Lowe: Play-in tournament to decide seeds 7 and 8

[Raptor Jesus]

It doesnt exactly prevent tanking but it limits the number of teams that are trying tank especially near the end of the season when many teams start throwing games the second they are eliminated from the playoff race. Games should be more competitive right down to the last game of the season which is still a positive imo.

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More competition works for me. Just needs more disincentive to bottom out. Kick in lottery percentage changes and/or snake 2nd round etc.

[Machine]

MLB wildcard system in the NBA would make 7-10 more interesting but I don't see how it does anything to address Cuban's tanking.

It doesnt exactly prevent tanking but it limits the number of teams that are trying tank especially near the end of the season when many teams start throwing games the second they are eliminated from the playoff race. Games should be more competitive right down to the last game of the season which is still a positive imo.

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[Raptor Jesus]

MLB wildcard system in the NBA would make 7-10 more interesting but I don't see how it does anything to address Cuban's tanking.

[Kuh]

So Zach Lowe has an article on a change the league is considering (or may not consider) for the future. Kind of a twist on an old Bill Simmon's suggestion.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...lay-tournament


Essentially the proposal would be that seeds 7-8-9-10 in each conference would play two mini tournaments. Seed 7 would face seed 8. The winner gets the 7th seed in the playoffs. Seeds 9 and 10 face each other.. and the winner gets to play the loser of the first game (between seeds 7/8) to get the 8th spot.

I love this idea. Perfect balance of reward (finish 6th or above = guaranteed playoff) and risk (7/8 need to win 1 game to hit playoffs; 9/10 need to win 2 games to hit playoffs).

It's good exactly as written.

[The Great One]

Please explain.

The Raptors path to winning a championship would be a a lot easier if Durant went to Boston or any other EC team.

Even if let's say the Raps win the East this year, they're not beating the Warriors in the Finals.

[octothorp]

Here's what it needs: winning the play-in round gets you improved draft odds. In fact, it just straight-up moves you up into the draft without giving you any lottery odds. Let's say, the 4 play-in winners get spots 5-8, with no lottery odds (so they won't move up, and teams that finish 5th-14th still have the same odds of winning the lottery they do now, but a worse pick if they don't win).

Fans are smart. So's management. They don't get suckered into 'yeah, we should totally throw away our chance at a high draft pick so that we can beat Detroit in a play-in game and then maybe win a game against a well-rested top seed in the first round.' But if you create a model for getting into the tanking one year, doing well enough the next to get a shot at a good pick this year, both teams and fans will get excited by that. If you think you've got better odds of getting into the play-in than tanking into the bottom four, then winning is the better strategy.

Part of the problem with competitive balance is how hard it is to get off that mediocre team treadmill. This is a treadmill-buster, since every year, some treadmill teams will be getting top 10 draft picks.

[KHD]

i don't see how this eliminates tanking in any way.

Basketball will never eliminate tanking until they do away with the draft. putting a generational talent on the floor means way more in this sport than in others.

[Sonny]

Why? because of the Raptors? they still have to go through Durant to win the championship.

One EC team that was rumoured to be in on Durant was Boston. I'll tell you what, i'd rather face a duo of Durant and Irving/IT over Durant/Curry/Green/Klay

Please explain.

[KeonClark]

I'm glad Durant signed with GSW and not an EC team.

You can finally reach your ultimate sports fan life long goal: Eastern Conference Winner, Finals Runner Up

yay

[The Great One]

I'm glad Durant signed with GSW and not an EC team.

Why? because of the Raptors? they still have to go through Durant to win the championship.

One EC team that was rumoured to be in on Durant was Boston. I'll tell you what, i'd rather face a duo of Durant and Irving/IT over Durant/Curry/Green/Klay

[3inthekeon]

I'm glad Durant signed with GSW and not an EC team.

[The Great One]

Okay the 70 game winning Golden State Warriors were purely good drafting - the big 3 players on that roster were drafted by Golden State, and the Iguodala trade back in 2013 they got him at fair value (they traded 2 first round picks and 2 second round picks just to clear the space). There's no changes that need to be made to prevent a team from doing their job and drafting spectacularly well.

The Durant signing was a one time thing that was a disastrous mistake by the league and the players association where they did not smooth out the cap spike from TV deals. And the Durant signing wasn't even the worst part of it. The fact that players who were free agents in 2016 are going to make 3 times the amount of money equivalent players who are free agents in 2018 are about to is completely ridiculous.

There's no changes that have to be made to the league's structure to prevent superteams. Just next time a cap spike comes, please smooth it.

Never had a problem with the Warriors before the Durant signing. I thought they were a model franchise - draft and develop team.

Obviously you can't blame the team for signing Durant, my issue is more on the player. Signing in Oakland really tells you Durant's competitive nature.

[planetmars]

1 was already there. Wade. Its more like what OKC did this year

True, except Melo ain't Lebron.. I guess it's really only impactful if Lebron joins up with another star.

[KeonClark]

You wouldn't be upset if the Lakers ended up with Russ, George and Lebron? I mean stars hooking up has become the NBA norm now ever since the Heatles did it. And they did win 2 out of 4 tries.. and got to the finals those 2 other times.

1 was already there. Wade. Its more like what OKC did this year

[planetmars]

The Heat didn't bother me. The Heat were beatable by the best teams in most eras

You wouldn't be upset if the Lakers ended up with Russ, George and Lebron? I mean stars hooking up has become the NBA norm now ever since the Heatles did it. And they did win 2 out of 4 tries.. and got to the finals those 2 other times.