Mid-season tournament being discussed...how can we make it worth it for everyone.

[Harry Garris]

Guys already make so much money and people already have minimized pretty much everything that isnt a championship. Youre just not going to be able to get these guys to care about this stuff. It is what it is.

I don't know why this is seemingly everyone's take right now. Just make the tournament games replace regular season games and have them worth regular season wins.

Players will then care at least as much about the tournament as they do about regular season games, and will likely care even more because believe it or not you don't make it to the highest level of your sport in the world unless you're very competitive.

There is this idea that we have a mass epidemic of NBA stars not caring or trying in regular season games. But we don't - it's quite literally just 2 guys. Ben Simmons and Kyrie. Every other NBA star is playing and giving effort if they are healthy enough to do so.

[Lunartic]

Guys already make so much money and people already have minimized pretty much everything that isnt a championship. Youre just not going to be able to get these guys to care about this stuff. It is what it is.

I don't know why this is seemingly everyone's take right now. Just make the tournament games replace regular season games and have them worth regular season wins.

Players will then care at least as much about the tournament as they do about regular season games, and will likely care even more because believe it or not you don't make it to the highest level of your sport in the world unless you're very competitive.

There is this idea that we have a mass epidemic of NBA stars not caring or trying in regular season games. But we don't - it's quite literally just 2 guys. Ben Simmons and Kyrie. Every other NBA star is playing and giving effort if they are healthy enough to do so.

Where is that "competitiveness" during the All-Star game?

Making it just part of the RS, then why is it a tournament?

I don't think it's about players not caring as much as there's seemingly little reward for risking injury/exhaustion halfway through the season. Does someone like Lebron risk it? What about Kawhi? Quite a few star players are already sitting out games to preserve their bodies for the playoffs, what incentive could be provided to go all out in some random tournament?

[Harry Garris]

Guys already make so much money and people already have minimized pretty much everything that isnt a championship. Youre just not going to be able to get these guys to care about this stuff. It is what it is.

I don't know why this is seemingly everyone's take right now. Just make the tournament games replace regular season games and have them worth regular season wins.

Players will then care at least as much about the tournament as they do about regular season games, and will likely care even more because believe it or not you don't make it to the highest level of your sport in the world unless you're very competitive.

There is this idea that we have a mass epidemic of NBA stars not caring or trying in regular season games. But we don't - it's quite literally just 2 guys. Ben Simmons and Kyrie. Every other NBA star is playing and giving effort if they are healthy enough to do so.

Where is that "competitiveness" during the All-Star game?

Making it just part of the RS, then why is it a tournament?

I don't think it's about players not caring as much as there's seemingly little reward for risking injury/exhaustion halfway through the season. Does someone like Lebron risk it? What about Kawhi? Quite a few star players are already sitting out games to preserve their bodies for the playoffs, what incentive could be provided to go all out in some random tournament?

Well just make at least one day of rest in between games and you shouldn't have any healthy players sitting out. Load management games typically happen on the second game of a back to back.

My point is - why wouldn't players try any less hard than they would for any other regular season game? As long as the tournament games are worth regular season wins and aren't just an exhibition - we would see at the absolute minimum regular season effort.

[LAL1947]

Mid-season tournament being discussed...how can we make it worth it for everyone.

Final standings in the mid-season tournament determine Home Court Advantage for the Playoffs? That's the only thing I can think of.

I really like the idea of a knock-out style tournament though, as that gives every team a chance of winning. The league and playoffs are set up where the teams that put together the deepest roster usually wins.

[Cubbies2120]

Winner gets to pick their opponent in the playoffs if they make it, regardless of seed, in the first round?

[LAL1947]

This has probably been mentioned before but I haven't read through the thread...

If they have a really large monetary prize for the winners of the mid-season tourney... with the stipulation that the prize money HAS to be split equally among all team-mates... that might help incentivize the teams to play to win. Even if stars don't want to play hard, they could feel obliged to do so because otherwise they would cost their Vet-Min earning teammates money.

[Triple M]

The NBA regular season is boring to the casuals, and I've even heard hardcore fans complain about how long the season is now. stars are playing 50-60 games now and resting or going easy in 20-30 games a season. Stripping out 20-30 for the tournament will make regular season games more competitive.

I could see something like Friday to Monday being season nights while Tuesday to Thursday being Tournament qualifiers

A game or 2 a week with the 8 team tourney being in February

[iggymcfrack]

I don't know why people are so resistant to change. I think it sounds like a really fun idea. I'd be much more interested in watching mid-season tournament games than regular season games that are just more of the same. I think you just need a combination of rewards to make it viable. How about something like the winner gets:

-Play-in berth for any team outside the top 10 in their conference
-Top 8 seed for any team seeded 9th or 10th
-Top 6 seed for any team seeded 7th or 8th
-Top 4 seed and homecourt in the 1st round for any team seeded 5th or 6th
-Top 2 seed and homecourt in the 2nd round for any team seeded 3rd or 4th
-Top 1 seed and homecourt until the Finals for any team seeded 2nd
-Guaranteed homecourt through the Finals for a #1 seed

That way, the top teams have to play hard to defend what they've earned through the regular season and the teams in the middle and the bottom still have meaningful incentive, but it doesn't give such a big guarantee that it makes the rest of the regular season meaningless to the winner. You could also use mid-season tournament placing as the 1st tiebreaker at the end of the season so teams who make a deep run and then lose at least get a little something out of it.

