As we get ready for the All Star game, I thought I would answer the repetitive questions I get in email, that all end with “Can you do something about it”, with a blogof my suggestions of what I would do about “it”
1. If the Mavs finish second in their division, but have more wins than another division winner, we are seeded 4th, and that isnt fair. Can you do something about it ?
Of course its not fair. The best reason I can ascertain is that its there because its cuts down on the amount of travel that would have to take place if there were interdivision matchups. Remember when the Mavs had to play back to back playoff games in the first round ?
But thats not a good enough reason. The playoff schedule makers can take that into account. Just as they do TV matchups.
Here is the solution. First, any division winner qualifies for the playoffs. Its possible for a division record to not even have the 10th best record, let alone the eighth, so winning your division rewards you with a playoff spot.
Then there would be a seeding tie-breaker system. First Tie Breaker is 55 wins. Any teams that win 55 games are seeded in order of number of wins. If there are no teams that finished 2nd or lower in their division, then this tie-breaker does not apply and teams are seeded as they are now.
There are quite a few benefits. First, since the conferences play mostly a balanced schedule (all teams play each other the same number of times with only a couple exceptions), when there is at least onevery weak division with multiple teams struggling to win games, the other divisions feast on that division, creating a greater disparity in number of wins between conference leaders and increasing the likelihood that a 2nd and/or 3rd place team will have more wins than a division winner. When there is parity in the number of wins, this doesnt occur and the system can operate as is.
Of course, this approach also increases the intensity of games for contending teams. Trying to get that 2nd place by winning 55 or more games gives meaning to many more late season games. As does winning enough games as a division winner.
2. The All Star Voting is ridiculous. Its a world wide popularity contest with voters who never even see the players play voting.
Its not ridiculous, its the exact right idea, just not quite the right implementation. The NBA should and does want its fans to get involved. Voting for the all star team is a great way to do it. But as you might expect there is a better way. Here it is
Votes basically come in two forms, physical ballots which are handed out at the arenas and at partner locations and internet votes. Without question, we should reward the ballots more than the internet voter. These are the people who come to our games and support our partners. Who should get more cred than them ? No one.
Then we get to the internet voters. I think the internet voters should be seperated into domestic and international. Each is equal, but just as fans vote for their local players more often, international fans vote for their favorite countrymen more often.
So here is my suggestion just to make it work.
Seperate the 3.
Ballot voting
Domestic Internet Voting
International Internet Voting. (its not hard to seperate the two. Not perfect, but close enough)
Then take the average final voting position of each and select your all star team that way.
So if a player comes in 1st on ballot, 6th on domestic internet, 20th on international internet, they have a finishing total of 9. If 9 is the lowest for his position he starts. If not, who ever does have the lowest number starts.
Personally, i would prefer to multiply the ballot times two, but hey, change in the NBA is hard enough.
This would give our fans more power in their voting and reward those who come to the arena and watch on TV
3. This is in response to a future question i will get and really is the most shocking of all. Our eqiupment managers just told me that the NBA has ordered our suppliers to stop making the high tube socks that some of our players wear.
The NBA gets props for doing it now, rather than after the start of next season and fining players for wearing them, but my goodness. What is the point ? I dont get it.
Can we leave some harmless individuality in the game ?
Short and sweet:
1. The playoff seeding is ridiculous. Your method of solving the problem is equally ridiculous. why not throw away all of these tiny divisions and just pick the top eight teams for each conference by team record.
2. The All Star balloting is crazy also. There is no way in the world Yao Ming should have started the All Star game ahead of Shaq the two years that he did. Nor should a guy who has been injured most of the season before the All Star game be on the ballot. Let the fans vote on the reserves, and the starters be chosen by computer comparison of stats by position with one qualification – a player must have played in 75% of possible games.
3. The socks thing is absolutely ridiculous. It won’t be long before whole teams will have to wear the same sneakers, no head or wrist bands, no braces or tights. I thought the games were about the players. Some rules serve no real purpose. This is one of them. The commissioner is becoming way too controlling.
