Fewer games doesn't necessarily mean shorter seasons. It just means more off days between games. I think that is a good thing. It does lower the risk of injury and at least lower the wear and tear. Thus giving players longer careers on average. It also gives teams more practice time during the regular season, resulting in better prepared games. Some people worry that a shorter season would mean injured players would miss more of the season. But if you keep the length of the season but play fewer games, that would not be an issue. I think playing a long 82-games season only to eliminate less than half of the teams from playoffs is ridiculous. No wonder lazy players like Shaq never really take the regular season seriously. If you want to keep a 82-game season, then make the playoffs field smaller. Make the middle of the pack teams be more competitive in getting into the playoffs. If you want the regular season to be somewhat a "preseason" to the "real" season which is the playoffs, then don't play that many games in the regular season.
10-15 less games in the season is a good thing. The NBA product is diluted, much like baseball's, especially with 16 playoff teams. It's like half the league makes the playoffs. At least baseball has a few slots for the post-season. But, 45 years is a long time. The NBA should at least shorten the regular season if they want to prolong the post-season. I wish they would go back to a 5-game first round anyways.
