On the other hand, basketball players spend every possession trying to score points, and the presence of the tournament shouldn't make a meaningful difference.
To bring back the old discussions about hacking - if you don't want to get fouled every time down the stretch, it's incumbent on you to hit your free throws.
Well so far the IST seems like....a great idea? It's made people care about random Tuesday night games in late November.
Yeah, the tension tonight really justified the thing for me honestly. I still hate the courts but if these guys are taking this seriously - and tonight demonstrated that they are - then I'm in.
If you guys are actually excited about it I am happy for you. I honestly have just felt like a gimmick has been jammed down my throat the last few weeks and it hasn’t made me
Care anymore. Like it is kind of cool if the end of bench guys on the Celtics get 500k or whatever but they should really add something tangible to make this matter like winner of it all gets the thirty first pick In the draft.
First pick in the draft is absolutely a nonstarter, though. There's no way to make that work.
he said 31st pick
Ah my mistake - however, many of the same problems. What happens when a team trades their only second-rounder and then wins the in-season tournament? Does the team they traded it to get that pick (as normal)? What's the incentive?
It’s actually not that hard and happens in lots of other sports. For example in baseball teams are awarded compensatory picks all the time for having free agents leave. They are also awarded in the NFL and NHL. You just would have language it is not eligible for pick swaps or whatever. When they were discussing this tournament this was brought up and I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually happens in the future.
So this would be a separate pick in addition to the team's normal 2nd rounder? That could work, although 31 might be too valuable if they aren't giving up anything (like they would be if swapping their 2nd). It would be easy to move that pick around, though, there's no reason they couldn't put it at like 41 or something (or give the option between getting another pick (say #41) or swapping your second rounder for #31)
As one of the people who brought up the problems with playing for draft picks or draft position in the earlier threads, it's important to highlight one crucial difference between the situations that Clay has highlighted with compensatory picks and the like: players are not usually competing for the right for their team to have more opportunities to draft their replacements, nor will they (and they shouldn't, really). This is the inverse of the major failings with 'The Process', in some ways - if the reward for winning is draft picks, players are incentivised not to win the tournament, because winning the tournament (for picks) only benefits management.
The overall goal is good basketball that people care about early in the season - which means you need to have player buy-in and engagement. If that is the goal, why on earth would anyone in the league play harder for the team to have more picks vs a payout?
It's not just about player buy in, it's about everybody buying in (players, coaches, ownership/management, fans).
$500k award to motivate the players
Extra pick to motivate ownership/management/diehard fans
Doesn't have to be either/or.
I understand what you're saying, but I would say that the current system has enough buy-in enough from coaches, ownership, and management already, save perhaps the point differential (that extra game is an extra game's worth of gate receipts, which ownership loves).
Let me put my concern another way: If you're an end-of-the-bench guy, maybe on an expiring contract or a two-way deal, is $500k enough motivation to help your team draft your replacement?
Does the motivation of an end of bench guy matter? Which end of bench guys have played impactful minutes in one of these tournament games? If JD Davison or Jordan Walsh or Lamar Stevens are less motivated now would you notice?
Or do you think the rotation guys will play less hard because one of their end of bench teammates might lose his spot in a year? I do not think that is the case. These are athletes that compete hard, and the stars always want more help (maybe not from a rookie, but for an asset that can be traded).
An extra pick wouldn't motivate players, but I don't think it would demotivate them either (at least not in Nov/Dec for a non lottery pick). Any player that is so insecure about their spot a year out, that they don't want to win games now in fear of their spot being taken a year from now, is not a player I'm worried about.
Give money to help motivate the players.
Give a pick to help motivate fans like clay (and any other coaches/ownership that hasn't yet bought in).
To specifically answer your question. Let's say I'm JD Davison (do two-way players qualify for the $500k?), I have no idea if I'm going to be still with this team or even in the league next year regardless of if my team gets an extra pick or not, so give me the $500k now.
That would be my mentality.
Topic: 2024 NBA Season and Playoffs (Read 998533 times)