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ESPN: NBA strongly considering “drastic” changes to regular and post-season format
- Thread starter Bronx-Man
- Start date
Load Management. Players were already approaching the regular season as a joke but recent years have shown the regular season to be detrimental to the success of a team. Players would take being an 8 seed if it meant they can have additional games off.
A huge overall absolutely needs to be done where either regular season performance has a bigger impact on the post season or they shorten the regular season.
A huge overall absolutely needs to be done where either regular season performance has a bigger impact on the post season or they shorten the regular season.
Nba regular season. Shortened. Then playoffs as they are now.
Make up for some of lost games with independent mid season single elimination tournament before all star game. Would make more money than lost.
I'm down for any change that makes the regular season more interesting. I wouldn't even mind far more radical changes for the regular season AND the playoffs.
However I don't see the point for a mid season tournament if the incentive is just something like cash bonuses.
God this so much.
However I don't see the point for a mid season tournament if the incentive is just something like cash bonuses.
God this so much.
Here is my idea use baseball and football.
divide into leagues, not regions each league has two champions, who get a bye for the 1st round. 4 wild card teams, who play the 2nd rd, quarter fin]LS.. THEN HAVE TOURNEY FOR THE. 4 PICKS WINNER GETS 1ST PICK AVOID TANKING
divide into leagues, not regions each league has two champions, who get a bye for the 1st round. 4 wild card teams, who play the 2nd rd, quarter fin]LS.. THEN HAVE TOURNEY FOR THE. 4 PICKS WINNER GETS 1ST PICK AVOID TANKING
I'm actually fine with exactly how things are, except I'd like to see the season shortened. It's obvious the speed of the game has evolved to a state where it's incurred a level of wear on players that humans not named Lebron aren't built for. "It's the playoffs, everybody's playing hurt " should absolutely not have become a cliche.
I prefer having the conference championships mean something. I'm fine if you want to reseed within the individual conferences but if you're not going to have conferences matter for playoffs then they shouldn't matter for the regular season and should just be done away with.
I mean, I guess that'd be preferable if you're going to make changes. Get rid of conferences. Just go with divisions?
Four divisions:
North (Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Toronto, Indiana, Cleveland)
South (Houston, New Orleans, San Antonio, Charlotte, Memphis, Dallas, OKC)
East: (New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta)
West: (LA, LA, Portland, Phoenix, Golden State, Denver, Utah, Sacramento)
Top 3 from each division makes the playoffs and then you have 4 "at large" bids which go to your best 4 records/ mid-season tourney champs, etc. Seed them all by record and go at it from there.
I mean, I guess that'd be preferable if you're going to make changes. Get rid of conferences. Just go with divisions?
Four divisions:
North (Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Toronto, Indiana, Cleveland)
South (Houston, New Orleans, San Antonio, Charlotte, Memphis, Dallas, OKC)
East: (New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta)
West: (LA, LA, Portland, Phoenix, Golden State, Denver, Utah, Sacramento)
Top 3 from each division makes the playoffs and then you have 4 "at large" bids which go to your best 4 records/ mid-season tourney champs, etc. Seed them all by record and go at it from there.
Why don't they just do with the NHL did in 1994-2013 and re-seed teams after each round? It was still locked by conference but after each round they'd make it so that it was always the highest seeds facing the lowest seeds.
Reseeding needed to happen back when Jordan was trying to make Kwame Brown a thing. Get on with it, Silver.
my ideal schedule:
no back to backs ever
cancel pre season entirely, start regular season at the beginning of october or earlier
stretch current 82 game season over a longer period of time
this allows people to actually watch a wider variety of games. instead of, say, a lebron game and a giannis game going on head to head, with a more spread out schedule you can also spread out your games featuring superstars and possibly attract more eyeballs to more nba programming. no more 10 games happening one night.
I feel like the owners would get all pissed if they just straight up axed a bunch of games. the compromise is making the season longer and cutting out the stupid ass pre-season that no one could possibly give a fuck about. first 10 games of the regular season are basically pre-season anyways, everyone is getting back into the swing of things. for the younger/new players that actually need that experience in front of a bigger crowd, that's what summer league is for.
no back to backs ever
cancel pre season entirely, start regular season at the beginning of october or earlier
stretch current 82 game season over a longer period of time
this allows people to actually watch a wider variety of games. instead of, say, a lebron game and a giannis game going on head to head, with a more spread out schedule you can also spread out your games featuring superstars and possibly attract more eyeballs to more nba programming. no more 10 games happening one night.
