NBA Reform: In What Ways Would You Improve the NBA (2024)?

[Parliament10]

In What Ways Would You Improve the NBA?


Here are some of my old ones, below.:

NBA Reform
* Eliminate Back-to-Backs.
* Expand the NBA Preseason to 1 month.
* Extend the NBA Regular Season to End in July.
* Push Summer League to early August.
* Have 15 All-Stars per Conference. (Add Defensive players.)
* Increase the ratio of out of Conference Games.
* NBA Playoffs – Top 16 Teams compete, irregardless of Conference.
* NBA Playoffs – Re-seeding each Round.
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G-League Reform
* Allow up to (5) Two-Way Players,
* Allow Two-Ways to play in NBA Playoffs.
* Let the 5 Affiliates Practice with the NBA Team, throughout the season. (Like in the NFL.)
* Allow 15 Players on a G-League team.
* Increase Regular G-League pay to be Commensurate with Overseas, and a Percentage of NBA Salaries.
* Increase & Allow Affiliate Pay. (Ie.: If you're paid $300,000, then you can still be a G-League Affiliate.)
* Recognize the G-League Players Union.
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Continue to Review:
* Tanking
* Hack-A-Player
* Draft & Draft Lottery

[Wes-J]

I just want tanking taken very seriously and not just with threats. Lottery system needs major overhaul.

Put an end to teams hoarding picks. OKC with 97 draft picks in the next 5 years is ridiculous. Some of these farm teams need to stop that nonsense or sell.

Load management needs to be eliminated. Fans deserve better.

[jordb2k7]

Back to backs shouldn’t exist anymore. It’s a bad product for everyone. Bad on players health and many teams essentially protest it.

I have long felt that we should have a referee dedicated to replays at each game. It makes no sense to have a replay review center and then have the game officials stop to review with them. That process can be expedited. Perhaps expanding a couple more on court refs could help as well.

Another I’d add and it’s minor…end of quarter heaves from a certain distance if you miss shouldn’t count against your FG%. Players have chosen to not take them and it eliminates that chance someone makes one (Jrue). It’s clear many guys won’t take them so I feel the league should adjust this.

[Hal14]

I voted for no more back to backs and expand league to 32 teams.

There's definitely enough basketball talent in the world to add 2 more teams.

[threrf23]

I have no issue with load management or back to backs; coaches just shouldn't feel pressured to play their starters every game. There are backups and end of bench players longing for a chance to show what they can do, fans longing for a chance to see their binkies play, and the only other alternative is fewer games. In other words, starters play fewer games, but the team doesn't play fewer games, and depth becomes more important when it comes to playoff positioning.

I would bring back the old preseason format; fewer preseason games consistently seems to correlate with more injuries.

I agree there should be a dedicated replay official per game. Common sense.

I would very much support a wider if not slightly longer court. Today's athletes are not the same as yesterday's and the court should be redesigned to better accomodate them.

I would support discouraging players from unnaturally attempting to draw fouls on offense.

[fallguy]

Wider and longer court. Nobody should ever step out of bounds shooting a corner three. And room for guys to operate behind the basket would open up new actions and sets.

72 game season, no back-to-backs.

Eliminate all coach-called timeouts so the players have to figure it out themselves. This is what's known as the Joe Mazzula special.

[Homerclease]

Widen the court, and ref all players equally

[playa-hater]

Great topic. Will add more later. Mine would be to only partially contracts. More guaranteed than lets' say the NFL, but too many underserving players who cash out Big time then totally become A Holes and F the franchise and their fan base.

maybe only 50% guaranteed?? definitely not 100%.

[31to6]

More titles for the Celtics is really my only wish here.

Maybe having games played on the last day of a month end with an Elam Ending/target score could be fun, but I’m happy with the NBA product and value consistency.

[Fencer reregistered]

In What Ways Would You Improve the NBA?


