Tournament beam! (Brought to you by Domas and the Triple Ks)

[ockingsfan]

A guaranteed playoff berth maybe?

Yeah, but the problem with that is that teams like the Suns, Clippers, Warriors, or Lakers would just rest all their older star players for the remaining 60+ games knowing they locked up a spot in the playoffs.

An automatic playoff berth would render the rest of the tournament winner's regular season games meaningless. These teams have proven they don't care what seed they are, they just want to get in the playoffs.

 

[miltonap]

Yeah, but the problem with that is that teams like the Suns, Clippers, Warriors, or Lakers would just rest all their older star players for the remaining 60+ games knowing they locked up a spot in the playoffs.

An automatic playoff berth would render the rest of the tournament winner's regular season games meaningless. These teams have proven they don't care what seed they are, they just want to get in the playoffs.

At the end of the day if that were done by those teams with old guys then the fan base would complain and either the league or the team would have to do something to appease the fans.

And if the team were to want to coast throughout the whole season, well good luck when you have to face the 1 seed in the playoffs they won't be prepared.

 

[burekijogurt]

Yeah, but the problem with that is that teams like the Suns, Clippers, Warriors, or Lakers would just rest all their older star players for the remaining 60+ games knowing they locked up a spot in the playoffs.

An automatic playoff berth would render the rest of the tournament winner's regular season games meaningless. These teams have proven they don't care what seed they are, they just want to get in the playoffs.

Maybe add a front office type of incentive such as team gets an extra mid level exception, or their cap goes up a bit or something like that.

Another one would be a guarantee least back to backs next season out of all teams.

500K is a lot of money though and for a lot of players, especially those not of star caliber, this is a great pay raise.

 

[Warhawk]

At the end of the day if that were done by those teams with old guys then the fan base would complain and either the league or the team would have to do something to appease the fans.

And if the team were to want to coast throughout the whole season, well good luck when you have to face the 1 seed in the playoffs they won't be prepared.

Agreed. I don't know that a guaranteed 8th seed or whatever is that big of an incentive to teams like the Warriors or Lakers. It might make a difference in the last handful of games if they are on the bubble and need to rest injured players. The Suns aren't going to rest on their heels for 60 games knowing they have an 8th seed wrapped up or whatever. That positioning would be a disaster after the moves they made.

 

[mrlaze]

The only reason it works in Europe is becuase they have teirs within their leagues. That setup also helps curtail tanking.

The nba tournament is all hype, no substance. If talking about it gets you excited, cool. The only fan interest its made is people trying figure out why they should care and "cool new courts."

500k is gambling money to stars.

This cant go away fast enough if you ask me.

 

[iowamcnabb]

This cant go away fast enough if you ask me.

Im curious how this takes away from your enjoyment of the NBA? These games are regular season games with a bit more flare. That’s it. The championship will be something to break up the long season a bit.

 

[joemama]

https://twitter.com/statuses/1723216005114347976

Fetal position.

 

[TaxMan]

Im curious how this takes away from your enjoyment of the NBA? These games are regular season games with a bit more flare. That’s it. The championship will be something to break up the long season a bit.

That’s where I’m at. Of course they are going to market the shot out of it. I guess for some people it’s triggering, but personally who cares. Have some fun.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Im curious how this takes away from your enjoyment of the NBA? These games are regular season games with a bit more flare. That’s it. The championship will be something to break up the long season a bit.

I'd be interested in seeing the breakdown between people who are against the tournament, and people who watch college basketball, and how they feel about stuff like the Preseason NIT, or the Maui Invitational?

 

[The_Jamal]

I don't mind trying it at all. And tbh, 500k is a pretty big raise for a lot of guys in the league, just nor the stars obviously. But you don't think like our end of bench guys; Keon, Colby, len, javale etc would want a 500k raise? None of them are making 10+mil this year.

At worst, nothing changes. At best, we get far more competitive and fun regular season games.

