Play in has made NBA less competitive

[Blacksheep25]

It’s cheap and horrible. 20 out of 30 teams shouldn’t still be alive after the RS. Teams shouldn’t be able to rest guys for months on end and still sneak into bottom of playin and go on a run.

Yep that is why this happens all the time, oh wait it doesn't like I said only one 8th seed has made the NBA Finals and the lowest seed to ever win the whole thing was the 6th seed Rockets.

This notion that the good teams just sit around not trying to win since they can be the 10th seed is not true at all. The best teams will still be in the top 3 seeds in each conference under 99.9999% of circumstances. Rarely you will find a good team lower if they had insane injury woes as the season happened, but that is an extremely rare thing.

This is a different league and concepts like load mgmt are a recent trend. Had the Lakers added Kyrie. If GS has another few week injury and then got completely healthy at the right time. It’s way more possible now for a contender to land low.

[monopoman]

It’s cheap and horrible. 20 out of 30 teams shouldn’t still be alive after the RS. Teams shouldn’t be able to rest guys for months on end and still sneak into bottom of playin and go on a run.

Yep that is why this happens all the time, oh wait it doesn't like I said only one 8th seed has made the NBA Finals and the lowest seed to ever win the whole thing was the 6th seed Rockets.

This notion that the good teams just sit around not trying to win since they can be the 10th seed is not true at all. The best teams will still be in the top 3 seeds in each conference under 99.9999% of circumstances. Rarely you will find a good team lower if they had insane injury woes as the season happened, but that is an extremely rare thing.

This is a different league and concepts like load mgmt are a recent trend. Had the Lakers added Kyrie. If GS has another few week injury and then got completely healthy at the right time. It’s way more possible now for a contender to land low.

The difference is that load management is typically only a thing to teams that can afford to lose games. While some players that really need the rest due to age might take a game or two off, again this is something a team that has the #1 spot by 3-4 wins or more has the luxury to do. You almost never see a team in the 8th spot take games off unless the players are facing injury issues or are just getting older and can't take the grueling 82 game season.

1 loss that might have been a win can be hugely substantial for teams battling for the 8th or 7th spot, meanwhile a team that has the 1st spot by a bit worst case falls to the 2nd spot.

[HomoSapien]

Well, this thread aged as well as it started.

[wegotthabeet]

Look at the trade deadline. it's dead. Just not enough sellers. For what? The number 8 through 10 teams are first round playoff elimination near guaranteed. So what is the benefit?

I don't see any benefit to the play in. The league is less competitive because the true competitors have less opportunity to make trades and shake up the top of the competition.

Over all just a bad idea to make a few bucks more

yeah the trade deadline was completely dead.

people complaining about the play-in are pretending that the regular season hasn't always been 82 exhibitions games. that's the american pro sports format, just embrace it.

that being said i think this would be a better format...

y -- 1
x -- 2
x -- 3
x -- 4
x -- 5
x -- 6
--------
p -- 7
p -- 8
p -- 9
p -- 10
p -- 11
p -- 12
p -- 13
p -- 14
--------
e -- 15

y = first round bye
x = clinched playoff spot
p = play-in team
e = eliminated

play-in = 8 team single elimination tournament. winner takes the final playoff spot.
first round = 2 vs 7; 3 vs 6; 4 vs 5.

[Optimus_Steel]

Well, this thread aged as well as it started.

"No trades, NBA boring".....so much for that

[life_saver]

Look at the trade deadline. it's dead. Just not enough sellers. For what? The number 8 through 10 teams are first round playoff elimination near guaranteed. So what is the benefit?

I don't see any benefit to the play in. The league is less competitive because the true competitors have less opportunity to make trades and shake up the top of the competition.

Over all just a bad idea to make a few bucks more

yeah the trade deadline was completely dead.

people complaining about the play-in are pretending that the regular season hasn't always been 82 exhibitions games. that's the american pro sports format, just embrace it.

that being said i think this would be a better format...

y -- 1
x -- 2
x -- 3
x -- 4
x -- 5
x -- 6
--------
p -- 7
p -- 8
p -- 9
p -- 10
p -- 11
p -- 12
p -- 13
p -- 14
--------
e -- 15

y = first round bye
x = clinched playoff spot
p = play-in team
e = eliminated

play-in = 8 team single elimination tournament. winner takes the final playoff spot.
first round = 2 vs 7; 3 vs 6; 4 vs 5.

that would be bit too many teams in play-in..I would prefer something like this -

y -- 1
x -- 2
x -- 3
x -- 4
x -- 5
--------
p -- 6
p -- 7
p -- 8
p -- 9
--------
e -- 10
e -- 11
e -- 12
e -- 13
e -- 14
e -- 15

y = first round bye
x = clinched playoff spot
p = play-in team
e = eliminated

Basically reduce number of playoff teams from 8 to 7. Two teams qualify from play-in tournament, similar to current format. Incentivize top seed in regular season by giving a first round bye.

First round: 2 vs P2, 3 vs P1, 4 vs 5.

[Ayt]

"More teams competing makes the NBA less competitive. I am very smart."

[wegotthabeet]

Look at the trade deadline. it's dead. Just not enough sellers. For what? The number 8 through 10 teams are first round playoff elimination near guaranteed. So what is the benefit?

I don't see any benefit to the play in. The league is less competitive because the true competitors have less opportunity to make trades and shake up the top of the competition.

Over all just a bad idea to make a few bucks more

yeah the trade deadline was completely dead.

people complaining about the play-in are pretending that the regular season hasn't always been 82 exhibitions games. that's the american pro sports format, just embrace it.

that being said i think this would be a better format...

y -- 1
x -- 2
x -- 3
x -- 4
x -- 5
x -- 6
--------
p -- 7
p -- 8
p -- 9
p -- 10
p -- 11
p -- 12
p -- 13
p -- 14
--------
e -- 15

y = first round bye
x = clinched playoff spot
p = play-in team
e = eliminated

play-in = 8 team single elimination tournament. winner takes the final playoff spot.
first round = 2 vs 7; 3 vs 6; 4 vs 5.

that would be bit too many teams in play-in..I would prefer something like this -

y -- 1
x -- 2
x -- 3
x -- 4
x -- 5
--------
p -- 6
p -- 7
p -- 8
p -- 9
--------
e -- 10
e -- 11
e -- 12
e -- 13
e -- 14
e -- 15

y = first round bye
x = clinched playoff spot
p = play-in team
e = eliminated

Basically reduce number of playoff teams from 8 to 7. Two teams qualify from play-in tournament, similar to current format. Incentivize top seed in regular season by giving a first round bye.

First round: 2 vs P2, 3 vs P1, 4 vs 5.

this would work too. I like the idea of reducing playoff teams to 7 and rewarding the top seed.

y -- 1
x -- 2
x -- 3
x -- 4
x -- 5
x -- 6
--------
p -- 7
p -- 8
p -- 9
p -- 10
--------
e -- 11
e -- 12
e -- 13
e -- 14
e -- 15

y = first round bye
x = clinched playoff spot
p = play-in team
e = eliminated

maybe just have one play-in team make the playoffs though, so something more like a round robin or single elimination, but the winner needs to win twice in a row.

[Charlesareed]

An nfl type of format will actually work idk if all the owners will go for it tho