NBA Cup Suggestion

[TheShow2021]

I like the points idea but I think the high placers are getting too many points.

Perhaps something like this (yours on the left, mine in bold and red on the right):
1st - 15 5
2nd - 10 3
3rd - 8 2
4th - 6 1
5th - 4
6th - 2
7th - 1

[FarBeyondDriven]

I suggest they end it and expect players to play hard during the regular season without needing added incentive. Raising the number of games to be eligible for post-season awards even higher, getting rid of the play-in, and doing away with the draft lottery are all easy ways to go about this and better than this laughable farce.

[pipfan]

I've posted this idea-and I think it makes a ton of sense
drop the ASG-it's a dead concept, admit it and move on

Once the league expands to 32, you use the dead weak of the Super Bowl to build some hoops interest

Sat before NFL conference finals-all 32 teams play 1st round
16 go to winners bracket
16 go to losers bracket

Monday after NFL conf finals-16 games (8 from winners bracket, 8 from losers)

Wed-16 games, 4 quarter finals from winners/losers bracket (other teams play random games)

Friday-8 teams in All Star/Cup Final city, semi finals of winners and losers (losers bracket 2 games played during the day)
other teams off

Saturday-All Star events (dunk, 3 pt and others)

Sunday, finals of both brackets

This way, NBA dominates that dead week before the Super Bowl

League resumes play on Wed of the next week (Final 8 teams end up playing 1 more game, while the 4 teams in the two Finals play 2 extra games-no big deal)

Now, it's too random and no one really cares

[bkkrh]

Americans are dumb. We want our tournament to look like a bracket and be held at a certain time. We don't understand the regular season games counting as some standings thing, then we blink and see some random teams that actually made it out of that stage play in the actual "tournament". I know it's a common soccer thing, but we just don't understand it.

I know the logistics of getting all of the teams to Vegas would be impossible and way too expensive, but the best thing to do would get rid of the All Star game. Put a 2 or 3 week break during the middle of the season. Have a 32 team single elimination tournament (once the league expands). Have the All Star festivities (dunk contest, etc) during the Final Four weekend. Just make the tournament actually stand out instead of being some random thing going on during the first two months of the season. Seriously, no one cares about the games going on during the actual schedule. And no one is excited about a Finals game in the middle of December.

Nah, it´s setup completely different than in European football leagues. For national cups there is never a group phase, it's always a 1 or 2 game elimination tournament. Also the games have 0 impact on regular season standings, it's 2 completely separate competitions. It's also easy to differentiate, since league games normally happen Friday to Sunday, while national and international cup games take place Tuesday to Thursday. There are some exceptions, but it's way less complicated or confusing than with the NBA schedules, where everything happens at the same time.

Also, just as an example on how to create hype, the drawing of each round gets broadcasted on German television with a live audience, so this of course also creates some hype for fans, if they know they'll play a rival or have drawn a big name a few weeks ahead of the actual game.

[DutchManDanFan]

Don't change anything the next 10 years. More teams will get to the final so their players and fans will experience it's actually quite fun to get there and play for a cup.

If you're in the final, you want to hold the trophy. That's how it works. It's a consolation price, but a price it is. And not easy to win.
So, give it a few years and many people will change their view.

Changes are difficult for most people though. And lots of them complain about it. You see it everywhere, so also in this thread...

[xchange55]

Why would it not work schedule wise? It would very similar to how the current system works. 16 games scheduled at the beginning of the season, and 4 more games after the round robin stage. At most, teams would need to block off 2/3 dates to get all the games in.

"meaningless as meaningless gets" is a random regular season game on a Tuesday in November with nothing else on the line. I find the current "4 game round robin" is just to short. Not enough games and one bad game completely ruins you.

But besides, you need more than a few games hot streak. You gotta win 6 out of 7 games generally to win the Cup as it currently stands.

You don't know who makes the knockout stages, which means you need to lock in the home arena dates for each and every team in the league. That's the very reason why the current format is essentially counting regular season game as part of the tournament, and then the neutral site is only used for when the teams cannot be pre-determined.

Many NBA team owners also own the arena. They are scheduling as many dates as possible for income - hockey, college hockey, Harlem Globetrotters, concerts, comedy, circus etc. They aren't giving up the hundreds of thousand of potential revenue opportunity for that.

My point on "meaningless" is you can't make an early season game have any significance. Imagine the NFL used weeks 3-8 to try and make a new type of championship or baseball making games 60-100 have some sort of title - it sounds ridiculous, does it not?

[DutchManDanFan]

It's a great format. It just needs more time for people to get used to it.

All cup competitions in Europe (all team sports have them) are apart from the regular competition. But there's no history for this in the USA, so they had to be inventive. Very clever.

Only problem is it's too difficult for some people to understand. I get that because of the level of education over there...

[YogurtProducer]

Why would it not work schedule wise? It would very similar to how the current system works. 16 games scheduled at the beginning of the season, and 4 more games after the round robin stage. At most, teams would need to block off 2/3 dates to get all the games in.

"meaningless as meaningless gets" is a random regular season game on a Tuesday in November with nothing else on the line. I find the current "4 game round robin" is just to short. Not enough games and one bad game completely ruins you.

But besides, you need more than a few games hot streak. You gotta win 6 out of 7 games generally to win the Cup as it currently stands.

You don't know who makes the knockout stages, which means you need to lock in the home arena dates for each and every team in the league. That's the very reason why the current format is essentially counting regular season game as part of the tournament, and then the neutral site is only used for when the teams cannot be pre-determined.

Many NBA team owners also own the arena. They are scheduling as many dates as possible for income - hockey, college hockey, Harlem Globetrotters, concerts, comedy, circus etc. They aren't giving up the hundreds of thousand of potential revenue opportunity for that.

How is that any different from the current system where you need to lock in home arena dates before the season starts? You just wouldn't have an opponent yet until the round robin ended. Also, nothing is saying the games need to be played in the next 7 days after the round robin, it could be next month or two.

My point on "meaningless" is you can't make an early season game have any significance. Imagine the NFL used weeks 3-8 to try and make a new type of championship or baseball making games 60-100 have some sort of title - it sounds ridiculous, does it not?

I mean... you can? My post in the OP shows exactly how you can make it have moer significance. Simply adding an additional incentive to perform well adds more meaning to the games.

You can disagree with the optics or whatever, but it definitely unarguably would be more meaningful.

NFL is only 16 games - they simply do not have the issues with games no being meaningful.
MLB doesn't have the same tanking incentive the NBA has, and a smaller playoff. The system inherently makes every game a bit more important, and the incentive to be bad is minimized compared to the NBA.

[wegotthabeet]

Appreciate the OP and out of the box thinking in general.

I think the NBA should just model their season similar to the NCAA. First half being non conference games and the second half being conference games. Get the major traveling out of the way early on. Have the NBA Cup after the first half non conference games and be something completely separate from the regular season. Have a Conference Tournament after the second half and have that also separate from the regular season but with major playoff implications.

Example:
0. Pre Season
1. Non conference games (32 total)
2. NBA Cup
3. Conference games (30 total)
4. Conference Tournament
5. Playoffs (7 teams per conference like the NFL)

Conference Tournament determines the first overall seed in the playoffs and a first round bye. Keeps every team engaged all year. Next six teams are based on the regular season standings. The NBA Cup can act as a tie breaker for the standings should two teams be tied.