New NBA All-Star Format Announced

[chilluminati]

At this point it doesn't even matter, let them experiment. I heard this pitch a while back and thought it wasn't the worst thing in the world. Format change isn't going to magically make players try for a pointless game while the rest of the league gets a break.

[JShuttlesworth]

I'm with KD, I think it's an awful idea.

[benson13]

Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky, but I think the NBA is doing too much here. The target score was a dumb idea, and I think the players are going to take this concept even less seriously than they do the usual game.

American players versus foreign born players is an interesting idea, but it might be controversial.

[SlimShady83]

USA vs World would be more entertaining then this, enjoy the all-star while it's still here.

[mastermixer]

Sounds fine.

All star game has always been terrible. All star break is a time for players to rest and have fun.

The format of the game is irrelevant.

The only thing that matters is if the players that are chosen to play decide they want to play hard and competitive basketball for that game.

I’d say the players buy-in and play hard once a decade and the game is great.

[TheHartBreakKid]

Here is what I don't get though;

If the plan was to raise the number of allstars to 32 instead of 24, with 4 teams and a 3 game tourney format, why wouldn't they use this an opportunity to actually attempt to fix the underlying issues of the allstar game (lack of competition- no reason for players to care, etc).

Hear me out;

What if the format was done like this:

Team International- Top 8 international vote getters
Team U.S- Top 8 U.S vote getters
Team East- Top 8 in the East that didn't make team International or Team U.S, chosen by coaches
Team West- Top 8 in the West that didn't make team international or team U.S, chosen by coaches.

Games 1 & 2- Team international vs East or West, Team U.S vs East or West
Game 3 (Finals)- Winners play eachother






Why my idea would be a tremendous improvement vs the current proposal:


- We get to potentially see U.S vs International in the “Finals”. Image a potential Lebron/Curry/KD lineup going up against a Wemby/Jokic/Luka/Giannis type of lineup.
- Half the players will be chosen by fans, half by coaches. I like they symmetry there.
- Conferences would still play a factor. Positions could still be a factor based on the rules for the "West" and "East" teams.
- There isn’t an unfair advantage for anyone to potentially become an allstar simply based on whether they are international or U.S born. Teams “East” and “West” could contain both U.S and international players.
-Players in “Team West” and “Team East” might be hungry and motivated to come out strong in the first round against the top U.S and International vote getters. Sure, they might be overmatched talent wise on paper, but if they take it serious for a shorter game it would still be competitive.



Hypothetical Rosters: (I’m going off the top, please don’t nitpick on specific players and what teams they would make/how much votes they would get, and whether they deserve to be allstars this year or not)

Team international- Luka, Jokic, SGA, Giannis, Wemby, Sabonis, KAT, Wagner
Team U.S- Lebron, Curry, Durant, AD, Kyrie, Edwards, Tatum
Team West- Fox, Booker, Ja, JJJ, Harden, Zion, J.Williams, Holgremn,
Team East- Haliburton, Embiid, Trae, Maxey, Barnes, Brown, Bam, Brunson

Again, this is off the top just to provide an example of the possible quality of the teams. I know certain individuals have no business being allstars this year due to injuries, availability, and their performance this year, and I know I’m probably missing some names that have played like allstars this year. I’m simply trying to show that it would be 4 pretty competitive teams in my proposed format,

[JJ_PR]

It's sad that Silver has to beg these insanely rich athletes to actually try and make the game competitive. It's one of the biggest events on the schedule; millions of people will be watching. What do fans want? They want to see them compete. It's the least these players can do, give the fans what they want. If it wasn't for fans, some of these guys would be working at McDonald's.

I don't think fans enjoy seeing the best players in the world compete at 20% of their ability during the all-star game.

[Curmudgeon]

The new format is just a gimmick. If you want players to play hard, offer money to the winners: lots and lots of money.

[Myth]

I can see the rookie team trying hard to prove themselves, and the all-stars trying hard to not avoid losing to the rookie team. Though on the flip side, I think it is somewhat possible that the semi-finals on the opposite bracket of the rookie team not trying at all to avoid playing the rookies so they can relax lol.

[yannisk]

If the players don't want to compete you can't have a good game

you could get some pride involved, international vs Americans maybe could make them more competitive (maybe not after seeing Jokic and Doncic last time). But you will get some non deserving all stars playing instead of some better players.

you could give them money, but since these are all stars and well paid you will need to give them a lot to care. I think 5 million for the players on the winning team does it. So either the nba puts the money or you get some sort of sponsorship.

Let's have the billionaires all star game. Voters pick the all stars and then have 4 huge corporations pick 4 teams from these all stars and have a tournament. It will be a big advertisement for the companies that will put the money. Let's say team bmw faces team tesla and the winner faces the winner of team apple vs team microsoft

[levon]

Lol the whole tourney is going to last 30 minutes. That target score is way too low.

[mkot]

40 points seem low in today's NBA?

Why are they so afraid to make it Team USA vs Team World? It's so simple. I'm sure either side want to lose and will compete hard NOT to lose.

[mrvioletowl]

Make it East vs West and the winner coast gets the home court for the finals. That would make them care again.

[Spicy P]

Need to give this a shot. I have a feeling it will be more competitive since elimination is on the line. It worked for the Rising Stars. I don’t see why it won’t work here.

Also, KD needs to STFU. He, LeBron, Wade, etc. and the rest of his generation are the ones who ruined the All-Star game in the first place by turning it into a no-defence 3-point chuckfest. Not to mention they ruined the actual League with their superteam BS. Before them the All-Star games were actually competitive.

[XTC]

NBA is thinking too hard about the allstar game to make it competitive, and fun.

-Head coaches should be the team with the best record within their respective conferences. The assistant coaches would be the 2nd, and 3rd place best records teams head coaches.

-Fans vote in starters. The players with the most vote in each conference are the captains. 2 guards, 2 forwards, 1 big.

-The west and eastern conference pool of players will be the top 30 vote getters in each conference. The roster will consist of 12 players.

-The captains get to choose their own team (broadcasted on live television). A NBA franchise can only have a max of 2 allstars.

-The winning team gets home court advantage in the NBA finals, and prize money. Loosing team gets nothing.

[MVP1992]

Here's a novel idea... West players vs East players. No mixing it up.

Call the game by the letter of the law. Call all carries, travels, illegal screens, offensive fouls & penalise intentional fouls.

[Nate505]

Sure, it's fine I guess.

I can't hate on it too much given the actual game has been dog crap for 25 or so years, with a few exceptions like the game after Kobe died.

So if this idea sucks, who cares. It can't be any worse than a lateral move. If it's fun, great.

[benhillboy]

Once I saw that the TNT crew were gonna be seriously involved I lost the drop of interest I had.

And if I see a preview thumbnail for this latest Shaq attention-seeking podcast again on YouTube I’m gonna end it all.

[theforumblue]

no Arike Ogunbowale no care

[og15]

So one all star team gets a free ride to the finals because they get to play the kids group? How is this fair.

KD said it right. This is nonsense. Keep it east vs west.

East and West would be great, if the players had put more than the most minimal of effort.

I don't think this solves that, but at this point, it doesn't matter since it's not like it's been entertaining.