RealGM

preliminary data is showing this season was one of the worst ever for player injuries, especially soft tissue injuries:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/31592404/data-shows-nba-injuries-condensed-season

it makes sense. I suspect the combination of last season's bubble following a long layoff, this season's truncated training camp and pre-season, & the condensed schedule of this season have all contributed

I hate to see injuries, to any players, not just Blazer players. There are always injuries, but I've always wondered if the NBA couldn't do things to try and mitigate some injuries, like soft tissue injuries

* I liked the 72 game schedule, especially where it had each conference team playing the others three times. It simplified the tie-breakers and gave games more meaning...which added entertainment and interest. I wouldn't mind seeing that 72 game schedule plugged into the calendar of an 82 game schedule. That would allow a greatly reduced number of back-to-back sets, and should allow the elimination of 3-game/4-nights & 4-games/5-nights

* I also like the Play-In tournaments, but I know many don't. I like the entertainment value and the week off for the top-6 seeds. I guess teams in the play-ins have a slightly increased risk of injury, but maybe not

* Now this is a wacky idea for sure, but If the NBA keeps the Play-in, I'd really like to see some kind of tiered draft lotteries with a major reduction in weighting odds. Start with a 10-team lottery of the teams that don't make the playoffs or play-in. Keep the weighting in favor of the worst teams, but just reduce it significantly (or eliminate it)[code][/code]; and all 10 slots determined by lottery. Then a lottery of the 8 teams in the play-in, equal weighting. Finally a lottery of the 12 playoff teams, again, equal weighting. You could even jazz things up by having an intermediate lottery: For the top-10, only award 6 slots. Then have the 4 winners of the playin lottery and the 4 losers of the first lottery draw to set picks 7-14. Like I said, wacky, but the lottery sure would be must watch TV. This might reduce tanking too, especially if there was no weighting in any of the lotteries

* I'd be OK with doubling coach's challenges to calls. Make it one a half instead of one a game

* make Dame an all-time great by adding a 4 point line at 32 feet....j/k

League has been at 82 games since the late 1960s. I'm fine with less games, but I can see the owners wanting the extra ticket sales and the players/fans debating the legitimacy of records.

Regarding coach's challenges, I'd like to see any play/non-calls be reviewable. And if you win a challenge, the refs are fallible and you should get another challenge.

Likely ownership would view playing 10 less regular season games after all that lose revenue from the
past two seasons as a non starter. That lost revenue is likely going to be the driver to expansion which
likely will be the front burner issue this coming off season.

I'd be opposed to a 4 point shot for we'd up seeing the CJ's of the world jacking up those 4 pointers,
making the games even more uglier than they are today.

Norm2953 wrote: lost revenue is likely going to be the driver to expansion which likely will be the front burner issue this coming off season.

This sounds backwards to me. I would think expansion is a topic when revenues are strong and underpinned by strong growth and optimistic forecasting. Expanding into weakness, to me seems like a bad idea.

There are reportedly, $2.5 Billion reasons why the NBA will expand, perhaps in 2022-23. That would generate
a reported $166 Million payment for each existing NBA team with Seattle almost certainly getting a franchise.

Whether its a good idea from a competition POV is another matter but the continued growth in the talent pool
from the International market makes it more feasible. One can perhaps imagine further expansion if the reports
of the new jets that will cut travel to Europe to under three hours actually happens.

I like having as many games as possible. 72 is enough to determine who the playoff teams should be, especially if divisions are eliminated. It would be even better if divisions and conferences were eliminated. I would go back to 82 games and eliminate divisions and conferences.

The play-in is the dumbest thing the NBA has ever done. But, it could be fixed if divisions and conferences were eliminated. Make the play-in part of the playoffs. Have the regular season determine 14 playoff teams, rather than 16. Have the 4 best teams by record not in the top 14, play-in. While the best 14 have an off weak. Really, it's expanding the playoffs from 16 to 18 teams, but only 16 have a chance to be champions. The difference is strong teams like Lakers, Blazers, and Warriors aren't as likely to get caught up in 1 game elimination matchups. And, only the worst 2 of 16 teams is in jeopardy. Slicing up the league into conferences potentially puts better teams out of playoffs in favor of weak teams. The Lakers shouldn't have been in jeopardy. Neither should have the Warriors.

I would reduce the lottery teams to 12. The 12 teams that didn't make it into the 18 team playoff would be in the lottery.

Increasing coaches challenges to 2 is a good idea. I would also allow teams to participate in referee demerits. Team's should be allowed to send the NBA 5 calls every game they believe we're incorrect. Refs that get the most demerits should not officiate playoff games, and should get fewer regular games to officiate. Missed calls should be considered for demerits.

The 4-point shot is not a good idea.

Norm2953 wrote:There are reportedly, $2.5 Billion reasons why the NBA will expand, perhaps in 2022-23. That would generate
a reported $166 Million payment for each existing NBA team with Seattle almost certainly getting a franchise.

Whether its a good idea from a competition POV is another matter but the continued growth in the talent pool
from the International market makes it more feasible. One can perhaps imagine further expansion if the reports
of the new jets that will cut travel to Europe to under three hours actually happens.

Each of those $2.5 billion reasons is subject to losses, it isn't all profit. The league loses net value if they add unprofitable franchises. The league loses some value if they increase the number of franchises, but lose revenue and profit per franchise.

The biggest issue with 72 Vs 82 games isn't the 5 home games less that each team plays. The biggest issue is the 1230 Vs 1080 games the broadcast rights are worth.

This is why adding two expansion teams are on the agenda. 82 games for 32 teams is 1312 games of regular season broadcast rights. Add the play in tournament and the playoffs and the NBA's broadcast rights rises sufficiently as to cover some of the loss due to Covid.