NBA 20/21 start pushed until at least Xmas

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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waiting until a vaccine or better fast testing makes a ton of sense in terms of getting fans in the doors
You also have the advantage of not going up against the NFL or even college football on several nights per week. The ratings on all of tonight’s sporting events are going to be fascinating to see. NFL vs NBA vs NHL vs U of Miami vs US Open semi’s .....all going on simultaneously. Poor MLB, MLS and WNBA who are also playing.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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Christmas Day is the earliest. MLK is more likely than Dec25. Feb is probably more likely than both.
I can't see this at all. You're dooming yourself to either a season of 40-50 games or another season ending 2 months late, engendering another late start.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Even Christmas sounds early if we're talking actual games. The Finals will end in mid-October — hard to imagine the Finalists will be willing/able to start ramping up for whole new season 4-5 weeks after that.

Some sort of Xmas exhibition game between teams that have been chilling out for a while — sure. Warriors v. Nets?
 
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ugmo33

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This could be a kind of convenient way for the NBA to shift the season more into the summer. With a later start they can avoid overlap with the NFL and take the summer primetime hours from MLB. I think Simmons has talked about this a lot.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Imagine if someone had told you early in the 2019 Finals, "a year and a half from now, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson will have only played five more NBA games combined."

What a fvcking year.
 

scottyno

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Dec 7, 2008
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Christmas always made sense to me once they decided they wanted to push the season back anyway. Give us 5 high quality matchups on a day where the sports world is already focused on the NBA.
 

j-man

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Dec 19, 2012
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i think what they need to do is

A add 2 new teams seattle Vegas move memphis or Minnesota to the east have 8 divisions with 4 teams
East Conf A Bos NY Philly DC
B TOR DET CHI Brooklyn
C INDY CLE Mil Minnesota OR MEMPHIS
D ATL MIA ORL CHA

West Conf A SA HOU DAL OKC
B MEM OR MINN NO SEA POR
C VEGAS UTAH DENVER PHOENIX
D LAL LAC SAC GS

B pay the owners like 82 games revenue but only play 60 games
play from Jan 3rd to may 15th reg season
start playoffs may 18th
start NBA finals no later then july 7th
NBA Draft between JULY 31 -aug 15th
 

IdiotKicker

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Nov 21, 2005
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I think a Christmas start would be great in perpetuity. Finals would be in the summer when there aren’t any other playoffs going on, it keeps the fall free for football, hockey, and baseball playoffs, and it also unclutters what is arguably the greatest stretch of sports in the year in the spring - as we go March Madness, Masters, NHL/NBA Playoffs (currently), opening day, Kentucky Derby - to get a little more balance throughout the year. Count me in for a Christmas start in the future.
 

riboflav

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I'm not sure the NBA wants its product on during the worst season of the year for tv ratings. It's arguably why its ratings haven't been good since the restart.
 

lovegtm

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benhogan

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Euclis20

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Yes, it's safe to say that's a minority opinion.

No clue why 82 games is so necessary here. The playoff picture is basically set 3/4 of the way through the season and (unlike in MLB and to a lesser extent the NFL) absolutely no one cares at all about NBA season total stats, just per game numbers.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Yes, it's safe to say that's a minority opinion.

No clue why 82 games is so necessary here. The playoff picture is basically set 3/4 of the way through the season and (unlike in MLB and to a lesser extent the NFL) absolutely no one cares at all about NBA season total stats, just per game numbers.
Except 73 wins, which no one’s gonna sniff anyway. :)

Edit: and 402 made threes.
 
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mauf

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Yes, it's safe to say that's a minority opinion.

No clue why 82 games is so necessary here. The playoff picture is basically set 3/4 of the way through the season and (unlike in MLB and to a lesser extent the NFL) absolutely no one cares at all about NBA season total stats, just per game numbers.
A 60-game season that ran from Christmas through June would be fine from a fan’s perspective, but would be less lucrative for players and owners than an 82-game season. Even if there are no fans in attendance in 2020-21, there’s likely some local TV money tied to the extra games, and they don’t want to set the precedent of a shorter season.
 

Royal Reader

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Sep 21, 2005
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Because if there's one thing this season has taught us, it is that the NBA regular season is Very Important. The people want more of it, it's great product, and it really matters for the postseason. Gotta have them 82 games.
Has it? The bubble was great content because you didn't have the worst eight teams who would be tanking, so all the western teams and all but one of the Eastern teams were essentially trying (even if the Nets weren't fielding their name players). Water down the schedule with a bunch of bad-to-start-with teams who are benching their best guys, and I don't imagine the end of the regular season being nearly as compelling.
 

nighthob

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A 60-game season that ran from Christmas through June would be fine from a fan’s perspective, but would be less lucrative for players and owners than an 82-game season. Even if there are no fans in attendance in 2020-21, there’s likely some local TV money tied to the extra games, and they don’t want to set the precedent of a shorter season.
There's a minimum number they need to reach to guarantee all that sweet TV money, I imagine that's the length of the season next year. Hopefully things return to some semblance of normal for '22.
 

lovegtm

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Has it? The bubble was great content because you didn't have the worst eight teams who would be tanking, so all the western teams and all but one of the Eastern teams were essentially trying (even if the Nets weren't fielding their name players). Water down the schedule with a bunch of bad-to-start-with teams who are benching their best guys, and I don't imagine the end of the regular season being nearly as compelling.
Sorry, I’ll use “/s” next time. The 82-game season is a useless, overly long joke.
 

luckiestman

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Jul 15, 2005
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I don’t mind 82 games. It’s something to watch if I have time. Why should there be fewer games? This isn’t the NFL where guys are getting wrecked playing only once a week.
 

nighthob

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I don’t mind 82 games. It’s something to watch if I have time. Why should there be fewer games? This isn’t the NFL where guys are getting wrecked playing only once a week.
Mostly because summer ratings suck and Covid-19 is unlikely to last long enough to shut in the population of America next August. So they're probably going to shorten next season to avoid abysmal summer TV ratings and then move to a Thanksgiving to Fourth of July schedule in '22. Hopefully the draft coming after free agency will also be a permanent thing.
 

luckiestman

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Mostly because summer ratings suck and Covid-19 is unlikely to last long enough to shut in the population of America next August. So they're probably going to shorten next season to avoid abysmal summer TV ratings and then move to a Thanksgiving to Fourth of July schedule in '22. Hopefully the draft coming after free agency will also be a permanent thing.

Next season, sure. I meant generally. Next season they could do something different.
 

NomarsFool

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I really like the every other game format of the bubble. I'd like to see them get rid of the stupid back to backs in the schedule. If that means some fewer games, that's fine - but that also means less money, so I don't think that will happen.
 

Sam Ray Not

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I really like the every other game format of the bubble. I'd like to see them get rid of the stupid back to backs in the schedule. If that means some fewer games, that's fine - but that also means less money, so I don't think that will happen.
IIRC, they’ve also discussed MLB-style series, which makes a lot of sense to me. At least within your conference, you could consolidate your four games to one home series and one away .
 

NoXInNixon

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IIRC, they’ve also discussed MLB-style series, which makes a lot of sense to me. At least within your conference, you could consolidate your four games to one home series and one away .
I don't like that idea. If an important player is injured for two weeks, he could miss the entire season series with Philly or Toronto, which could really matter for seeding.
 

NomarsFool

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It certainly is an opportunity to rethink the whole schedule also in terms of how often you play division, within conference, etc.