.
Anyone who follows professional basketball closely knows the season is too long, especially the regular season, which is, after all, only a prelude to the playoffs. The playoffs are what the fans really like.And they're right: the post-season has the highest quality of play and the most competitive games. Why delay it for six months, as the league does now? In the 1950s and '60s the regular season lasted only 62 games, 20 fewer than are played today. And in that era, the great Celtic teams peaked during the playoffs. When I won my first league championship, with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971, we won the final game on April 30. Now the season drags into June.
For players, the wear and tear of the season, which, if you include preseason contests, stretches on past 100 games, is staggering. True, basketball players don't suffer broken bones as often as football players do. But the effect of exhaustion is severe. It wears on the players' joints and muscles.
It's a price every pro pays after he retires: long-term damage to ankles, knees, backs. In May 1997, eight years after I retired, I had bone spurs removed from my ankle. For two years I had trouble walking. My case isn't unusual.
A shorter season would benefit the fans too because the level of play would improve. With fewer games in the regular season, the playoff implications of every contest would be heightened. Teams would also have more time to prepare in between games. In the National Football League, a team has an entire week to prepare for each opponent.
For NBA teams, even one more day of practice could make a big difference since teams now often have only a morning "shoot-around" before they take the court against an opponent they haven't faced all year.
More preparation time also improves team play, a fast disappearing aspect of the game. Of all the sports, none rely as much on team play as basketball does, yet many players enter the league without understanding this. Starting in elementary school, physical education programs are being cut, and young players are not exposed to coaching and teaching as they were in my day. As a result, you see kids who are tremendous athletes but are self-taught. They try to imitate the highlight films instead of learning how to mesh with teammates.
Skeptics will say, "But how can teams afford to pay the high salaries they do unless they play as many games as possible and fill the arena night after night?" In fact, ticket sales aren't as crucial as they used to be. With the flood of television revenue, teams can sell enough subscriptions to put a better quality product on the floor fewer nights of the year.
It is often said that the NBA pleases its fans better than the other sports leagues do. A shortened season would make a great sport even better.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is the author of "Black Profiles in Courage."