If you're worried about the toll on the players, just take whatever the maximum number of games a team would play in the tournament is and remove those from the regular season. Let's say you have 3 games of pool play and then an 8-team single elimination tournament, just remove 6 games from the regular season. If you have a straight single elimination tournament with the top 2 teams getting byes, remove 5 games from the regular season.

[Duke4life831]

Guys already make so much money and people already have minimized pretty much everything that isnt a championship. Youre just not going to be able to get these guys to care about this stuff. It is what it is.

I don't know why this is seemingly everyone's take right now. Just make the tournament games replace regular season games and have them worth regular season wins.

Players will then care at least as much about the tournament as they do about regular season games, and will likely care even more because believe it or not you don't make it to the highest level of your sport in the world unless you're very competitive.

There is this idea that we have a mass epidemic of NBA stars not caring or trying in regular season games. But we don't - it's quite literally just 2 guys. Ben Simmons and Kyrie. Every other NBA star is playing and giving effort if they are healthy enough to do so.

I mean there is some kind of middle ground between Simmons/Kyrie and guys playing with great effort in the middle of the season. Those arent the only two options.

Finding another way to milk money out of the regular season isnt the only reason the Mid-season tournament has been discussed. Another reason has been the talk for years now how players coast in the regular season. The season is more spread out than its ever been before, there are less back 2 backs than there ever has been, were seeing all time lows of players playing 80 games in a season. You practically already have players coming out that they're bored from the regular season.

Why would these guys care anymore for this mid-season tournament than they do for a normal regular season game? What is the incentive? If the games are separate from the regular season, what's going to make it any different than the All Star game? What is going to prevent stars from resting because they know a championship is more important? If the games count towards regular season games, what difference will it be than a normal regular season game in January-Feb? Like there needs to be something to expect some kind of rise in effort, which is one of the reasons why they're doing this so fans and player will care more about games in the middle of the season.

[Harry Garris]

Guys already make so much money and people already have minimized pretty much everything that isnt a championship. Youre just not going to be able to get these guys to care about this stuff. It is what it is.

I don't know why this is seemingly everyone's take right now. Just make the tournament games replace regular season games and have them worth regular season wins.

Players will then care at least as much about the tournament as they do about regular season games, and will likely care even more because believe it or not you don't make it to the highest level of your sport in the world unless you're very competitive.

There is this idea that we have a mass epidemic of NBA stars not caring or trying in regular season games. But we don't - it's quite literally just 2 guys. Ben Simmons and Kyrie. Every other NBA star is playing and giving effort if they are healthy enough to do so.

I mean there is some kind of middle ground between Simmons/Kyrie and guys playing with great effort in the middle of the season. Those arent the only two options.

Finding another way to milk money out of the regular season isnt the only reason the Mid-season tournament has been discussed. Another reason has been the talk for years now how players coast in the regular season. The season is more spread out than its ever been before, there are less back 2 backs than there ever has been, were seeing all time lows of players playing 80 games in a season. You practically already have players coming out that they're bored from the regular season.

Why would these guys care anymore for this mid-season tournament than they do for a normal regular season game? What is the incentive? If the games are separate from the regular season, what's going to make it any different than the All Star game? What is going to prevent stars from resting because they know a championship is more important? If the games count towards regular season games, what difference will it be than a normal regular season game in January-Feb? Like there needs to be something to expect some kind of rise in effort, which is one of the reasons why they're doing this so fans and player will care more about games in the middle of the season.

We still have marquee matchups in the regular season that are very competitive. That's what I'd hope to see from a mid season tournament. I'm not expecting playoff basketball. Just good games between good teams.

[JayMKE]

There isn't anything that would make a midseason tournament more "worth it" than any other game, I not opposed to playing a midseason series maybe but I don't think there is anything you can do that will incentivize it in a way that makes it any different than any RS game. It's not the playoffs, there needs to be a clear dividing wall between the playoffs and whatever midseason gimmick that Silver comes up with because the RS is already meaningless so don't ruin the postseason too.

Maybe give the winner a bonus pick at the end of the lottery lol, that's about the only thing that would be of interest but my team is a real contender so I don't need bells & whistles. Maybe get rid of playoff teams, RS stakes would be way higher if only 8-10 teams made the playoffs as opposed to over half the league of which only the top contenders ever win anyways.

[wegotthabeet]

The only way you can make teams care if you can secure a playoff spot.

Agreed. Except it should be for last playoff spot after the regular season is finished and before the playoffs begin.

[Lunartic]

I don't know why this is seemingly everyone's take right now. Just make the tournament games replace regular season games and have them worth regular season wins.

