I would honestly like to see the NBA tournament be inter conference instead.Base seeding off who finished higher and randomize the draw. There would be 6 pots of 5 with seeding determined based on last season's regular season standing. There are 6 groups of 5
Pot 1
Bucks
Boston
Philly
Denver
Memphis
Pot 2
Cleveland
Sacramento
Knicks
Suns
Nets
Pot 3:
Miami
Clippers
GSW
Lakers
Minnesota
Pot 4:
Pelicans
Atlanta
Toronto
Chicago
OKC
Pot 5:
Dallas
Utah
Indiana
Washington
Orlando
Pot 6:
Detroit
Spurs
Houston
Charlotte
Portland
Ok soo making a random group
Denver
Nets
Lakers
Toronto
Washington
Spurs
Each team plays each other home and away a regulation win is 3 pts an OT win is 2pts and any loss is 0pts. Top 2 teams in each group and the best 4 3rd place teams qualify for the knockout round.
Knockout rounds are a home and away with higher aggregate score(no away points )to determine the winner with the final 4 being a tournament weekend like Euroleague. Teams who faced each other won't play each other in the knockout round until the final 4 and all matchups are randomized with the higher seed playing home first.Last season's playoff champions will host the final 4 meaning Denver will host the finals. The champ is also guaranteed the 10th overall pick in addition to their current pick which cannot be traded at all
The bottom 14 teams play a single knockout round and the winner of the bottom path is guaranteed a top 3 pick. Knockout rounds are the This incentives the bottom path teams to take this seriously. Teams who trade their picks still have a shot at a top 3 pick which cannot be traded. This means that a team could in theory have a shot at 2 top 3 picks.
What do you think? And how do you think that group would end up.
I disagree with the whole FIBA/FIFA world cup format as far as group play and then later knockout rounds. I also find the mixing of group play with regular seasons games confusing as hell. They should instead model this after March Madness. A completely single elimination tournament will be more exciting, where any team can go on a Cinderella run. And if fan engagement is what they want earlier in the season, the biggest way to do that is to make it interactive for fans and potentially worth something for them as well. A March Madness format could mean NBA Cup brackets to fill out. It could mean office pools. I mean, people who don't watch college basketball all year will fill out brackets and watch simply because it's fun to see how well they do and maybe turn $5 into a few hundred at the office. If the NBA expands to 32 teams, then that format becomes much easier. Should have waited until then in my opinion.