This tournament thing

[Obstructed_View]

I guess they will revise and streamline it going forward, but having all these off days early in the season is frustrating. It can't just be fans of the bad teams that hate this. This was supposed to generate excitement. Is anyone excited other than the players who want the bonus?

On the plus side for us, the Spurs have some time to recharge and get ready for the next third of the season before the all-star break. Let's hope they make the most of it.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

It's kind of lame. Maybe if a team wins that has no chance of getting the LOB that's kind of cool. All the talking heads have been propped up to talk about how great it is, but I don't hear fans getting hyped over it.

[benefactor]

Feels like it's been going on forever. And no I don't care at all

[Mikeanaro]

I dont understand that ¨tournament¨, missed the last 5 seasons excepting some finals and I dont care at all but as some said all those empty days make a dynamic sport like NBA look stupid.
Leave these meaningless ¨tournaments¨ for the offseason or something so bum teams can brag they won something.

[TekXX]

The media is more hyped about this shit than the fans are. The Spurs are getting a break so it's fine

[Seventyniner]

I think the IST will gain cachet over the years. The NBA might even put a second one in, maybe in Jan/Feb.

I have to give the league credit for trying. Even if the IST hasn't been enough to get over the early season doldrums, it's a step in the right direction imo.

[spurs10]

Yeah the timing of this and the many days off is not good for fans of the losing teams. I personally don't care if an already rich athlete gets a huge bonus while the fans get to watch paint dry. I am also very unexcited that we are playing the #1 team in the West upon our return. The Bulls maybe?

[exstatic]

The media is more hyped about this shit than the fans are. The Spurs are getting a break so it's fine

Actually, team’s that didn’t make the 8 final teams have two games added to their schedule to round it out to 82 games. Ours were @ Minnesota and Chicago here.

[Dex]

I guess they will revise and streamline it going forward, but having all these off days early in the season is frustrating. It can't just be fans of the bad teams that hate this. This was supposed to generate excitement. Is anyone excited other than the players who want the bonus?

On the plus side for us, the Spurs have some time to recharge and get ready for the next third of the season before the all-star break. Let's hope they make the most of it.

I couldn't even tell you who is even in the Semis or whatever so, yeah....who gives a shit? Unless your team is in, it's just an asterisk on the season.

I'm sure the team appreciates the rest but it sucks going this long without a game, and that's saying a lot considering how painful our games have been.

[Fireball]

I think the tournament is fine. Still think they could squeeze in other regular season games so that we do not have these long droughts though.

[Obstructed_View]

Actually, team’s that didn’t make the 8 final teams have two games added to their schedule to round it out to 82 games. Ours were @ Minnesota and Chicago here.
They do get a break in time, which is probably good for a team that needs practice.

I know it's bad for us since the Spurs are bad, but if the Spurs were title contenders, I would dislike this even more than I disliked all-star weekend.

[Obstructed_View]

I think the tournament is fine. Still think they could squeeze in other regular season games so that we do not have these long droughts though.
Yeah, maybe having the whole week set aside at a neutral site and seeding the non-participating teams to play out their schedule.

[exstatic]

Yeah, maybe having the whole week set aside at a neutral site and seeding the non-participating teams to play out their schedule.

Not sure exactly what you meant by that, but when we missed making the final 8, the Wednesday Minnesota and Friday Chicago games were added to the schedule in lieu of any Vegas games.

[Obstructed_View]

Not sure exactly what you meant by that, but when we missed making the final 8, the Wednesday Minnesota and Friday Chicago games were added to the schedule in lieu of any Vegas games.
Understood. My suggestion was more to allow there not to be such huge gaps in the schedule. I guess they have to manufacture a sense of anticipation.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

I'd do a single elimination tournament, NCAA style, involving all 30 teams (too bad there aren't 32).

[exstatic]

Understood. My suggestion was more to allow there not to be such huge gaps in the schedule. I guess they have to manufacture a sense of anticipation.

I think they needed a wide window for the non-Vegas games, because they didn't know what the matchups would be, and what open dates would be available at each venue.

