Shortened NBA Season=Better Product Says George Karl

I've been saying this for a long time now...at least since the shortened season back in the late 90's.

You don't need 82 games if you're still going to let more teams into the playoffs than you keep out. The playoffs are the real season, and it lasts for two months with more than half the league still playing games.

Put a premium on regular season wins by decreasing the total number of regular season games. Too many regular season games have a feeling of being meaningless when the season is so long and so many teams make the playoffs anyway.

If I had my preference I'd either shorten the season...or reduce the number of teams that make the playoffs. Too often the regular season feels like meaningless exhibition to me.

Having said that, the owners are only interested in making this sort of change to the extent it makes them more money. I don't see it happening, though I think it would make the game a lot more fun.

 

Thats 20 games of profit lost. Will never happen.

 

unlesssssss...interest for the other games bridges the gap...

if you're selling 70% of your seats under schedule A...and under schedule B you sell 95% of your seats because the games take on more urgency....there's a point at which giving up a game actually makes you money.

And attendance alone is too simplistic...ad revenues from TV ratings factors into it as well.

Obviously, I have no idea where the threshhold is...and I agree with you, unless it makes the owners more money, it doesn't matter if we think it would be better for the game, itself...it won't happen.

 

They should have a longer season in terms of total length in months with maybe a bit fewer games, but 82 just stretched out over a long period of time would make everything much better. The travelling schedule for teams like the Rockets is terrible and back-to-backs is something that I've never heard of be4 watching the NBA. I can understand why players get injured so much and it's even more amazing what they can do when you realise what they go through.

To me, they can easily start training camp at the beginning of September and begin the season at the beginning of October and ending end of June. The reg season would be 7 months so an even 12 games a month with an average of 3 games a week. That is more than enough, if you consider in other sports they play 1 game a week, 2 at most and they already complain it's too much.

This would give half of the NBA players May, June, July & August off which is more than enough to do the work since your body hasn't suffered as much as a compact season of 82 games crammed together. The ones who are out in the 1st round & 2nd round would still have a solid 3 to 3 and a half months off. Conference finals losers & finalists would have a solid 2 to 3 months off.
With a season of let's say 60-70 games you could have a whole month extra. However starting in december doesn't make sense, is too late and is never going to happen.

 

NO!!!!!

 

The logic behind this notion is flawed. The idea that -600 games (30 teams) = +/- 0 games AND bonus money from this mythical added interest doesn't compute.

The NFL has less games, it's more popular?

Add 2 games to the schedule in the NFL. What do you think would happen? MORE MONEY. That easy. If injuries weren't such a serious factor it would have happened years ago. C'mon.

Plus, we're already fans. What do we care about increasing interest? That doesn't affect us much, what affects US is taking away our games. Besides, NBA players already make more money than their NFL counterparts, what do they need more money for? Why is this a battle we care about? It isn't in our best interest.

More games is good for US. Less games increasing revenue is a flawed notion. Tired of this argument.

 

The argument is, less games means less meaningless games. I kind of agree with that, especially when tanking is such a hot thing in fans' minds.

I am with MadMax. Either shorten the regular season or shorten the playoffs. When you have to play a 6-month 82-game season and eliminate less than half of the teams, you are bound to have lots of meaningless games. I personally favor shorter playoffs. If the 8th seed won only about 2 times in 30 years, you know the #1-#8 series is pretty meaningless. Not to mention the encouragement of tanking to NOT make the last playoffs spot.

 

It would take a long time to see results, but decreasing games would make the NBA easier to follow, meaning more casual fans. Casual fans are the money makers of sports. Hard core fans like us are going to follow the NBA almost no matter what. The way to increase popularity long term is to increase popularity with the average fan, by making the games more accessible to the working fan. More fans triumphs longer schedule.

 

I am big into statistics (player stats anyways)...
If this happens then we can forget bout any career stats being broken plain and simple. A player can only play certain amount of years. If someone plays 15 years with 20 less games they will be missing over 3.5 years worth of stats for their career. I think the drive for certain career stats is what motivates some of the players to be the best...I'm against it personally and while it could help older teams out it will not help the young rockets squad.

 

No way...

I want to watch NBA basketball. I don't care about how supposedly "meaningless" the games are. If anything, i hate how long the offseason is.

I would rather have the 82 games more spread out like some have mentioned above. It would give players more rest between games so they wouldn't be complaining about being tired.

 

Its not about shortening the length of the season, but rather decreasing the frequency of games played per week. A shortened season with more games crammed in, as it was last year, certainly won't help the quality of the game.

 

Yeah, the season needs to be shortened. There are so many meaningless games. Just like the league needs to be contracted, there are so many meaningless teams.

 

I dont remember when and where i read it but shane battier suggested a 50 game season along with a march madness style play off bracket system.

My idea is 60-64 so you can play each team. Play each team once at home and away. Have the. Extra fewgames to play conference finals and allow more time for the players to rehab and rest. This season for example durant played all season, up to the finals and then the olympics?! I know nba players are supposed to be athletes in top notch shape but theyre still human

 

Karl needs to shut his mouth...cause i paid for 44 games lol

 

And in other news, the sky is blue.

 

But, you figure that with shortened seasons, players will have less mileage on their bodies, thus enabling them to play extended careers. Therefore, those milestone statistics you're talking about can still be reached potentially. Yao maybe could have played another few years under a shortened schedule for example.

 

Yeah there is potential for that to happen but IMO I just feel no matter what the older u get the less dominate athlete u are going to be. We maybe could see them play solid but losing parts of your peak years to me seems like u would have an uphill battle to maintain stats at a later age than normal (just my opinion)...totally agree about the injuries

 

i actually enjoyed the nba season starting in december. school was on break and i had the opportunity to attend the free open practice which always takes place during the day. i mean, 82 games could still follow a late start...