Hollinger: new Play-in Idea suggested for 8th Seed Playoffs

[alexcuse]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/ ... iem-100305

Excerpts:

Of late, momentum has gathered for a "play-in" tournament at the end of the season. Championed by Denver Nuggets VP of basketball operations Mark Warkentien during the most recent competition committee meeting at the All-Star break, the idea is to have the league's bottom-feeders meet in a brief season-end extravaganza, with one survivor advancing to the "real" playoffs afterward.

I like this idea for three reasons. First, it greatly reduces the incentive for bad teams to tank games in order to increase their lottery odds...<snip>...The second positive is that teams will do something more than just play out the string over the season's last six weeks...<snip>...Finally, it would eliminate the buyouts...<snip>

How would it work? A couple of different variations are possible, but the basic idea is to guarantee the first seven playoff spots to the teams with the best records, and then leave spot No. 8 up for grabs among the remaining clubs. No. 8 would play No. 15; No. 9 would play No. 14; No. 10 would play No. 13; and No. 11 and would play No. 12. The winners would face off in the semis the next day and the losers would go home. Then the two semifinal winners would meet for a postseason slot.

Do you think such a system would improve on the current playoffs system?

[MHZ]

That's just what I want - the playoffs to be even longer.

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

Why?

[ZCM93]

Bad move it would make it hard for the 1st seed to have to not play for a week or two. Alot of the 8th seeds would have a shot to upset the first seed which nobody wants to see after working all season to get the best reacord.

[aboveAverage]

That is a horrible idea.

[alexcuse]

If implemented for last season, then Phoenix would probably replace Utah as the 8th seed against Lakers.

[BooRadley]

It kinda makes sense, just to keep the competition going. 14 teams in the league are just throwing the towel in and their fans have nothing to root for. You play the regular season to determine seeding for all 30 teams, it could work.

[JordansBulls]

So why the hell would you have to play the team that is the 15th seed?

[An Unbiased Fan]

I'd rather see overall seeding from #1 to #16 regardless of conference.

[funkatron101]

I'd rather see overall seeding from #1 to #16 regardless of conference.

Yes. Eliminate conferences all together and restructure divisions. Then top 16 seeds advance.

East: Celts, Knicks, Nets, 76ers, Wizards, Raptors
Southeast: Bobcats, Hawks, Grizzlies, Heat, Magic, Hornets
Central: Cavs, Pistons, Pacers, Bulls, Bucks, Wolves
South: Rockets, Spurs, Mavs, Thunder, Suns, Nuggets
West: Jazz, Blazers, Kings, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers.

Geographically this would also solve a lot of travel problems.

[SolidSnake008]

I could go either way on this one....on one hand lets say a team that's currently out of the playoff picture starts to play great basketball and gets hot i would like to see a "play in" in that situation. The other side of that is if you're a not so good team in the eighth seed and you bust your A55 to get that seed it would be wrong for you to have a chance to lose it . Needless to say i think it would prove who deserves to get that last seed with only one game to play it could be intriguing.

[J-Ville Smoke]

This is a great idea.

Shorten the regular season by 2-4 games and let the bottom teams duke it out NCAA-style.

I know I would watch every one of those play-in games, and you all would too.

Hollinger's logic behind it is solid as well.

[Rupert Murdoch]

I'd rather see overall seeding from #1 to #16 regardless of conference.

You must be reading my thoughts. I'm tired of watching eastern conference teams that finish around .500 make the playoffs with ease while a 45 to 50 win team from the west gets left out. Just rank the best 16 teams and have them play each other.

[Nicky Nix Nook]

I'd rather see overall seeding from #1 to #16 regardless of conference.

Yes. Eliminate conferences all together and restructure divisions. Then top 16 seeds advance.

East: Celts, Knicks, Nets, 76ers, Wizards, Raptors
Southeast: Bobcats, Hawks, Grizzlies, Heat, Magic, Hornets
Central: Cavs, Pistons, Pacers, Bulls, Bucks, Wolves
South: Rockets, Spurs, Mavs, Thunder, Suns, Nuggets
West: Jazz, Blazers, Kings, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers.

Geographically this would also solve a lot of travel problems.

I like the idea AND this one here that I quoted. Both are better than the status quo

[Kosar86]

This is a great idea for a couple of reasons...

1) It allows a team to go on a small run and have a positive experience for their fans...especially young teams. If a team was young and struggled early but started to come on at the end, it gives them a chance to keep competing and earn a playoff spot.

2) It would stop complete selloffs of players during the season

3) it would only be 3 days long

[killbuckner]

I'd make it that the top 6 seeds automatically get in. Let me demonstrate with the Eastern conference

#1. Cleveland
#2. Orlando
#3. Atlanta
#4. Boston
#5. Toronto
#6. Bucks
----^ all in

#7 Chicago plays the winner of
#10 Philly vs #11 Washington

#8 Miami plays the winner of
#9 Charlotte vs #12 New York

Detroit, Indy, New Jersey left out.

To me this is great because the playoff seeding matters. Finishing 2nd is much better than finishing 3rd because of the chance you might be able to face a team like Philly or Washington instead of the Bucks. Finishing 6th is a lot better than Finishing 7th. Finishing 8th is a lot better than finishing 9th. It gives the regular season games a lot more meaning. And no one wants to see Detroit, Indy, and New Jersey play more games.

[killbuckner]

I really like how that worked. Lets look at the West with my method.

#1 Lakers
#2 Dallas
#3 Nuggets
#4 Utah
#5 Phoenix
#6 OKC
-------^ all in

#7 Spurs play the winner of
#10 New Orleans vs #11 Houston

#8 Portland plays the winner of
#9 Memphis vs #12 Clippers

Kings, Warriors, and Wolves OUT.
This could really work. And its just 2 extra games which would make the scheduling easier.

[Heat3]

dumb idea. won't stop teams from tanking. they'll just tank in the fake playoffs too. yet it will punish a team that would normally be the 8th seed by making their chance to make the real playoffs that much harder. imagine working your but off all year long, being the real #8, then get beat by a team that's been horrible all year at the very end.

why not have random seeds play each other in the playoffs? if playing well during the regular season isn't going to matter for the 8th seed then it shouldn't for the 1st. Top 8 get in, then random teams play each other. makes as much sense.

[Don Draper]

This is a great idea.

Shorten the regular season by 2-4 games and let the bottom teams duke it out NCAA-style.

I know I would watch every one of those play-in games, and you all would too.

Hollinger's logic behind it is solid as well.

I agree. Plus they need to make the lottery teams all have the same odds of getting the 1st pick.

[SuigintouEV]

I'd rather see overall seeding from #1 to #16 regardless of conference.

You must be reading my thoughts. I'm tired of watching eastern conference teams that finish around .500 make the playoffs with ease while a 45 to 50 win team from the west gets left out. Just rank the best 16 teams and have them play each other.

As a raps fan, I totally agree. It's so frustrating to have bad draft position just because we play in the east when a MUCH better team gets a higher pick. Just not fair.

However i'd be totally against this whole play-in idea. It's just.. pointless. Why let teams lose all season long then win 4 games in a row to make the playoffs where they're only gunna get owned badly anyways?