[timtonymanu]

That’s the Adam silver nba for you. All about the gimmicks for the little kids to enjoy that make them think “man he’s a good commissioner,” but can’t do damage control when needed (cough Draymond).

[Chinook]

Apparently, I'm in the minority at least among vocal fans. But I've enjoyed the tournament. Yes, they need to basically stop the year to have it, have it happen quickly, and have a plan for getting eliminated teams to play games more frequently. I think they were really nervous about how to fit it into a set schedule. It would work much better with the dissolution of conferences or at least stop worrying about constraining how often teams can play each other.

For example:

32 teams (because expansion is going to happen) can play each other twice, home and home -- 62 games for each team.

Have a tournament (four groups, round robin group play, break into quarter-finals with top 2 from each group). That would make 7 to 10 games for each team. Play consolation matches (as well as third-place matches) to push it up to 10 games. -- 10 games for each team, 72 games for the season.

Increase the number of games played against division opponents to four. That's another four games (since divisions would be four teams instead of five) -- 6 per team and 78 total.

Rotate another division to play an extra game each season -- four games added and 82 games total.

By far the hardest thing to account for would be consolation matches. From a pure scheduling perspective, that's not that hard to do. Quarters losers can get two other losers, semis losers get a bronze match. Non-qualifying teams can get home slots based on a priority system where different teams start off with different priority levels for each day. Teams would have to have the entire block available to pick their games, but we're just talking about like a week's worth of games here. It would be dicey for LAL and LAC, but every other team should be fine. All ten games can get done in three or four weeks at the most. November will be a slower month in terms of total games played, but that's a good thing for a league who's trying to sell the package to national stations anyway.

[rjv]

i've enjoyed it more than i thought i would; it's the only time we get to see a one and done, NCAA-like, level of competition. i actually think the rest could prove beneficial to the spurs. devin gets more time to heal and wemby gets some much needed rest. spurs could also use as much practice time as possible. the games have been pretty entertaining as well.

[Obstructed_View]

I think they needed a wide window for the non-Vegas games, because they didn't know what the matchups would be, and what open dates would be available at each venue.
Exactly that. Hence my suggestion to have the entire league play at neutral sites and schedule the non-tournament games on off days.

[z0sa]

Totally trash.

It should be a mini NFL playoffs, one game, win or go home. Gives bad teams a chance at stealing something superficially of worth and would increase the excitement 100 fold.

Whole thing should be done in two Fridays/Saturdays' time.

[baseline bum]

It's alright, but the floors are disasters. Can't believe there hasn't been a major injury on them yet given how much everyone is slipping and sliding on these tourney courts.

[exstatic]

Totally trash.

It should be a mini NFL playoffs, one game, win or go home. Gives bad teams a chance at stealing something superficially of worth and would increase the excitement 100 fold.

Whole thing should be done in two Fridays/Saturdays' time.

They modeled it after soccer.

[ismael-robert]

What we were watching was horrible so rather they practiced n bring us better products

[benefactor]

The other problem is you planned it during a very critical part in the college football season, which makes even more people not care about it. I don't know if anything can be done about the timing but a meaningless tournament shoehorned into a meaningful time for another very popular sport is never going to get the attention that you wanted to get

[Chinook]

Totally trash.

It should be a mini NFL playoffs, one game, win or go home. Gives bad teams a chance at stealing something superficially of worth and would increase the excitement 100 fold.

Whole thing should be done in two Fridays/Saturdays' time.

It's already like that. Group play is to create the bracket, which the NFL uses the regular season for.

[Robz4000]

If they did a March Madness style tournament I'd prolly be more interested tbh.

[z0sa]

It's already like that. Group play is to create the bracket, which the NFL uses the regular season for.

Then it's not already like that. There's weeks of (from a fan perspective) meaningless running up the score to get to any part of it that matters. That's the asinine part. Just jump forward to every game counting.

2nd thing is, "creating the bracket" just assures that the best teams play against eachother. It's a mini-playoff scenario without any tension of the playoffs. We already have the playoffs. The in-season tournament should have underdogs getting a chance at something, anything. Point differential and wins will always benefit the top of the league talent-wise. Sudden death from the very beginning means everyone must bring their A game every in-season tournament game. Isn't that the goal - to create excitement about the early season?

