Less Naps, More Hops: Tweaking The NBA Playoffs
The first round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs has been boring so far. Here’s how the NBA can fix that going forward.
We’re about halfway through the first round of the 2016 NBA Playoffs, and I haven’t gotten this much sleep since I finished pre-exam all-nighters during my college days.
Though the NBA rode high television ratings into the postseason, the first round of the has been, for the most part, a snoozefest. While the assumption is that the lower seeds will get trounced by the higher seeds en route to round two (with the battles between the fifth and sixth seeds providing a bit more tension), the reality has unfortunately borne out that way.
In the Eastern Conference, the Toronto Raptors have taken a 2-1 lead against the Indiana Pacers while the Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat are all up 2-0 on the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics and Charlotte Hornets, respectively.
Any possible upset hopes in this round were dashed when Avery Bradley (Celtics) went down with a hamstring injury in Game 1 against the Hawks, and Nicolas Batum (Hornets) re-sprained his ankle during Game 2 against the Heat. Both are expected to miss the remainder of the first round.
Oh, well. Maybe there’s hope in the Cavaliers/Pistons matchup. After all, the Pistons’ Stanley Johnson is using Jedi mind tricks.
The Western Conference is relatively healthier at this point, save the banged-up Memphis Grizzlies and the allegedly minor ankle/foot injury to Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Still, these series have edged out the East in terms of interest — but only by a small margin. Despite pockets of drama that have even coaches concerned:
and great sound bites:
The results are still trending along expectations. The San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers are 2-0 against the Grizz and Portland Trail Blazers, while the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Warriors both have a respective 2-1 lead over the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets.
We even got some on-court scuffles:
and a slew of technical fouls. Thank you, Western Conference, for spicing the first round up a tad.
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As commissioner Adam Silver keeps reminding us the NBA is, first and foremost, an entertainment product. The goal is to provide a robust experience for fans in the hopes that we will continue to shell out our hard-earned cash for tickets (or League Pass), team merchandise, and fantasy sports.
Thanks to subscription streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, and cord-cutting premium cable offerings like HBO Now and Showtime, the battle for a consumer’s time is even more limited. This battle is more pronounced now for the NBA, since baseball season has already begun and the NFL is still in its free agency period.
For those casual fans who tuned out once their preferred team failed to make the playoffs, the NBA must make an even more concerted effort to retain those who are still interested. The nature of playoff basketball is that it’s more physical but more spread out (fatigue dilutes the “product,” which is bad for business). Add to this an increased blowout potential in the first round and you have a recipe for receipts disaster.
What’s the league to do?
One farfetched solution would include a previously suggested idea: take the top 16 teams in the league, regardless of conference or division, and let that group advance to the playoffs.
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That wouldn’t have impacted this season much, as the top 16 teams actually made it into the playoffs. Still, it would be added incentive for other teams during the regular season, especially those who tend to be marginalized due to the Byzantine tiebreaker system.
The second part of this solution would be putting those 16 names into a hat, or bowl, or whatever, and having each team captain draw a name from the hat the day after the season ends. The drawn team is your playoff opponent for the first round, regardless of conference or division. This would shake up the status quo and also keep teams from becoming too complacent at the anticipation of a sweep.
Fans would be intrigued because of the mystery factor, and the best games wouldn’t necessarily occur until the second round and beyond. This solution would also keep coaches fresh, as they’d have limited time to game plan against a surprise foe.
More hoops habit: 2016 NBA Playoffs: The Deciding Factor In Each First Round Series
Even as the league grows in popularity, it still needs to be more creative when it comes to retaining the attention of casual fans. The NBA is known for its innovation; when it comes to the playoffs, it may be time to push those limits.