Comment by Ronald -
Short and sweet:
1. The playoff seeding is ridiculous. Your method of solving the problem is equally ridiculous. why not throw away all of these tiny divisions and just pick the top eight teams for each conference by team record.
2. The All Star balloting is crazy also. There is no way in the world Yao Ming should have started the All Star game ahead of Shaq the two years that he did. Nor should a guy who has been injured most of the season before the All Star game be on the ballot. Let the fans vote on the reserves, and the starters be chosen by computer comparison of stats by position with one qualification – a player must have played in 75% of possible games.
3. The socks thing is absolutely ridiculous. It won’t be long before whole teams will have to wear the same sneakers, no head or wrist bands, no braces or tights. I thought the games were about the players. Some rules serve no real purpose. This is one of them. The commissioner is becoming way too controlling.
Comment by Ronald -
“1. If the Mavs finish second in their division, but have more wins than another division winner, we are seeded 4th, and that isnt fair. Can you do something about it?”
Same as the NFL. Did the New England Patriots deserve a playoff spot this year with 6 losses in the weakest division? I guess playing the worthless Bills, Jets, and and Dolphins twice apiece makes them worthy. Yeah right.
Comment by monster man -
A comment for Robert Stevens, and then my own thoughts on the blog…
Robert, you compare the Mavericks to the Atlanta Braves? THANK YOU. Sure, they only won the world series once, but how many records do they now own? And how many of those phenominal players are going to be first ballot hall of famers? I can think of a half dozen off the top of my head. A streak like that doesn’t say they can’t win the big one. It says that that team manages to get the job done, whether the talent is grade A or not. And I’d argue that since 2000 or so, that has described the Mavericks very well.
As far as the entry goes, the only thing I could actually see the NBA doing would be re-seeding the teams after each round. This way when that bad 2 or 3 seed loses in the first round you don’t end up with a weird matchup, and having that higher seed means you’re probably playing an easier playoff schedule because you have more home games, AND because you’re guarenteed to be playing worse teams.
Comment by De "The Great" Clark -
for the slam dunk contest, shouldn’t there be something like a 1 point penalty for every missed dunk attempt?
Comment by joe -
Once again,
All in favor of nominating Robert Stevens for the “Just Shut Up” award, email Mike and Mike in the Morning ASAP!!!!!!!!!…………..
Comment by raf -
robert stevens is a dope. The Atlanta Braves won the World Series. The Mavericks will make it to the Finals this year unless Duncan gets healthy (not likely since he has degenerative foot condition) AND the Spurs get the #1 seed. If the Mavs can get home court throughout the playoffs they will win the championship this year.
Comment by Shake -
This is a bit of a non sequitur but I’ll note it in honor of Dirk Nowitzki’s 3-point contest victory ..
[Most researchers who have studied hot hands conclude the concept is a myth. The expert in this field is Cornell University psychology professor Thomas Gilovich. In a series of studies, he looked at records of shots from the floor by the Philadelphia 76ers, foul shots by the Boston Celtics, three-point shots in the All-Star contest and a shooting experiment with the Cornell college team. In each case, he concluded that “detailed analyses provided no evidence for a positive correlation between the outcomes of successive shots.”]
(Source: http://dailyspeculations.com/about%20us/archives/archieve/05-30-2002.htm)
Comment by John -
I don’t think your All-Star game voting solution would get better tv ratings than it does now. I’m sure Mr. Stern won’t change anything unless it somehow improves tv ratings. A meaningless game where no one wants to get hurt is a tough sell to the whole world unless the whole world has an equal right to pick who plays in the game.
