Three changes that could come for the NBA In-Season Tournament next year
What will change for the NBA In-Season Tournament next year? The courts
They were colorful, and in some cases, they looked like the players were playing on a computer-generated background.
- If nothing else, the NBA In-Season
Tournament courts drew your attention. You knew something was different. About the time Group Play was over, you realized those were the In-Season Tournament courts.
In remarks before Saturday’s final in Las Vegas, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that some changes will likely be made on the courts and teams will get more input. This year’s version was “cookie-cutter,” and moving forward, teams will be able to have something more fitting to them.
They were colorful, and in some cases, they looked like the players were playing on a computer-generated background.
If nothing else, the NBA In-Season Tournament courts drew your attention. You knew something was different. About the time Group Play was over, you realized those were the In-Season Tournament courts.
In remarks before Saturday’s final in Las Vegas, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that some changes will likely be made on the courts and teams will get more input. This year’s version was “cookie-cutter,” and moving forward, teams will be able to have something more fitting to them.
Players were on board with the crazy courts, he said. It makes sense, this generation is the reason we have Oregon Ducks neon-green college football uniforms and the Maryland state flag on the helmet and basketball pants.
The only downside? Some courts were experiencing issues with players slipping, something Silver said “Obviously, we want to make sure the players have confidence in them and the type of paint used isn’t more slippery. I think we dealt with those issues, incidentally, but I want to make sure they are not a distraction.”
What will change for the NBA In-Season Tournament next year? The tiebreake
The biggest complaint from players and coaches was the tiebreaker. Teams that did not win their group play and were tied with other teams for a potential move to the Knockout Round, had to score more points in order to move on
That caused players to say it was “weird” or to lament that it hurt the integrity of the game. Unlike, say, referees who seem to make too many calls against a particular player.
“The point differential issue to break ties, again, that was a concept that is well known in international basketball and FIBA and Olympic competition,” Silver said in Vegas. “I’m not ready necessarily to move away from it, but if ultimately there’s going to be a sense, particularly from our American fans, that somehow it is an indication of poor sportsmanship, that’s not a good idea for us to be doing it.
“Maybe there’s some ways to tweak that where it only matters up to a certain point in terms of point differential. There’s some ways to experiment there.”
There were some great individual performances. Still, running up the score had made some players a tad uncomfortable.
What will change for the NBA In-Season Tournament next year? The scheduling
Teams that didn’t advance into the Knockout Round had to scramble to schedule games that changed because they were playing teams that did advance.
“That for the teams that did not advance to the knockout stage, then have to essentially schedule games at the last minute,” Silver said. “I want to make sure we are being fair to them, their season-ticket holders. In some cases, the ability to sell tickets on short turnaround. So we are looking at that data to see how much it affected their gate attendance.”
Even teams that advanced saw issues with scheduling. The New York Knicks, for example, will play the Milwaukee Bucks five times this season, one more than usual. Where that might hurt the Knicks is that they haven’t beaten the Bucks in eight straight games.
