OT: Cuban now opposed to playin tournament, but was on governing board that approved it

[MalagaBulls]

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[Michael Jackson]

He is allowed a change of heart. I see his point for sure but I like the play in idea. I’m also not one of those “athletes make too much money” people but I do think at the money made by players that a few more high stakes games is fine, a lot because players are coasting through the regular season more and more coughkyriecough.

[Bulliever2020]

Would he have this same stance if the Mavs were sitting in 9th/10th in the West right now instead of 7th? Of course not.

[dougthonus]

It is hard not to roll your eyes at his comments when his team is one that will be in the play-in, but would have been in the playoffs directly without it. He now has a strong biased interest in the play-in tournament not existing regardless of any of his other thoughts on why it is good or bad.

Personally, I'd rather kill the whole thing. You have 16 of 30 teams in the playoffs already, counting the play in tournament, we're now at 20 of 30 teams in the post season.

[Chicago-Bull-E]

I think the play in games are dumb, but not for the reason Cuban is saying. The play in games provide 3 additional games in each conference that effects 4 teams. That's not really a schedule burden. And players have already taken more time off this year than I can ever remember. The idea that 'more players have to play during the regular season' is an insane thought process. Like yeah, that's the point of competitive sports, isn't it?

The reason the play in tournament is dumb is because it gives a false sense of hope to teams and stretches the faulty logic of 'making the playoffs' as some success, when it's not. The 10th seed has zero chance of winning a title, unless they're there strictly due to injuries on their own team. This same reason, is of course why the NBA did it, along with the slight bump up in revenue.

[HomoSapien]

As a fan, I'm enjoying the overall competitiveness of the season. In Cuban's defense, he did say that he thought it was a mistake in hindsight. His suggestion of having a tournament the top 16 teams seemed like a bad suggestion to me. It would almost make the season pointless.

[transplant]

It is hard not to roll your eyes at his comments when his team is one that will be in the play-in, but would have been in the playoffs directly without it. He now has a strong biased interest in the play-in tournament not existing regardless of any of his other thoughts on why it is good or bad.

Personally, I'd rather kill the whole thing. You have 16 of 30 teams in the playoffs already, counting the play in tournament, we're now at 20 of 30 teams in the post season.

This. Couldn't agree more.

[dougthonus]

As a fan, I'm enjoying the overall competitiveness of the season. In Cuban's defense, he did say that he thought it was a mistake in hindsight. His suggestion of having a tournament the top 16 teams seemed like a bad suggestion to me. It would almost make the season pointless.

I think he was saying normal playoff format, top 12 teams are in, you play in for the final four spots. Seed without conferences. Though I think it's hard to say. That is also self serving though, because he's in the west, and his team would be top 12 most likely and not in the play-in again.

I do like the idea of removing conferences and conference brackets and just doing a 1-16 seeding. If you want to have four teams play in for the final sacrificial lamb spot or something go for it too, but get rid of all the conference stuff. Even though it benefits us, I hate the idea that we can be a pedestrian team and get to the 2nd round because our conference blows. It creates false achievements.

[kulaz3000]

I absolutely hate the rest argument, always have. And this correlates to the latter part of the season where a lot of the seeding is already set in stone, and star players are rest or play minimal minutes - the fans deserve better.

If teams have to play harder, more minutes and there is a higher incentive to win, and actually get higher seedings well into the season, then I'm all for it, and would be happy to keep this play-in tournament beyond this season. Hell, expand it out to 5th to 10th seed of each conference, and those teams plays out the remainder of the seeding, from 5th to 8th. Make the elite teams in each conference have a clear advantage, and those who aren't, play for something all through the season.

Plus, for Cuban to say it's a bad idea when we really haven't seen how it will play out is a little silly in my opinion. And the fact that playoff teams are still up in the air right now, and such a close race, actually is making the season fun to follow.

[kodo]

Cuban's great because he doesn't care about anything other than what's best for his team and his city. When Chicago & Dallas were both tanking in the Doncic draft, both teams were called out by Silver. Chicago immediately stopped tanking and put our vets back in the starting lineup. Cuban told his organization to proceed as they were, he'll pay the fines.

Would love to have him as an owner.

[dice]

It is hard not to roll your eyes at his comments when his team is one that will be in the play-in, but would have been in the playoffs directly without it. He now has a strong biased interest in the play-in tournament not existing regardless of any of his other thoughts on why it is good or bad.

Personally, I'd rather kill the whole thing. You have 16 of 30 teams in the playoffs already, counting the play in tournament, we're now at 20 of 30 teams in the post season.

bloating the # of playoff teams due to single game series isn't an issue to me. if it was 20 teams playing 7 game series, many of which would be lopsided, then sure, big problem. this isn't that. in MOST seasons it's probably a marginally good idea. but in SOME seasons the results are absolutely awful. you need only look back 2 seasons to the western conference. here were the standings, ranked by wins:

57 warriors
54 nuggets
53 blazers
53 rockets
50 jazz
49 thunder
48 spurs
48 clippers

39 kings
37 lakers

1-8 that's an absolutely stellar lineup (and would have been even better if one or more of the sub-50 win teams was an up-and comer). but the win differential between the 1 and 8 seeds was the same as between 8 and 9! having the lowly kings or lakers pull a single game upset and "play themselves in" would have been a total travesty. not just because of the unfairness, but because it would have cost fans a potentially terrific 7 game opening round series

[dice]

cuban isn't saying this because his team is sitting at #7, folks. at least not in large part. the mavs could well end up at 9 or 10 by the time the season is over. and he probably thinks his team will pass up the inferior blazers for #6

[Wingy]

Seems like he’s backing his star player too.

I agree play in game is dumb.

[Red8911]

Not crazy about play ins either but it somewhat helps stop the tanking for some teams and makes it more interesting. They should just go back to the no play ins but they also need to change the whole draft system, don’t let teams or fans want to lose thats not what this sport should be about.

[madvillian]

I absolutely hate the rest argument, always have. And this correlates to the latter part of the season where a lot of the seeding is already set in stone, and star players are rest or play minimal minutes - the fans deserve better.

If teams have to play harder, more minutes and there is a higher incentive to win, and actually get higher seedings well into the season, then I'm all for it, and would be happy to keep this play-in tournament beyond this season. Hell, expand it out to 5th to 10th seed of each conference, and those teams plays out the remainder of the seeding, from 5th to 8th. Make the elite teams in each conference have a clear advantage, and those who aren't, play for something all through the season.

Plus, for Cuban to say it's a bad idea when we really haven't seen how it will play out is a little silly in my opinion. And the fact that playoff teams are still up in the air right now, and such a close race, actually is making the season fun to follow.

Sometimes I feel like the logical end point of the "load management" movement in the NBA is to stop playing NBA basketball entirely.

[Andi Obst]

I absolutely hate the rest argument, always have. And this correlates to the latter part of the season where a lot of the seeding is already set in stone, and star players are rest or play minimal minutes - the fans deserve better.

Some teams are playing around 40 games in under 70 days in the second half of their schedule this season. I don't think rest is the best argument against the play-in, but in general it's an absolutely valid concern IMO.

Personally, I like the idea of the play-in, but I'd also (and more importantly) like to see shorter seasons. Make every game more meaningful while giving the players more time to rest. The product is going to be better. Sure, it's less basketball, but who can watch 10 games a night?

[Andi Obst]

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Saw this tweet this morning. The Mavs also have a ton of guys who had COVID. Who knows how much they're still affected by it. We shouldn't underrate how crazy this season actually is for a lot of players and teams.