clyde21 wrote:HeartBreakKid wrote:clyde21 wrote:
there are a lot of ways to fix the RS without these cheap tricks imo, Silver is not really trying to tackle the real issue, he's just dancing around it.
If it was so easy to fix the RS then they would fix the RS.
What are your ways to fix it?
The only way to make an RS interesting that long without cutting games (which technically happened already) is to make the NBA champion the team with the best record similar to European style.
Unless the NBA gets rid of the draft (which is way more radical) there is pretty much no other way to make the RS competitive.
a lot of things will directly/indirectly make the RS healthier
- remove max contracts
- put in hard cap
- lower # of RS games to 60
- remove back-to-backs completely
- add a roster spot
- remove conferences/divisions
- drop the # of teams that make the POs to 14, give byes to top 2 seeds
- flatten lotto odds 1-16
- anti tanking policies (like not allowing teams to have 2 top 3 picks in a row for example)
- fix officiating
- allow defenses to actually defend again
etc., etc....all of these will improve the RS/overall product considerably instead of throwing in gimmicks like 'mid season tournament' whatever the hell that even means.
The problem with the RS is that the PS matters a lot more, and the better teams do not take it that seriously. So a lot of those things you suggested wouldn't make the RS healthier in any capacity, those just sound like things you want to make the NBA better in general.
For instance, defensive rules...that has nothing to do with the RS still. Teams still coast regardless if you can be physical or not. You might like the product more because the rules are different, but that isn't relevant to the core problem of what makes the RS "boring". The play-in tournament has a specific use and different goal, that is totally different from say, removing max contracts.
For instance, I agree that there shouldn't be conferences or divisions.....but that also has nothing to do with making the RS "better". It might make the on court product better overall, but again, how does that change that the RS is still a glorified pre season?
The things you mentioned that would help the RS
1) not winning the top pick twice in a row. Though teams would still tank in a pretty similar fashion none the less. I think it's a good idea, but I think tanking is not as big of a problem as good teams just not caring much about the RS (because if they don't care, why should anyone else?)
2) Lowering the number of RS games. They've already had to lower it by 10 games this season and it didn't really matter. Lowering RS games does make them more important, but it's unrealistic so it's not even worth mentioning. I mean you're talking 100 of millions of dollars of revenue lost, probably more to go from 82 games to 60.
3) Giving byes. This does fix the problem that the top teams don't give a rats ass about the RS, but at the same time, if you think people are complaining about play-in games, people would certainly complain that they don't get to watch a series from the top seeds. Even though 1 vs 8 seed is boring, people do want to see superstars (usually on the 1 seed) play.
