The amount of offensive fouls. The "restricted area" is is the dumbest damn thing ever. These are huge cats playing in the NBA and that restricted area is far too close to the hoop. The game is slowly becoming all 3 pointers and foul shots. Bring back the hand check and decrease the charge calls by about 75%.

I'd say Lebron James is probably the most annoying thing about basketball. Oh, and fans that cheer to see Brian Scalabrine get off the bench.

Great list. Unfortunately for me personally the NBA product has diminished in personal value for me as a customer, fan and supporter of the league. Don't mean to say everyone is the same but I certainly have lost ALOT of love I once had for the NBA.
The biggest issue I have with the NBA is hypocrisy and lack of respect for fans. Simply, they don't care. Money and revenue drives EVERYTHING within the NBA (and I suppose all pro sports to some extent).
This year the price of league pass nearly doubled, despite nearly a 30% reduction in product (games). The lockout only succeeding in establishing a business model where profits are generated irrespective of success or quality of play. If someone offered me a business and said, "Hey, no matter how terrible and poorly you do in this business you'll still make a profit" I would throw them out the door. But the NBA basically guaranteed this and then proceeded to business as usual with elite teams and terrible teams and very little balance in between.
Also, the justification of the NBA Finals was near the last straw. Despite anyone's opinions, the finals justified the debacle that was the Sonics and rewarded (financially and status wise) the owners of a team that essentially held a city to ransom and broke many a heart of Seattle fans (but don't worry, says the NBA, as soon as we can you'll get a team back. See, we love our fans!). On the other side, these "champions" essentially helped justify that the NBA is nothing more than a star driven league. That if you don't have a star (or multiple stars) you can't win. The referees cannot call things evenly. The league can't risk losing money. And stars can essentially hold teams and more importantly fans at ransom at their discretion.
I won't rant further, cause I can go all day.
Regardless, for every fan that the NBA turns away and alienates (like myself) it finds at least a dozen more. It's their business model. Young people will buy the tickets, the DVDs, the jerseys, etc.
It's the same with sports gaming. I can't pull off any special moves in 2K12 and I suck at online, but that's because the game isn't built for me. Cause when I stop buying it, they already have the next market sewn up. Maybe that's why there is such a distinct lack of sports management titles (with the exception of pure brilliance like football manager and OOTP).

Anyways, long story short, I'm pretty much done with the NBA. Eddy Curry is an
NBA champion, enough said.

Oh and I totally agree with the comment about hand checking and bringing some toughness back. It's why I respect a guy like Rondo. But the NBA doesn't want that. It wants the dancing, and hugging and whatever the hell John Wall does.

Players colluding to form up AAU-like superteams and creating free agency drama.

Agree with most of this.....yet I'm still dying to get the NBA back to Seattle! When you have a team and then lose it, it's amazing how much you appreciate the NBA for what it is once it's gone.

Has it ever occurred that some people just have different personalities and express themselves differently? When players complain about calls or celebrate after a play I can almost guarantee you they do the same in a gym by themselves. People carry their emotions, excitement, and anger differently. Doesn't mean they are immature or attention hogs or childish.

Complaining to referees is a byproduct of a sport in which the rules can be subjective and influenced by certain situations or trends. Everytime I've played basketball I generally know when I've fouled someone and admit it, or of they call something stupid I'll complain. However, some NBA players complain consistently. And I mean at nearly every call. Why is that? Personality or expression? It's either the players themselves or the 'rules' are so inconsistently applied that it causes confusion on the court.
For comparison watch a sport like tennis these days, when the rules are uniform and technology is used to assess a ruling that is called into question. Gone are the McEnroe days as most tennis players display poise and faith in the system that is backed up by consistent officiating and efficient use of technology.

I disagree with Bring the HAnd Checking BAck. I do not want the NBA to regress back to the typical NBA game of the low scoring, low shooting percentages. would that be mid to late 90s.
MISterkitz, I disagree with the league being a bunch of ghetto ballers. The last days of that era is pretty much gone, except for maybe 1 or 2 players.
Most of these players carry themselves professionally now, and really when was the last time a player has been in really serious trouble. getting pulled over for speeding does not count.
The NBA does a great job of marketing their product. I disagree that the league is full of selfish players. In every sport, players alwasy hold out for more money. and To those that say that players dont care about winning is clearly a foolish statement. These athletes are competitors, they compete for a living. Thats why alot of players chose to leave losing organizations, that cant rebuild an organization.

You have a good list, which could easily expand to 10 annoying things about the NBA. Let's see, poor officiating, collusion (players, owners, refs, the rigged draft lottery), the post-game attire, the looooong playoffs, the fact that teams are looking more similar in terms of their colors/logos. Aesthetically, the league just looks bad. The All-Star Weekend is good but presented so terribly. The dunk contest would be great if we didn't have Reggie Miller and everyone else talking before and after every dunk.

And I'm not positive that the draft lottery is rigged, but a.) we need to find the probability of some of the selections to prove it and b.) Stern could squelch all talk of it being rigged if he just showed the balls being picked and had a pre-published list of permutations. You know, like every other lottery in existence.

hey 55 years old guy, kill yourself. hip hop is here to stay. sorry not too many elvis cuts are gonna be blaring through the loud speaker

"hey 55 years old guy, kill yourself. hip hop is here to stay. sorry not too many elvis cuts are gonna be blaring through the loud speaker"

Well, that was inappropriate. I love how you call him "55-years-old guy" as though it were an insult.

Anyway, beyond the officiating, which has been complained about ad nauseum, I really find the lack of competitive balance annoying to the point of disheartening. It was bad enough back when a poor front office could sink your franchise for several years. With superstars forming their own all-star squads today, a down-and-out franchise can stay that way for a decade or more.

I won't be missing the majority of press and television coverage of the NBA. Most of it is catch-phrase garbage. Mark Cuban's rant in the face of Skip Bayless is spot on. Most of the decent press comes from team-specific blogs, and the only TV coverage worth anything is some of the hosts on NBA TV or the TNT show(although Shaq is kind of bringing that show down).

They can start with a new commish. Stern is an arrogant bully and the perfect example of an emperor without clothes. The NBA product is as unwatchable as the WNBA now. It's a pick and roll, dribble for 18 seconds, take a bad shot and hope for a foul fest. Very few teams run plays where at least three guys touch the rock in a half court set.

The omnipotent Stern is powerless to stop players from colluding to be on the same team, yet he can nix a trade where all parties were satisfied. The draft lottery has been rigged since it started. Games are fixed by inserting the refs who tilt the odds of winning in one team's favor. The only entity dirtier than the NBA is the BCS.

This past season is my last. In each round, the best player facing the Heat was in foul trouble the entire series and they were not known as defensive players. Stern finally decided his BFF suffered long enough and gave him a ring, but he's still a loser in my book. Jordan has six, Kobe has five, Wade has two. He only has one, so he's still looking up to the gods.

Everyone complains about flopping, and rightfully so, but fail to address the real reason why guys flop. It's because Stern has taken away the ability to play tough defense (unless you wear a Miami, Lakers, or Celtic uniform). If Lebron James is driving the lane, you can't bump him with your hip, you can't hand check him, you have to not touch him at all and hope that you can cut him off and take a charge. THAT's why people flop. Same goes for Shot blockers.