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/statuses/1723204283980771742

you know Monte is fully committed to the bit because he had the team custom make a blue vest for him to wear to this game specifically. Also love that he had his wife being their new baby to the game haha.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I don't have an answer on incentivizing the tourney but I would think one that would incentivize even less is a draft pick. Oh, hey, let's play harder so our can the team can draft our replacement! That might work for losing games, take a check and play poorly, but I don't see winning them.

Guaranteed 8th seed, maybe (or 7th if they qualify for the play-in). Or just make it your seed goes up 2 spots or HCA through the conference final?

 

[NewArena]

Distraction to what? I don’t see what the big deal is. They’re still regular season games…it’s just a way to add a little more incentive to them and YES try to make more money with merchandise and programming. This benefits both the players and the owners…and if it makes the players care more about a regular season game then it benefits us as a fan too. Yeah it’s not a ‘chip but nobody is trying to make it that. I was meh on the whole thing going into it but I’ve enjoyed the “tournament” games I’ve watched…just get rid of the hideous floors.

AGREED! But they can keep the hideous floors if it’s gonna give us the home court advantage we experienced last night. I never knew how the heck we were gonna show up at home last season, but this felt really good. More, please!

 

[The_Jamal]

I don't have an answer on incentivizing the tourney but I would think one that would incentivize even less is a draft pick. Oh, hey, let's play harder so our can the team can draft our replacement! That might work for losing games, take a check and play poorly, but I don't see winning them.

Guaranteed 8th seed, maybe (or 7th if they qualify for the play-in). Or just make it your seed goes up 2 spots or HCA through the conference final?

This feels like way too much, especially if the tourney is this early in the year. I think something like " If the winner makes the playoffs, they get a 1-0 lead in their series". Or "if you make the playoffs l, you're guaranteed HCA at the lowest possible seed" for the first round

 

[mrlaze]

Im curious how this takes away from your enjoyment of the NBA? These games are regular season games with a bit more flare. That’s it. The championship will be something to break up the long season a bit.

Are you happy the sky is blue? are you excited?! Why not its blue!? We are giving you a blue sky! You should love it!

 

[pdxKingsFan]

This feels like way too much, especially if the tourney is this early in the year. I think something like " If the winner makes the playoffs, they get a 1-0 lead in their series". Or "if you make the playoffs l, you're guaranteed HCA at the lowest possible seed" for the first round

It might feel like way too much but what's the real world application?

Either a garbage team wins and gets swept as an 8 seed anyways, or a top level team wins and gets 1 game advantage in a 7 game series in a late matchup.

I guess the "WORST" possible thing that could happen is the 5 seed gets it, and then has home court in round 2 over the 1 seed. But even then, the one seed should beat a 5 in 6 or less.

Of course if that happened, or say seed 6 beats seeds 3, 2 and 1 in that order in game 7s because of a tourney win, wouldn't that make the in season tourney the most exciting/possibly consequential/best possible advertisement for the tournament ever?

So the way I see it, it would really only be "extra" if it went all the way to the finals.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I'd be interested in seeing the breakdown between people who are against the tournament, and people who watch college basketball, and how they feel about stuff like the Preseason NIT, or the Maui Invitational?

I think that preseason tournaments in NCAAB are a bit different for me - the point is far less about “winning” the tournament, but more about getting a chance to play (and beat) highly ranked teams to build a March Madness resume. For fans of, say, Pac-12 teams over the last several years a chance to play ranked teams in the non conference schedule is really important.

I don’t know if anybody really remembers who wins Maui as the season carries on. Nobody says “our next opponent is going to be the Kansas Jayhawks, who won Maui this year.”

I really don’t know how the NBA in-season tournament will be viewed in the rear view..

 

[Padrino]

Currently, the in-season tournament has no cachet because it's brand new. There's no name recognition or tradition behind it yet. If the NBA sticks with it, winning the tourney might "mean" more as the years pass because the distinction has some history and cachet to it. Interestingly, I don't think the NBA actually needs to do all that much to incentivize the tourney for the players. There's a trophy. These guys want it. And they don't want their opponents to have it. I mean, you all saw Domas haranguing Kevin Huerter at the end of last night's game for not putting up a shot at the end of regulation, since point differential matters for the in-season tourney. These games have just started, and the competition is pretty serious across the board. Everybody's playing hard! It's exactly what the NBA wants, to make regular season games matter a bit more.

