I'm sort of against the one and done thing, for maybe more than a year. (So is the NBA and advertisers). Besides, it's not going to help the ratings that much. The NBA does have an image problem (though it's mostly perception), but it is somehow always put on the shoulders of the players for being thugs or violent malcontents, though is strange similar type players frequent MLB, NFL, and NHL. It's not consider a problem. Brawls breakout all of the time in MLB or NHL and it's not considered the end of the world. SI.com’s Kelly Dwyer http://thebiglead.com/?p=1069 Conspiracy Theories about NBA, how much sense do they make in reality? http://espn.go.com/gen/s/2001/0605/1210082.html http://www.sportsfilter.com/news/3838/nba-losing-its-fan-base-because Ball One - Jim Bouton and Juiced - Jose Canseco (so the crazy stuff in sports is not limited to NBA) TNT's Harlan on TV, radio and the NBA vs. the NFL http://www.nba.com/2010/news/features/steve_aschburner/01/12/harlan/index.html Refs being dirty possibly . .. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3163505.html http://www.oddjack.com/2006/theories-on-how-dallas-was-screwed-in-the-nba-finals-06-22.php Google: Tim Donaghy Googe: Game 6 of Western Conference Finals, 2002 When people start questioning the credibility of the game that really starts to hurt, more so than image of its players. Has having a dress code changed a perception of the players?
I just think the conferences are lame. I'm sure we can beat Toronto for example in any series. Should just be best 16 teams.......
Double Elimination tournament. Like the College World Series. A compromise between One & Done and giving a lower team a chance. Rockets might lose to Lakers 1st game. But still be alive in the "underground" losers bracket working their way back. ALL of the American sports can stand to change the divisional and conference formats. Which is basically just about doing away with them. Only have the best records advance. Enough with crappy teams advancing, good teams staying home. Even Grandpa MLB is bringing up rotating teams in different divisions. The idea seems to be gaining a little more each passing year. America loves its underdog stories, too. Its founded on upward mobility for all, and a lowly sports team rising to the top can be symbolic of that.
Single elimination? Hell no. But the first two rounds should be best of five. ... And did Shane Battier just say his own team would have no shot in the playoffs if they made it? I mean... c'mon, really? This is the kinda thing that people would have been ALL OVER McGrady for last season, BTW, but whoever says it, that's garbage. For one thing, we've seen it happen before that a 6-8 seed can definitely pull off an upset. There's enough parity in the NBA for that. Secondly, again: C'mon, Shane... Where the hell is the faith? This is supposed to be one of the most diehard players in the NBA, but he's already given up on his own team's chances?
It's all about MONEY. Stern would never make the series shorter. Too much revenue in the playoffs, even at the cost of fatique/injuries to players. Too much money going in to Stern's pocket.
i like the one and done... i mean we have mostly won our game 1s in the playoffs... like against the mavs in 05, jazz in 06,and the lakers in 09 (correct me if im wrong)
I want the best of the best, no arguments as to whether another team got lucky or not. 4 out of 7 wins guarantees you are the better of the 2 teams. March Madness is fun but for college only, not the NBA. It's an amateur product that's unfair to start with so I'm all for giving Cinderella type of teams a chance. However, in the NBA it's about being the best in the world. You have to earn your seed, not get lucky in 1 game. Simply put, both formats are great for their respective programs. Leave things as they are.
I don't think a worse team should be rewarded because they got lucky one game. You need to prove that you are the better team and win 4 games.
I'm all for a form of it, I hate the current 20 day first round idiocy. As Supreme Tyrant, this is what I'd implement: Division Winners and the top two non-division winners (basically, the top 5 seeds in each conference) receive a bye from the single elimination lightning rounds. There needs to be some reward for the regular season, plus you wouldn't want a top contender knocked out by a fluke game. The worst record in each conference is not eligible for tournament play. Additionally, these two teams are NOT eligible for the #1 pick in the draft. This is to provide serious disincentive for teams to tank as shamelessly as we've seen. A serious stigma to not make the playoffs at all (a la EPL relegation) and no shot at the top draft pick. Regular Season ends on Thursday, and on Saturday, the bottom six teams in each conference play a single elimination round (Lightning Round 1). These are all non-playoff teams today. On Sunday, the 3 winners play a second round at the #6, 7, and 8 seeds. This leaves us with the 3 teams that will face the 5 bye-teams in a more regular playoff format. Big odds for the lesser teams, but again the regular season has to matter. This also means everyone is jockeying for position the entire length of the season - no more Aprils where half the league has nothing to play for. On Tuesday, Round 3 (regular round 1) starts. I make it a 5 game series, and no more than a single two day layoff between games is permitted (max length of 10 days, Tuesday - Thursday). After that, 7-game series as normal. For example, if the season ended today: Cle, Orl, Bos, Atl, Mil given East byes LAL, DEN, DAL, UTA, OKC given West byes Nets and Wolves excluded from playoffs altogether, and ineligible for #1 draft pick. Rd 1 (Saturday)(Games start at noon ET, new game begins every 1.5 hours) WAS at CHI, IND at NYK, DET at PHI GSW at HOU, SAC at MEM, LAC at NOH Assuming no upsets Rd 2 (Sunday)(Games start at 2pm ET, new game every 2 hrs*) CHI at TOR, NYK at MIA, PHI at CHA HOU at POR, MEM at SAS, NOH at PHO These winners are then seeded by record to face the 5 teams that enjoyed a weekend bye. * difference is intentional - to help avoid an unwanted scenario where a team wins a late game on one coast and then has to make it to an early game across the country. NBA gets plenty of TV revenue from these games, additional teams get to host at least a single playoff game, fans have something to cheer/hope for even in a down year, etc.
wow...brilliant...i love ur ideas...esp the bottom team of each conference has no chance for top draft pick... more incentives to compete and potentially more revenue for nba... well done...
Same structure as now, except west plays east in the first round, thus: west 1-east 8 west 4-east 5 west 2-east 7 west 3-east 6 east 3-west 6 east 2-west 7 east 4-west 5 east 1-west 8 You would no longer have conference champs, but you would get a stronger playoff field after the first round. Current matchups would be: LAL-TOR UTA-MIL DEN-MIA DAL-CHA BOS-PHX ORL-SAS ATL-OKC CLE-POR I like it.
Not liking the one and done. Too much fluke is in stake. However I do hope the playoffs is shorter. Best of 5 for every round. Upset is more likely, while stronger teams will be able to calm the boat if 1 game or 2 goes out of hand.
a 3 game series format would be the most more interesting, IMO. That eliminates the "fluke" factor of one-n-done but a 3 game series would have A LOT more drama than a 7-game or even 5-game series.
I go for: 1st round: 3 game series 2nd round: 5 game series Conference Finals and NBA Finals: 7 game series.
Then you can just add all thirty teams to the "playoffs" for a one and done. 1 vs. 30 2 vs. 29 etc. Only problem will be venues and home town fans not getting their money's worth.
I like that too, but instead of east vs. west, you could just rank all the teams 1-16, and take it from there.