[KobesAchilles]

A couple days break from seeing this team getting blown out by 30 does my mentality good tbh. I love the Spurs but the product is hard to watch when all I want is for them to win lol

[Chinook]

Then it's not already like that. There's weeks of (from a fan perspective) meaningless running up the score to get to any part of it that matters. That's the asinine part. Just jump forward to every game counting.

2nd thing is, "creating the bracket" just assures that the best teams play against eachother. It's a mini-playoff scenario without any tension of the playoffs. We already have the playoffs. The in-season tournament should have underdogs getting a chance at something, anything. Point differential and wins will always benefit the top of the league talent-wise. Sudden death from the very beginning means everyone must bring their A game every in-season tournament game. Isn't that the goal - to create excitement about the early season?

Yes it is. The NFL takes 18 weeks to get to the knockout rounds. But the actual tournament is the same. The IST can't be any more like the NFL besides reseeding after every round.

[CGD]

I’ve actually liked it tbh. The Spurs could be the next Indy in a year or two, which helps build player confidence and gives the fan base some sense that a rebuild strategy is going in the right direction. There have also been some specific games that have been fun (Dallas-Houston, GSW-Kings come to mind), that feature the younger team making noise.

They’ll work out the scheduling kinks, and we still have to see if the NBA can make the Vegas things a spectacle. I think they will, or at least more so than the allstar game turd sandwich. It would also be fun if the outcome had some sort of impact on draft seeding, or some bonus use of cap space etc.

[The Truth #6]

The players seem to be playing harder. For a long season with too many games that feel like the players are sleepwalking through, the tournament has been successful in raising the competitiveness. That's a success even if the details of the tournament are debated.

[MannyIsGod]

The tournament is awesome. Y'all in here acting like anyone cares about pre Jan NBA basketball in the past. Who cares about off days. Hell the Spurs need off days.

[MannyIsGod]

The other problem is you planned it during a very critical part in the college football season, which makes even more people not care about it. I don't know if anything can be done about the timing but a meaningless tournament shoehorned into a meaningful time for another very popular sport is never going to get the attention that you wanted to get

Yeah it sucks when all those ist games conflicted with CFB games on Fridays and Tuesdays.


Lol.what?

[MannyIsGod]

I get that Spurs fans are miserable but there have been some intense games in fucking December!

This Lakers court is horrendous tho.

[baseline bum]

JFC the Suns just got screwed with the refs giving the Lakers a timeout when Reaves didn't have possession and the Suns were about to tie the game forcing the TO with 7 seconds left. Same shit, different day trying to play the Lakers.

[MannyIsGod]

JFC the Suns just got screwed with the refs giving the Lakers a timeout when Reaves didn't have possession and the Suns were about to tie the game forcing the TO with 7 seconds left. Same shit, different day trying to play the Lakers.

That call was so bad

[BacktoBasics]

This has been fun. Clearly teams are playing to win. I’m liking it.

[TrainOfThought5]

I guess they will revise and streamline it going forward, but having all these off days early in the season is frustrating. It can't just be fans of the bad teams that hate this. This was supposed to generate excitement. Is anyone excited other than the players who want the bonus?

On the plus side for us, the Spurs have some time to recharge and get ready for the next third of the season before the all-star break. Let's hope they make the most of it.

….. I think we have ample evidence of how bad of a team we are and how much we need to practice and tweak things. It’s honestly great for us this year. I hope we see a ready and and rejuvenated team coming out.

[Killakobe81]

JFC the Suns just got screwed with the refs giving the Lakers a timeout when Reaves didn't have possession and the Suns were about to tie the game forcing the TO with 7 seconds left. Same shit, different day trying to play the Lakers.

Relax
Star League…
Stars get the BOD
LeBron a superstar so he gets even more than that
Lucky for spur fan is you have a future superstar in a Few years he will get those same calls

[gambit1990]

Feels like it's been going on forever. And no I don't care at all
but you would if the spurs were in it.