Comment by Rob -
this is sad, of course the all-star game isnt about “who the people want to see”, its about rewarding those who have had a quality season up to that point. you want a popularity contest, stick to nba forum arguements. its called the all-star game for a reason. its not the how many oblivious to the game fans can blindly vote for players who dont deserve to be there game. yao ming? get real. cambys been nice, but even he has missed half the year so far. okur shouldve gotten the nod, if the voters had any true sense about them. the amount of games youve played up until the event should seriously count as well. i think if youve missed at least 65% of your teams games, then how exactly are you delivering an all-star performance??? cheerleading in pinstripe suits on the sidelines??? the game has clearly lost its novelty in recent years. as far as china is concerned, when it comes to basketball? theyre idiots. yao is an oft injured golem in the paint. at least ichiro backs up his legions of mindless all-star voters with unreal performance year in and year out.
Comment by Clayton -
How can I tell a fake nba all star jersey from a real one?
Comment by Monica -
I disagree completely with the All-Star Voting plan that you presented. First of all, I think that the internet voter is generally a more knowledgable and passionate voter than an in-game voter. I’ve been to games and seen people vote. Usually, its a bunch of people copying off of the one dude that’s pretending to be the guru. A lot of the fans are just people that got tickets from their company or their friends, and they just want to punch some chads for practice. The internet voter goes out of their way to vote. It’s always a premeditated plan.
I think that there should be no in-game voting. That way nobody just gets a ballot tossed in their lap. They always have to explicitly act if they want their vote to count. The in-game patrons can go online if they want to vote. If you really care, you will take the time.
There should be two types of votes, on-line and professional(coaches,players,etc). Each player should be ranked seperately by the two types, and then weighted together 50/50. So if Yao is the #1 Center in the West on-line and #5 by pros, he’ll get 6 points. If Camby is #3 on-line and #2 by pros. He’ll Get 5 points. Lowest score wins.
Also, its obviously unfair for a player to lose their All-Star position to someone who’s only played in 50% of their games.
What do you think?
Comment by Louis Dancier -
Wouldn’t it be much easier to just get rid of divisions? There is no point to them. Since the conference schedule is balanced, as you pointed out, what’s the point of a division? Wining your division doesn’t really mean you won the division, it just means you have the best record of others teams arbitrarily grouped with you.
It’s not like the NFL where schedules are weighted toward the divisions and divisions are regional for travel considerations.
Just have a conference and seed the teams 1-8 with the best record period.
Who wants a division winner in the playoffs if they have the 9th best record overall? They don’t deserve to be there.
Comment by Jay -
Mark,
Basketball fan in limbo here (used to like the Nets, can’t stand the fact they’re moving to NYC).
Under your international voting system would Canada be considered international then? I mean you have an entire country of Raptor and Steve Nash fans. No matter what Canada is getting the ole’ heave-ho.
j
Comment by Jay -
there is nothing right about the all-star voting, it is nothing more than a popularity contest, not who deserves it. mcgrady has NO right to be in the game PERIOD. he has missed 13(?) games and has played poorly and his team sucks. same goes for yao. yao especially shouldnt be in the game, he ahs done nothing worth even making consideration for the all star team. to be honest shaq also does deserve it, he has missed 18(?) games and is avg. less than 20 ppg and 9rpg. dirk does deserve to start, his stats prove it, his teams wins prove it and his clutch scring proves it. dont say dirk is soft (post #11) without saying mcgrady is soft to because he is. he constantly makes a big deal out of evry little ache and pain, he is a woose. PERIOD. chris paul should be on the roster rather than t-mac.
Comment by taylor -
I disagree with your All-Star voting ideas. The All-Star game IS a popularity contest. On purpose! Lets just get it out of everyone’s head right now that no player “should” be in the all star game; no player “should” start. If there was criteria on which it were based then there would be no need for voting! The fans get to see who they like the most in the game. Your ideas and a lot of others around the league can be summed up as anti-Chinese. So what if Yao gets the most votes? So what if he starts? So you and everyone else tries to think of any way you can to discount the Chinese fan. Its BS!
