We need one. I edited the Wikipedia page for the 2023 event the other day (also note the general page for it), so I'm mildly emotionally committed and might as well start the thread.
Here is our previous thread from July on the proposal and format evolution. I'll quote a few of the more interesting posts below.
BJ gives tonight's schedule:
I think the concept has tremendous potential. Right now, though, what sold the players and thus the union on it was that it involves only NBA teams, and doesn't add more games that they need to play (except solely for the Final). So I expect that to continue for a few years, until there's a general understanding / consensus that this is fun, and then we can put in the next CBA that (say) the regular season starts a week earlier, but we're going to add some tournament with net-new games, which involve teams from other leagues and stuff.
My only negative thought on the format right now is that the fact that there's a wildcard team from each conference means that it's not quite single-elimination, you can lose your group and still maybe advance.
On a more positive note: If there's a 3-way tie atop a group (each team 1-1 vs the others), it'll come down to point differential as to who advances, who is maybe through as the wildcard, and who is out. This means unlike any other NBA game ever, the teams have an incentive to win by as many points as humanly possible. That alone should add some amount of fun. Imagine a team starting a game on the final night of group play (Nov 28), knowing that they need to win by 25 in order to advance, or by 15 in order to finish 2nd and maybe advance. Any less than that and they still get the win in the standings, but they're out of the tournament. Tell me that won't be awesome.
Here is our previous thread from July on the proposal and format evolution. I'll quote a few of the more interesting posts below.
BJ gives tonight's schedule:
Love the time-staggered starts there, except for the last 2.
I think the concept has tremendous potential. Right now, though, what sold the players and thus the union on it was that it involves only NBA teams, and doesn't add more games that they need to play (except solely for the Final). So I expect that to continue for a few years, until there's a general understanding / consensus that this is fun, and then we can put in the next CBA that (say) the regular season starts a week earlier, but we're going to add some tournament with net-new games, which involve teams from other leagues and stuff.
My only negative thought on the format right now is that the fact that there's a wildcard team from each conference means that it's not quite single-elimination, you can lose your group and still maybe advance.
On a more positive note: If there's a 3-way tie atop a group (each team 1-1 vs the others), it'll come down to point differential as to who advances, who is maybe through as the wildcard, and who is out. This means unlike any other NBA game ever, the teams have an incentive to win by as many points as humanly possible. That alone should add some amount of fun. Imagine a team starting a game on the final night of group play (Nov 28), knowing that they need to win by 25 in order to advance, or by 15 in order to finish 2nd and maybe advance. Any less than that and they still get the win in the standings, but they're out of the tournament. Tell me that won't be awesome.
