Summer of Ice: Did the BIG3 deliver?

What was the biggest surprise of the summer? 

Sean: As someone who was excited about the league but skeptical about its chances, the attendance numbers were the biggest surprise. Now some of that was due to Rashard Lewis giving free tickets to kids, but the arenas weren’t empty. On July 16, 12,435 people went to the BIG3 in Philadelphia. On July 17, 9,193 fans saw the A’s play the Rays. Who’s really the major sport?

I also thought Stephen Jackson’s Killer 3s would be a title contender rather than the worst team in the league, but I also thought Chauncey Billups would be playing. And Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s level of play was stunning for a 48-year-old.

Phillip: After the first two weeks, I thought there was no way the league would be able to survive injuries. Allen Iverson, Corey Maggette, Jason Williams and Kenyon Martin — three guys I was incredibly excited to see play again — all went down with injuries. Considering the age of the ex-NBA players and the fact that I sprained my knee the first time I played a full-court game after turning 30, I expected many more to succumb to the injury bug.

Despite their collective age, these men are still taking relatively great care of their bodies. With a week to rest between games and the fact that they’re playing half-court, 3-on-3 ball, the injury risk just wasn’t as high as it seemed it would be after the first two weeks.

Oh, and I don’t know how I missed this before the league started, but in-season trades? That’s really the biggest surprise of the summer.

Did the BIG3 accomplish what it wanted to in its inaugural season? If it didn’t, do you think those goals can be reached in 2018?

Sean: I think it did! The TV product was good enough that it got renewed for 2018, and the live product was good enough that LL Cool J was there almost every week. The only scandal was Iverson’s no-show, and only White Chocolate and Corey Maggette suffered devastating injuries. The basketball was just legit enough — it wasn’t an Old-Timers Game, and people weren’t watching just to make fun of them. I mean, I was, but that’s my job.

What’s going to help going forward is that it seemed to resonate with current NBA players, with a decent number showing up to games. Recruiting as many former stars as possible is the key to keeping the league growing. Andre Owens is a great story, and he tore it up this summer. But fans got more excited about Iverson’s one bucket per game than Owens scoring 30.

Phillip: Absolutely. The biggest flaw on the season is also what made the league unique. The lack of a time limit allowed some of the games to drag on longer than they needed to. The BIG3 recognized this problem after Week 1 when the final score needed to win dropped from 60 to 50 points. Other than that, the BIG3 pretty much accomplished everything it set out to aside from Allen Iverson making us feel like kids again. The games were entertaining, most of the guys still had a little in the tank and those who had a lot were really fun.

My friend brought his family to Staples Center and thought the in-arena experience was great. “It was actually really fun. If you're able to get good seat tickets (which aren't that expensive) it's worth just because of the interaction,” he said. “You'll see tons of celebs, at least in L.A., and the players are all around after their games interacting with fans close to the court. Games were actually entertaining. Probably more for older crowd that can't let go of the past yet [laughs]. I was able to talk to Sam Cassell in the lobby… Good experience though.”

Did anyone (the “younger” guys) impress enough that he could get another shot in the NBA? 

Sean: The only plausible young guy to me is Rashad McCants, but even he’s going to be 33 when the NBA season starts. And it’s not like he’s a mystery — he was on the Mavs’ D League in 2013 and 2016, and he didn’t last a month either time. I do irrationally believe that Rashard Lewis could still help the right NBA team.

To me, Xavier Silas is a guy who shouldn’t be in the BIG3. He’s 29, so six years under the ostensible age minimum. And he did fine, but of course he did fine — any 29-year-old professional is going to do well against 40-year-olds. McCants is young, too, but he’s famous, he’s an NCAA champ and he’s someone fans have strong opinions about. Xavier Silas is none of those things. I have no problem with the BIG3 having players under 35. A 33-year-old Adam Morrison, hell yeah; 29-year-old Greg Oden, not only would I make him a captain, I’d rig the draw so he got the No.1 pick. But a 29-year-old guy who’s just a guy? I don’t see the point.

Phillip: Ehhhh, I thought Rashad McCants and Rashard Lewis were the only guys who looked like they could get a training camp invite this year. But the game is so completely different that it’s nearly impossible to give a fair assessment of whether any of these guys can survive an 82-game season running full court for 15 minutes a night. This league exists to give retired guys with a competitive itch a few weeks to scratch it and fans a little taste of nostalgia. It’s hard to imagine the BIG3 turning into a gateway back to the NBA.

Was this the "fun time" fans wanted, or did the tape delay take the air out of watching games at home? 

Sean: I don’t think tape delay is in itself prohibitive, and I think the games worked better in an edited context. People still watch the Olympics on tape delay. They complain about it, but they also watch in huge numbers.

Phillip: I think the tape delay probably worked in their favor. Sunday nights during the summer belong to "Game of Thrones," "Power" and "Insecure." As fun as the BIG3 is and as starved the biggest hoops fans are for basketball during June, July and August — there’s no way Ice Cube’s barnstorming basketball league was taking viewers away from those three shows.

