Eric in Madison, over at the renowned CanisHoopus.com posted an article "NBA Considering Mid-Season Tournament" yesterday. If you haven't been over there, it's a damn good blog and they have some interesting things to say on this topic, so go check it out.
Obviously this isn't breaking news, but it is something interesting to talk about in the doldrums of the NBA off-season. The general idea is a single elimination tournament in Vegas including (for funsies!!) international teams. Eric basically just throws the idea out there and asks if there is any way in which this type of tournament could work in the NBA. Personally, as a fan of basketball and fun I think this would be awesome, however given how hugely important the NBA Championship is to everyone, it seems very unlikely that another tournament would gain much traction at all. I did have one kinda fun idea which I commented over there, however:
Introducing draft pick 9 3/4.
Invite something like the middle 7 teams from each conference long with 2 international teams for a 16 team bracket. Winner gets money, along with the either the 8th seed (if they’re not already in) or choice of first round matchup (if they are already in) along with the newest slot in the draft, draft pick 9 3/4 (maybe make it later, like around 15, but there was no other way to present the idea…)
Bad teams have something of legitimate value to play for, mediocre to good teams are given a potential path out of NBA purgatory. It wouldn’t really be fair to give a pick to the very top seeds, and without the pick they wouldn’t take it seriously anyway, so they’re out. And bottom seeds wouldn’t really have much of a chance to win, and they’re probably no good stinkin tankers anyway, so they’re out.
With something so valuable, I could definitely see some top teams trying weird, mid-season tanking moves in the leadup to the tournament, but you could always give the league veto power over any teams that pull anything blatant (resting starters, weird rotations, signing Mark Madsen).
Not to pimp myself too much, but this is the first idea I’ve seen that I could actually see working. You can’t just start a tournament and pretend it’s important; you have to provide something of legitimate value. Plus this injects just s little bit more crazy in the NBA, which I’m always a fan of.
"We want ALL the draft picks." - Sam Hinkie
by J.P.Melle on Aug 17, 2014 | 7:00 AM
Now, I don't think it's particularly likely that the NBA would adopt this approach, but I do think it would get teams to buy in to a tournament that they wouldn't care about otherwise. And it would inject another very interesting variable into the team building equation that has become almost as important to NBA fans as the actual games are. Other ideas included just throwing a lot of money at the winner, a playoff spot for bad teams (while keeping your lottery spot), home court advantage through the playoffs, or more lottery balls.
What do people think here? Is there a chance in hell of this tournament happening? Any other ideas for what it would look like? At the very least this conversation will be better than rehashing what we might get for Thad, endless arguments over whether or not we were ever or are still tanking, or increasingly ridiculous Andrew Wiggins to the Sixers trade scenarios, so lets chat.