The other distinction you want to make is hand ballot versus internet vote. This is just plain wrong. NBA games have become so expensive now, that only upper middle class can sit in the average seat. This discrimination is based purely on socio-economic status. It has nothing to do with how big a fan you are. A LOT of ppl I see at games are not TRUE fans. Some are on dates, some are working business deals, others are there for the social scene. True fans could be those up in the nosebleed who can’t see shit but still go, but it could just as easily be the kid who watches every game at home with his worn-out dwayne wade jersey on.
Comment by Vic -
I have to agree with you on the All-Star voting. The way its a popularity contest where undeserving players get voted in is ridiculous.
Comment by HumanityCritic -
That the Mavs and Spurs are going to play in the semis isn’t the only problem with the seeding. Consider the playoff road the #5 seed is going to have, vs. the road the #6 and even #7 seeds will face. Wouldn’t you rather be the #6? This will happen pretty much every year, until this is fixed.
And don’t say that it doesn’t matter, you’ve got to be able to beat anyone in order to make the finals, anyway. The better teams should be rewarded with better playoff positioning, and a better chance at more playoff rounds.
As for the fix, I don’t like revolving everything around some arbitrary number of wins. Why not just award the three division winners and the best non-division winner as the 1-4 seeds, in order of record? Small change, but resolves the whole problem. You can even allow the higher seed home court, if you want.
Comment by Jonathan -
I agree with Luis’s comments that Robert Stevens is an idiot, and maybe even a jackass!
Comment by raf -
I agree with you on the all-star voting. It’s ridiculous seeing Yao Ming get more votes than Kobe.
Comment by college guy -
What about weighting yearly performance in some weight in addition to voting, maybe 30% performance, 70% voting)? there are plenty of players who will get votes and won’t make it, but certainly should based on their performance. this is a way of at least giving them a chance…in addition to Cuban’s suggestion of breaking up the voting!
Comment by Adam -
Mark,
I just want to give some props for the genius marketing strategy that you pulled over on the media with the whole Phil fiasco. Not only did you have a spat with the media darling Phil Jackson, but responding to his comments via your blog was amazing. I’d be interested to see the increase in hits that took place the day or two that the story ran and the percentage increase from before the story and to this blog.
It’s like what you said in your playboy interview, the media are a bunch of sharks, all you have to do is throw out some chum and they’ll be all over it.
That being said, I’m about finished up reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, how about writing a column on the novel one of these days. I’d be interested to read you’re full take on Ms. Rand’s novel, her philosophy, and also if you followed up with Atlas Shrugged?
I guess all those guys wearing the high tube socks will have to switch over to the new trend of wearing tights.
Comment by Tyler Yarnell -
1. Teach the players to knit their own socks. It’ll give them something to do on road trips.
2.All-Star voting: I like baseball stats guru Bill James’ idea. Each team would count as one precinct; mail ballots another, Internet another. So if somebody in Milwaukee wants to take the time to fill out four million ballots for Michael Redd, OK, he wins Milwaukee. Or six million for Kobe in L.A. or whoever. All the hometown heroes cancel themselves out, and the stars are decided by the top vote getter among “neutral” fans.
Comment by Ray Barrington -
One more thing:
Some %$@# asked about the Maverick success since Cuban took over? Let us examine this:
Source: http://www.boxscorebasketball.com/franchise.htm
Since 99-00 Season
Rank/Team/Wins/losses/GB
1 SAS 383-157
2 DAL 358-182 25
3 LAL 346-195 37 1/2
4 SAC 345-195 38
5 DET 322-218 61
6 MIN 322-218 61
7 IND 316-222 66
8 PHX 307-234 76 1/2
9 PHI 296-245 87 1/2
10 POR 293-246 89 1/2
Looks like the Lakers, even including their title run is over 12 games behind Dallas.
In fact, Dallas is #2 in every ranking from 99-00 on.
Comment by greg -
Something must be done about the playoff seeding. Even the Knicks announcers in last night Mavs game agreed about the injustice (for the league and fans) of a Spurs-Mavs second round match-up.
I say seed this way:
1st seed) Division winner w/best record
2nd seed) Division winner w/2nd best record
Then, the 3rd division winner is guaranteed to make the post-season and not necessarily the 3rd seed, and are seeded by WL%. So the Nuggets, for instance would be seeded 7th based on current standings.