Players will then care at least as much about the tournament as they do about regular season games, and will likely care even more because believe it or not you don't make it to the highest level of your sport in the world unless you're very competitive.

There is this idea that we have a mass epidemic of NBA stars not caring or trying in regular season games. But we don't - it's quite literally just 2 guys. Ben Simmons and Kyrie. Every other NBA star is playing and giving effort if they are healthy enough to do so.

Where is that "competitiveness" during the All-Star game?

Making it just part of the RS, then why is it a tournament?

I don't think it's about players not caring as much as there's seemingly little reward for risking injury/exhaustion halfway through the season. Does someone like Lebron risk it? What about Kawhi? Quite a few star players are already sitting out games to preserve their bodies for the playoffs, what incentive could be provided to go all out in some random tournament?

Well just make at least one day of rest in between games and you shouldn't have any healthy players sitting out. Load management games typically happen on the second game of a back to back.

My point is - why wouldn't players try any less hard than they would for any other regular season game? As long as the tournament games are worth regular season wins and aren't just an exhibition - we would see at the absolute minimum regular season effort.

But what would be the purpose of the entire thing? It's just some strangely scheduled regular season games without clear prize or distinction from the rest of the 82 games.

Will you tune in to the tournament any more readily than a RS game between two teams you like watching?

[dacrusha]

Does this replace the garbage All-Star weekend that nobody gives a damn about?

If so, then I'm all for it.

[JayMKE]

Securing a playoff spot or seeding in a midseason tournament is literally the opposite of making the RS mean more, the team that wins that can load manage even more being secure in their place. The only reward that wouldn't cheapen the rest of the RS or the postseason would be a draft pick or maybe some sort of cap exemption or idk but that doesn't mean too much to players/coaches in the moment, making a situation where bad teams or teams that coasted the RS can benefit from a midseason tournament is 180 opposite direction of what they want to do. Money? lol.

If there was 8 playoffs teams then every RS would be a dogfight and the non-playoff teams would start treating their games against the true contenders as their playoffs. This is the only real solution but Silver does the opposite again with the play in essentially expanding the playoffs to 2/3rds of the league. It's just a straight up joke, greedy money grubbers who don't GAF about the sport. Man I miss David Stern and I never thought I'd say that.

[JShuttlesworth]

I don't like this idea, and I couldn't care any less about it

[SixersSince82]

There's no reason not to try a mid season tournament. Players/owners make more money. Fans get more meaningful mid season games to root for.

As others have said, if you can lower the amount of regular season games and then make that money back with the pomp and circumstance of a "tournament" its a clear no brainer good idea.

Even if "superstar" players decide to sit out of the tournament, which is at a neutral site, that's better than superstars sitting out regular season games which are in front of fans that, in a lot of cases, only get to see their favorite visiting player one time a season. And even if it winds up just being a showcase for every team's young players that's pretty cool too. Its a chance to see the next generation step up early.

But I think most players will care about it too, eventually, once it becomes an established part of the season. Especially if there is an individual "best of tournament" award or something like that. Their competitive fire will take over. The Olympics are obviously a much bigger deal but just as an example, players cared for decades, then stopped caring, then we got embarrassed a couple times and all the players started to care again. Now it's cool to be part of the select team. Player's mindsets change. There's no reason they can't get to a point that they value the spotlight that comes with a tournament.

For me, Im thinking about all the second tier stars who have precisely zero chance of ever winning a title because their individual greatness is just not enough to overcome their franchise inability to surround them with the necessary help to win a title. Like... love Dame, dig CP3 but those dudes are not ever going to win a title. They can't be otherworldly great in 16 playoff games across 2 months. But it could be DameTime for 3 or 4 straight games over the elimination portion of the tournament. And that would be super fun to watch!

[Harry Garris]

Where is that "competitiveness" during the All-Star game?

Making it just part of the RS, then why is it a tournament?

I don't think it's about players not caring as much as there's seemingly little reward for risking injury/exhaustion halfway through the season. Does someone like Lebron risk it? What about Kawhi? Quite a few star players are already sitting out games to preserve their bodies for the playoffs, what incentive could be provided to go all out in some random tournament?

Well just make at least one day of rest in between games and you shouldn't have any healthy players sitting out. Load management games typically happen on the second game of a back to back.

My point is - why wouldn't players try any less hard than they would for any other regular season game? As long as the tournament games are worth regular season wins and aren't just an exhibition - we would see at the absolute minimum regular season effort.

But what would be the purpose of the entire thing? It's just some strangely scheduled regular season games without clear prize or distinction from the rest of the 82 games.

Will you tune in to the tournament any more readily than a RS game between two teams you like watching?

Yes I definitely would. I'm a sucker for gimmicky stuff like this.

[JayMKE]

Whats the appeal of playing at a neutral site? So they can gamble in Vegas or get more Disney money? Its just dumb and greedy.

[donkeylips]

id rather see 16 captains (maybe voted by fans or players) pick their teams, and they have a tournament themselves. Seeding can be random or picked by fans.

If star players dont want to be a part of it, it can just be volunteers