NBA Fixing the NBA

[DAF86]

All this talk about fixing the All Star Game, tanking and load management had me thinking about ideas that, imho, would improve the league as a whole.

1- No more conferences, nor divisions. 62 games season.

Add the two expansion teams that are being discussed, have a 32 teams league and have everyone play each other twice (one home and one away). 62 games season for each team, no back to back games. Nobody plays more than 2 or 3 games a week. This would make each game feel more meaningful, stars would be able to play more minutes per game and there would be no load management. No healthy player would be sitting games.

At the end of the season, the top 16 teams make the playoffs. No Play-in, no conferences to stack all the good teams in one side of the bracket. 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15 and so on.

2- Flattened odds for every non-playoffs team to eliminate tanking. You either make the playoffs or you don't. There's no incentive to losing. You fail to make the playoffs, you get one ping pong ball, just like the other 15 non-playoffs teams. That would also make the lottery a better show. Instead of having envelopes with the result already decided, you can watch the ping pong balls bounce and decide the future of your franchise live.

3- Four teams tournament format for the ASG:

4 teams of 6 players (1 sub per team), semifinals, 3rd place game and championship game.

The 4 players with the most votes are the captains of each team and then you do a snake draft to select the teams (or just build them behind curtains to make each one as competitive as possible).

_____________

What do yall think about these ideas? What are other ideas you have thought of to enhance the NBA product?

 

[Correct Crusader]

I'm 100% down to get rid of conferences & divisions

 

[Robz4000]

Flattening the odds wouldn't get rid of tanking imo, you'd just have loads of teams in the middle tanking in the second half of the season to miss the playoffs tbh. Meanwhile, the truly shitty teams would more than likely stay in purgatory. Should just scrap the play-in and have the bottom 4 teams compete for the top 4 picks.

Agreed on the rest though.

 

[Robz4000]

Also just keep handing out huge fines to teams like the Jazz that blatantly rest healthy players.

 

[spursparker9]

I don't totally agree with the flatten odds for every non-playoffs team.

Fixing the "team trying to lose is 1 issue". But we need to keep in mind that league also need to "help the weakest team" through the draft so that the league can be competitive. Imagine a real bad team keep getting bad lottery order (due to flatten odds), it will be hard for them to bounce back and future prospective owner will not be interested to buy a NBA team.

There should still be a system to give higher odds to the weakest team....but now the issue is those middle team trying to pretend as the weakest team...

 

[1kangaroo]

I will never care about the All Star game no matter what they do it is meaning less that is me I can't speak for other people.

They should distance them self from gambling but they are not going to because of $$$ I think the federal probe is barely scratching the surface of the gambling corruption in the NBA.

They need to start enforcing rules I am so tired of the gather bullshit where we have guys running with a football down the court and making basket instead of dribbling. The rules matter lets get back to enforcing them it is bad for the game they need to address some of that stuff. They also need to do something about balancing offense and defense; I don't want the offenses of the 90's but I like defense to matter and not make it so easy to just jack up 3pointers with no care in the world.

Maybe not allow picks to be protected when you trade them.

To help with player development of players maybe the NBA needs to do like MLB and have a minor league system not every kid wants to go to college this would setup options and probably help a lot of 2nd round picks as while.

 

[scott]

Count me as an odd ball who doesn’t think the schedule needs much tweaking, except for maybe slightly stretching out the season to reduce back to backs. But I like 82 games. It puts a value on having depth. Shortening the season too much just results in top loading your team, IMO.

I’m likely in the minority on that one.

I’m indifferent on conferences, divisions have become meaningless already anyway so no big loss there.

I like a proposal I heard from Vecenie on how to curb tanking: take 10% of player salaries and owner basketball related income and hold it into escrow. It then gets paid out relative to wins. So winning 41 games gets all your money back. Less than that, you lose some money, more than that you make some money.

 

[scott]

Flattening the odds wouldn't get rid of tanking imo, you'd just have loads of teams in the middle tanking in the second half of the season to miss the playoffs tbh. Meanwhile, the truly shitty teams would more than likely stay in purgatory. Should just scrap the play-in and have the bottom 4 teams compete for the top 4 picks.

Agreed on the rest though.

Agree. Truly flat lotto odds doesn’t end tanking, it expands it.

 

[spursparker9]

I think perhaps a simply way is to remain status quo for the draft.

However, implement a similar accumulation of "tanking breach" and give penalty to their draft order.

Something similar to the 16 technical fouls and lead to an auto suspension.

So if a team received 2 "tanking breach and fined", the league should add '+5' to their selection after the lottery result.

