The NBA’s ratings continue to plummet, even as the second annual In-Season Tournament has begun. If it wasn’t clear already, the tournament was nothing more than Adam Silver’s latest Band-Aid gimmick to try and spice up the regular season while ignoring the deeper root causes of why fans are being turned away in droves.

With that in mind, here are three changes the NBA could make that could actually help move the needle.

Prioritize Pure Ballers Again

Let’s state the obvious: not every draft class has a Victor Wembanyama. In fact, most of them don’t. Don’t tell that to the scouting departments, though, who will chomp at the bit anytime they see any prospect with a 7’6″ wingspan or a 40-inch vertical… with the slight catch that, well, they’re just not very skilled at playing basketball.

That’s how players like James Wiseman, Mo Bamba, and Jonathan Kuminga end up being top-10 picks, while the ones who just know how to hoop get buried — in many cases, severely limiting their long-term potential.

This most recent draft has been Exhibit A. Thus far, the most impressive players have been Jared McCain and Dalton Knecht, who were taken 16th and 17th, respectively.

Both were seen as players who had few skills besides scoring, while in Knecht’s case, hurting him was also the fact that — the horror! — he’s an ancient 23-year-old with little room for development. Anyone who watched Knecht dominate college basketball at Tennessee last season knew he’d make it in the NBA, but other teams saw more in Alex Sarr and Tidjane Salaun.

Throughout all of NBA history, the league’s most beloved players have been the pure ballers. Magic and Bird. Jordan. Kobe. Steph. All of them relied more on their raw skill and intangibles than their physical gifts; because of that, they’re relatable to the common fan.

Today’s league severely lacks young players of that magnitude who fit the bill, with perhaps the only exception being Luka Doncic. Something else different about Luka prevents him from being as iconic in the U.S., though, which is what brings up point No. 2.

Take Notes From The Rest Of The World

An argument can be made that the top four players in today’s league — and perhaps soon the top five — are all foreign-born. Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Joel Embiid have combined to win the last six Most Valuable Player awards, and Doncic, as mentioned above, is undoubtedly in that same tier. Then there’s Wembanyama, who is a matter of not if or even when but rather how many trophies he’ll rack up when he reaches his prime.

Where is the next generation of great young American players? The fact is that there are currently none because, in simple terms, the American game has fallen behind at the youth level. This was evident in the last two Olympic Games when Team USA needed its high-end talent to bail it out of too-close-for-comfort matchups against countries with much less star power. Those other teams were built with players who played tougher and showcased more refined all-around skillsets than many Americans.

Now, this isn’t necessarily an NBA problem, as it is a problem with how young basketball players are being developed in the U.S. If the league wants more American stars, though, it needs to take some notes from the rest of the world. It needs to re-emphasize fundamentals and defense, and the impact will trickle down to the lower levels as kids are forced to play the game the right way if they want to make it to the league.

Shorten The Three-Point Line

This one is both the easiest and the most radical change the NBA can currently make, and no, you did not read that incorrectly. It sounds completely counter-intuitive to suggest that the solution to today’s “too many threes” problem is to shorten the three-point line, but think about it. The reason why teams resort to jacking up shots all game now isn’t because the shooters are just so good — it’s because it’s far too easy for them to generate open looks.

Any player who can hit a three-point shot from the college line can likely hit from the NBA line. Not any player who can hit an open three can hit a contested one, though, and that’s why shortening the arc would be a positive change. With a more compressed court, teams would have to earn their spacing, while furthermore, it would also become more complicated to dance to the rim for a layup effortlessly.

Teams would utilize different stylistic strategies, much like one can see in the college game, in which many teams play with distinct identities. Using the same three-point line that said college game uses would be a promising start toward bringing that back into the NBA.

End Of My NBA Rant

Something needs to change in today’s NBA. The league has gotten softer and more difficult to watch. While Silver attempts to cover up his pipe leak with play-in games and in-season tournaments to incentivize better effort, it ultimately fixes nothing — as proven by the fact that the ratings continue to drop. There needs to be a cultural shift in the way teams and players operate, plain and simple.

Would any of these proposed adjustments accomplish that? It’s tough to say. Perhaps the true wake-up call can only be made possible due to the continued decline in ratings, which will breed a new generation of players who aren’t spoiled with the lavish lifestyles of today’s stars and their nine-figure contracts. There’s something to be said for the idea that the game doesn’t mean what it meant to players of past generations because they were self-made men — often from harsh upbringings — whose livelihoods depended upon excelling in the league.

There’s a saying that strong times create weak people and weak people create weak times, but also that, inversely, weak times will in turn create strong people. It shouldn’t have to come to that, though, so if the NBA wants to avoid falling into some seriously dark times, these are just a few suggestions that might help change the game for the better.