Here are some of mine, below.:

NBA Reform
* Eliminate Back-to-Backs. Agree. Teams think back-to-backs hurt players. Let's defer to their judgment.
* Expand the NBA Preseason to 1 month. Long summer vacations for players work out well for training, for international play, and for injury recovery.
* Extend the NBA Regular Season to End in July.
* Push Summer League to early August.
* Have 15 All-Stars per Conference. 3 Defensive players, specifically. Why?
* Increase the ratio of out of Conference Games.
* NBA Playoffs – Top 16 Teams compete, irregardless of Conference.
* NBA Playoffs – Re-seeding each Round. Only if teams can pick their opponents. Otherwise, unfair seedings due to injury overwhelm any other consideration in tweaking seeding, so why bother?
* NBA Draft Age: Change back to Age: 18.
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G-League Reform
* Allow up to (5) Two-Way Players, and increase time to 60-NBA days. I generally favor ideas to have a minor league system that integrates more seamlessly with the major league, as in baseball.
* Let the 5 Affiliates Practice with the NBA Team, throughout the season. (Like in the NFL.) But yes, practice bodies are in short supply in basketball. Increasing them is good.
* Allow 15 Players on a G-League team.
* Increase Regular G-League pay to be Commensurate with Overseas, and a Percentage of NBA Salaries.
* Increase & Allow Affiliate Pay. (Ie.: If you're paid $300,000, then you can still be a G-League Affiliate.)
* Recognize the G-League Players Union. If you're integrating the talent pools otherwise, why have separate unions?
_____________________________________________________


Continue to Review:
* Tanking
* Hack-A-Player
* Draft & Draft Lottery

[BK_2020]

Height classes like in boxing.

[Larry_Russell]

Force LEbron to retire
Move the Raptors out of Toronto so those insufferable fans go away
eliminate travelling
eliminate superstar calls

[steefP2]

Less games is the only one i really care about. Ideally you play 2 games a week and that’s it. Make it 58 games, play every team twice and leave it there. Would be much higher quality basketball night to night and less injuries

[Gant]

Extend the three point line.

The critical addition to widening the court is extending the three point line. Three point shooting has totally taken over the game, and though that is fun in some ways, it's come at the expense of interior passing, mid range shooting, traditional fast break offense, and most importantly to post play. Pushing out the three point line will also bring back defense.

Extend the three to where it's about a 30 percent chance of making it. This will give it about equal weight to the two point shot.
There will still be a few 3 point volume shooters, but not like now. Offenses will be diversified. The giants will return to the forefront of the sport.


Popovich agrees.

Read on Twitter

[JeffReal]

Spurs fan here, and I will say that Pop is one of the great coaches, but not everything he says is wise. This is an example: “it'd just be a bunch of crap.”

The Spurs record in recent seasons:

32 - 39
33 - 39
34 - 48
14 - 45, currently.

Speaking of crap. I’m not sure Pop is the man to listen to about this.

On the subject of three-point shooting, the line should be closer to the basket. That would move all of the action closer to the basket, which would give defense more of a chance. You want to spread out the defense even more?

If you move the 3pt line farther out, it will make long-range shooting ability even more important than it is now, and defeat the purpose. Teams will become even more interested in players whose only real skill is long-range shooting.

Move the line closer.

[Gant]

Spurs fan here, and I will say that Pop is one of the great coaches, but not everything he says is wise. This is an example: “it'd just be a bunch of crap.”

The Spurs record in recent seasons:

32 - 39
33 - 39
34 - 48
14 - 45, currently.

Speaking of crap. I’m not sure Pop is the man to listen to about this.

On the subject of three-point shooting, the line should be closer to the basket. That would move all of the action closer to the basket, which would give defense more of a chance. You want to spread out the defense even more?

If you move the 3pt line farther out, it will make long-range shooting ability even more important than it is now, and defeat the purpose. Teams will become even more interested in players whose only real skill is long-range shooting.

Move the line closer.

Thank you for the unusual post. I don't think making the three point shot easier is the best way to reduce its influence on the current game.

[24istheLAW]

Some of these suggestions would make the league worse. Expanding from 32 teams? There's already too many teams. Making the court wider? What purpose does that serve. 3rd round? There's already too many picks. Hence teams trading 2nds mindlessly - having to make the pick is almost an inconvenience.

If you want to improve the NBA from a sporting merit perspective, you take away the zone defense rules and make them play actual basketball. If you want to streamline the game as it exists, you cut the season down from 82 games. Save wear on the players, eliminate the need for back-to-backs, make the games more meaningful for the playoff competitors, and put the 10-72 type teams out of their misery faster.

[cl2117]

Reform Shooter Initiated Fouls – to be Offensive Fouls.