E.g. Utah received 2 "tanking breach and fine" by Silver. Lottery proceed as normal based on their records and odds. Utah eventually got the #2 pick. But due to the penalty, Utah will now get the #7 pick (#2 + 5 spots). The original #3 to #7 picks will now be pushed forward as #2 to #6 pick

 

[DAF86]

Flattening the odds wouldn't get rid of tanking imo, you'd just have loads of teams in the middle tanking in the second half of the season to miss the playoffs tbh. Meanwhile, the truly shitty teams would more than likely stay in purgatory. Should just scrap the play-in and have the bottom 4 teams compete for the top 4 picks.

Agreed on the rest though.

Why? If you are shitty every year, you will eventually get lucky on the lottery. If you don't build a good team with year after year of lottery picks, then it's on you, and to be honest it isn't much different from what happens now. Good managements get their rebuilds right, shitty managements suck forever.

The other part about playoffs teams tanking to get into the lottery, I guess it can happen but it would be much harder to pull off than tanking now. The Jazz have no problem benching Jackson and Markennen now that they know they won't be making the playoffs, but imagine a competitive Jazz team fighting for a playoffs spot and the front office saying to Jackson, Markannen and their entire fan base "I know we can make the playoffs now, but tanking could make us better in the future".

Also, is it worth it to throw away a playoffs appearance (with all the money that comes with it) just for a 1 in 16 chance to get the number 1 pick? Or a 5 in 16 chance of getting a top 5 pick that you aren't even sure won't be a bust?

 

[DAF86]

Agree. Truly flat lotto odds doesn’t end tanking, it expands it.

Read above.

 

[scott]

Why? If you are shitty every year, you will eventually get lucky on the lottery. If you don't build a good team with year after year of lottery picks, then it's on you, and to be honest it isn't much different from what happens now. Good managements get their rebuilds right, shitty managements suck forever.

The other part about playoffs teams tanking to get into the lottery, I guess it can happen but it would be much harder to pull off than tanking now. The Jazz have no problem benching Jackson and Markennen now that they know they won't be making the playoffs, but imagine a competitive Jazz team fighting for a playoffs spot and the front office saying to Jackson, Markannen and their entire fan base "I know we can make the playoffs now, but tanking could make us better in the future".

Also, is it worth it to throw away a playoffs appearance (with all the money that comes with it) just for a 1 in 16 chance to get the number 1 pick? Or a 5 in 16 chance of getting a top 5 pick that you aren't even sure won't be a bust?

The end of lotto teams have lower odds than that of the number 1 pick now, but they still aren’t trying to make the playoffs. Why do you think giving them better odds wouldn’t increase their incentive?

 

[Robz4000]

Why? If you are shitty every year, you will eventually get lucky on the lottery. If you don't build a good team with year after year of lottery picks, then it's on you, and to be honest it isn't much different from what happens now. Good managements get their rebuilds right, shitty managements suck forever.

The other part about playoffs teams tanking to get into the lottery, I guess it can happen but it would be much harder to pull off than tanking now. The Jazz have no problem benching Jackson and Markennen now that they know they won't be making the playoffs, but imagine a competitive Jazz team fighting for a playoffs spot and the front office saying to Jackson, Markannen and their entire fan base "I know we can make the playoffs now, but tanking could make us better in the future".

Also, is it worth it to throw away a playoffs appearance (with all the money that comes with it) just for a 1 in 16 chance to get the number 1 pick? Or a 5 in 16 chance of getting a top 5 pick that you aren't even sure won't be a bust?

The good teams right now either got lucky with netting the #1 pick (a legit #1, not scrubs like Rischacher), got consecutive top picks, or are in large markets. Busts happen obviously, but high picks are generally better outcomes. Even good GMs make mistakes tbh.

It'd be easier to miss the playoffs by subtly tanking than how it is now with 10 teams legit actively trying to lose imo.

 

[DAF86]

The end of lotto teams have lower odds than that of the number 1 pick now, but they still aren’t trying to make the playoffs. Why do you think giving them better odds wouldn’t increase their incentive?

Wich teams aren't trying to make the playoffs? Hornets, Blazers, Heat, Warriors, Bucks. I see all of those teams fighting hard to make the playoffs. And I'm obviously not counting teams like the Clippers and Hawks that have no picks. The only play-in team that seems to have gone the tanking route is the Bulls, but that's after years of being stuck in mediocrity. With flatten odds this wouldn't be a problem, you either make the playoffs or you have as good a chance to get the #1 pick as any other team.

 

[bozhemoi]

The way to fix tanking is to prevent teams from getting top 4 picks in multiple years in a row.

Do something like this: if you drop a certain number of slots one year, you are either guaranteed to move up that many the next year or get added balls in the mix.

Almost every single idea people pitch out penalizes bad teams for trying not to be bad, which is foolish and crazy.

