NBA Cup Schedule

[OakleyDokely]

I think this should be a standalone tournament using a world cup format -- 8 groups of 4 with single elimination after the group stage.

Reduce the regular season to 72 games and play this tournament over a month.

[raptorforlife88]

Great post.

The answer to me is having less teams make the playoffs, but also expand the play-in so that they basically replace the first round and keep teams engaged all year.

Something I thought of would be having the top 4 teams make the playoffs, while the next 16 teams make the play-in. The 16 team play in would then become a double elimination bracket tournament. The higher seed always hosting the play-in game. 4 teams would need to win 3 games and can only lose once to make the playoffs. Then the playoffs are just the 4 teams that already made it + the 4 play-in teams, 8 total.

This is actually a pretty interesting idea that could potentially help. Ensures lots of team not only care about the regular season but that the regular season meaningfully matters for seeding and especially for the top four teams. Keeps those top teams engaged and encourages them to play their best players for more games.

I like it.

[douggood]

The problem for the NBA is that they're trying to take ideas from European football leagues, where tournaments like the League Cup are important and take place across the season because the NBA thinks it will inject some excitement before the playoffs happen.

The problem is that they've entirely misunderstood why this works elsewhere.

1) They're mixing regular season games with an in-season tournament in a way that just doesn't make much sense when you look at it instead of having them as games not part of the regular season sched.

2) A playoff style tournament is less meaningful when the much more meaningful one exists at the end of the year.

3) This is the most important thing, European soccer leagues highly value their regular seasons already and the team that is considered the best is the team that wins the most games in the regular season. Historically that's never been the case in any NA sports leagues. And the NBA in particular by perpetually emphasizing championships and the playoffs over everything else the has basically destroyed the importance of that. The league cup is meaningful but not the most meaningful thing.

In order to make the regular season more exciting in the NBA you would have to so drastically change the playoffs/regular season dichotomy that it would be entirely unrecognizable. Something like basically eliminating the playoff format as it exists and making the NBA in season tournament a season long thing that culminates in the finals while emphasizing the importance of a regular season champion. And that is so antithetical to North American sports that it is impossible and would probably be suicide.

I get that they have to figure out something, but they are fighting a hard battle.

Great post.

The answer to me is having less teams make the playoffs, but also expand the play-in so that they basically replace the first round and keep teams engaged all year.

Something I thought of would be having the top 4 teams make the playoffs, while the next 16 teams make the play-in. The 16 team play in would then become a double elimination bracket tournament. The higher seed always hosting the play-in game. 4 teams would need to win 3 games and can only lose once to make the playoffs. Then the playoffs are just the 4 teams that already made it + the 4 play-in teams, 8 total.

its not really different than the rules we have now, just 1 extra play in game round.
plus then teams with 25-57 record like raptors last year would be in the playin tournament.

[kwajo]

Read on Twitter

Soooo, we are changing our jerseys?

[Jtoneller1]

The basic answer is to convert the standings to a point based system and have each regular season win worth 1 point and each Cup win worth 2 points. Replace All-Star weekend/break with a bigger knock out round. Then, have the top seeds pick their opponent in the actual playoffs so it all matters in the end.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

[Backcountry]

I like the idea of something to make the early season more meaningful, but I don't like the arbitrary "groups" they make up and the way the games are scheduled in between other, "regular" games.

Maybe just set up a single game elimination tournament, like March Madness, and run it over the Christmas break using the standings up to Christmas for the seeding? If the league expands to 32 teams it makes the format easier.

Of course I'm ignoring the logistics of where to play the games (dedicated site or in home arenas), and how it affects overall games played by each team, and how to better incentivize the teams to win, among many other details, I'm sure. Maybe a graduated bonus system based on how far your team gets?

Just spitballin' here...

[wegotthabeet]

The problem for the NBA is that they're trying to take ideas from European football leagues, where tournaments like the League Cup are important and take place across the season because the NBA thinks it will inject some excitement before the playoffs happen.

