Update: mid season tournament prize may be an extra draft pick?

[ClutchDirk]

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are reportedly in discussions about dramatic changes to the league's schedule, including a 78-game regular season, an in-season tournament, play-in games to determine playoff berths and reseeding teams during the postseason.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe reported Saturday that the talks, which also include the NBA's broadcasting partners, are "progressing" and could lead to a vote at the board of governors meeting in April ahead of potential implementation for the 2021-22 season.

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1198275117920530434

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https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/...0022238209

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https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1198275117920530434

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https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1198287958413127680

[WillE]

Doesn't sound too bad imo. Could make the regular season games more competitive.

[Luka_Magic]

what's the point of the in-season tournament?

[fifteenth]

what's the point of the in-season tournament?

$$$

[Mavsfan12]

I think the play-in is terrible.  You have an 82 game schedule that would be pretty much nullified by 2 games at the end.  Have the season mean something.  Hate it that MLB does this as well.  If you want to give incentive to the higher seeds, do it like the NFL does and give a bye to the top teams and expand the playoffs.  

The in-season tourney is cumbersome, but could be fun.  I would have to see more about how the mechanics work to form a better opinion.  As a fantasy basketball participant, it would mess stuff up.  It is also a nightmare to schedule. Where do you schedule the games?  Do eliminated teams just sit around for a week?

As for the re-seeding, I have hated the conference/division breakdown forever.  The schedule has been unbalanced for too long.  That is the worst part of NBA scheduling - outside of back to backs.  I can't stand that one conference gets artificially higher records and playoff seedings based on the inequitable schedule.  Also, it aids in keeping that conference down by pulling teams from the lottery spots that wouldn't be playoff teams in the other conference - giving them worse draft positioning.  Again, the NFL leads the way in this and builds in naturally better matchups where top teams meet more often - which is better for ratings AND parity.

[StepBackJay]

I am glad they are trying some ideas. I don't want to mess up stats but they are already changing bc the game has changed so dramatically anyway. I would love for them to find a way to kill back-to-back games which are the worst to watch and aren't good for the players either. Reseeding the playoffs irregardless of conference is good and will benefit the Mavs who play in the better conference. I like the wildcard-type contest with the lower seeded teams. The in-season tournament would be good if they replace the All-star game. Good teams might not play their starters but it gives some of the other teams something to do and the benefit is it could potentially feature stars more from non-contenders. I think of it as a tournament for up-and-coming teams. It wouldn't shock me at all if the Mavs won a tournament like that which gave Luka more exposure. It would be nice if there was something on the line, I haven't read what exactly you get other than bragging rights. Even if that's all it is some teams will go for it just to have something to play for. I would love it if they did this tourney in favor of killing the all-star game that no one watches and a few regular season games.

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The in-season tourney is cumbersome, but could be fun.  I would have to see more about how the mechanics work to form a better opinion.  As a fantasy basketball participant, it would mess stuff up.  It is also a nightmare to schedule. Where do you schedule the games?  Do eliminated teams just sit around for a week?

I am picturing that they would do a single elimination game to make it more exciting with just 4 rounds. You could do that in a couple weeks and the losing teams get extra rest. Some of the contenders will rest their stars which is a feature not a bug. It gives other teams a chance to showcase their stars. I think as long as the NBA players are getting good playoff checks they will be motivated to play hard. To me the big incentive to win would be a guaranteed invite to the wildcard playoffs later on. A mediocre team could get hot for 4 games and guarantee a play-in wildcard spot.

[BigDirk41]

I'm really excited Adam Silver is trying to add new things to the NBA. The play in sounds interesting and the in season tournament will be something new to pay attention to. The NBA wants to keep and grow the global viewers. Mid season tournaments are big in soccer. I can see this being popular globally. The tournament seems to be actual games that count towards the regular season so it should stay competitive. There's nothing wrong with adding something new to the NBA. I like the ideas and it sounds like it's going to happen.

[TheSportyChannel]

I like it cause that would mean no more bad teams from the East making the playoffs and Mavs will be in it forever as long as Luka is on the mavs roster injury free. Tired of the eastern conference teams getting an easy path to the playoffs while western conference teams can’t even make it with 50+ wins.

[Benskix2]

what is the reward for the in season tournament?

[DrMav]

There’s multiple things discussed here, so thought it may be helpful to summarize what we know.

An In-Season Tournament to be added
- At this point, discussions are leading toward this occurring post-Thanksgiving and leading into mid-December
- Regular season division games will make up the “1st round” of the tournament 
- The 6 divisional winners/leaders and the two teams with the next best overall records advance to the 2nd round
2nd round and beyond will be single elimination
- There will likely be some sort of compensation for teams, details not worked out

A Play-In Tournament prior to the regular playoffs
- Will be used to decide the 7 and 8 seeds of each conference
- Will involve teams 7-10 from West and East
- 7 will host 8 for the 7th seed
- 9 will host 10, winner plays the loser of 7v8 for the 8th seed

Re-seeding the Playoffs after the 1st round
- Following the 1st round, will re-seed the remaining 8 teams regardless of conference

Regular season length will change
- Most teams will play 78 or 79 games
- Theoretical possibility of playing up to 83 games factoring in mid-season tournament and play-in tournament

When it would go into effect
- 2021-2022 season at earliest


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My thoughts:
- Mid-season tournament is cool though pointless. Will be interesting to see how they schedule the early part of the season since the “1st round” is made up of division games. You’d think they’d have to ensure at least 1 home and away against each division team by then.

