NBA Cup and International All-Star week
The NBA has been searching for ways to enhance its interest even more than it can already be today. In fact, the regular season has turned a bit boring with many games without challenges and played on hold. Even one of the most entraining event, the All-Star game, has been dull to many fans now.
Various journalists, speakers and fans… have thrown creative ideas but the NBA is a big institution and a big business that cannot be disturbed so easily. I believe the NBA commish is willing to innovate like it has done for the 2018 All-Star new format and innovate in a way that everyone can benefit from. In this article I will describe 2 proposals that, I hope, can inspire the NBA.
The NBA Jordan Cup
Many have talked about reducing the amount of regular season games to have a more meaningful season, others have talked about having a, NCAA type, do or die post season. But what about the historical records that are to be broken? Dirk and LBJ are doing remarkably at it these days. And what about all these revenus generated from ticket selling and TV writes?
Well, my idea is to integrate into the regular season a ‘cup’. What I mean by cup is basically a tournament like the NCAA march madness only integrated into the season and where losers will keep on playing. Cups already exist in Europe and many countries They bring an other challenge to the teams and an other interest to the fans.
The NBA as 82 games. Why? It is basically an historical thing. More details here. But with the 30 current teams, to be mathematically correct the regular season should have 76 games.
- 4 games against the other 4 division opponents (4×4=16 games),
- 3 games against 10 (out-of-division) conference opponents (3×10=30 games),
- 2 games against teams in the opposing conference (2×15=30 games).
Cool! That means each team as 6 available games to play since we want to keep a 82 games season for historical and business reasons. We can now run a 6 rounds tournament like the march madness. That would have been perfect if we had near 64 teams. But we don’t. So I will go with a 5 rounds tournament and to square up the bracket I add the 2 G-League finalists to the NBA 30 teams. That gives reward and visibility to G-League teams.
The first round will use previous season records to set the matchups. This way, NBA champs (Golden-State Warriors) receive G-League champs (Raptors 905), NBA finalists (Cleveland Cavs) receive G-League finalists (Rio Grande Valley Vipers). Then for the remaining NBA teams, top record (San Antonio Spurs) plays worst (Brooklyn Nets), second top (Houston Rockets) plays second worst (Phoenix Suns) and so on. Of course top teams play at home. This first round will occur on one date a la MLK day. So there will be a 16 games multiplex event taking place around the end of November or beginning of December. This time teams are in good rhythm.
This cup will of course have a special branding and for players and teams to have interests to go after this title, it needs to have a great meaning. Michel Jordan is the GOAT and he deserves an NBA trophy named after him. The Jordan cup sponsored by Jumpman of course. Nothing can be more relevant for players and fans today.
This first round was televised worldwide, a few upsets have happened. The Magic beats the Raptors with an unseen 3pts shooting night. The Lakers defeat the Celtics in the TD garden. And the Nuggets get rid of the Blazers after 2 OTs and a buzzer beater by Jamal Murray! On the other hand the Warriors and Cavs were able to rest their stars and have their bench take care of the G-League teams.
Now what’s on for the remaining rounds? Let’s get inspired from college ball and reach more fans nationally. Seattle wants some NBA basketball back, St Louis could have a new franchise, San Diego, Cincinnati, Kansas city and what about Vancouver (CA), Mexico city (MX), etc… so many cities that want some NBA games that count.
Therefore, I will have round 2 and 3 play on 8 different cities for a week-end, around mid season before the all-star break. That means 4 teams will stay on each site to play back to back games. Saturday games’ winners plays each other on Sunday and losers play each other. Each round, losers will keep on playing. This way all 30 teams play the same amount of games. Rounds 4 and 5 are basically the final four and the finale for the teams that didn’t loose.
The Rockets will play the Nuggets who have beaten the Warriors on an intense game in St Louis. On the other semi, the Spurs will face the Pelicans that find themselves against accessible opponents on their way. An all Western conference teams final four to be played in Las Vegas. How great!
The other teams, all out of the competition, will play in 7 smaller towns their respective tournaments. These games basically become regular season games since they count against the record but no more challenge for the cup.
