NBA's midseason tournament similar to Soccer being considered

[D.o.s.]

They should go all in and make it 3-on-3.

[Evantime34]

I think this would be fun. Have it replace ten or so games during the regular season. Their would need to be a prize for the tournament winner (maybe an extra pick, a little bit extra cap space, or home court advantage in the playoffs), but one that does not devalue the regular season.

It would be a blast to head to Vegas to watch a single elimination NBA tournament.

[D.o.s.]

^Can't go away from 82 games for the historical perspective, though: points per game, most games with X record, so on so forth

There's no easy way to do it, really, but they should dovetail it with Simmons's Tournament From Hell thingy -- best performance at the tournament by a team that doesn't make the playoffs is guaranteed the 8th seed in their conference while still keeping their regular season lottery pick (so if the 76ers win it they can still tank away or whatever).



And it should be 3 on 3.

[Tr1boy]

Its not a bad idea. My idea would be only the top 10 teams by mid season can participate. And the two last teams left can bypass the 1st round of the playoffs. There will be prize money available for teams that play in the tourney

[Donoghus]

Its not a bad idea. My idea would be only the top 10 teams by mid season can participate. And the two last teams left can bypass the 1st round of the playoffs. There will be prize money available for teams that play in the tourney

You would need a helluva lot of money to incentivize players.

[Moranis]

I'd much rather see a tournament at the end of June/early July with the other leagues in the world.  You know a Euroleague type tournament, but with teams from Asia and the Americas and not just Europe and the Middle East.  Just pick 8 teams.  Maybe do it every 2 years or something.  I think that would be an interesting and a far better usage of time.  And sure the NBA champion would probably dominate, but it would still be a pretty interest exercise.

[bdm860]

Can somebody explain the mid-season soccer tournament to me?  What's the format? What's the significance?  What's the appeal?  How does it work?

[D.o.s.]

Basically there's separate brackets of competition. Ogaju did a good comparison earlier between the league play and the cups -- think about it like the FIBA tournaments, just held during the NBA season.

As for how it works or how it might work -- no one has any idea. It literally doesn't exist in any major American sport right now. That's why everyone's spitballing.


I did find an interesting article on it during some downtime:
http://www.sportsgrid.com/nba/heres-how-we-picture-adam-silvers-mid-season-basketball-tournament/

Our considerations were as follows:

- NBA teams should not dominate
- Do not punish the league’s top teams by making them play more games than they have to
- Try to include enough foreign teams as to increase the chance that one of them actually wins
- Make it conducive to young player development
- It can’t take more than two weeks

And this is what we came up with:

- Four best records from Spain, Turkey, Argentina, Greece, and Eastern Europe* (20 teams)
- Two best records from Israel, Germany, France, Russia, England, The Netherlands, China, Italy, Australia, and the Caribbean* (20 teams)
-Ten best records in the NBDL (10 teams)
-NBA teams that did not make playoffs the previous year (14 teams)

Total team pool = 64 teams (ring a bell?)

    Tournament Format: Single elimination with games played a day apart over the course of two weeks.

    Rules: Olympic rules, meaning quarters are reduced to 10 minutes.

    Venue: The MGM Grand

[the_Bird]

If you're adding a tournament mid-season, how 'bout cutting the playoff series (other than the finals) back to 5 games?  That's enough to determine the best team. 

Of course, too much money for that to actually happen, probably more than would be gained by adding the tourney. 

[D.o.s.]

If you're adding a tournament mid-season, how 'bout cutting the playoff series (other than the finals) back to 5 games?  That's enough to determine the best team. 

Of course, too much money for that to actually happen, probably more than would be gained by adding the tourney.

Hence a 3-on-3 tournament. Not only is it a really fun version of the game to watch, you're exposing fewer players to the added wear and tear of the week or so.

[GreenWarrior]

There's no easy way to do it, really, but they should dovetail it with Simmons's Tournament From Hell thingy -- best performance at the tournament by a team that doesn't make the playoffs is guaranteed the 8th seed in their conference while still keeping their regular season lottery pick (so if the 76ers win it they can still tank away or whatever).



And it should be 3 on 3.

I wish they would add a little 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 tourney during all star weekend.

as for this soccer tourney thing. i'd rather see them take the teams that don't make the playoffs and stick them in a tourney and decide lottery seeding that way. for one reason - to extend the season. maybe make it round-robin style or something.

the only drawback of course is your still asking a bad team to win. and of course most of the western teams would likely win...other than that I like the idea.

[zerophase]

There are so many problems the NBA needs the fix like the draft and video reviews on calls, for it to be worrying about this. If Adam Silver really decides to do this, he should be booted from being Commis.

[GreenWarrior]

don't get me started on the refs....

best solution for the refs is less rules and less on court officials.

[D.o.s.]

There's no easy way to do it, really, but they should dovetail it with Simmons's Tournament From Hell thingy -- best performance at the tournament by a team that doesn't make the playoffs is guaranteed the 8th seed in their conference while still keeping their regular season lottery pick (so if the 76ers win it they can still tank away or whatever).



And it should be 3 on 3.

I wish they would add a little 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 tourney during all star weekend.

as for this soccer tourney thing. i'd rather see them take the teams that don't make the playoffs and stick them in a tourney and decide lottery seeding that way. for one reason - to extend the season. maybe make it round-robin style or something.

the only drawback of course is your still asking a bad team to win. and of course most of the western teams would likely win...other than that I like the idea.

This is incredible, and seems like it would solve the NBA's apparent problem with tanking.

[the_Bird]

If you're adding a tournament mid-season, how 'bout cutting the playoff series (other than the finals) back to 5 games?  That's enough to determine the best team. 

Of course, too much money for that to actually happen, probably more than would be gained by adding the tourney.

Hence a 3-on-3 tournament. Not only is it a really fun version of the game to watch, you're exposing fewer players to the added wear and tear of the week or so.

But, presumably it would be the three best players, the guys who were already playing the most minutes.  People would be p---ed if they were watching Michael Beasley instead of LeBron James last year.