 

[DAF86]

The good teams right now either got lucky with netting the #1 pick (a legit #1, not scrubs like Rischacher), got consecutive top picks, or are in large markets. Busts happen obviously, but high picks are generally better outcomes. Even good GMs make mistakes tbh.

It'd be easier to miss the playoffs by subtly tanking than how it is now with 10 teams legit actively trying to lose imo.

What would constitute "subtly tanking" and how that would be easier to pull off than outright tanking?

In any case, as a spectator we can all agree that "subtly tanking" is still probably better than teams making it downright obvious. So, either way it's a win.

 

[Robz4000]

The way to fix tanking is to prevent teams from getting top 4 picks in multiple years in a row.

Do something like this: if you drop a certain number of slots one year, you are either guaranteed to move up that many the next year or get added balls in the mix.

Almost every single idea people pitch out penalizes bad teams for trying not to be bad, which is foolish and crazy.

Also agree on this. Teams that get a top 4 pick one year can't get one again the following year (unless they own someone else's pick tbh).

 

[Robz4000]

What would constitute "subtly tanking" and how that would be easier to pull off than outright tanking?

In any case, as a spectator we can all agree that "subtly tanking" is still probably better than teams making downright obvious. So, either way it's a win.

Benching a player down the stretch of a close game is subtly tanking imo.

 

[DAF86]

The way to fix tanking is to prevent teams from getting top 4 picks in multiple years in a row.

Do something like this: if you drop a certain number of slots one year, you are either guaranteed to move up that many the next year or get added balls in the mix.

Almost every single idea people pitch out penalizes bad teams for trying not to be bad, which is foolish and crazy.

That's the whole point of the draft, tbh: help the bad teams get better. So the draft will always be about helping the bad teams. There isn't a single perfect way to fix tanking, but I think the flatten odds idea is the best one. Is it really all that unfair if the Bulls get the #1 pick instead of the Nets? I don't think so.

 

[DAF86]

Benching a player down the stretch of a close game is subtly tanking imo.

I wouldn't consider that "subtly tanking". And seeing how Silver fined the Jazz for doing just that, the league doesn't seem to consider that subtly tanking either, tbh.

 

[scott]

Wich teams aren't trying to make the playoffs? Hornets, Blazers, Heat, Warriors, Bucks. I see all of those teams fighting hard to make the playoffs. And I'm obviously not counting teams like the Clippers and Hawks that have no picks. The only play-in team that seems to have gone the tanking route is the Bulls, but that's after years of being stuck in mediocrity. With flatten odds this wouldn't be a problem, you either make the playoffs or you have as good a chance to get the #1 pick as any other team.

I’m including the play-in in the context of this discussion, because that’s the NBA is currently set up. The Bucks are the only team currently outside of the cut-off line that might even remotely be trying, and at this point it’s not even entirely clear. Everyone else has completely given up.

But currently, the #14 lotto team has a 0.5% chance of the #1 pick. Your proposal (after expansion) would give them a 6.25% chance, slightly better than what the #8 lotto seed currently gets. Flattened odds may reduce the incentive for the absolutely worst to roll over, but I think it’s pretty clear how it gives teams on the cusp greater incentive to not make the playoffs by an entire order of magnitude.

 

[Robz4000]

I wouldn't consider that "subtly tanking". And seeing how Silver fined the Jazz for doing just that, the league doesn't seem to consider that subtly tanking either, tbh.

They didn't get fined for that, they fined them for sitting so many healthy players. LM has barely played the last month despite not being injured.

 

[Dex]

Also agree on this. Teams that get a top 4 pick one year can't get one again the following year (unless they own someone else's pick tbh).

Or unless they are the Spurs.

 

[DAF86]

I’m including the play-in in the context of this discussion, because that’s the NBA is currently set up. The Bucks are the only team currently outside of the cut-off line that might even remotely be trying, and at this point it’s not even entirely clear. Everyone else has completely given up.

But currently, the #14 lotto team has a 0.5% chance of the #1 pick. Your proposal (after expansion) would give them a 6.25% chance, slightly better than what the #8 lotto seed currently gets. Flattened odds may reduce the incentive for the absolutely worst to roll over, but I think it’s pretty clear how it gives teams on the cusp greater incentive to not make the playoffs by an entire order of magnitude.

Aside from the competitive aspect, you aren't considering the monetary aspect of it all. With flattened odds, there should also be a monetary incentive to making the playoffs. It has to be significant enough for the players, coaching staff and franchise as a whole so as to not risking it losing it for a 6% chance at a #1 pick that could or not end up being a bust.

 

[tearsofmorningdew]

I’ll never be in favor of shortening the season or eliminating conferences