The problem is that they've entirely misunderstood why this works elsewhere.

1) They're mixing regular season games with an in-season tournament in a way that just doesn't make much sense when you look at it instead of having them as games not part of the regular season sched.

2) A playoff style tournament is less meaningful when the much more meaningful one exists at the end of the year.

3) This is the most important thing, European soccer leagues highly value their regular seasons already and the team that is considered the best is the team that wins the most games in the regular season. Historically that's never been the case in any NA sports leagues. And the NBA in particular by perpetually emphasizing championships and the playoffs over everything else the has basically destroyed the importance of that. The league cup is meaningful but not the most meaningful thing.

In order to make the regular season more exciting in the NBA you would have to so drastically change the playoffs/regular season dichotomy that it would be entirely unrecognizable. Something like basically eliminating the playoff format as it exists and making the NBA in season tournament a season long thing that culminates in the finals while emphasizing the importance of a regular season champion. And that is so antithetical to North American sports that it is impossible and would probably be suicide.

I get that they have to figure out something, but they are fighting a hard battle.

Great post.

The answer to me is having less teams make the playoffs, but also expand the play-in so that they basically replace the first round and keep teams engaged all year.

Something I thought of would be having the top 4 teams make the playoffs, while the next 16 teams make the play-in. The 16 team play in would then become a double elimination bracket tournament. The higher seed always hosting the play-in game. 4 teams would need to win 3 games and can only lose once to make the playoffs. Then the playoffs are just the 4 teams that already made it + the 4 play-in teams, 8 total.

its not really different than the rules we have now, just 1 extra play in game round.
plus then teams with 25-57 record like raptors last year would be in the playin tournament.

it's different enough to make the regular season and play-in far more interesting. seeding would matter way more. it would be more of a tournament before the real tournament (playoffs).

a team like Atlanta wouldn't have made the play-in, nor would Toronto.

using last year's standing as an example.

playoff teams:

x - Boston
x - OKC
x - Denver
x - Minnesota

play-in teams: * - let's assume the higher seed always wins

play-in game 1

home court
1. LA Clippers
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. New York Knicks
4. Milwaukee Bucks
5. New Orleans Pelicans
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Cleveland Cavaliers
8. Orlando Magic

away
9. Los Angeles Lakers
10. Philadelphia 76ers
11. Indiana Pacers
12. Miami Heat
13. Sacramento Kings
14. Golden State Warriors
15. Houston Rockets
16. Chicago Bulls

play-in game 2

winner's bracket:
1. LA Clippers
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. New York Knicks
4. Milwaukee Bucks
5. New Orleans Pelicans
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Cleveland Cavaliers
8. Orlando Magic

loser's bracket:
9. Los Angeles Lakers
10. Philadelphia 76ers
11. Indiana Pacers
12. Miami Heat
13. Sacramento Kings
14. Golden State Warriors
15. Houston Rockets
16. Chicago Bulls

play-in game 3

winner's bracket:
1. LA Clippers
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. New York Knicks
4. Milwaukee Bucks

loser's bracket:
5. New Orleans Pelicans
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Cleveland Cavaliers
8. Orlando Magic
9. Los Angeles Lakers
10. Philadelphia 76ers
11. Indiana Pacers
12. Miami Heat

play-in game 4

winner's bracket:
1. LA Clippers
2. Dallas Mavericks

x - LA Clippers (advance to playoffs)

loser's bracket:
3. New York Knicks
4. Milwaukee Bucks
5. New Orleans Pelicans
6. Phoenix Suns
7. Cleveland Cavaliers
8. Orlando Magic

play-in game 5

loser's bracket:
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. New York Knicks
4. Milwaukee Bucks
5. New Orleans Pelicans

x - Dallas Mavericks (advance to playoffs)
x - New York Knicks (advance to playoffs)

play-in game 6

loser's bracket:
4. Milwaukee Bucks
5. New Orleans Pelicans

x - Milwaukee Bucks (advance to playoffs)

8 team playoffs:

1. Boston
2. OKC
3. Denver
4. Minnesota

5. LA Clippers
6. Dallas Mavericks
7. New York Knicks
8. Milwaukee Bucks

*edit - sorry i messed up my original post.

