The biggest mistake the NBA made about this tournament is not taking away East vs West. It should just be one huge tournament. Put all the teams together.
82 games are a boring grind and fans don't care about many of them. Yeah playoffs have big ratings, but November 10th doesn't. That's why regional sports networks are going bankrupt. This changes some of those games to have additional meaning. Are you really that worried about potentially losing one single Blazer home game in December while now the team would be in a Vegas tourney? I see all upside with this and no downside.
If you believe that regional sports networks are failing because of LACK of interest in their NBA broadcasts, you just aren’t’ really understanding how it works.
Doesn't bother me much. I thought it was stupid to have a 50 win team miss the west playoffs while a 39 win east team makes it. With the playin that just doesn't matter anymore. I'd suspect the scheduling is easier with conferences because they have to add a conference game for the 22 teams that don't go to Vegas. Probably easier to have the flexibility with adding a 4th conference matchup. Also east west games are not part of group play, and those are often the only date a team visits the city as a road team. So it makes sense to have these tourney games all as conference games which are in less demand.
TV contract is way less than NFL with 17 games. TV contract also includes playoff which gets monster ratings. Even though the NBA makes a lot; they may be leaving a lot of additional money on the table by not doing things like this in season tourney. Many other pro sports do it to great success.
NBA has been planning this for years. Why do you think it won't last? It will get additional interest and extra revenue. You think the NBA wants to leave revenue on the table?
Why would the NBA contract be as much as the NFL? The NFL is by far the most popular sport in the US. That's like comparing the EPL TV deal with MLS. Doesn't make sense my man. TV contract includes first round of playoffs correct. 5 games or so of viewership in no way changes the viewership average over 82 games. It's ok to admit the league is very healthy right now and it's ok to just leave it alone. Hope fans enjoy this, just don't think it will catch on is all I'm saying.
I don't know what "healthy" means. I've never said it's bad or unhealthy. Yeah it makes a ton of money, but it's as you say nothing compared to NFL, so it shows there's a lot more money in sports it could possibly make. You think the tourney will fail. I think it'll be a huge success and be a big aspect of the league in a decade. We will see.
I don't know that this tournament generates any ratings boost but I do think it'll be beneficial for player accolades down the line, just like they are with soccer. At this point, I truly believe the NBA has reached a level where internationals players have reached the 1960s NBA level of talent. Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, Luka, possibly Wemby soon are on par with Wilt, Russell, Oscar, West, Baylor in terms of talent and star status. Lauri, Siakam, KAT, SGA are on par with guys like Cousy, Willis Reed, Sam Jones, Wes Unseld. Why is that important? Well, you stack that up on top of the modern US talent, which hasn't changed too much since the 90s-2000s, and you have a deeper overall league. This potentially means more parity and that it may be more difficult to win games. As a result, a tournament cup to your team or franchise player will look great on their resume, down the line. This is especially true if, say, you're one of the historic teams and go on a 14-20 win streak at the beginning of the season before winning it all. Championship teams, historically, tend to be one superstar with three All-Star/borderline All-Star players. Add a good bench (usually a 6th man and/or young player). Three of five starters play consistent enough defense. If missing a legitimate fourth option, it's due to two major superstars being dominant enough for the rest of the team (AD-Lebron, Kobe-Shaq, Wade-Bron, Duncan-Robinson in 99). Unless they arrive on an already deep team, championship usually doesn't occur in a superstar's early years but rather, once they reach their primes. Jokic/Giannis/Steph/Lebron/Raptors Kawhi all demonstrate as such in the past 10+ years. In the future, this may become problematic as we see many young cores potentially possessing these attributes (four starters with potential to be offensive outlets on any given night, some decent bench players). Rockets, Pistons, Spurs, Hornets, Pacers. Teams like the Grizzlies are close and can simply add a good veteran like they did with Brooks. Same with Kings. The next 10-15 years can be very difficult, especially for Portland if it does not secure the players it will need to rebuild around. In which case, a Tournament Cup can be useful for Scoot and Sharpe's careers if the Blazers front office is unable to properly build around them. Beyond that, a championship is still the most coveted.
The NBA (Stern) has always been about marketing....it's proven in D1 hoops, & soccer that tourneys produce an increase in fandom. The NBA also needs something to compete with D1 football & NFL in the winter time. Tourney ball is their answer.
Oh, I agree and that will make them even greater, in a way. However, it's no guarantee. Even for great teams, it's only on historic seasons that they have those 15+ winning streaks. And for all we know, one of those Blazer squads that had a 13 game winning streak or a hot start early in the season could technically beat the 'great team' or championship favorites. Single elimination makes things interesting and for all we know, if one particular player has a high motor or is quite clutch....a Dame or Butler....they may find themselves winning more of these than other players/teams who need a multitude of 7 game series to win it all. In this way, that would be how the Dames, PG-13s, Butlers solidify their legacies. Maybe Dame would've had 4 or 5 cups sitting in his living room right now and be content with Portland.
Stockton, Jordan, Malone, these guys would go 82, 82, 82, year after year. Jordan would be competitive in preseason. Why is everyone so soft now?
SharpesTriumph= Adam Silver and I agree with everything he said. This is gonna be great. Pelicans might’ve won it last year before Zion got hurt. That would’ve been fun for their fans. We might’ve won it. We looked good early in the season. This is going to give Scoot something to win right away.
I'm not at all upset about this cup thing, but I'm also not in the least interested. Why the NBA is trying to be like soccer is beyond me, but they're taking the least interesting parts and trying to inject it into the regular season and it is hard to believe that anyone is going to care. If Portland were playing, say, a Chinese team (as in some soccer leagues that match up teams from different leagues)? That's kinda cool. If they are playing the Suns? I already care about that game, but care 0% more because it's a "pool" game or whatever it's going to be called. Am I going to tune into watch the NBA Cup Final if it's not Portland? No. The game means LESS than a normal game to me, since it doesn't impact playoff and/or draft standings. I don't blame the NBA for trying something new, but this entirely misses the mark in my opinion.
