The healthy player scratches

[BosnianChampion]

Not many. Perhaps there should be more.

I've proposed something like this before, but I'd like to see an 86-game schedule--4 games against each team in conference (4 * 14), and the current 2 against each in the opposing (2 * 15).

• Games would only be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday/Sunday.
• Back-to-backs would only be played at home;
  • If you're on the road, you only play once on the weekend, so only 10 teams would be at home on any given weekend.
• On average, teams would be playing 7 games every 14 days.
• It would take 25 weeks of games to play 86 games.
  • Add in a week for the all-star break, that's 26 weeks, or 6 months.

I'm sure there are logistical issues with something like this, but I think there would be value in something structured like this.

NICE! I think we are thinking similar, 87 games to play each team 3 times, no bad back to backs or 4 in 5 nights. I like adding one more week off earlier to make games in January a little better. Those always feel like bad quality games!

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Games would only be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday/Sunday.

That means a heck of a lot less press and exposure for teams. You can only fit in so many highlights per broadcast on shows like ESPN sports center, Blazers would get even less mention than they do now. The league wants games talked about every night of the week.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Not many. Perhaps there should be more.

I've proposed something like this before, but I'd like to see an 86-game schedule--4 games against each team in conference (4 * 14), and the current 2 against each in the opposing (2 * 15).

• Games would only be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday/Sunday.
• Back-to-backs would only be played at home;
  • If you're on the road, you only play once on the weekend, so only 10 teams would be at home on any given weekend.
• On average, teams would be playing 7 games every 14 days.
• It would take 25 weeks of games to play 86 games.
  • Add in a week for the all-star break, that's 26 weeks, or 6 months.

I'm sure there are logistical issues with something like this, but I think there would be value in something structured like this.

This is a great start. I'd propose two changes. First, keep the schedule at 82 games, for historical reasons (I know, that makes me sound like a baseball traditionalist - I'm not) AND because I doubt the players union would agree to an even longer (in terms of games) regular season schedule.

Second, make the schedule more compressed at the beginning of the season than at the end. Let the guys play all of their back to backs early in the year when they are fresh. Then space the games further apart over the second half of the season, Basically, no back to back of any kind after the all star break. It is during these last two months that teams start resting their veterans. So, why not give everybody more time off so they all get all the rest they need and are healthy and rested some playoff time?

Basically, move the start of the regular season up by a week or two, keep the current schedule density for the first half of the season and then gradually spread the games out as the season progresses. So, that by the time late March and April rolls around the frequency of games is getting closer and closer to what it becomes in the playoffs (no back to back games and frequently two days off between games).

BNM

 

[Nate]

Get rid of preseason. Simple.

 

[BonesJones]

How about no back to backs after the all-star break? Resting players usually doesn't become a problem to then.

Start the season around October 12th, and have the season slow down before playoffs. Simple.

That means more teams can get on national TV, and players wouldn't be rested (or wouldn't be rested as often).

 

[BosnianChampion]

How about no back to backs after the all-star break? Resting players usually doesn't become a problem to then.

Start the season around October 12th, and have the season slow down before playoffs. Simple.

That means more teams can get on national TV, and players wouldn't be rested (or wouldn't be rested as often).

The worst games are right before the all star game. Maybe give them the first week in January off instead, and let them rest?

 

[Boob-No-More]

How about no back to backs after the all-star break? Resting players usually doesn't become a problem to then.

Start the season around October 12th, and have the season slow down before playoffs. Simple.

That means more teams can get on national TV, and players wouldn't be rested (or wouldn't be rested as often).

Great minds think alike!

BNM

 

[BonesJones]

Great minds think alike!

BNM

I didn't read your post haha. Yup!

 

[BonesJones]

Not many. Perhaps there should be more.

I've proposed something like this before, but I'd like to see an 86-game schedule--4 games against each team in conference (4 * 14), and the current 2 against each in the opposing (2 * 15).

• Games would only be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday/Sunday.
• Back-to-backs would only be played at home;
  • If you're on the road, you only play once on the weekend, so only 10 teams would be at home on any given weekend.
• On average, teams would be playing 7 games every 14 days.
• It would take 25 weeks of games to play 86 games.
  • Add in a week for the all-star break, that's 26 weeks, or 6 months.

I'm sure there are logistical issues with something like this, but I think there would be value in something structured like this.

Competing with football would be a problem.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

That means a heck of a lot less press and exposure for teams. You can only fit in so many highlights per broadcast on shows like ESPN sports center, Blazers would get even less mention than they do now. The league wants games talked about every night of the week.

