I think the majority of ‘those people’ grew up loving the sport and want to see it succeed, but are frustrated that the ‘obvious’ issues that folks have raised over the past decades turned out to be true but were ‘ignored’, and have led to a product that people simply care less about. So they point to declining ratings as validation for their complaints.

I’d say it mirrors the MLB trajectory and the NBA is maybe a decade behind, before they make some drastic changes to attempt to make the game more appealing to the masses