Fixing the NBA
From Thursday's Dispatch
As the NBA Finals winds towards its inevitable conclusion, I’m left with only one question:
Does anybody care?
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching Tim Duncan and LeBron James play individually, but it’s the other eight guys on the floor at any given time that make this series boring and predictable.
The sad thing is that the NBA can be entertaining. It could close the gap on baseball and vie for becoming the second-most important sport in America behind the NFL.
But some changes need to be made. Soon.
So, free of charge, here’s my plan to save the National Basketball Association.
Fix the schedule – Good grief, what idiot is making the NBA Playoff schedule?
Game 3 of the Finals tipped off last night at 9 p.m. in the East and it wrapped up (mercifully) about 11:45. That means that more than half of the 50 largest cities in the country had to stay up to almost 11 or midnight to watch the second-lowest scoring game in the history of the NBA Finals. I’m guessing this won’t make for a great rating.
People who work a normal shift can’t stay up that late to watch TV. Move the tip back to 8 p.m., at the latest.
And the playoffs started back on April 21. Is it really necessary to drag it out this long?
Less is more – There are 30 teams right now in the NBA. There should be 24. Set it up like the soccer leagues in Europe. Next year, have the bottom six teams sent to the developmental league. The following year, you could drop the lowest two and promote the two best teams from the D-League.
Or just straight-up contract. Whatever gets the NBA down to 24 franchises.
This would serve several purposes. For starters, teams would start using their entire rosters. There were 10 guys in uniform Tuesday night that didn’t play. That’s silly. Having fewer teams means that the players are spread around more. Better benches means better players and that makes for better games.
Keeping with the same theme, the 82-game schedule needs to be cut down. I’d like to see it cut in half, but I think mathematically, it has to be in the low 60s. There’s no urgency in the regular season. Guys are mailing it in, and this would cut down on that.
Money, money, money – Get rid of guaranteed contracts. Teams that make mistakes on players (Hello, New York?) should be able to cut guys and start over. The NFL model works well. Give them bigger signing bonuses, but let teams fix their mistakes. This will also help teams make trades, giving woeful franchises the chance to turn things around quickly.
Enforce the rules – No tonic for the NBA would be complete without addressing the rulebook. Call the walks, please. Call the handchecks. Blow the whistle when players aren’t in the lane, for a change.
These things will never happen. They make far too much sense for the league to ever adopt them.
Contact the writer at rcapps@hendersondispatch.com.
As the NBA Finals winds towards its inevitable conclusion, I’m left with only one question:
Does anybody care?
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching Tim Duncan and LeBron James play individually, but it’s the other eight guys on the floor at any given time that make this series boring and predictable.
The sad thing is that the NBA can be entertaining. It could close the gap on baseball and vie for becoming the second-most important sport in America behind the NFL.
But some changes need to be made. Soon.
So, free of charge, here’s my plan to save the National Basketball Association.
Fix the schedule – Good grief, what idiot is making the NBA Playoff schedule?
Game 3 of the Finals tipped off last night at 9 p.m. in the East and it wrapped up (mercifully) about 11:45. That means that more than half of the 50 largest cities in the country had to stay up to almost 11 or midnight to watch the second-lowest scoring game in the history of the NBA Finals. I’m guessing this won’t make for a great rating.
People who work a normal shift can’t stay up that late to watch TV. Move the tip back to 8 p.m., at the latest.
And the playoffs started back on April 21. Is it really necessary to drag it out this long?
Less is more – There are 30 teams right now in the NBA. There should be 24. Set it up like the soccer leagues in Europe. Next year, have the bottom six teams sent to the developmental league. The following year, you could drop the lowest two and promote the two best teams from the D-League.
Or just straight-up contract. Whatever gets the NBA down to 24 franchises.
This would serve several purposes. For starters, teams would start using their entire rosters. There were 10 guys in uniform Tuesday night that didn’t play. That’s silly. Having fewer teams means that the players are spread around more. Better benches means better players and that makes for better games.
Keeping with the same theme, the 82-game schedule needs to be cut down. I’d like to see it cut in half, but I think mathematically, it has to be in the low 60s. There’s no urgency in the regular season. Guys are mailing it in, and this would cut down on that.
Money, money, money – Get rid of guaranteed contracts. Teams that make mistakes on players (Hello, New York?) should be able to cut guys and start over. The NFL model works well. Give them bigger signing bonuses, but let teams fix their mistakes. This will also help teams make trades, giving woeful franchises the chance to turn things around quickly.
Enforce the rules – No tonic for the NBA would be complete without addressing the rulebook. Call the walks, please. Call the handchecks. Blow the whistle when players aren’t in the lane, for a change.
These things will never happen. They make far too much sense for the league to ever adopt them.
Contact the writer at rcapps@hendersondispatch.com.
posted by Randy Capps at 3:46 PM
2 Comments:
I fixed the NBA, I never turn it on and watch it! Half of them have 3 kids with three different women. They set terrible examples for the youth of today, yet are glorified. All sports are getting that way now.
That is a solution, judging by the latest TV ratings, that many people seem to be adopting.
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