Would it? Or would the highlight shows adjust their coverage based on the availability of highlights? Would the day off between game nights allow for better build-up to the nights with games?

I'm firmly of the belief that the NFL benefits from the appointment-viewing style weekly schedule they created, and feel the NBA would probably benefit similarly with a schedule like that which I proposed.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Competing with football would be a problem.

They kind of already do, which is part of the reason that the first third of the NBA season is basically considered irrelevant. Would you think a different daily schedule would mitigate that issue? Maybe have their back-to-backs on Tuesdays/Wednesdays so they owned those days of the week even during football season, and play the other games on Fridays and Sundays (that day's a loss no matter what)? Or perhaps Monday/Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday?

 

[noknobs]

I think this will become a big issue at some point. That tv money comes from people who want Lebron, Steph, etc. Not glorified D league teams. Whether you think so or not, does anyone have suggestion on how to handle it?

The NBA should just try to schedule their national broadcasts, and team schedules, to only televise teams not in a back-to-back situation. Sometimes it would be unavoidable and teams can always rest their players but I think it would largely solve the problem.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

It's not a problem, let teams scratch healthy players. It's the natural solution to the 82 games problem.... but decrease the number of preseason games to 3 , and start the season when the 4th preseason game would normally be played.

 

[H.C.]

I personally believe home teams should be allowed to rest players, but road teams shouldn't. That way all fan's get to see players like LBJ play on their court.
Don't allow vets to play in a single game pre-season. Starting the regular season the night after that pre-season game.
Eliminate 4 days off.
Also if it's a national televised game, players may not rest.

 

[kjironman1]

Did you see an inferior product last night during the Blazers 2nd game of a back to back? And I'm not just saying that because the Blazers won. As a NBA fan do you notice a huge difference in the quality of play on the average back to back?

I sure don't. The biggest drop off I see in play is when a team returns home from a long road trip.

If the Blazers were sitting with 3-4 nagging injuries and were struggling i am betting yes we would be talking about an inferior product. The Heat are just now getting healthy and the Blazers have played through a few also. It's not just B2B games it's the overall length of season and coupling that with B2B games.

 

[KingSpeed]

I can't remember where but I just was reading an article about this. It pretty much said that during the regular season stars don't do a thing for ratings. TNT averages 2 million viewers a game. The NBA gets shit ratings during the regular season and the money the networks spent on NBA TV was for the playoffs.

What about the ABC Saturday Night showcases? Big games in which none of the stars play. It's really bad for the NBA when that happens.

 

[Haakzilla]

...could make a rule that only one healthy starter can rest per game though...that way you wouldn't have a game where 4 starters were sitting out

...this would lead Pop to start all of his bench players and then immediately call a time out to sub in the real starters -- I suppose it would have to be minutes based to determine the "starters"

 

[BosnianChampion]

What if you gave players a big bonus for playing 10 minutes in every arena? It would be percent of their salary so stars make more. Like 1% more?

 

[Voodoo]

Get rid of the allstar game altogether...the best players would rest during the break and honestly...the allstar game sucks. Give them an allstar medal in the mail and let them go to the beach. Maybe have the allstar game feature retired former allstars and celebrities but let NBA players in the middle of a season heal or work on their game at practice instead.

Wait, isn't this basically what already happens? I don't remember watching an all star game in recent memory in which players were actually playing real basketball.

HAHA Yeah with concussions it will be dead in 30 years anyway!

No, that's the players playing right now that will be dead, not the league itself unfortunately.

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Dan Patrick just said on his radio show that Michael Jordan played all 82 regular season games in 8 seasons during his career. Lebron has never done it.
A suggestion/solution they brought up on the show was that if a player sits out a road game, then he must also sit out a home game. That way there is the threat of losing season ticket holders, the team losing revenue.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Dan Patrick just said on his radio show that Michael Jordan played all 82 regular season games in 8 seasons during his career. Lebron has never done it.
A suggestion/solution they brought up on the show was that if a player sits out a road game, then he must also sit out a home game. That way there is the threat of losing season ticket holders, the team losing revenue.

Cav season ticket holders aren't going to give up their seats just because Lebron sat out a couple of regular season home games. That's silly.

 

[TBpup]

If teams are going to sit a player especially for a nationally televised game, then that player should be legitimately injured and needs more than one game off. If they sit for a national TV game, they have to sit out the next game as well.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

If the Blazers wrap up the 8th spot in the playoffs and there are a few games left in the regular season I'm fine if Lillard and/or Nurkic rest a game or two. 100% perfectly fine with it. Just like Golden State and Cav fans are 100% fine if their players sit a couple of games during the regular season. If the Blazers were in 1st or 2nd place in the WC and Lillard wants to sit out a game would anyone here have a problem with it? Really? We've seen how Lillard plays when he's banged up vs when he's rested.