[gambit1990]

It's alright, but the floors are disasters.
this 1000%. they look awful.

[Obstructed_View]

but you would if the spurs were in it.
As I mentioned earlier, if this were the Duncan Spurs I'm not sure I would like this. I would at least have watched the game.

[MI21]

Lol at anyone acting like November/December NBA basketball was so amazingly intense. The IST, for whatever reasons and motivations, has made the players try harder in those games which is a ridiculous statement given what they get paid, but it's true, so the product is better.

As a fan of a team, I don't think I would care much at all about the actual result of the tournament but as a fan of basketball in general, high intensity = better games, so why not?

[NASpurs]

If the Spurs aren't playing, I usually skip NBA games in general especially in December. So many fucking games that mean nothing for the most part of the season. At least with these IST games, I've been tuning in to watch some of these games.

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

Don't watch non Spurs games so who cares

[z0sa]

Yes it is. The NFL takes 18 weeks to get to the knockout rounds. But the actual tournament is the same. The IST can't be any more like the NFL besides reseeding after every round.

How can the actual tournament be the same when it's literally condensing the REGULAR season of the NFL into its format? I said NFL playoffs, man. Every game counts, every game does not count in the current iteration. It also is counter-intuitive to the players/honor system of basketball in that you want to run up the score on teams, even if you're winning by 15 with 3 minutes left you want it to be 25.

I feel it's honestly bad. I understand if you think not, but there's clearly a difference between the NFL playoffs and NFL regular season. Remove the condensed season and make it sudden death from the beginning

[scott]

It's alright, but the floors are disasters. Can't believe there hasn't been a major injury on them yet given how much everyone is slipping and sliding on these tourney courts.

This is it, not to mention the safety hazard created for anyone looking at the floor and potentially having long term damage to their eyesight.

[RC_Drunkford]

Adam Silver is trying to turn the NBA into soccer. First the play-in tournament and now the in-season tournament. Nobody gives a fuck

[BackHome]

I could care less about the tournament only teams I watch are my Spurs and only wish is for them to win the real Championship at the end of season. Also at this part of season most sports fans are into football more then any weird give you a cheap trophy

[Chinook]

Totally trash.

It should be a mini NFL playoffs, one game, win or go home. Gives bad teams a chance at stealing something superficially of worth and would increase the excitement 100 fold.

Whole thing should be done in two Fridays/Saturdays' time.


How can the actual tournament be the same when it's literally condensing the REGULAR season of the NFL into its format? I said NFL playoffs, man. Every game counts, every game does not count in the current iteration. It also is counter-intuitive to the players/honor system of basketball in that you want to run up the score on teams, even if you're winning by 15 with 3 minutes left you want it to be 25.

I feel it's honestly bad. I understand if you think not, but there's clearly a difference between the NFL playoffs and NFL regular season. Remove the condensed season and make it sudden death from the beginning

I'm responding to that definition for what "a mini NFL playoffs" means. You want just knock-out rounds. You're acting like the NFL post-season comes out of nowhere. Any tournament needs to set a bracket up somehow. The NFL does it with a regular season. FIBA tourneys do it with group play. The NFL playoffs is not independent from the regular season that establishes it. The IST is very different from the actual NBA playoffs because it is single-elimination. It's not meaningfully different from the NFL season, because both need to be set up. Are there ways to set a bracket without playing games? Yes, if it's completely random. But the NFL playoffs are not random. There's a lot of strategy built into the format, from seeding, to home field to byes. An NFL playoffs that was randomly generated wouldn't be as compelling. The same is true for a once-a-year IST. Single-elimination knockout rounds allows for teams to get hot at the right time, but the group play allows some quality control. As I said, it would be better if the IST were a completely self-contained event where group play happens quickly and with no games played in between. But I haven't seen a better way of organizing the tournament structure.