I feel like the owners would get all pissed if they just straight up axed a bunch of games. the compromise is making the season longer and cutting out the stupid ass pre-season that no one could possibly give a fuck about. first 10 games of the regular season are basically pre-season anyways, everyone is getting back into the swing of things. for the younger/new players that actually need that experience in front of a bigger crowd, that's what summer league is for.
Reseeding doesn't ruin the chances of upsets. In your scenario Tor would need to upset Hou or LAC to make the finals.
You said it. I quit watching NBA regular season years ago, as a kid, because you could see that none of the players even cared until late in the season.
The two full months of playoffs isnt a problem to me at all. At least its meaningful stuff. Its the long ass regular season, that is NOW being more and more saturated by star players resting to avoid being injured/tires when the REAL meaningful basketball starts in the playoffs. Something has to change. Perhaps a combination of seeding and fewer games might do it.
Tor doesnt beat either of those teams and doesnt make the finals and beat an injured gs then.
At this point it's very obvious that the number of minutes/games a player plays during the regular season needs to be reduced to ensure a quality product for the playoffs. The NBPA specifically should be pushing hard for fewer games and/or guaranteed rest for players, but the drop in revenue from a significantly shortened season will likely blunt any real push for it since the players will take the brunt of it through payroll cuts. Even with the plan they are talking about at best it would be a 4 game reduction for the season. It'd be great if the league could eliminate back to backs at least.
Instead of reseeding, they should have the top half of the playoff teams choose who they want to play for the next series.
If 4 teams left, the top seed chooses who they want to play from seeds 3 and 4.
It probably wouldn't change much when only a few teams left. But for earlier rounds this could mitigate when a really good team gets a lower seed due to I juries earlier in the year for a worse record but are fully healthy for the playoffs.
If 4 teams left, the top seed chooses who they want to play from seeds 3 and 4.
It probably wouldn't change much when only a few teams left. But for earlier rounds this could mitigate when a really good team gets a lower seed due to I juries earlier in the year for a worse record but are fully healthy for the playoffs.
That means they failed at their attempt to upset better teams
I feel like you are arguing that the system is better when inferior teams get softer paths to finals. How's that better for the integrity of the competition?
If Tor deserves to be in the finals, they'd find a way to beat any team they encounter prior. Reseeding doesn't eliminate upsets in any other sport. Why would it happen here?
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I'm confused why would those not count as upsets? Tor was the best team of those 3. They'd have the best superstar of the 3(Clips didn't even have 1) and they're way deeper than Houston. If they lost that would have been an upset!
They should eliminate every back to back with this change. Also they should use both money and a guaranteed high draft pick as an incentive for players/teams for mid season tourney.
I honestly don't see the point of a tournament during the season when there is already a postseason tournament. In Europe there are no postseason tournaments, so having a knockout cup during the season makes more sense.
The NBA sucks because the gap between talent is too big.
We have a ton of players that declare and are drafted because that's what's available - I'm not a fan of one n done's and even high school graduates. For me there needs to be a higher level of skill and maturity entering the draft. Then maybe the average drafter is actually decent. We have so many busts these days.
If we actually had more decent players coming in we would have more parity which might help when the load management problem
We have a ton of players that declare and are drafted because that's what's available - I'm not a fan of one n done's and even high school graduates. For me there needs to be a higher level of skill and maturity entering the draft. Then maybe the average drafter is actually decent. We have so many busts these days.
If we actually had more decent players coming in we would have more parity which might help when the load management problem
Why wouldn't they? An in-season tournament is bound to drive more revenue, and reseeding is going to create considerably more interest from NBA fans watching late round playoff action.
Its a chore to follow for me. I'm lucky if I catch 2-3 games in the first round unless theres a good matchup. And the Finals having like 2 games a week is crazy to me. Less games is a money loser for every party involved so I don't think that is what they will settle on either.
Junk idea. No one wants a tournament. Reduce season to 60ish games. How bout 66?
Adopt 1-16 seeding regardless of conference. And you can do a play in for the 15/16 spots and bring in the 17/18 teams.
That's all they need to do. They're gonna kill the golden goose with this unnecessary shit.
Adopt 1-16 seeding regardless of conference. And you can do a play in for the 15/16 spots and bring in the 17/18 teams.
That's all they need to do. They're gonna kill the golden goose with this unnecessary shit.
