Seems like a no-lose proposition for the NBA imho. If it catches on like the play-in concept did, they win, if not, they easily remove it and we get the "Coke classic" effect for those that were bothered with it.
I watch every game that I possibly can, including summer league. I won't watch it because it's a Cup game and/or ever see myself happy that we won it. I'd much rather lose in the second round of the playoffs and/or moving up a spot in the lottery.
Yep. Except that it muddles up my news sources with stories about a Cup I don't care about. Which is absolutely not the end of the world but I prefer less noise in my life, not more.
It will basically be like March Madness but with NBA teams. Yeah I know the first 5 years some old fans and casual fans will be confused and possibly not care. One year of their team in vegas and winning some of the games they'll be hooked. Having win or go home makes it way more exciting and unpredictable. A lot of teams can win 3 games in a row in vegas to get the cup; its not like 7 game series where the best team always wins. Will be super exciting.
Lets see what you and other fans think in 5 years. I think every year it will get way more popular. I'd have probably given an auto playoff berth to both teams in the cup, possibly HCA to the team that wins it. Then that final means a hell of a lot. They actually considered some ideas like this - lets see what tweaks they make in the years ahead. I also think people are vastly underestimating having 8 teams playing in Vegas all at once over 3-4 days of games. That will be a huge week long event to the big NBA fans and a once in a lifetime experience to watch. Thats never been possible in the history of the league outside the bubble which was obviously closed to the public. It will be like the best of allstar and summer league but 10x better, with great teams and star, playing at the highest level, and actually mean something.
Why do you keep saying casual or old fans? The fuck does that even mean. What about the fans who love this game and league how it is?
This board is full of old farts that don't like new ideas, don't like change, and want to keep everything "how it is". Yeah your not the target audience for this or NBA advertisers. What advertisement on TV are you going to go out and change what you buy tomorrow? There's a reason advertisers all want that 18-34 demographic. If you love it how it is this doesn't really change anything; your still getting 82 regular season games for each team. Instead of 1230 NBA games last year in the whole league there will now be 1231. You can probably just ignore this whole tournament aspect if you wish. A lot of other people will like it a lot - especially years from now when it starts building up history and starts becoming a big week long event for those 8 teams each year able to make it. This will be way more successful than the playin game - and that was universally panned by many when it started but now accepted by most NBA fans as a great change.
Can’t tell you how much I hate this idea. What’s the point? Doesn’t the NBA already have a championship series? The NBA became a circus the minute players started wearing jerseys that said, “Remember their names,” and now it’s just gotten worse.
Will it hurt the existing regular season? Two teams playing one extra game that doesn't count towards their record, how does that hurt? I'll be watching the games regardless, I would assume that more casual fans that watch less than I do will tune in when they wouldn't have. The first few seasons it will bring nothing more than additional pageantry but if it survives that it will become really meaningful and the ratings of the tournament will be like the ratings of the playoffs. How badly will the great teams want to have won both the Cup and Finals? Teams that win both will start to be seen as something more than the teams that only win the Finals. It's extra competition and I don't see why any sports fan doesn't support that especially if it doesn't cost them anything.
Not excited for this yet but willing to give this a shot. The big thing this lays the groundwork for is international expansion. What if they added one high level champion from around the world to each grouping?
Confused on why you are replying to me. I never said I didn’t like the idea….. Said it wouldn’t last or survive is all.
Why you think that? All it is at the end of the day is reg season games with some of the games having a fancy name on it..
If they can get legit buy in from the players this could be great. If the players don’t care then it’ll suck.
But they're spreading out the qualifying games sporadically throughout the start of the season. I would actually really like the idea if it was just a tournament of all the teams in the middle of the season. Single elimination. Instead they're doing it weird.
I’m in favor of it this tournament and the way they are doing it but I definitely think it’s weird it starts 2 weeks into the season. That’s a little too soon.
That reminds me of the McDonald’s Championship of the 80’s and 90’s. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's_Championship The Perth Wildcats, the only Australian team to ever be invited to that won the NBL Championship, then had to immediately fly to London, so were both jet lagged and hungover when they played Houston. They were recovered when they faced Real Madrid (without Sabonis because he left to join Portland), and got the win.
