NBA Adopting Anti-Tanking Rules? (8th seed tournament)

[rondohondo]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/02/nba-adopting-anti-tanking-rules/

The good news is that the proposal is reportedly on the table once the next CBA goes into effect: “The plan for a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed in each conference was the topic of ‘healthy debate’ at the NBA competition committee’s meeting Friday during All-Star weekend, one source present at the meeting said. The idea probably won’t come up for discussion again until after a new CBA is ratified because it would involve adding games to the schedule, another person in the meeting said. The tournament was proposed by Denver Nuggets general manager Mark Warkentien in response to an invitation from commissioner David Stern, who had solicited ideas from committee members about how to spice up the final weeks of the regular season. Under the plan, the top seven teams in each conference would be seeded for the playoffs as they are now. Teams finishing 8-15 in each conference would play a three-day, single-elimination tournament with the winner being awarded the eighth seed. In addition to providing more drama, the tournament would theoretically reduce the temptation for teams that are out of playoff contention to rest players and lose games in an effort to secure a chance at a better draft position.”

This seems pretty crazy and a waste of time. The playoffs are too long as it is, especially with all the days off in between games.

[furball]

This is dumb.  It's not gonna stop teams from tanking.  They would even tank the play-offs. 

You're the 15th team in the East, you can lose in the tourny first round and get a chance at the number one pick (especially if a franchise guy is available) or you can try to win the tourny (possible falling short) just to get blown out in the first round by Cleveland.  Gee, what to do, what to do? 

[Donoghus]

How does this, theoretically, reduce the temptation to rest players or tank?

Teams are gonna go heads over heels to fight for the 8 seed and the additional gate receipts for what will likely be 2 more home games?  

I doubt it.

[indeedproceed]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/02/nba-adopting-anti-tanking-rules/

The good news is that the proposal is reportedly on the table once the next CBA goes into effect: “The plan for a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed in each conference was the topic of ‘healthy debate’ at the NBA competition committee’s meeting Friday during All-Star weekend, one source present at the meeting said. The idea probably won’t come up for discussion again until after a new CBA is ratified because it would involve adding games to the schedule, another person in the meeting said. The tournament was proposed by Denver Nuggets general manager Mark Warkentien in response to an invitation from commissioner David Stern, who had solicited ideas from committee members about how to spice up the final weeks of the regular season. Under the plan, the top seven teams in each conference would be seeded for the playoffs as they are now. Teams finishing 8-15 in each conference would play a three-day, single-elimination tournament with the winner being awarded the eighth seed. In addition to providing more drama, the tournament would theoretically reduce the temptation for teams that are out of playoff contention to rest players and lose games in an effort to secure a chance at a better draft position.”

This seems pretty crazy and a waste of time. The playoffs are too long as it is, especially with all the days off in between games.

I think a 15-20 (6 teams) play in, with a 21-30 playoffs for the lottery is better.

teams 15-20 play in for the playoff spot, teams 21-20 play for the draft order.

I'd love that. I'd watch every game.

[rondohondo]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/02/nba-adopting-anti-tanking-rules/

The good news is that the proposal is reportedly on the table once the next CBA goes into effect: “The plan for a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed in each conference was the topic of ‘healthy debate’ at the NBA competition committee’s meeting Friday during All-Star weekend, one source present at the meeting said. The idea probably won’t come up for discussion again until after a new CBA is ratified because it would involve adding games to the schedule, another person in the meeting said. The tournament was proposed by Denver Nuggets general manager Mark Warkentien in response to an invitation from commissioner David Stern, who had solicited ideas from committee members about how to spice up the final weeks of the regular season. Under the plan, the top seven teams in each conference would be seeded for the playoffs as they are now. Teams finishing 8-15 in each conference would play a three-day, single-elimination tournament with the winner being awarded the eighth seed. In addition to providing more drama, the tournament would theoretically reduce the temptation for teams that are out of playoff contention to rest players and lose games in an effort to secure a chance at a better draft position.”

This seems pretty crazy and a waste of time. The playoffs are too long as it is, especially with all the days off in between games.

I think a 15-20 (6 teams) play in, with a 21-30 playoffs for the lottery is better.

teams 15-20 play in for the playoff spot, teams 21-20 play for the draft order.

