Detroit Pistons, NBA (in-season) champions! Would you care?
The NBA is trying to organize an in-season tournament, seperate from the rest of the season. Would you be excited if, somehow, the Detroit Pistons won it. Or, is it just a stupid idea.
The NBA wants to fashion its own version of England’s FA Cup, where teams from different divisions and levels face each other, It it something different, and breaks up the monotony of playing the same teams all the time. And there usually is some ‘Cinderella’ team that captures the public’s imagination.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has noted the popularity of the FA Cup, and similar tournaments in Europe. He knows a lot of fans consider the NBA regular season a long slog, and is looking for ways to juice up interest.
The idea of an NBA in-season tournament has been kicked around for a couple of years, but now, talks seem to be making headway, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
ESPN Sources: There’s renewed traction on a future In-Season Tournament in the NBA. The league and union are discussing a structure that includes December pool play, pre-Christmas quarters/semis/finals and $1M per player payout on winning team. More next on ESPN’s NBA Countdown.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 25, 2021
Silver usually gets what he wants, so if he thinks an in-season tournament will help bring more attention (and money) to the NBA, it will get done, no matter what opposition there is.
The format being currently kicked around:
- Tournament pool play which will be assigned to regular season games
- Single-elimination quarterfinals, semifinals and finals.
- NBA regular season will be cut to 78 games to accommodate the tournament.
- Players on the winning team would get $1 million each.
Silver pushed the play-in tournament and changes in the All-Star Game’s team selection and scoring, so he is not afraid to shake things up. But what he wants to now is completely stop the league, play this tournament, and then resume play.
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Of course, there are a couple of problems with this in-season tournament idea::
Three reasons the NBA in-house tournament would not work
3. The NBA is not like British soccer
The FA Cup has a lot of different teams coming together who normally would not play each other, but only the 30 teams in the NBA would participate in their version. Virtually all the top players in the world are in the NBA, who else could they play?
As soccer fans know, part of the fun of the FA Cup is seeing little local teams face the big Premier League clubs. The equivalent of, say, Detroit YMCA All-Stars vs. Denver Nuggets.
Who else could you get to participate. G-League teams? A Motor City Cruise vs. Brooklyn Nets first round match would be fun. Top European club teams? They’re filled with the best players that are not good enough for the NBA.. They might win a game but, that would be it.
But Silver is making this completely an NBA affair. (i.e. every dollar made goes in the owners pockets).
It would be the same teams playing each other, like any other season. The only difference is, a few games will also be designated ‘in-season tournament pool play’.
2. The Idea is just silly
Is an in-house tournament early in the season just a silly idea?. Yes, according to veteran NBA writer Yaron Weitzman:
I understand why the NBA is trying to push this, but I find this all so silly. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see why fans would ever. The play-in was a success because it was connected to playoffs. This would be meaningless https://t.co/f0ZJQEdmF4
— Yaron Weitzman (@YaronWeitzman) December 26, 2021
If the Detroit Pistons were playing, say, the Charlotte Hornets in an NBA In-Season tournament quarterfinal, would you pay to go to Little Caesars Arena to watch it? Or bother turning on the TV?
That is the (multi) million dollar question. Will fans accept this as something entertaining to spice up the dreary beginning of the season. Or see it as a silly gimmick and ignore.
- Would the top players commit and take it seriously?
The first thought should be: Would an aging LeBron James or injury-prone Joel Embiid actually want to be involved? If their team did not get out of pool play, it would give them probably a week off during the season. They may think the time off is much more valuable than some made-up tournament title.
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The NBA office will huff-and-puff and threaten fines if a team does not put out its best players. But, they also had that rule last season (before COVID) for nationally-televised games, and teams found ways around it.
Even if teams might roll out their best, would their intensity be like? In a quarterfinal contest between, say, the Detroit Pistons and the Utah Jazz, the game means a lot more to the Pistons, who have no chance at the real NBA title, so an in-season tournament championship is something to shoot for.
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Silver must have gotten assurances of increased rights fees from the NBA’s television partners to do this. Enough for owners to each give up the revenue from two home games.
The success or failure really will rest with the fans perception. If they consider it a fun early-season thing to get into, then it will stay If the general feeling is – For who, for what? – it will hopefully die a quick death.
If the Pistons did win the in-season tournament, do they hang a banner at Little Caesars Arena?