This should be absolute first priority for the league. Probably needs to be slightly more nuanced than this but the main objective needs to be reducing free throws and increasing pace of play. I am so tired of games getting mired down into free throw shooting contests. It slows the game down massively, it's boring and I hate it.

Specifically they need to completely remove the foul created by jumping into a defender and throwing up a "shot" that is completely disingenuous. No one wants to see that. Doesn't need to be turned into an offensive foul, simply don't call anything and let play continue. It'll speed up the game and encourage guys to make better basketball plays. You get a guy up in the air by falling for a pump fake? Great, now use that as an opportunity to drive to the basket or take a side-step and shoot an open jumper. Don't reward it with free throws.

Secondarily, I'd like to see them dramatically reduce the number of fouls called from ball handlers going into the body of a defender and then going up for a shot to get the foul called. This one I feel like is a little trickier because I don't want defenders to get rewarded for not staying square and bumping a guy driving the lane, but at the same time it's become far too regular an occurrence for guys to hunt the free throws by going into the body with their secondary objective of making the layup/floater. I want to incentivise that to be flipped. Reducing those whistles will keep the game going, reduce the number of free throws and create a better product.

I mean seriously, does anyone actually want to see this many free throws? Does anyone enjoy watching guys fling up bullsh*t shots while jumping into a defender or trying to give themselves whiplash after initiating contact in the lane rather than trying to actually get a bucket?

These seem like easy wins:

Coach's Challenge – If upheld, Team keeps Challenge(s). (2 initially. Expandable to 4.)- absolute no brainer

Draft Age – Change to 18- appreciate concerns vet players would have over this, but I think you can easily mitigate this by adding in an extra roster spot for teams or expanding to 32 teams. I just hate the forced NCAA pipeline, it's ridiculous and needs to be ended. Invest in the G-League please.

Increase the number of Referees. (I.e: 4 On-Court. 1 on Replays. 1 In-Training [from G-League].)- specifically the replay referee. Replays slow things down too much, this is an easy solution. Put a 90 second timer on it, if it's not discernible within that time then the call on the floor stands.

On the fence about:

Expand League – To at least 32 Teams- there's certainly enough interest/demand from fans/cities, but realistically there's not enough top level talent to stock that size of a league. Superteams will still reign supreme and tanking will still be all too prevalent. More money to go around could mean less superteams or it could just dilute the talent pool so much more that there is no chance to compete with them, not really sure which way it would swing. If you combine it with reducing the draft age and trying to lure more Euro talent, then maybe net/net you end up with a more interesting product.

Staunchly against:

Eliminate Back-to-Backs- I'm fine with load management. I don't think stars need to play every game. This provides advantages to teams with good depth in terms of playoff standings and gives more developmental opportunities for guys at the end of the bench.

Widen the NBA Court – (At least 3-6 ft, in width and length.)- I'd rather see more attempts to make it easier to play defense and see how that impacts play prior to changing court dimensions. I'm not opposed to it in the long-term but I feel like it's a more drastic measure than changing zone defense/lane violations/shooter initiated fouls, which should be explored first.

Love all of the G-League reforms. So much more money/thought should be invested in the G-League. It's such a great opportunity for the NBA that's being underutilized. Would love to see more talent stolen from the NCAA and Europe which would drastically improve the product and that'll start the ball rolling in terms of getting the most out of it.

[BK_2020]

Some of these suggestions would make the league worse. Expanding from 32 teams? There's already too many teams. Making the court wider? What purpose does that serve. 3rd round? There's already too many picks. Hence teams trading 2nds mindlessly - having to make the pick is almost an inconvenience.

If you want to improve the NBA from a sporting merit perspective, you take away the zone defense rules and make them play actual basketball. If you want to streamline the game as it exists, you cut the season down from 82 games. Save wear on the players, eliminate the need for back-to-backs, make the games more meaningful for the playoff competitors, and put the 10-72 type teams out of their misery faster.

Actual basketball is not purposely handcuffing defenses. It's a 5 on 5 sport. It was always stupid to force a team to make the choice between playing 1 on 1 or send hard doubles to gravely compromise the team defense.

[shackles10]

Some of these suggestions, widening of the court for example, could be G-League trial things. Most are affiliates now right? So have the bigger league teams pay to widen those before you do it in the bigger arenas where you’d lose seating. I think it’d strum up interest in the G-league, avoid changes that don’t end up working to the games that actually matter, and help you to perfect the changes you want to make to the NBA game.