This way when it ends up:
1. Dallas
2. Phoenix
3. San Antonio
4. LA Clippers
5. Memphis
6. New Orleans / OKC
7. Denver
8. LA Lakers
Round 2 Spurs would get Suns, and Spurs would get home court (presuming they maintain better WL%).
This would make Stern, me, and hopefully Mark all happy as the Mavs play Spurs in Western Conference finals as opposed to the semi-finals.
eeds 3-8 all get
Comment by greg -
Mark,
tell stern that if he wants fan involvement, then let us make some of these dress code decisions. Make it an internet vote.
Paul
Comment by PaulD -
oh i forgot to mention the socks…
can you imagine how white van horns legs are? you’ve got let players keep wearing the long socks…
Comment by Luis -
What’s up with all the whining in the comments?
Of course Yao isn’t the best player in the NBA. All-Star balloting isn’t about who the best player is; it’s about who the fans want to see most. And the fans have spoken.
One thing that you (Mark) didn’t bring up is that it’s much easier for a fan who votes on the internet to vote multiple times; whereas if you’re going to the games and voting, you won’t be able to do so as much. I would say balloting at arenas should count at least five times an internet vote. That being said, I think the All-Star team worked out fine this year.
Comment by Andrew Tseng -
let me start off by saying, robert stevens you are an idiot. hey everybody can put their comments on here, but come on, you sound like a 3 year old. you want to get under the mavs and cuban’s skin, come with some real facts and some opinions can be backed up. otherwise everybody will blow you off as an idiot. i bet you are a high schooler, probably a freshman. just a guess.
the all star voting does suck. i agree that the voting should be split in 3. but i think all of them should have equal value and only 50% value of the total vote. the other 50% should come from the coaches. the 3 ballots that represent the 50% should be averaged by each player’s ranking as mark suggested. that average ranking should then be averaged with the coaches. this i think will eliminate players who have not played the season because of injury. i think this should balance the team between players who are the most popular and the players who deserve to be there. since we are getting the coaches vote as we do already for reserves, we can determine the starters as well as the reserves by taking the BEST 15 players from each conference.
the playoff seeding should stay as is, but should be reseeded in round 2. When the mavs win the west this year, they will be no. 1. the rest will probably end as follows phoenix 2, denver 3 and the spurs 4. if all of those teams advance past round 1 then starting in round 2, the spurs would move up to the no. 2 spot (based on record) this would create 2nd round matchups of mavs vs. denver, phoenix vs spurs. the nba already allows teams with the best record to have home court advantage regardless of seeding after round one, this isnt much different.
my thoughts.
Comment by Luis -
Mark,
Piston fan here.
If I was a certain Western Conference NBA owner, who was internet savvy and had some extra coin in my pocket, I might be tempted to employ a group of “hackers” on the “down low” to stuff the internet ballots next year.
PS – Dampier & Daniels for Milicic & Arroyo
Dirk & Darko = “The Eastern Bloc”
Comment by M. Powell -
“high tube socks…What’s the point?”
While I’m sure it’s unrelated, I would point out that Dee Brown (college player at Illinois) had to stop wearing high tube socks as it was causing mild circulation problems (and leading to earlier exhaustion in his lower leg muscles). I’m not kidding.
Maybe the NBA recognized that this is a potential problem and decided to nip it in the bud… Or maybe they are just trying to be style police.
Comment by Westy -
I add a very simple proposal: Players who have been injured for a significant portion of the season should not be eligible for the All Star Game. Players should be put on the team based on their performance for the current year — if you were injured and didn’t play, you shouldn’t make the team.
Comment by Brett -
I love the idea of in-game voting being more heavily weighted than internet voting, but the international idea just doesn’t make sense. If you don’t like the international flavour, stop marketing into (and generating oodles of $$ from) those markets.
Also, how would Canada be counted? International, or local?
