2021 NBA regular season thread

[Stakesarehigh]

Yeah, to me, that's the issue of a mid-season tournament. What reward can you give a team that doesn't diminish the end of season playoffs and championship, but will still be important enough that contending teams won't want to load manage their stars during it?

Soccer is the only real blueprint we have and it definitely seems those clubs value those cups quite a bit. It does create a bit of confusion...like it's obvious a Champs league is the peak but would Man U prefer a Europa title to winning the Premier league? Probably not. How about the FA cup or the Europa?

Anyway I'm probably speaking Greek to some of you but I do like the format there even though the nba cannot replicate it as you have no league on par with them.

 

[thunderc]

Yeah, to me, that's the issue of a mid-season tournament. What reward can you give a team that doesn't diminish the end of season playoffs and championship, but will still be important enough that contending teams won't want to load manage their stars during it?

To me if you want to do something like that you could have a first half champion by record. Anything to incentivize effort in the regular season to me is a good thing.

 

[Sparhawk]

Yeah, to me, that's the issue of a mid-season tournament. What reward can you give a team that doesn't diminish the end of season playoffs and championship, but will still be important enough that contending teams won't want to load manage their stars during it?

Soccer has a major trophy for winning the season, a separate trophy for winning the league tournament (English FA cup, Spanish Copa del Rey, etc.), and finally, various international trophies for the best teams (Champions League, Europa, etc.). And they have the Olympics and World Cup every other year in the off season. Plus, relegation if your team cannot cut it, which winds up being a really nifty way of eliminating cheap owners/inefficient teams. If any mid-tier team were to win one of the trophies, it's a major accomplishment and brings in $$$$.

In the US, the regular season means something, but not everything.
There's only one championship to root for.
Other than that, the owners will do whatever they have to in order to make more $$$$.
There's no threat of relegation, so poor teams are incentivized to 'tank' in an effort to improve their team.

Lots of ways to fix that, but if it costs the owners $$$$, it will never happen.

 

[trojanfan12]

To me if you want to do something like that you could have a first half champion by record. Anything to incentivize effort in the regular season to me is a good thing.

Didn't MLB do something like that during one of it's strike shortened seasons?

 

[Sparhawk]

Soccer is the only real blueprint we have and it definitely seems those clubs value those cups quite a bit. It does create a bit of confusion...like it's obvious a Champs league is the peak but would Man U prefer a Europa title to winning the Premier league? Probably not. How about the FA cup or the Europa?

Anyway I'm probably speaking Greek to some of you but I do like the format there even though the nba cannot replicate it as you have no league on par with them.

Winning the Europa League gets you an auto bid to play in the Champions League the next season.

Champions League brings major $$$$, so yeah, the international games are of higher importance because they mean more revenue and the chance to bring in better players looking to play in that spotlight.

 

[thunderc]

Didn't MLB do something like that during one of it's strike shortened seasons?

Yes they did

 

[trojanfan12]

Yes they did

Yeah, just looked it up, it was 1981. Seems like the first half winner wouldn't be too worried about the 2nd half of the season.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Yeah, just looked it up, it was 1981. Seems like the first half winner wouldn't be too worried about the 2nd half of the season.

Back then definitely. With the wild card play in it would be less valuable

 

[flyerhawk]

Yeah, to me, that's the issue of a mid-season tournament. What reward can you give a team that doesn't diminish the end of season playoffs and championship, but will still be important enough that contending teams won't want to load manage their stars during it?

Winner of the cup tourney gets the best lottery odds. Like 20%.

 

[bksballer89]

Soccer is the only real blueprint we have and it definitely seems those clubs value those cups quite a bit. It does create a bit of confusion...like it's obvious a Champs league is the peak but would Man U prefer a Europa title to winning the Premier league? Probably not. How about the FA cup or the Europa?

Anyway I'm probably speaking Greek to some of you but I do like the format there even though the nba cannot replicate it as you have no league on par with them.

