This Tuesday Newsletter Extravaganza also features a moving guest tribute piece from Orlando's Bill Pope in the wake of the recent deaths of two beloved NBA scouts: Brent Haskins and Brendan Brown
I don't think anyone would disagree that bringing all the teams to Vegas and running the scenario you described would give the tournament that March Madness, made-for-TV vibe. But here's the thing: one of the main reasons the NBA introduced this tournament (besides giving advertisers another product to sell) was to bring excitement and relevance to the early part of the season, during those long 82-game stretches. If you take those early-season games out (even if the season gets shortened, which I doubt owners would go for, considering they wouldn’t want to give up home games), then you lose the original purpose of the tournament, right?
All very fair points. But do you legitimately feel excitement and relevance from these games? Were we excited tonight for the NBA Cup aspect of Cavs at Celtics? Or the 15-0 aspect? Were we excited about the NBA Cup aspect of Mavs at Warriors last week? Or Klay's return to the Bay? Apart from the Vegas portion of the NBA Cup ... are these Tuesdays and Fridays really generating relevance and excitement? Maybe they are for some.
I'm 100% with you on this one. I'm just pointing out that from the league standpoint, they will lose what they set out to do. However, your idea will also become a huge money-maker for them. I think it will create perhaps more excitement than the actual championship in terms of viewers.
Probably the strongest case that the league has against my idea -- which Tim Cato reiterated well on our DLLS Mavs show earlier today -- is the fear that NBA teams won't play certain players if the tournament is separate from the regular season. It's a real problem in soccer, too. The NBA likes regular season games counting twice in part as a defensive mechanism against load management destroying their tournament.
I don't think anyone would disagree that bringing all the teams to Vegas and running the scenario you described would give the tournament that March Madness, made-for-TV vibe. But here's the thing: one of the main reasons the NBA introduced this tournament (besides giving advertisers another product to sell) was to bring excitement and relevance to the early part of the season, during those long 82-game stretches. If you take those early-season games out (even if the season gets shortened, which I doubt owners would go for, considering they wouldn’t want to give up home games), then you lose the original purpose of the tournament, right?
All very fair points. But do you legitimately feel excitement and relevance from these games? Were we excited tonight for the NBA Cup aspect of Cavs at Celtics? Or the 15-0 aspect? Were we excited about the NBA Cup aspect of Mavs at Warriors last week? Or Klay's return to the Bay? Apart from the Vegas portion of the NBA Cup ... are these Tuesdays and Fridays really generating relevance and excitement? Maybe they are for some.
I'm 100% with you on this one. I'm just pointing out that from the league standpoint, they will lose what they set out to do. However, your idea will also become a huge money-maker for them. I think it will create perhaps more excitement than the actual championship in terms of viewers.
Probably the strongest case that the league has against my idea -- which Tim Cato reiterated well on our DLLS Mavs show earlier today -- is the fear that NBA teams won't play certain players if the tournament is separate from the regular season. It's a real problem in soccer, too. The NBA likes regular season games counting twice in part as a defensive mechanism against load management destroying their tournament.
🤔 never crossed my mind!
The tribute by Bill Pope is fantastic -- thanks for sharing! I love stories from old school guys like him.