And sorry, I'm just not feeling sorry for the poor TV networks because they don't have a star or two play in a few regular season games.

The players resting are the ones playing for deep runs in the playoffs. That's their focus. "I'm banged up and want to be my best for the playoffs so I'm going to sit out a game or two." That's the attitude I would want to see from my star player.

I want my team focused on doing everything they can to win in the playoffs, not about regular season TV ratings.

 

[TBpup]

^^ of course you want your team to be healthy and rested but in a massive TV game like the Spurs/Warriors where both teams sit down multiple stars, that not only hurts the network but is a disservice to the fans to paid to watch such a big game at inflated prices. The Blazers charge way more for a big game and if they did so and then as an organization chose to sit healthy players, at the very least, the home town fans should get a major refund.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

^^ of course you want your team to be healthy and rested but in a massive TV game like the Spurs/Warriors where both teams sit down multiple stars, that not only hurts the network but is a disservice to the fans to paid to watch such a big game at inflated prices. The Blazers charge way more for a big game and if they did so and then as an organization chose to sit healthy players, at the very least, the home town fans should get a major refund.

The NBA doesn't get "massive" ratings during the regular season. Games average 2 million viewers. This Spurs v Warriors game you're talking about got 2.19 million viewers. Maybe if all the stars played the ratings would have been 2.5 million.

FYI, 31 million people watched game 7 last year. So again, with the exception of Christmas there are no massive TV games during the regular season.

And fans buy tickets to see 2 teams play.

 

[BosnianChampion]

It shouldn't be illegal to rest players. But make the season more friendly so players want to play. Make a bonus that's tied to playing away against all teams, make back to backs go away, make the all star game after the season is over. Make defense less physical if players get hurt too much. But making players play because they are punished if not feels wrong.

 

[TBpup]

And fans buy tickets to see 2 teams play.

I would have to respectfully disagree with that part. Take LeBron off the Cavs team and their ticket sales go down. They are much less of a draw on the road as well so teams like the Blazers that charge a 'premium' for games when the Cavs come to town would see those prices fall dramatically because there would very few Cavs fans but tons coming to see LeBron.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

It shouldn't be illegal to rest players. But make the season more friendly so players want to play. Make a bonus that's tied to playing away against all teams, make back to backs go away, make the all star game after the season is over. Make defense less physical if players get hurt too much. But making players play because they are punished if not feels wrong.

It shouldn't be illegal to rest players, agreed, but players who choose not to play when they're perfectly capable of doing so should forfeit that game's check as a refund back to the paying customers who were denied the ability to watch them play. Let the players put their "rest" above their responsibility to perform the task for which they are compensated handsomely--that's fine. But let them sacrifice some of that compensation for that choice. If an understudy takes the place of a star on a broadway show, refunds are offered to the audience. If I'm unable to work and don't have PTO available, my pay is docked. I don't think these concepts are unreasonable to apply to healthy scratches.

 

[BosnianChampion]

It shouldn't be illegal to rest players, agreed, but players who choose not to play when they're perfectly capable of doing so should forfeit that game's check as a refund back to the paying customers who were denied the ability to watch them play. Let the players put their "rest" above their responsibility to perform the task for which they are compensated handsomely--that's fine. But let them sacrifice some of that compensation for that choice. If an understudy takes the place of a star on a broadway show, refunds are offered to the audience. If I'm unable to work and don't have PTO available, my pay is docked. I don't think these concepts are unreasonable to apply to healthy scratches.

Makes sense. Maybe then give players 3 games off 'PTO' to match employee 2 weeks off? After that they get no pay?

I still like giving a bonus for playing all arenas because it could be built into the contract like how making All-NBA and ASG let Dame get the super max contract. If you are a popular player, and make a lot of money, an extra 3 percent bonus for playing to all the fans should be a lot of money! For Dame that would be an extra $75,000... hmm maybe that's not so much for him!

 

[Trackjack]

These guys sign a very big contract to play. It is the same players tell people that they love the game. If your healthy take your ass out there and play. Players now are baby by there teams and it usually the high demand players that with huge contracts. That like me tilling my boss I am not coming to work because I am tired. I would properly be fire. That's why I like Dame he doesn't make excuses for not being out there every night he has to be serious be hurting if he not there.