Comment by chris -
The international fans should probably get some of the same preferential treatment in the voting that Mark wants to give the ballot voters. After all, they never get the chance to attend the arenas, normally have to watch the games at odd times, but still spend money on clothes and are definitely an advertising target. And, the people here in the states that can’t afford too come to the games, but still buy all the NBA junk and watch all of the commercials should probably get the same weight to their internet votes, too. So, maybe we give all of the 2X the weight. The rich people that can afford to come but just don’t should only get the normal voting weight.
As for complaining that a #2 in a division shouldn’t be a #4 seed. If you don’t want to be a #4 seed, just win the division. You know going into the season what the consequences are of being #2. Suck it up and win the games you need to win in your division.
Comment by kalbzayn -
David Stern must love this idea, especially when he’s been trying to make the NBA a more international sport. I think giving less weight to an international voter is a stupid idea, it would make them feel less part of the NBA experience.
But one thing perhaps you could agree with me on, when a player is injured, can someone other than David Stern pick the replacement? surely a logical choice would be either the next highest player on the coaches ballot (or even the fans). You know Stern will just pick a player from a team without representation in the AllStar game.
Comment by Adam -
Anyone who thinks Yao Ming is the best player in the NBA, raise your hand.
Because all-star voting seems to think so.
Even in 2003, Yao’s rookie year, he was voted the starter over Shaq, despite scoring half as much per game, averaging 4 fewer rebounds, and playing on a team with a significantly worse record. Anyone denying Yao gets votes simply because of China is delusional.
Comment by garthur -
Mark,
Interesting idea on giving lesser weight to an overseas fan’s vote, on the basis that he/she yields less revenue for the NBA.
I assume you’ll also be supporting a constitutional amendment to introduce weighting of an individual’s electoral vote in proportion to their income?
You’re usually very quick to cite statistics when it suits you. So, where are your numbers to back up your blanket assertion that overseas voters block vote for their own countrymen?
It doesn’t look like 40 million Spaniards stuffed the ballot to propel Pau Gasol to an all-star starting position.
Nor does it look like 80 million Germans did the same for your very own Dirk Diggler.
Until you can cite meaningful facts to support your case (which must be more than just one or two China-specific factoids), you’d do well to refrain from making sweeping, unsubstantiated statements.
Comment by Raefe "Spider" Browne -
Robert Stevens, your lack of information and inability to read is priceless. Mark whining about Dirk not starting? You couldn’t even comprehend the first paragraph of the blog.
Mark, I agree with chris stein, simply rewarding a divison champion a playoff slot seems fair enough. No need for a 55-win tiebreaker if we’re stacking them by winning percentage.
And I love tube socks too. Just what is wrong with the NBA’s dress code people?
Comment by Ryan Wells -
Mark, maybe the All-Star game should be 50 on 50, with 3 balls in play. That way, everyone’s favorite player will get some minutes and we can all be happy. Also, the slam dunk contest should go on 20 year hiatus. Maybe a free-throw shooting contest? And have the Internet vote for participants. Shaq would win hands down. Finally, I would like to see a spelling bee or a political debate as part of the All Star weekend. Or maybe a curling competition. Why should we have to wait four years between watching people toss stones and sweep ice?
Comment by Brad Hutchings -
Mark, you say that “international fans vote for their favorite countrymen more often”.
have you got some numbers to back this up? i recall seeing some numbers when the Yao v Shaq issue arose and they didn’t back up your assertion.
Comment by Max Powar -
First, I don’t understand the 55 win system. Why not just keep it simple? Stack the teams according to winning percentage and have a rule where there has to be at least one team representing each conference. So if a divisional leader is really that bad, then the team w/ the “next best” record gets knocked out. 2nd, I really like the “electoral” vote style all-star voting. And the tube sock thing, wtf? what next? the nba has everyone looking like lebron in those tights?
Comment by chris stein(not related to mark) -
You would need to remove the international internet voting. There is now way of proving that someone is from another country or not. This would be manipulated for sure. Aside from that, the idea that voting inside the arena gets more weight has merits.