[Joseph Kony]

unless they rethink the prize so that it has some kind of real implication on the season, such as the winner getting a guaranteed playoff spot or maybe guaranteed homecourt in their conferences playoffs etc, then maybe i'd care about the end result. the IST has led to slightly better basketball so it's a win in that regard but that's basically what i keep hearing - the product is better but no one cares who wins or the outcome of the tournament

[Obstructed_View]

2 for 1 chalupas for the winning fanbase.

[R. DeMurre]

I've watched a ton of the IST games, and think they've been great. I think it'd be to cool to add one more reward-- an extra draft pick at the end of the first round for the eventual winners. This way, winning the tournament has real ramifications down the road, beyond the present. As it is, it's good for bragging rights, but other than that it doesn't have too much cred... like, no one's going to say an In Season championship is equivalent to half a regular championship or anything like that. But if winning the IST gets you an additional draft pick and that pick actually becomes a useful player, that could be a subtle enough variance that puts a team over the top in terms of winning a real championship.

[tim_duncan_fan]

On the bright side, this team desperately needs the available practice time.

On the other hand, the team probably isn't practicing hard/preparing properly anyway, so time off likely won't matter.

[gambit1990]

Adam Silver is trying to turn the NBA into soccer. First the play-in tournament and now the in-season tournament. Nobody gives a fuck
it makes things more exciting / interesting tbh.

teams have more to play for / play harder. that's not even a subjective opinion.

[RC_Drunkford]

it makes things more exciting / interesting tbh.

teams have more to play for / play harder. that's not even a subjective opinion.

it also means more games = more money. That's exactly why these things were added to soccer.

[Pauleta14]

Adam Silver is trying to turn the NBA into soccer. First the play-in tournament and now the in-season tournament. Nobody gives a fuck

great comparison

only pb is that 99% of soccer fans and players hate the absurd scheduling and number of diff competitions…

[Obstructed_View]

I've watched a ton of the IST games, and think they've been great. I think it'd be to cool to add one more reward-- an extra draft pick at the end of the first round for the eventual winners. This way, winning the tournament has real ramifications down the road, beyond the present. As it is, it's good for bragging rights, but other than that it doesn't have too much cred... like, no one's going to say an In Season championship is equivalent to half a regular championship or anything like that. But if winning the IST gets you an additional draft pick and that pick actually becomes a useful player, that could be a subtle enough variance that puts a team over the top in terms of winning a real championship.
Hey, let's reward the NBA champs with a couple of extra draft picks and just turn the league back into the 1960s version where the Celtics just bought up everyone else's talent so they could win every year!

[taps]

As I mentioned earlier, if this were the Duncan Spurs I'm not sure I would like this. I would at least have watched the game.

All I can think of. Well, Timmy’s potential comments after a year of winning the IBS but losing in the 3rd+ round of the playoffs.

[Darth_Pelican]

No one in this country cares about the NBA until football season ends. Hell, most don't care about the regular season at all. This tournament was an attempt to draw interest in the NBA in November/December. Based on the crowds and the player effort in these games, they do seem to care. I've enjoyed the tournament mostly because my team has made a deep run all the way to the semifinals. I probably wouldn't have paid much attention otherwise. European soccer has several cups with a similar format in the middle of their regular seasons. I guess the NBA wants a more global approach.

[stnick2261]

Have a tournament (four groups, round robin group play, break into quarter-finals with top 2 from each group). That would make 7 to 10 games for each team. Play consolation matches (as well as third-place matches) to push it up to 10 games.


unless they rethink the prize so that it has some kind of real implication on the season

I'd like to see the league change the prize so the people of any given city has a real reason to root for the local team. Like have each team partner with a local food bank.

If they were to expand to 32 teams (which would be great) and changed the IST to have 10 games for each team. That would be 160 games with a winner and loser for each game. Give $5k to the loser's food bank and $10k for the winner's food bank for every game. Even the worst team's city food bank would get $50k right before Christmas. That's a total of $2.4mil. Give the overall winning team's food bank $1mil and the runner up's food bank $600k. That would bring the total to $4mil.

That is pocket change for the NBA. It would genuinely make a significant change in the cities. And a charity like that is completely non-controversial and non-political. It would really make everyone happy.