My major criticism of the tourney is that I'd like to see it relocated to the middle of the season. NBA fans are already excited for NBA basketball at the season's opening all the way through the Christmas Day slate of games. It's not until the dog days of the season in February and March that the players' effort starts to drag and fans start to tune out until the playoffs roll around. While I think the players are on board with the tourney for sheer "competitive nature" reasons, I do think the NBA needs to figure out a way to justify the tourney to the fans, and to differentiate it from ordinary regular season games. Right at the beginning of the season, it's all a bit confusing for the average fan, I think. What does this mean? Didn't the season just start? Why are they playing for a trophy in November/December?

If I were the commish, I'd consider finding some way to reconfigure the tourney so it's later in the season and so the tourney semi's/finals replace the regular slate of All-Star Weekend events. Let the All-Star selections be an honor unto themselves with none of the typical festivities attached to it, especially given how stale the All-Star Weekend experience has become.

 

[iowamcnabb]

It was originally called the “mid season tournament”. They must have concluded it needed to be earlier for one reason or another

 

[The_Jamal]

Currently, the in-season tournament has no cachet because it's brand new. There's no name recognition or tradition behind it yet. If the NBA sticks with it, winning the tourney might "mean" more as the years pass because the distinction has some history and cachet to it. Interestingly, I don't think the NBA actually needs to do all that much to incentivize the tourney for the players. There's a trophy. These guys want it. And they don't want their opponents to have it. I mean, you all saw Domas haranguing Kevin Huerter at the end of last night's game for not putting up a shot at the end of regulation, since point differential matters for the in-season tourney. These games have just started, and the competition is pretty serious across the board. Everybody's playing hard! It's exactly what the NBA wants, to make regular season games matter a bit more.

My major criticism of the tourney is that I'd like to see it relocated to the middle of the season. NBA fans are already excited for NBA basketball at the season's opening all the way through the Christmas Day slate of games. It's not until the dog days of the season in February and March that the players' effort starts to drag and fans start to tune out until the playoffs roll around. While I think the players are on board with the tourney for sheer "competitive nature" reasons, I do think the NBA needs to figure out a way to justify the tourney to the fans, and to differentiate it from ordinary regular season games. Right at the beginning of the season, it's all a bit confusing for the average fan, I think. What does this mean? Didn't the season just start? Why are they playing for a trophy in November/December?

If I were the commish, I'd consider finding some way to reconfigure the tourney so it's later in the season and so the tourney semi's/finals replace the regular slate of All-Star Weekend events. Let the All-Star selections be an honor unto themselves with none of the typical festivities attached to it, especially given how stale the All-Star Weekend experience has become.

Oh I love that idea.

That would perfectly highlight the "importance" of these games too and put them on an island with no other basketball going on. Incentivize the players with extra game checks maybe? And the winner gets a massive playoff advantage.

From an owners perspective, I'd gladly fork over extra cash if my team got to be an island game with no other basketball teams playing. Seems like a fun way to make it important

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think that preseason tournaments in NCAAB are a bit different for me - the point is far less about “winning” the tournament, but more about getting a chance to play (and beat) highly ranked teams to build a March Madness resume. For fans of, say, Pac-12 teams over the last several years a chance to play ranked teams in the non conference schedule is really important.

I don’t know if anybody really remembers who wins Maui as the season carries on. Nobody says “our next opponent is going to be the Kansas Jayhawks, who won Maui this year.”

I really don’t know how the NBA in-season tournament will be viewed in the rear view..

Another part about pre-season NCAA tourneys is I think if you win them you can play 2-3 games over the maximum # of games the NCAA allows if you aren't in one. I might be wrong on that and I know you'll correct me if I am. They also seem to be a huge boost to your ranking if you win them but low-risk unless you go 0-fer in your appearance.

Also if you're like a SDSU type school you aren't getting Arizona or Duke on your calendar unless its at one of these tourneys. Too much at stake for them to book you.