I'd love that. I'd watch every game.

thats actually a very smart Idea ,I wold love to see this, would be way more fair than the lottery. You have to earn that # 1 pick

[Roy Hobbs]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/02/nba-adopting-anti-tanking-rules/

The good news is that the proposal is reportedly on the table once the next CBA goes into effect: “The plan for a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed in each conference was the topic of ‘healthy debate’ at the NBA competition committee’s meeting Friday during All-Star weekend, one source present at the meeting said. The idea probably won’t come up for discussion again until after a new CBA is ratified because it would involve adding games to the schedule, another person in the meeting said. The tournament was proposed by Denver Nuggets general manager Mark Warkentien in response to an invitation from commissioner David Stern, who had solicited ideas from committee members about how to spice up the final weeks of the regular season. Under the plan, the top seven teams in each conference would be seeded for the playoffs as they are now. Teams finishing 8-15 in each conference would play a three-day, single-elimination tournament with the winner being awarded the eighth seed. In addition to providing more drama, the tournament would theoretically reduce the temptation for teams that are out of playoff contention to rest players and lose games in an effort to secure a chance at a better draft position.”

This seems pretty crazy and a waste of time. The playoffs are too long as it is, especially with all the days off in between games.

I think a 15-20 (6 teams) play in, with a 21-30 playoffs for the lottery is better.

teams 15-20 play in for the playoff spot, teams 21-20 play for the draft order.

I'd love that. I'd watch every game.

thats actually a very smart Idea ,I wold love to see this, would be way more fair than the lottery. You have to earn that # 1 pick

I disagree.  Presumably, the "best of the worst" would get the #1 pick.  How does that help the truly terrible teams?  Almost every year, the top pick would be going to the 8th to 10th worst teams in the league.

[indeedproceed]

http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2010/02/nba-adopting-anti-tanking-rules/

The good news is that the proposal is reportedly on the table once the next CBA goes into effect: “The plan for a play-in tournament to determine the eighth playoff seed in each conference was the topic of ‘healthy debate’ at the NBA competition committee’s meeting Friday during All-Star weekend, one source present at the meeting said. The idea probably won’t come up for discussion again until after a new CBA is ratified because it would involve adding games to the schedule, another person in the meeting said. The tournament was proposed by Denver Nuggets general manager Mark Warkentien in response to an invitation from commissioner David Stern, who had solicited ideas from committee members about how to spice up the final weeks of the regular season. Under the plan, the top seven teams in each conference would be seeded for the playoffs as they are now. Teams finishing 8-15 in each conference would play a three-day, single-elimination tournament with the winner being awarded the eighth seed. In addition to providing more drama, the tournament would theoretically reduce the temptation for teams that are out of playoff contention to rest players and lose games in an effort to secure a chance at a better draft position.”

This seems pretty crazy and a waste of time. The playoffs are too long as it is, especially with all the days off in between games.

I think a 15-20 (6 teams) play in, with a 21-30 playoffs for the lottery is better.

teams 15-20 play in for the playoff spot, teams 21-20 play for the draft order.

I'd love that. I'd watch every game.

thats actually a very smart Idea ,I wold love to see this, would be way more fair than the lottery. You have to earn that # 1 pick

I disagree.  Presumably, the "best of the worst" would get the #1 pick.  How does that help the truly terrible teams?  Almost every year, the top pick would be going to the 8th to 10th worst teams in the league.

That's assuming the talent disparity is really that large.

The truly worst teams don't always get the number 1 pick anyways. Perhaps a system like this would make those terrible teams play harder, and make more relevant roster moves.

[Donoghus]

Banish the bottom 2 teams to a season in the NBDL.  That should stop the tanking. 

[fairweatherfan]

Seems like it would encourage tanking maybe even more - if you're out of playoff contention, tanking will now lead to a better lottery chance AND you've still got a shot to make the playoffs.  If draft position is determined by where you finish in the tourney you'll have teams tanking in the tourney itself, which is much more embarrassing for the league.  The only thing that will mostly eliminate tanking is the old "each lottery team has identical odds, and all picks are randomly drawn" format, which I wish they'd go back to.

I still like the idea if the tourney is single-elimination, it'd make the leadin to the playoffs more exciting and allow one of those young teams that heats up at the end of the season to sneak into the playoffs and potentially scare the hell out of a top squad.

[PLamb]

Here's an idea

Make dispersal of the national television contract money for the next year based on order of finish

The first 8 teams in each conference each get 4% of the money

That leaves 36% of the money left over to split between 14 teams

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 3.5% of the money

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 2.5% of the money

The last 4 teams in order of finish get 1.5% of the money

Since every year until 2015-16 the NBA receives $930 million for the broadcast rights let's assume 100% of that money is dispersed currently amongst all 30 teams

That means each team receives $31 million from national television revenues

My plan would give each playoff team $37.2 million

The next 5 finishers $32.5 million

The next 5 finishers $23.25 million

The last 4 finishers $13.95 million

Do away with the draft lottery

Teams want to tank, tank away

It will be at the expense of your bottom line

[slamdunk]

They talk about spicing up the final weeks of the season but what about the teams at the top that rest their stars for the playoffs? Why only focus on the teams in the lottery? Why do the top teams get a pass?