Fox Sports has already renewed the TV deal for next season. What would you change for 2018? (Assuming you’re still in for 2018. Are you still in for 2018?) 

Sean: There’s one primary tweak I’d make, and that’s mic-ing up players and/or coaches for the live games. Obviously you’re playing with fire giving Stephen Jackson or Gary Payton a hot mic, but fans are looking to see these guys interact. Maybe let Michael Rapaport do more live interviews, too, although he might be too busy trolling Cavs fans online. Keeping possession after made free throws is ridiculous and is one of the reasons flagrant fouls are too punishing. They also seem unnecessary — no one was trying to injure opponents, aside from Charles Oakley.

Also, the most unique feature of the BIG3 is the four-point basket, but I got the sense that teams were reluctant to take fours while trailing, except in absolute desperation situations. The missed four-pointer is often an immediate two or three points the other way, and maybe that’s how it should be! But I wish there were more attempts. And anything they can do to facilitate more dunking would be welcome. The BIG3 makes you realize how profoundly strange it is to watch a full basketball game with zero jams.

Phillip: I’d cut down the final score from 50 to 40, halftimes at 20. No matter how much you love basketball, four to five hours at the arena is just way too long.

Did the league do enough to justify potential expansion? Seems like there is interest from a few more players now that the BIG3 has a season under its belt. 

Sean: I’d love to see more star players join the league, but they can’t go above eight teams right now. Four games of over-35 half-court basketball is already stretching the limit of a live crowd’s patience. And even at eight teams, some of these rosters were pretty sparse. The first priority shouldn’t be expansion; it should be finding a team captain better than Josh Childress.

Phillip: After watching the Ball Hogs for nine weeks, I don’t think we’re ready for expansion yet. And unless we’re having multiple nights in which games are being held or bye weeks, five games up to 50 points each might be a bit much. An influx of talent from this year to next will give us more competitive teams; adding teams will just increase the number of teams led by Brian Scalabrine. 

Was the BIG3 different enough hook you in with Summer League and the WNBA in season, or is it just too much basketball? 

Sean: I think there’s a place for it, despite the NBA’s current plans to have a blockbuster trade, scandal or Instagram feud every single week of the year. I also found the strategy aspect of the BIG3 interesting, just in terms of how wildly punishing turnovers and air balls are in this format. The other element I liked was one exploited by undefeated league champ, Trilogy: You play to a point total and not the clock, so if you can score efficiently enough, you don’t really have to use subs. Trilogy played Al Harrington, James White and McCants together for a huge percentage of the time, because they ended halves fast.

I found it reminiscent of Summer League in a lot of ways: one ticket for the whole day, ironic jerseys in the stands, the combination of a few popular stars playing with journeymen, less-than-intense defense, and how wins and losses don’t matter that much, at least from the crowd’s perspective. Watching Summer League before the BIG3 is like experiencing the circle of life, like seeing a newborn baby at a nursing home.

Phillip: It was different enough for sure. It sells nostalgia in a way that no other league during the offseason can sell. The WNBA has a niche audience, and there are access issues with Summer League with all of the games played during two cities and an overwhelming majority of them played during the workday. The Pro-Am summer leagues like the Drew League also give us a different feel.

The BIG3 value proposition isn’t offered anywhere else — not even in the NBA. Ice Cube is selling yesterday to a community that is in a constant conversation about the past. As basketball continues to grow, so do the number of subcultures we’re willing to allow into our lives. The BIG3 is filling a hole we’ve been walking by unnoticed for decades. The BIG3 is never going to be huge, but it has a place.

Who would be your dream recruits for the 2018 BIG3 season? 

Sean: Ice Cube keeps hinting about Kobe Bryant, and Lamar Odom keeps hinting about Lamar Odom, but to me the best possible recruit is Gilbert Arenas. He’s 35, he’s got unlimited range and he’s got bad knees that would really benefit from only playing half-court. While his behavior is at least “problematic” and at worst “criminally negligent,” his swag is ideally calibrated to the BIG3.

Other guys I’d love to see include Baron Davis, Paul Pierce, Earl Boykins, Brandon Roy, Caron Butler (probably not on Gilbert’s team), Darius Miles and Josh Smith. Josh could honestly be a BIG3 MVP, as long as he didn’t take too many four-pointers.

Phillip: I think Lamar Odom would be perfect for this league. He always played like a guy who would hold the park for a full Saturday morning, and his multifaceted skill set is perfect for the kind of game in the BIG3.

I’d love to see Baron Davis, but it’s hard to imagine him eschewing the Drew League for the BIG3. Eddie Jones hasn’t been heard from in forever. God Shammgod. Khalid El-Amin. Andre Miller (the ultimate old man game in the ultimate old man’s game). Steve Nash. Scottie Pippen. Kevin Garnett.

Just give me everyone from the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, especially Shaq. There might not be anything more entertaining that Shaq’s larger-than-life body and personality struggling to not run up and down the court.