[R. DeMurre]

Hey, let's reward the NBA champs with a couple of extra draft picks and just turn the league back into the 1960s version where the Celtics just bought up everyone else's talent so they could win every year!


Pretty big difference between one pick at #31 and a "couple of extra draft picks."

[Obstructed_View]

Pretty big difference between one pick at #31 and a "couple of extra draft picks."
It's exactly the same thing, just to a different degree. Both are absurd.

[Chinook]

I'd like to see the league change the prize so the people of any given city has a real reason to root for the local team. Like have each team partner with a local food bank.

If they were to expand to 32 teams (which would be great) and changed the IST to have 10 games for each team. That would be 160 games with a winner and loser for each game. Give $5k to the loser's food bank and $10k for the winner's food bank for every game. Even the worst team's city food bank would get $50k right before Christmas. That's a total of $2.4mil. Give the overall winning team's food bank $1mil and the runner up's food bank $600k. That would bring the total to $4mil.

That is pocket change for the NBA. It would genuinely make a significant change in the cities. And a charity like that is completely non-controversial and non-political. It would really make everyone happy.

With the way they're trying to integrate the IST with City Edition jerseys, that actually seems like a really good idea. In fact, I feel like I haven't seen much in the way of NBA Cares stuff in a while. It kinda seems like an obvious way to earn goodwill. Combine it with donation drives and sponsored donations, and it seems like a winner to me.

[Chinook]

Pretty big difference between one pick at #31 and a "couple of extra draft picks."

Yeah, the NBA badly needs a comp pick system. I don't like it as a reward for the IST, as players aren't going to play hard for the prize of a player who could replace them. But complaining about second-round picks feels ridiculous. We're at the point where the league should be considering adding back a third round. Getting more picks in circulation just make sense.

[Dex]

2 for 1 chalupas for the winning fanbase.

Give me some Whataburger coupons and you've piqued my interest

[Dex]

The tournament itself is a joke in my opinion.

The only real reward is the cash prize...which is great for the end of the bench guys but probably doesn't matter to the starts on $200M contracts and additional sponsorships and actually win the games.

Do you think any of these guys are going to go about bragging about "Hey, we won the NBA Cup!" when they still have two-thirds of a season left to play?

But, it does seem to be drumming up interest in the NBA in a time when it's usually dead because everyone is watching football and busy with the holidays, so...I expect it will continue and grow.

Please just get rid of the god-awful courts.

[SAGirl]

Seems like a gimmick that I don’t get the hang of. I am still just watching games I would have watched anyways. I suppose that if I was rooting for some team with a chance maybe I’d care more, but as it is it just feels like some gimmick that I don’t care about. An NCAA match madness type thing maybe would have some additional excitement but to be frank I don’t think so. What’s the point of it? Only the pursuit of an NBA championship matters.

[benefactor]

Seems like a gimmick that I don’t get the hang of. I am still just watching games I would have watched anyways. I suppose that if I was rooting for some team with a chance maybe I’d care more, but as it is it just feels like some gimmick that I don’t care about. An NCAA match madness type thing maybe would have some additional excitement but to be frank I don’t think so. What’s the point of it? Only the pursuit of an NBA championship matters.
It's to generate interest during football season. Even if the Spurs were in it, winning it would not matter to me. It's absolutely meaningless. I'd watch because the Spurs were playing, just like any other game.

[JeffDuncan]

Seems like a gimmick that I don’t get the hang of. I am still just watching games I would have watched anyways. I suppose that if I was rooting for some team with a chance maybe I’d care more, but as it is it just feels like some gimmick that I don’t care about. An NCAA match madness type thing maybe would have some additional excitement but to be frank I don’t think so. What’s the point of it? Only the pursuit of an NBA championship matters.


The TV contract is very important to the NBA. The IST gives the TV people something special to promote, and to talk about. The TV people like that much better than trying to promote only the typical regular season games.

Also merchandise sales. Also higher attendance for teams in the tournament.

The NBA doesn’t care if you want it. They care if the TV networks, merchandise sellers, and ticket sellers want it. Oh yeah, and the gambling industry.