Besides, the lottery should be a bigger deterrent than this could be. We know all too well here that having the best chance at #1 is far from a guarantee of getting it.

[sk7326]

Here's an idea

Make dispersal of the national television contract money for the next year based on order of finish

The first 8 teams in each conference each get 4% of the money

That leaves 36% of the money left over to split between 14 teams

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 3.5% of the money

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 2.5% of the money

The last 4 teams in order of finish get 1.5% of the money

Since every year until 2015-16 the NBA receives $930 million for the broadcast rights let's assume 100% of that money is dispersed currently amongst all 30 teams

That means each team receives $31 million from national television revenues

My plan would give each playoff team $37.2 million

The next 5 finishers $32.5 million

The next 5 finishers $23.25 million

The last 4 finishers $13.95 million

Do away with the draft lottery

Teams want to tank, tank away

It will be at the expense of your bottom line

Very simple ...

Slot the first 14 in terms of conferences: 1st pick E, 2nd pick W, 3rd pick E and so on ... teams draft position determined by the order they are eliminated from the playoffs.  

[slamtheking]

Here's an idea

Make dispersal of the national television contract money for the next year based on order of finish

The first 8 teams in each conference each get 4% of the money

That leaves 36% of the money left over to split between 14 teams

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 3.5% of the money

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 2.5% of the money

The last 4 teams in order of finish get 1.5% of the money

Since every year until 2015-16 the NBA receives $930 million for the broadcast rights let's assume 100% of that money is dispersed currently amongst all 30 teams

That means each team receives $31 million from national television revenues

My plan would give each playoff team $37.2 million

The next 5 finishers $32.5 million

The next 5 finishers $23.25 million

The last 4 finishers $13.95 million

Do away with the draft lottery

Teams want to tank, tank away

It will be at the expense of your bottom line

Very simple ...

Slot the first 14 in terms of conferences: 1st pick E, 2nd pick W, 3rd pick E and so on ... teams draft position determined by the order they are eliminated from the playoffs.  

That would encourage tanking to begin early and give teams in the Western conference the advantage for getting a better draft pick.

There's no magic bullet for this.  Perhaps a tiered system where the worst 4 teams overall have a mini-lottery.  Next 4 worst teams etc...  up to the playoff teams.  At that point, throw the 5-8 seeds in each conference into a lottery as well.  Leave the top 4 seeds in each conference in order of best record.

This doesn't stop tanking in the sense that the 5th worst team might throw a few games to get down into the next bracket but overall, this would help the worse teams get better picks and help the lower playoff teams maybe get a better draft spot to pick up someone that could put them over the top into the upper echelon.

[JSD]

With the tanking aspect aside (I don't believe it would help much), I love this idea for drama and sports theater and I hope it goes through.

[sk7326]

Here's an idea

Make dispersal of the national television contract money for the next year based on order of finish

The first 8 teams in each conference each get 4% of the money

That leaves 36% of the money left over to split between 14 teams

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 3.5% of the money

The next 5 teams in order of finish get 2.5% of the money

The last 4 teams in order of finish get 1.5% of the money

Since every year until 2015-16 the NBA receives $930 million for the broadcast rights let's assume 100% of that money is dispersed currently amongst all 30 teams

That means each team receives $31 million from national television revenues

My plan would give each playoff team $37.2 million

The next 5 finishers $32.5 million

The next 5 finishers $23.25 million

The last 4 finishers $13.95 million

Do away with the draft lottery

Teams want to tank, tank away

It will be at the expense of your bottom line

Very simple ...

Slot the first 14 in terms of conferences: 1st pick E, 2nd pick W, 3rd pick E and so on ... teams draft position determined by the order they are eliminated from the playoffs.  

That would encourage tanking to begin early and give teams in the Western conference the advantage for getting a better draft pick.

There's no magic bullet for this.  Perhaps a tiered system where the worst 4 teams overall have a mini-lottery.  Next 4 worst teams etc...  up to the playoff teams.  At that point, throw the 5-8 seeds in each conference into a lottery as well.  Leave the top 4 seeds in each conference in order of best record.

This doesn't stop tanking in the sense that the 5th worst team might throw a few games to get down into the next bracket but overall, this would help the worse teams get better picks and help the lower playoff teams maybe get a better draft spot to pick up someone that could put them over the top into the upper echelon.

There is no magic bullet - but my idea exposes teams that won't even TRY ... it is hard to sell to your fans that you want to lose every game STARTING the season ... that would kill your season ticket sales and TV ratings ... every team at least comes out trying.  And once a team gets eliminated, really no more losses are required - it gives them a safety net to try something new.