Sweeping Changes Coming to the NBA for it's 75th Anniversary in 2021

[JayBirdHawk]

78 Games!

In-season tournament!

Post season Play-in game!

Re-seeding the Conference Finals!

 

 

[NBASupes]

They had to change it up. The ratings dropping really was screwing things up

[Wurider05]

This won't work because the eastern conference teams would be the losers. why change anything when they are guaranteed to get into the playoffs with a losing record. 

[JayBirdHawk]

11 minutes ago, Wurider05 said:

This won't work because the eastern conference teams would be the losers. why change anything when they are guaranteed to get into the playoffs with a losing record. 

Only the conference finals games are being reseeded. So last 2 remaining teams from East and West will be reseeded 1-4.

21 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

They had to change it up. The ratings dropping really was screwing things up

Didn't help when stars sit out National TV games fir load management.

[High5]

I can buy a reduction in games and maybe re-seeding the conference finals, but the tournament and play-in sound like bad gimmicks.

[LamarHampton]

I just want more of these loud ass John Foy commercials during free throws. Gimme more of that type of stuff. 

[AHF]

Very interested to see the details around these.  The interaction between the playoff tournament and the draft in particular seems complicated.  Two potential issues that jump to mind:  (a)  If the rule is that the draft seeding is by record and has nothing to do with the play-in tournament then there may be a heavy incentive for teams to make sure they are bad enough to be in the lottery but good enough that they can win their win into the playoffs via the tourament (a team like the 8th seeded Houston Rockets who won a championship jump out) or (b)  If the rule is that the draft seeding is done by the results of the tournament that will introduce more flux around the talent that those mid-tier teams get (perhaps with a better team ending up in the lottery) and would certainly incent any team with a big injury (think NO in recent seasons but if they had a playoff record before their big names were shut down) but a playoff record under the current system to tank the tournament, get their lottery pick and go home to heal.

I guess bottomline is that they need to think carefully about how to avoid teams gaming the system however the rules are set.

I'm open to these ideas, though.  No more exciting sporting event than the NCAA tournament, imo, and I would guess they will structure this to tap into that more volatile dynamic.