 

[TaxMan]

Are you happy the sky is blue? are you excited?! Why not it’s blue!? We are giving you a blue sky! You should love it!

I’m cool with the blue sky. If someone wants to get super excited about it more power to them.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

https://twitter.com/statuses/1723213012847476998

It sure was nice to see K-Huert look like the guy from early last season for at least one night. With Swipa still out, this team really needed a top notch performance from him. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come. Seriously, if Red Velvet returns to form — this team will be legit again, especially when De’Aaron is back in the lineup.

Now if Keegster can work his way out of his shooting funk……this team can be downright scary.

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Currently, the in-season tournament has no cachet because it's brand new. There's no name recognition or tradition behind it yet. If the NBA sticks with it, winning the tourney might "mean" more as the years pass because the distinction has some history and cachet to it. Interestingly, I don't think the NBA actually needs to do all that much to incentivize the tourney for the players. There's a trophy. These guys want it. And they don't want their opponents to have it. I mean, you all saw Domas haranguing Kevin Huerter at the end of last night's game for not putting up a shot at the end of regulation, since point differential matters for the in-season tourney. These games have just started, and the competition is pretty serious across the board. Everybody's playing hard! It's exactly what the NBA wants, to make regular season games matter a bit more.

My major criticism of the tourney is that I'd like to see it relocated to the middle of the season. NBA fans are already excited for NBA basketball at the season's opening all the way through the Christmas Day slate of games. It's not until the dog days of the season in February and March that the players' effort starts to drag and fans start to tune out until the playoffs roll around. While I think the players are on board with the tourney for sheer "competitive nature" reasons, I do think the NBA needs to figure out a way to justify the tourney to the fans, and to differentiate it from ordinary regular season games. Right at the beginning of the season, it's all a bit confusing for the average fan, I think. What does this mean? Didn't the season just start? Why are they playing for a trophy in November/December?

If I were the commish, I'd consider finding some way to reconfigure the tourney so it's later in the season and so the tourney semi's/finals replace the regular slate of All-Star Weekend events. Let the All-Star selections be an honor unto themselves with none of the typical festivities attached to it, especially given how stale the All-Star Weekend experience has become.

Seconded.

 

[NewArena]

Currently, the in-season tournament has no cachet because it's brand new. There's no name recognition or tradition behind it yet. If the NBA sticks with it, winning the tourney might "mean" more as the years pass because the distinction has some history and cachet to it. Interestingly, I don't think the NBA actually needs to do all that much to incentivize the tourney for the players. There's a trophy. These guys want it. And they don't want their opponents to have it. I mean, you all saw Domas haranguing Kevin Huerter at the end of last night's game for not putting up a shot at the end of regulation, since point differential matters for the in-season tourney. These games have just started, and the competition is pretty serious across the board. Everybody's playing hard! It's exactly what the NBA wants, to make regular season games matter a bit more.

My major criticism of the tourney is that I'd like to see it relocated to the middle of the season. NBA fans are already excited for NBA basketball at the season's opening all the way through the Christmas Day slate of games. It's not until the dog days of the season in February and March that the players' effort starts to drag and fans start to tune out until the playoffs roll around. While I think the players are on board with the tourney for sheer "competitive nature" reasons, I do think the NBA needs to figure out a way to justify the tourney to the fans, and to differentiate it from ordinary regular season games. Right at the beginning of the season, it's all a bit confusing for the average fan, I think. What does this mean? Didn't the season just start? Why are they playing for a trophy in November/December?

If I were the commish, I'd consider finding some way to reconfigure the tourney so it's later in the season and so the tourney semi's/finals replace the regular slate of All-Star Weekend events. Let the All-Star selections be an honor unto themselves with none of the typical festivities attached to it, especially given how stale the All-Star Weekend experience has become.

