RealGM

The Houston Rockets have advanced to the NBA Cup quarterfinals. Houston advanced via their overtime victory at the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.

The Rockets joined the Golden State Warriors as the only teams to clinch spots in the quarterfinals. That leaves six spots up for grabs in the final day of NBA Cup play on Friday, November 29.

The winner of each of the three groups in the Eastern and Western Conferences advance to the quarterfinals. Those six teams are joined by one wild-card team in each conference.

The two teams with the best records and point differential host quarterfinal games. The semifinals will be played in Las Vegas on Saturday, December 14. The NBA Cup Final will be played in Las Vegas on Tuesday, December 17.

Via RealGM Staff Report

Does anyone care about this crap?

It's just a tiny bit better than a participation trophy.

No one cares about this garbage tournament. It'll be news if they're still hooping in late April.

Spot31 wrote:No one cares about this garbage tournament. It'll be news if they're still hooping in late April.

It needs to have real playoff consequences. If the winner were to receive an automatic play-in spot and a playoff seeding tie breaker, that would be something to play for, and fans to cheer for.

Spot31 wrote:No one cares about this garbage tournament. It'll be news if they're still hooping in late April.

Some other changes, besides playoff implications:

Make it longer, so the winner doesn't feel so fluky. Have the Final Cup Game the weekend before the Superbowl, so all American sports fans can focus on it, and tournament qualifiers held on Christmas Day.

Have the Cup MVP and a player from the runner up team receive automatic all-star selections, so the best players have a serious financial incentive to get there ($100+ million could be on the line for some guys).

The winner gets a bonus draft pick, the first pick outside of the lottery (currently 15th) if they also make a top 4 playoff seed in their conference, or the first pick in the second round if they fail to make top 4 (currently the 31st pick). This helps incentivize the Cup while preventing second half tanking.