Yep im with you here. To me this would work more in the NHL

 

[Sparhawk]

Soccer is the only real blueprint we have and it definitely seems those clubs value those cups quite a bit. It does create a bit of confusion...like it's obvious a Champs league is the peak but would Man U prefer a Europa title to winning the Premier league? Probably not. How about the FA cup or the Europa?

Anyway I'm probably speaking Greek to some of you but I do like the format there even though the nba cannot replicate it as you have no league on par with them.

Literally just came across this on the nerd site :

The Premier League Is Going To Have An Exciting Finish To A So-So Season

Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester are fighting for the Champions League in their final matches.

fivethirtyeight.com

cwick: Which would a team rather have, the FA Cup or a season of Champions League play?

grace: At the risk of upsetting traditionalists, within the club it surely has to be Champions League.

tchow: If it’s about the money, there’s no question.

cwick: And I’m sure Champions League helps with recruitment, too.

grace: If the fans would rather see their team win a trophy, that’s totally reasonable, but internally it has to be the money.

ryan: Thomas Tuchel even said Chelsea’s priority was top four, not the FA Cup.

cwick: As I am on record saying, trophies are overrated. More games = more narrative = more fun for fans.

tchow: I still think the FA Cup means something pretty special for fans (says the Arsenal fan).

ryan: I think Arsenal is a pretty good example of how a cup can make a club think it’s better than it actually is, but I don’t see that happening to Leicester.

grace: It’s not as though Leicester’s business model relies on top four every year. It can just keep running the same plan again and again.

 

[msgkings322]

Maybe turn the ball girls into strippers?

I see no downside

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Literally just came across this on the nerd site :

The Premier League Is Going To Have An Exciting Finish To A So-So Season

Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester are fighting for the Champions League in their final matches.

fivethirtyeight.com

cwick: Which would a team rather have, the FA Cup or a season of Champions League play?

grace: At the risk of upsetting traditionalists, within the club it surely has to be Champions League.

tchow: If it’s about the money, there’s no question.

cwick: And I’m sure Champions League helps with recruitment, too.

grace: If the fans would rather see their team win a trophy, that’s totally reasonable, but internally it has to be the money.

ryan: Thomas Tuchel even said Chelsea’s priority was top four, not the FA Cup.

cwick: As I am on record saying, trophies are overrated. More games = more narrative = more fun for fans.

tchow: I still think the FA Cup means something pretty special for fans (says the Arsenal fan).

ryan: I think Arsenal is a pretty good example of how a cup can make a club think it’s better than it actually is, but I don’t see that happening to Leicester.

grace: It’s not as though Leicester’s business model relies on top four every year. It can just keep running the same plan again and again.

Yea. It does create an interesting dilemma as to priorities. And then you have Europa which is Champs league lite and Man U with a shot at winning that. Then what if they upset the Champs league winner? Would that be more important than a Premier title even?

Lol I'm going too far with this

 

[wildturkey]

Missed this from a few days ago but this is a cool thread about the Raptors SuperFan that got inducted into the Hall of Fame

 

[tlance]

Yeah, to me, that's the issue of a mid-season tournament. What reward can you give a team that doesn't diminish the end of season playoffs and championship, but will still be important enough that contending teams won't want to load manage their stars during it?

I don’t see how.

The teams that would be in contention for the tournament would be mostly the same teams in contention for top playoff seeds.

Unless you are rewarding players with large cash bonuses, I can’t think of anything else that would motivate them to perform without cheapening the regular season.

 

[tlance]

Winner of the cup tourney gets the best lottery odds. Like 20%.

Cant do that.

That would mean a top contender likely added a top pick.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

Cant do that.

That would mean a top contender likely added a top pick.

Home court throughout imo

 

[flyerhawk]

Cant do that.

That would mean a top contender likely added a top pick.

It would only apply to teams in the lottery.

 

[thunderc]

First round bye would be pretty juicy

 

[wildturkey]