[Rockets] Battier's plans for a bigger and better NBA

Of course it wouldn't be a big deal at first, but then again I'm sure not people care about who won an NBA title. Also, there was a time the NIT tournament was bigger and more important than the NCAA tournament, so who's to say that the "King's Cup" couldn't one day surpass the the NBA title. But as you said to each his own.

 

Personally i think shortening the season is needed. too many throw away games like battier mentioned. About 30 games each half makes sense, it's about how many are needed to mesh, so you get 30 games to incorporate summer acquisitions and another 30 the second half of the season to incorporate anyone arriving at the trading deadline.

I dont necessarily like the Cup idea because i dont think it would be taken seriously. The big prize is still the NBA championship, but something does need to be done to make the all-star selections more credible and the game more meaningful. I'd like to see the all-star selections replace the all-nba teams, let the coaches and captains vote for them. Then being an all-star will truly mean something. Let fans vote for the sat night contestants to keep them involved.

Obviously if the captains and coaches pick the all-stars they won't be the most popular players every time, so perhaps the all-star game should turn into a 3 on 3 single elimination tourney. Pick teams randomly. That's more games, each more competitive, yet they'll be shorter for the players overall. Different players playing with different teammates every year and across conferences.

 

i like his idea, but maybe keep divisions, and have teams play every team twice (home and away) but another set of home and away for those in your division. it adds 8 more games, for a total of 66. it also helps the idea of creating divisional rivalries.

edit: also, people saying the midseason tournament won't be taking seriously, look at european leagues. it works. it gives mid level teams a chance to win real silverware, as they wouldn't really have a chance at the main prize anyway. 9 teams have won the championship in the last 30 years. that's not a big number. a team like toronto or minnesota etc have NO chance of ever winning it. trust me, the tournament would be taken seriously.

and give some kind of prize to the winning team, like an extra MLE or a bigger portion of the luxury tax.

 

Actually, you've convinced me. It may be a big deal one day, even if it's never as big as the NBA Finals. It could add excitement in the middle of the long season, especially for second-tier teams who haven't tasted the full glory of a title in a long time (or ever), like Denver, Dallas, Cleveland.

With the midseason tourney in play, all the more reason to shorten the season to 62 games (3 each against division rivals, 2 each against everyone else in the league).

 

I Like the Kings Cup Idea! Maybe, The Fans can vote for the first 4 teams out of the 8 and Stern/Coaches/Media can pick the last 4.

Also The Bill Simmons Idea would definately prevent the tanking, cause no one really wants to lose. All these other teams that suck want to play for something and try to reach the playoffs, this would give them an opportunity.

 

Yep.

I think it would work in the NBA also, it would also make the Dleague more fun to watch.

I KNOW it would be hard to implement. The NBA would have to move some Dleague teams out of their areas as for teams like the Vipers. Someone mentioned "What happens when they make the NBA?" simple. The Rockets have to find a new farm team, that's how it works.

The relegation system works. Stern has already committed to making the NBA a global product, and out of the MLB and NFL. He's the closest to it.

The problem is the teams at the bottom literally have every reason to lose games. This is a slap in the face to the sport. If Goodell was the commish he would have been made big changes about this.

You can't have teams tanking for years, sacrificing years just to sign a free agent or two. One of these teams in the biggest market too...yeah that helps the NBA Stern.

With Relegation, Owners would be FORCED to play competitive teams. Because if they don't, then their @$$ goes down to the Dleague.

The only thing I feel sorry about is that this means next year Lopez and Jefferson would be playing in the Dleague next year...and two Dleague teams will get smashed right back into the dleague...bu eventually it'll work itself out.

Rant over. Stern needs to make changes though, it's not working. The NFL is constantly trying to fix what's not broken and the MLB is thinking about major changes...the NBA seems to be content with decreasing it's value in America so one day it'll be behind the NHL or Nascar.

Maybe Stern should realize it's not the image of the players that is the problem. It's more about the product on the court, most fans don't care. I'm sure there weren't many Twolve's fans who really cared going into the season.

 

I've been advocating that for a long time. But I know it will never happen. American sports culture just doesn't allow that.

Demotion to minor league is the best way to eliminate bad competition, tanking, and simply throwing it in midway through the season.

 

the reason why it works in europe and latin america is because theres much more pride when it comes to their home towns. It's not the same here in the States.

 

It's not exactly the same there. They have bandwagon fans just like here, and vice versa.

Yeah some Dleague teams will have to move to more prominent cities. But you can't say Boston fans don't have pride, or New York fans don't either. Philly fans, etc.

A lot of people have pride for their home towns and I think it would work. Just look at Butler vs Duke, it was basically a Butler home game and there were a lot of Duke fans. Also I think you'll see a lot of excitement for teams like the Thunder, Bobcats, and Bucks fans.

The reason we think this, is because the NBA gives no reason to care. "Oh well we suck again, we'll draft John Wall or Cousins." so now you actually have fans rooting for their team to lose.

It's not like those Coca Cola league teams sell out every single game. I don't think home town pride is exclusive to Europe or SA.

 

The King's cup idea is really interesting.

