Chanel Bomber wrote:jvsimonetti0514 wrote:Chanel Bomber wrote:It's a flawed analogy because these different European competitions are among different leagues (either across countries or across domestic divisions) that convene teams that would not normally have the opportunity to face eachother within their domestic league. The NBA, on the other hand, is a closed circuit. The NBA tournament makes 0 conceptual sense besides as a cash grab that is devoid of meaning.
The biggest problems are the officiating, the amount of stoppage of play and the way foreign players are covered (the disconnect between a league that is used as a soft power tool and its best players being international).
This tournament will backfire in the long run. It will enhance the RS but diminish the playoffs. I think it's a strategic calamity long term.
It’s more likely that this tournament doesn’t resonate with regular fans and they cancel it before it will destroy the nba by diminishing the playoffs. Especially if the normie fans buy into it being a soulless cash grab.
I only picked the champion leagues cuz that’s clearly what the nba is modeling this tournament after. If anything they should model it after Coppa Italia. Which is another tournament in Serie A, which basically allows lower teams into euro cup and champions leagues. Teams that already qualify for those matches still try and win for the prestige. For example, Inter Milan was last years winner.
You can just do that for the twist in next years tournament. Guarantee a top 6 finish for the winner as long as they’re in the play in. It still makes it clear the playoffs are more important but give there more reason to have it than just money.
But the point of Copa Italia is that it allows teams from different tiers to compete against the elite. There's no point for the NBA because there is no relegation system - it's a closed circuit. There's no inherent meaning to the Cup besides profit.
If the tournament fails then the NBA is wasting its time and resources when it could invest in addressing other more pressing issues. But I don't exactly trust in thr integrity of the league so their reluctance to do so doesn't exactly surprise me.
I'm not sure why a team would be compelled to play the rest of the RS if they've secured a PO spot by winter thanks to the IST. And would that be fair to a team that's earned their spot by winning more games across the RS in the scenario where a mid team wins it?
The biggest issue with the nba is falling regular season ratings and securing a new, more expensive tv deal. Even last years finals had a 6% drop in viewers from the previous year. Most of this can’t be explained away with cord cutting, since thats counted on Nielsen and illegal streams. It seems like the investment has kinda worked for now.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/12/04/has-the-nbas-in-season-tournament-paid-off-these-tv-ratings-suggest-yes-probably/amp/Roughly 2 million people tuned in on national TV for a tournament game last week between the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors, marking a 93% increase over a game in a “comparable window” last season, and the most-watched tournament game so far, according to the league (teams have played a combination of tournament and standard games in recent weeks, with the top eight teams in tournament matches moving on to a single-elimination bracket this week).
That Kings-Warriors game narrowly edged out the 1.9 million people who tuned in for a Warriors match on November 22 against the Phoenix Suns on ESPN, but more decisively beat the 1.4 million who watched the Boston Celtics take on the Milwaukee Bucks on the same day on ESPN, neither of which counted toward the tournament, according to data from Nielsen.
Tournament games on ESPN and TNT averaged 1.5 million viewers, a 26% increase from games played during the same time last year, while locally broadcast games are up 20% from last November, the NBA said.
During the month of November, ESPN averaged 1.52 million viewers per game while TNT averaged 1.43 million, increases of 20% and 16%, respectively, over the same time last year, CNN reported—though the NBA’s early-season audience is still a tiny fraction of the NFL, which regularly draws upwards of 15 million viewers to its marquee Sunday night games.
We’re in the world where random NFL games out draw the NBA finals. Something needs to change or it literally will end the league.
Home court advantage, giving yourself the easiest match up you can in the first round, to keep selling tickets and ads for their games, keeping their players in shape and in rhythm for the playoffs, chances of making all nba, winning end of seasons awards, making the all star game. There’s a bunch of reasons to keep playing even if you secure a top 6 seed. All it would do is just keep you out of the play in tournament too. If you fell out, that advantage would go away.
Maybe you’re right and a team will throw the rest of the season and try to finish 10th but it would do massive damage to the league and I’d imagine the nba would step in at that point. There’s a reason Hinkie never got another job. Also I’d hope players and coaches care to much to do something like that.