Concerning the 2 G-league teams that lost in the 1st round I would have them replace by two other teams (two top 2017 records beside finalists) for rounds 2 and 3 and then two other new teams (two top 2017 remaining records) for rounds 4 and 5. This way the top six G-League teams get to showcase their skills against NBA competition. I would only allow them to keep playing if they were to win their first round games agains NBA finalists… who knows?
Also, in the fifth round few loosing teams could possibly play each other again in the tournament. In this case for this final round, teams will only play against to ones they haven’t faced no matter the outcome of round 4 for them.
These rounds will be played in mid April for the end of the season with the final four and the finale being the last games of an end of the week event. This marks the beginning of the playoffs with a great event.
The Denver Nugget surprisingly win this first edition of the Jordan Cup. Nikola Jokic wins MVP with a triple double in the semi and a 29pts finale game leading his team to the ultimate trophy handed by the GOAT himself! Incredible!
Every teams had their chances to win, in fact it only takes 5 games to go all the way… hum wait! 5 games + the 76 mathematically correct number… that make 81 games. We’re missing 1 game. Well, I’m about to explain next how this game can be useful.
The International All-Star week
This year’s All-star Game will be played in a new format. No more East against West, it is now Team LeBron against Team Curry. In fact the NBA has been looking to make this stars’ game which has become a show where everyone goes for dunks and stats, a bit more challenging. The idea seems to be going to the right direction and hopefully we won’t end up with a no defense, 200 pts game.
So to spice up the stars’ ego I would invite international players and teams. Top players from other leagues like the Euroleague will compete in the all star challenges and play a game against NBA players. The NBA is already thinking of something here. And before the so called all-star break, a selection of top international teams will play games against NBA franchises.
Let me go into more details.
Preseason games between NBA and other leagues teams already exists. But it is the beginning of the season for both and NBA teams usually don’t take it seriously. In my new styled season each NBA team has 1 more game to play to reach 82. So, I would have around 15 international teams to play a couple of games before the all-star week-end. A selection of Euroleague teams and top other leagues’ teams. This selection can be made during the summer for schedule arrangements. Every NBA team will be host to an international team. They will have to search for a win since it counts against the season record. International teams will play to prove that they can beat an NBA team.
The Real Madrid plays the Spurs and Rockets, the Flamengos play the Magic and Heat and the CSKA Moscou plays the Kings and Warriors, etc… 30 games in 3 or 4 days for fans to watch. After a big blow out 1st quarter the CSKA came back slowly to have the Warriors stars come back in the 4th quarter. The game stayed close until KD went for 9pts in finale minutes to seal the game.Then the all-star week-end starts with a selection of the top international leagues’ players to participate in the challenges; skills, 3pts contest, Dunk contest… and on Sunday a special game.
I would keep the all star game with the top 24 players to play each other but before that game I would have the 12 top, fan voted/mediatic players who didn’t make the all-star game nor rookie game to play the world selection. You’d have : El Manu, D. Wade, Melo, CP3, IT, Dirk, Vince Carter, Devin Booker, Dre Iguodala, Dwight, Blake Griffin, TP9. A bit funky but can be entertaining, to face : Doncic, De Colo, Shved, Calathes, Vesely, Erick Green, Sergio Rodriguez, Seraphin, Tavares, Stimac, Nedovic, Pierre Jackson. They could play in a 40 minutes game.
Dirk is finding Ginobili for a back cut who passes him the ball back after a layup fake. Dirk pump fakes to have Tavares loose his shorts and an open 3pts shoot.
Doncic is posting on Melo. He spins around and throws down a two handed jam on Dwight’s face!
I wonder how this game could possibly turn out and I really don’t know who will win but I’m sure some matchups will be one of a kind. Ex: Melo / Doncic or D Wade / Shved. On the other hand I’m not sure if stars like Melo or D Wade would accept playing in this smaller all-star game. So might end up with guys like Middleton, Whiteside, Wiggins which could, at the end, play a more intense game.
Well, these proposals seem doable to me and surly bring more interest to the season. Hopefully they can enter into the debate or they can, at least, let us dream of a future.
FR#42