[Prestige]

I echo others who say this is just lipstick on a pig. They’ve taken meaningless regular season games and made them count for a tournament that they slapped a label on and use things like jerseys and courts to distinguish them from other games.

The problem is that underneath all that it’s essentially the same boring early season games. They need to shake this up even more somehow. Change the format, change the rules, change the location. You need to separate it from the regular season.

[djsunyc]

i thought the tournament was great. but would like to see the tournament final replace the all star game.

[Raps in 4]

I still couldn't care any less about this. And the players agree, given the effort level last year.

[Yeezus_]

I still couldn't care any less about this. And the players agree, given the effort level last year.

At the end of the day, it's still a regular season game withouth the stakes of the tournament so I don't see what the downside of this tournament is?

[Raps in 4]

I echo others who say this is just lipstick on a pig. They’ve taken meaningless regular season games and made them count for a tournament that they slapped a label on and use things like jerseys and courts to distinguish them from other games.

The problem is that underneath all that it’s essentially the same boring early season games. They need to shake this up even more somehow. Change the format, change the rules, change the location. You need to separate it from the regular season.

There is no way to seperate it. The NBA season is designed around the playoffs.

The only reason in-season tournaments work in European soccer is because they don't have playoffs in those leagues, so the tournament actually means something. The games also don't count towards a team's regular season record.

[Jtoneller1]

What about combining choosing your opponent throughout the playoffs with most Cup points determining HCA? Adds an interesting wrinkle....do you choose a slightly harder opponent to get HCA? Winning the Cup itself would then give you HCA throughout the Playoffs.

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[Raps in 4]

What about combining choosing your opponent throughout the playoffs with most Cup points determining HCA? Adds an interesting wrinkle....do you choose a slightly harder opponent to get HCA? Winning the Cup itself would then give you HCA throughout the Playoffs.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

That then undermines the regular season. The winning team can just rest their way to a #6 seed.

Also, tying any sort of playoff benefit to a single game elimination tournament is dumb as the results are extremely luck-dependant.

[youngRAPZ]

lol what if the tourney included a non tradeable wildcard draft slot in the lottery as the 15th member. Round 1 becomes 31 picks.

[CPT]

Maybe it's because we were essentially eliminated before playing any games, but have people forgotten that this was actually pretty successful?

Maybe the novelty will wear off, but it got people talking about regular season games. A lot.

Even if it "doesn't matter," people would be going insane if the Raptors made any kind of run. I'm sure it was fun for fans of the teams involved last season.

The one thing they need to keep an eye on is the effect on the finalists afterwards. Both teams kind of struggled following the tournament IIRC, but we need to see if that's a pattern across several years, or just a coincidence.

[JB7]

Does anyone actually care about this stuff?

Lakers threw up a banner last year.

Yep, it gives Lebron something to win and celebrate like a championship, since he will never win another championship again.

All about chasing Jordan, and he’ll use anything to build up his career record.

[Scase]

Maybe it's because we were essentially eliminated before playing any games, but have people forgotten that this was actually pretty successful?

Maybe the novelty will wear off, but it got people talking about regular season games. A lot.

Even if it "doesn't matter," people would be going insane if the Raptors made any kind of run. I'm sure it was fun for fans of the teams involved last season.

The one thing they need to keep an eye on is the effect on the finalists afterwards. Both teams kind of struggled following the tournament IIRC, but we need to see if that's a pattern across several years, or just a coincidence.

Likely only cause it was the first ever, plus the new courts and jerseys. That will wear off after a couple years.