It is kind of crazy how influential he still is. He's been pushing for something like this for a while.
Yeah I'm looking at the Clippers as a fucking 4th seed and I know the thought process is "who cares, we'll try in the playoffs". I didn't really think the regular season was pointless, but if you're going to game the system like that it totally is lol
I'm not sure what problem reseeding or the mid season tournament would solve. The one thing about the NBA playoff 7 game format is that it basically ensures the best team will win each series. Also what about a meaningless tournament is supposed to be exciting to fans or players for that matter? It's still more meaningless games that are just serving as a buffer for the post season. And I'm confused about what the eliminated teams would do in the middle of the season as this tournament goes on.
It's fucking nuts how much nba players are babied nowadays. Load management is out of hand and makes going to games a crap shoot about whether or not games are competitive and interesting.
Private jets. Less back to backs. Huge increases in salary. Amazing training staffs. Increased rosters. Telegraphed drug screenings than end in April. World class chefs and dietary choices.
The nba has less games and more off time than mlb. Guaranteed contracts unlike the nfl. Far less debilitating injuries than the nfl and NHL. The most recognizable stars that are famous worldwide. The ability to market yourself and make a brand name that rivals soccer.
I don't really have a point to this rant other than just being an old thirty something dude that is constantly amazed how much whining nba players do given their ownership over the league. Players are super entitled and don't appreciate how fucking good they have it compared to guys 15 years ago and later. Plus the NBA is light years ahead in terms of glamor and prestige than the wnba but I don't hear women complaining constantly about how shitty they have it comparatively. Grow up nba players.
Rant over. Bill Simmons proposed the tournament idea like 10 years ago and depending on how it's implemented it could be cool. Reseeding is definitely a good idea.
Private jets. Less back to backs. Huge increases in salary. Amazing training staffs. Increased rosters. Telegraphed drug screenings than end in April. World class chefs and dietary choices.
The nba has less games and more off time than mlb. Guaranteed contracts unlike the nfl. Far less debilitating injuries than the nfl and NHL. The most recognizable stars that are famous worldwide. The ability to market yourself and make a brand name that rivals soccer.
I don't really have a point to this rant other than just being an old thirty something dude that is constantly amazed how much whining nba players do given their ownership over the league. Players are super entitled and don't appreciate how fucking good they have it compared to guys 15 years ago and later. Plus the NBA is light years ahead in terms of glamor and prestige than the wnba but I don't hear women complaining constantly about how shitty they have it comparatively. Grow up nba players.
Rant over. Bill Simmons proposed the tournament idea like 10 years ago and depending on how it's implemented it could be cool. Reseeding is definitely a good idea.
Load management is such a hot topic because injuries to major players have been ruining the playoffs for multiple years running. Lebron played an insane number of minutes per game for the Lakers last year and didn't even make it to the playoffs because of mid season injuries. Kevin Durant ended up missing most of the playoffs and eventually tore his achilles, and his teammate Klay Thompson tore his ACL during the Finals. Meanwhile Toronto load managed a one legged man to a championship last year. It's in the NBA's best interest to have it's superstars playing in the post season.
I misspoke, I meant the NBAPA.
What's the incentive for this tournament for the players? Why not just get eliminated and then enjoy the break while the tournament continues?
The reseeding thing is interesting however the logistics around it don't seem simple. I can't wait until its 2 California teams are in the Finals and every game comes on at 10PM EST
Something needs to be done.
It's not even Thanksgiving and were looking at a chunk of teams with 90-some% confidence as playoff teams and another chunck the opposite.
And you can argue it's actually worse to be 1 of the teams in the middle where it is 50/50 to be a playoff team.
The league is semi-broken. You can say it's always be like this but it's never been more obvious.
Back in the 80s-90s team fan-bases were more insulated. You didn't have the internet and analytics. Ignorance was bliss.
It's not even Thanksgiving and were looking at a chunk of teams with 90-some% confidence as playoff teams and another chunck the opposite.
And you can argue it's actually worse to be 1 of the teams in the middle where it is 50/50 to be a playoff team.
The league is semi-broken. You can say it's always be like this but it's never been more obvious.
Back in the 80s-90s team fan-bases were more insulated. You didn't have the internet and analytics. Ignorance was bliss.
The amount of games in the reg season and no regulation is why I stopped watching US sports. NFL is ok, but the fact tanking is a legitimate tactic is pathetic and boring. That's why football and especially the English premier league is a far superior product