Comment by David Andrew Taylor -
Mark I think you are wrong on the international votes thing. I happen to live in China (although I am from Brazil) and the NBA is huuuge here. It is a global thing and I have been in remotes part of the country and you can see guys sticking tongues out of their mouth like MJ when they go for a layup. Yao is a god here, people are fanatics. T-mac’s shoes sell more here than in the US (and ironically more than Yao’s shoes). The amount of money that is spent here with NBA gear is tremendous (truth be said there is a lot of counterfeit stuff that the NBA and its team do not get any money for it).
So, the international votes also indicate that some money has been spent. Maybe it’s not as much as you guys over in America going to the arenas are spending PER PERSON, but international fans still bring A LOT of revenue on a country basis.
This being said I think the fairest way is to weight the votes that a player get from his own country according to the population of the country.
China has 1.3 billion people. Germany has 60+ million. Perhaps a German vote should count more than a vote in China? In many countries elections are held on this basis.
It will be difficult however to track precisely where the votes came from, so, no system is perfect but yes we could improve this whole thing.
The way it is today Yao will be a starter for life even if he plays like Sam Bowie through the rest of his career and that is extremely unfair to deserving players (just like Marcus Camby this year).
So there IS room for improvement. But your formula is fair from perfect as it ties your voting rights to revenue you contribute with, which to me from a public relations point of view is basically genocidal.
Comment by Henry Chinaski -
Just a note for the silly Mr. Stevens, the record to date is 21-7 (.750) against the current playoff slated teams including 6-1 against the top 4 (Detroit, San Antonio, Phoenix, Miami) Not bad against the top competition, is it?
Comment by Jon -
Two more additions to All-Star voting:
1) Disqualify players who haven’t played in enough games (say, 75% of their team’s games).
2) Separate PG from SG in the voting. Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady are NOT a starting backcourt. Take say… the top 1 PG, top 1 SG, and next two of either. Do the same for SF/PF — everyone knows these are NOT just “forwards”. I know we want the favorite players bar none, but would it be so bad to have 5 positions in the starting lineup, with room on the bench for anyone?
Comment by Brian Yennie -
I like the spirit of your 55 game rule, but how about a simpler rule:
Division winner gets 5 extra wins, then rank by record throughout.
Appy this to 2004-2005 season and you get: (actual seed awarded in parentheses)
1. Phoenix – 62+5 wins (1)
2. San Antonio – 59+5 wins (2)
3. Dallas – 58 wins (4)
4. Seattle – 52+5 wins (3)
Now check this out: under this system, Dallas and Seattle would have been playing for the #3 seed in the last week of the season. (Dallas won 100-96 but Seattle had already clinched their division).
NOTE: Look at 2005-2006. Dallas would have the #2 seed as of now, but they would only be 2 games ahead of Phoenix.
Comment by Brian Yennie -
The Association has better things to do than police socks. Will they next dictate appropriate hair styles for Steve Nash and Chris Kaman? Or the amount of tattoos?
As for All Star balloting, the NBA should weight the arena ballots 60 or 75% of the total as a way of saying thanks for those fans. In a related comment, why not expand the rosters to 15 for the ASG? Or make it 20 and have a representative from each team (it’s not like players need to run for 25 or 30 minutes in the game). That way we can get deserving players like Chris Paul and Michael Redd in the game.
Comment by Andy -
That’s a great idea for the voting. I definitely think those that are paying the hundreds of dollars to come see a game or two should have more of a say than the fan across the ocean clicking a small button.
Comment by Alex -
I definitely like your ideas, you always seem to be full of them whether they are implemented or not.
Does the sock thing mean Dampier can no longer wear his high socks? Or just that he will have to go out and buy his own?
Comment by Zachary Gibson -
Did the NBA just hire the fashion police from the NFL?
(With the NFL season just ending, the timing seems right.)
I love the high tube socks.
Comment by bp -