STAYING A STEP AHEAD
NBA mulling ideas that might seem radical, but it shows league prioritizes game quality
The NBA has been innovative and inviting for years. Its twists and turns, star power and progressive ideas have made it one of the most intriguing professional sports leagues in the country.
Now, the NBA is trying to take even more steps to stay ahead of the game.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN, the league is engaged in serious discussions with the NBA Players Association and broadcast partners to overhaul the calendar year.
If the changes go through, the NBA schedule would look completely different than it does now.
While some of the ideas seem radical, they show that commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA are prioritizing the quality of the game.
And judging by the sky-high entertainment value of the league this year, it seems like a good idea to do that.
Changes could include reseeding of the four conference finalists in the postseason, a 30-team in-season tournament and a playoff play-in. With the changes, the regular season would be trimmed to 78 games.
In theory, all of this will be brought to a vote at the April meeting of the NBA’s Board of Governors and could be implemented by the 2021-22 season, which also happens to be the league’s 75th anniversary.
An in-season tournament that models European soccer clubs is hard to imagine in the NBA. That change might take some time to catch on.
But playoff reseeding is an excellent idea.
In this model, the four teams remaining in the conference finals would be ranked according to regular-season record, which would leave open the possibility of the two best clubs meeting in the NBA Finals.
If this had been in effect last season, the Warriors and Raptors still would have been the top two seeds. The year before?
The Rockets and the Warriors would have been the top two based on their records, which could have set them up to play each other in the NBA Finals rather than in the conference finals.
The WNBA switched to a reseeding format in the postseason in 2016, and it’s worked out well for the league.
Reseeding could ensure better NBA Finals — the final four teams remaining would all have the same shot at getting to the Finals, but if the two best teams come from the same conference, they’d be able to play for a championship.
In theory, this would eliminate lopsided finals such as the 2018 Golden State sweep over Cleveland.
The NBA Finals are already really good. Adding the reseeding layer would make them even better.
The in-season tournament is a little harder to grasp, simply because it is a foreign concept — literally. The idea stems from European soccer models. Tournaments are built in, such as the UEFA Champions League and domestic cups, to give clubs more title chances since the leagues don’t host playoffs.
Silver has been a proponent of an in-season tournament for years. According to the ESPN report, he and the league are working to ensure teams and players would not be hurt financially by a shorter regular season. The in-season tournament would consist of a divisional group stage of scheduled regular season games. The six divisional winners would be based on home and away records in the group stage. Those six teams and the next two best records would advance to a single-elimination knockout round.
It’s not an easy concept to picture in basketball, but it could be an exciting element during the slower part of the season.
The last piece of the proposed changes is the playoff play-in, which would feature seeds seven through 10 in each conference.
The No. 7 seed would host the No. 8, and the winner of that game would earn the No. 7 playoff slot. Then, the ninth and 10th place teams would battle, and the winner would face the eighth-place squad to determine who lands the final playoff spot.
Another interesting idea that could add another element to a playoff system that is already one of the best in sports.
The players association would have to agree to all of this, so there is no guarantee that any of it happens.
Regardless, the NBA’s initiative to constantly adapt and keep up is appeal.
Reseeding the conference champions is a great idea. A play-in game could be very appealing, and an in-season tournament is intriguing.
A league that isn’t stuck in its ways and is willing to make changes to advance the game is good for the fans, good for the players and good for the sport.