- Play-in tournament is dumb.

- Re-seeding the playoffs may help get the best 2 teams in the finals if they are from the same conference, but doesn’t help that better teams in one conference get left out while worse one in another conference get it. Need to get the best 16 teams in or don’t bother.

[Jym]

Sounds like they're making this way too complicated. 
Just pick the top 16 teams in the league and let them fight it out. 
Reducing the total games would be nice but I dont really see that as an option. Why would the players and owners agree to a smaller pool of money?

[mavsluvr]

I'm really excited Adam Silver is trying to add new things to the NBA. The play in sounds interesting and the in season tournament will be something new to pay attention to. The NBA wants to keep and grow the global viewers. Mid season tournaments are big in soccer. I can see this being popular globally. The tournament seems to be actual games that count towards the regular season so it should stay competitive. There's nothing wrong with adding something new to the NBA. I like the ideas and it sounds like it's going to happen.

This is the closest analogy I could think of, although there are some major differences.  In competitions like the Champions League, Copa del Rey, FA Cup, etc., the vast number of participants are sides outside of a team's own league/division. And the reward for those is partly glory, but largely money, with the CL being quite lucrative, and the lesser paying competitions less prestigious. Also, those are separate competitions from the leagues, don't count in league competition, and have their own rules. 

You may be right that having the games count toward the regular season might help keep it from being a competition where teams play their lesser players, like the English Football Association's League Cup, which, probably not coincidentally, is being abandoned after this season. 

I don't know, I'm having a hard time conceiving why the teams would especially care about it, unless substantial dough was involved for participants/winners. But I agree with you that it is good that new ideas are being considered, and I'm not opposed to trying new things.

An obvious fix is to determine playoff participants/seeding without regard to conferences, but I understand that the idea has limited support among owners. Spreading the season out would also help avoid back-to-backs, but I guess there are logistical and other difficulties involved.

[Benskix2]

They could reward the winner with 10 million in extra cap space the next season.

[SleepingHero]

They could reward the winner with 10 million in extra cap space the next season.

10% extra cap is way too much. Like waaaaaaaaay too much. BUT I think that's an on the right track and a fantastic idea. Give the winning teams a credit, sorta like an MLE that they can use in trades or to sign someone. It'll be especially helpful for good teams that are usually capped out and need some wiggle room giving them an incentive to go all out. 

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Regarding the play-in for the playoffs, I think that's a great idea as well. Usually the difference between the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th seeds are quite small in the West (and to be honest not significant in the East since they've always been top heavy for the last decade+). Not just 2 years ago we almost had a 3 way tie for the 8th seed in the West. Having a play-in the last 2 weeks before the playoffs makes the 6th seed all that more valuable and adds excitement for the lower seeds. It also gives incentive to not tank, unless you're truly bottom barrel. 

This doesn't really do much in terms of actual playoff impact as well, as the 8th seed has only been to the finals once in the history of the NBA. And theoretically, if the 7th and 8th seed are "better teams" by record, they should have no issues against the 9th and 10th seed. I think this would be the perfect format to return the best of 5 series. A mini-playoffs to pregame the actual playoffs would help the playoff atmosphere start early, and create cool story lines.

The in season tournament is a stupid idea unless they give a tangible award for the teams. A fake "Mid-season championship" with a "Mid-season finals MVP" is worthless, lazy, and stupid. But giving teams an incentive to actually try to win the tournament is a great idea. 

I don't mind reducing the schedule to 78 games, but any more than that is stupid imo. 78 should cut out all the back to backs, but I don't think it'll ever stop load management from being a thing. 

(Also if they do this play-in for the playoffs, then they'll have to return to the old way of giving out season awards. Can you imagine trying to award the regular season awards after basically 2 different playoffs? People already don't care to watch the circle jerk award show they parade around.)

Of course if the NBA really cared, just taking the best 16 teams from both conferences would be the easiest and most simple thing they could do. But at the end of the day they're going to choose what makes more money.

[WillE]

I like it cause that would mean no more bad teams from the East making the playoffs and Mavs will be in it forever as long as Luka is on the mavs roster injury free. Tired of the eastern conference teams getting an easy path to the playoffs while western conference teams can’t even make it with 50+ wins.

Even though I generally support this competitve argument, we should bear in mind that this also means east times will have it even harder to attract top players. Or with other words: this might just increase the power of the bigger markets/$$$.

[BigDirk41]

What if they offer the winner of the mid season tournament the first pick in the second round? That's a pretty big motivation to a organization.

[Kammrath]

What if they offer the winner of the mid season tournament the first pick in the second round? That's a pretty big motivation to a organization.

[Jym]

What if they offer the winner of the mid season tournament the first pick in the second round? That's a pretty big motivation to a organization.

Actually most reasonable idea I've heard on the situation. 
A top first rounder just seems excessive and I'm meh on it just awarding homecourt in some future end of season tournament. 
Makes too much sense for them to do that though

[ClutchDirk]

https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/...1511071747

[ClutchDirk]

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