The problem is that no one wants to play when they don't have to... some players decline the All-Star invite as it is simply to give themselves more free time.

Having an 8 team (top 8 by record?), single elimination tournament during the ASB would be very cool as kind of a "mini championship". Perhaps the winner of that tournament could get guaranteed home court for the finals if they make it, or something like that as incentive? Seems like NBA basketball in the first half of the season is BORING and the players really don't play as hard. That might give them some extra motivation.

I also support 5 game playoff rounds... but I don't you go back to that. 7 games is more money for the NBA... money talks.

The idea of having a "losers bracket" tournament during the playoffs is interesting... but would it work? I don't think it would draw ratings... and what would they be playing for? More lottery balls?

Shortening the season is a good idea too, but there's also no way that happens...

 

Because the banner needs to have the respect of the league and fans first before it matters. Euros are different, they can respect mid season stuff like that. I don't think Americans care, they only care about #1. I see this as most analogous to the college confernce championships in the NCAA. Does anybody really care? If you win your conference, but get knocked out of the first round, your season was a failure. It comes off as just a meaningless prize.

Now just a random thought...what if your final standing in this tournament counted just as much the regular season for playoff seedings? For example, team A finished 5th in the tourney and 2nd in the season. Team B finished 3rd in the tourney and 3rd in the season. Teams B (avg of 3) gets seeded higher then team A (avg 3.5). You'd want to weight it a little different so the margin of wins in the regular season matters, but something like that. In that scenario, a borderline playoff team like this year's rockets or memphis could still be playing for something if they did well in the tourney. The Lakers would want to win the tourney too as it could mean the difference between 1st and maybe 4th seed in the playoffs when it's all said and done. The Nets would want to do well too as it could salvage the season and play a spoiler role.

Or maybe standing in the tourney sets home court advantage in the playoffs? Something worth fighting for.

 

The regular season is already meaningless enough in the NBA with the majority of teams making it to the playoffs. The playoffs need to be reduced to more around what the NFL does, not increased to even more unreasonable levels.

 

This.

 

I wrote they have much more pride, not that they had pride and we didnt. Their pride is much more stronger as a whole than it is here. Here it seems to be mostly tied with sports. Fans are more likely to show and feel pride when sports are linked to it, but over there every one feels like they're from a Boston or a New York, regardless if sports are involved. They all truly think their city is the best in all aspects.

I dont know if you follow or are from either place (europe or LA), but maybe you'd understand what i mean if you were. Unless you've experienced it and are familiar with the cultures involved you may not realize the difference.

I think a big part of it though is a lot of the seats here get robbed by the corporate world and tickets arent always accesible to lower income fans, so it takes out a % of the true fans.

 

Oh I am very familiar with LA. Also I know that people in small towns here are usually very proud of what they have. Look at the old Pacers with Reggie vs the Knicks. That is a perfect example actually. They looked proud to me, and as it was displayed in the ESPN feature, they felt they were better than New York.

Not like Indiana has changed, their team sucks. It's still a basketball state, their pro team isn't very good and there is not much to root for but...oh yeah but to tank and go to the lottery.

Your last point is something else though and that is a bigger problem. The real fans get knocked out of all this. It's something that plagues American sports IMO.

 

It sounds interesting on paper, but I don't agree with it. The 7-8th seeded teams need to be rewarded. If the Rockets for instance had the 8th best record,and then lost a player or two to injury and were left at a disadvantage against a 9th seed and lost to them then,the latter would make it to the playoffs at their expense.
Cut the 1st round back to 5 games. This gives the underdogs a better chance of pulling an upset.

 

i think that's a big reason for the difference in "pride" i see. Making tickets accessible for pretty much everyone makes every fan feel involved. They know they can and have goen out and bought a ticket whent hey felt like it. I think here a lot of those fans can't afford to and because of that feel less involved and therefore lose interest a lot more easily, especially during losing seasons.

 

Way too complicated and hectic. Not only do you have the playoffs, you also have a single-elimination tournament? That is too much. What the playoffs needs is more simplicity, not more complications.

 

I really, really like the idea of the same opportunity in the lottery for every team. Tanking is ridiculous. Fans who come to the games to watch something get the uncompetitive garbage teams put up just cause they aren't going anywhere that current season.

 

I'd laugh if later on Battier is reported being bankrupt and he spent all his 40 mil on mink coats and cars and "the life"

I don't see a King's Cup idea working. Whats bragging rights for Spain is not bragging rights in the US.

Spain and USA's geography is different. Spain is its own COUNTRY within a continent. With its own unique culture and identity apart from its surrounding countries. Along with its own form of government different from others. The US is 50 states that are different but still work with mostly similar structure. There isnt a West Virgina prime minister, Montana prince and Michigan president. Spain can have its own tournament under the premise that we're Spain and we we're really neat cuz we rock.

They only thing that works in the US is regions, North, South, East and West. Or interstate like Texas teams of course, but only a couple states have multiple teams. I think thats part what Bill Simmons mentioned, have 3 on 3 teams of the best players from particular cities or states playing against each other for bragging rights. Playing for a pro team city isnt territorially competitive enough, have to break it own to a player's hometown to get him to have pride.