This is an awesome post. I agree with pretty much everything here

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

... My major criticism of the tourney is that I'd like to see it relocated to the middle of the season. NBA fans are already excited for NBA basketball at the season's opening all the way through the Christmas Day slate of games. It's not until the dog days of the season in February and March that the players' effort starts to drag and fans start to tune out until the playoffs roll around. While I think the players are on board with the tourney for sheer "competitive nature" reasons, I do think the NBA needs to figure out a way to justify the tourney to the fans, and to differentiate it from ordinary regular season games. Right at the beginning of the season, it's all a bit confusing for the average fan, I think. What does this mean? Didn't the season just start? Why are they playing for a trophy in November/December?

The conventional wisdom appears to be that, outside of the hardcore fans, the NBA season doesn't start for most people until the Christmas games. And, quite frankly, the national coverage of the NBA arguably reflects that; I find it hard to reconcile the notion that people are already excited for the NBA at the start of the season with the fact that Turner moved their A-show from Thursdays to Tuesdays until after New Year's, because they were afraid to go head-to-head against Thursday Night Football. The NBA wants to reclaim at least a fraction of the market share that the NFL took from them, and the only way to get people to do that is to get them more interested in the October and November games than they have been. For whatever reason, they appear to have decided that shifting the tournament to the beginning of the season was the optimal solution to that.

 

[ockingsfan]

This feels like way too much, especially if the tourney is this early in the year. I think something like " If the winner makes the playoffs, they get a 1-0 lead in their series". Or "if you make the playoffs l, you're guaranteed HCA at the lowest possible seed" for the first round

I like your thinking. Another option would be to allow the winner of the Championship game to add the 1 additional win to their final regular season record. The semi-final and finals game of the In Season Tourney currently don't count in the standings, so the league can change that.

If the NBA changes it to the winning team getting 1 additional WIN in the W-L column (i.e. if a team finished the regular season 52-30, their record gets bumped to 53-20 for playoff standings), helping them with final playoff seeding, then all of the sudden we have a HUGE reason for your team to try and win this tournament. This would give the champion the tie breaks in the playoff seedings too.

 

[Padrino]

The conventional wisdom appears to be that, outside of the hardcore fans, the NBA season doesn't start for most people until the Christmas games. And, quite frankly, the national coverage of the NBA arguably reflects that; I find it hard to reconcile the notion that people are already excited for the NBA at the start of the season with the fact that Turner moved their A-show from Thursdays to Tuesdays until after New Year's, because they were afraid to go head-to-head against Thursday Night Football. The NBA wants to reclaim at least a fraction of the market share that the NFL took from them, and the only way to get people to do that is to get them more interested in the October and November games than they have been. For whatever reason, they appear to have decided that shifting the tournament to the beginning of the season was the optimal solution to that.

That's fair, and it makes sense. I suppose when I say "fans", I mean those who are predisposed to watch NBA basketball at the start of the regular season, and those who might appreciate a consequential mid-season tournament as opposed to a strangely-oriented tourney right at the season's outset. You're right, of course, that the NBA has continually pushed to make the league more accessible and alluring to casual viewers, and the tourney's placement at the beginning of the season surely reflects the league's desire to eat into the NFL's dominant market share.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I suppose when I say "fans", I mean those who are predisposed to watch NBA basketball at the start of the regular season, and those who might appreciate a consequential mid-season tournament as opposed to a strangely-oriented tourney right at the season's outset.

That's cool and all, but I suspect that the tournament was not created for the benefit of those fans, in the first place.

 

[Padrino]

That's cool and all, but I suspect that the tournament was not created for the benefit of those fans, in the first place.

Perhaps. Either way, I'm not really arguing over the league's reasoning for placing the tourney so early in the NBA calendar. I'm just offering my take on what I (and likely other NBA fans) would find engaging as far as the in-season tournament is concerned. As commish, Adam Silver has been trying to find ways to boost competitive balance around the league and to make the regular season feel more consequential. The in-season tournament seems like an attempt to inject the regular season with additional weight and significance, and placing it at the season's beginning seems to have the added benefit of also siphoning some viewership away from the NFL, like the league is trying to have its cake and eat it, too. I just think that placing the in-season tournament so early means that the middle of a long 82-game season will still drag when it comes to both player and fan engagement, and All-Star Weekend hasn't been much of a salve for that in a very long time.