Most causal fans don’t know what play in is

[FKAri]

There should be a bigger motivation getting into the playoffs and some kind of second playoff bracket for the 9-15 ranked "losers" where the one who wins this "losers playoff" has a bigger chance of getting the best draft picks or sth and where their regular season record counts/gives them some kind of advantage.

Because with all this tanking, it clearly takes away from the integrity of the game. It's ridiculous that some teams are trying to lose games/not win enough to get better picks. Specially at the end, some teams could have been in the playoffs if others didnt rest everyone or tried to lose on purpose against a direct opponent of those other teams trying to get in. It's understandable in their case in those circumstances, but they need to create a way where everyone wants to win even to get the best draft picks.

15 ?? OK I see what you mean though. It's hard because we want to avoid players/teams coasting but we also don't want tanking.

Now that you mention it I take back what I said earlier. You would want more teams in the playoffs but the only way I can see to avoid coasting then is to heavily reward the higher seeds. Maybe providing byes in the 1st or 2nd round?

[Nb1]

15 ?? OK I see what you mean though. It's hard because we want to avoid players/teams coasting but we also don't want tanking.

Now that you mention it I take back what I said earlier. You would want more teams in the playoffs but the only way I can see to avoid coasting then is to heavily reward the higher seeds. Maybe providing byes in the 1st or 2nd round?

I'm fine with going back to the usual playoff format that 1-8 from each conference play for the championship. The reward should maybe also be higher in the regular season and there should be some kind of reward to make the teams want to get in the playoffs even if they'd lose in the 1st round. Like Dallas this year, they knew they'd have no chance at the end so they understandably threw the games to get a pick instead of a play-in/1st round exit where they'd get nothing from it. Losing should never be more advantageous than winning.

But then, for the other ranked 9-15 "losers" in the rs of both conferences there should be something to motivate them to try to get in the playoffs and if not, to at least win the most games they can and why not in some kind of parallel "playoffs" where the winner gets the 1 draft pick or sth (the league, business, fans would also benefit from more games). Not saying teams would then not try to tank and go into this "losers" playoffs to get the 1st round pick, but i hate to see 10 teams out of 30 basically coasting and just sometimes spoiling some contender and other times just getting blown out because they want to get to the best draft picks anyway and they'll get the better % by losing.

In soccer, depending which leagues and how you're ranked the best 1-4 of each country go to the champions league and win more and more money the more they advance in that competition and money per wins too. The 5-8 (depends on the leagues ranking ofc, a shitty league only gets to send like 1 team) play the europa league, then the ones who didn't go through but also manage to win some games go to the conference league, etc. So there's always some kind of trophy and motivational additional money/reward you're playing for which makes no team want to lose. Every team wants to always win the most possible which makes all the games more interesting.

[FKAri]

I'm fine with going back to the usual playoff format that 1-8 from each conference play for the championship. The reward should maybe also be higher in the regular season and there should be some kind of reward to make the teams want to get in the playoffs even if they'd lose in the 1st round. Like Dallas this year, they knew they'd have no chance at the end so they understandably threw the games to get a pick instead of a play-in/1st round exit where they'd get nothing from it. Losing should never be more advantageous than winning.

But then, for the other ranked 9-15 "losers" in the rs of both conferences there should be something to motivate them to try to get in the playoffs and if not, to at least win the most games they can and why not in some kind of parallel "playoffs" where the winner gets the 1 draft pick or sth (the league, business, fans would also benefit from more games). Not saying teams would then not try to tank and go into this "losers" playoffs to get the 1st round pick, but i hate to see 10 teams out of 30 basically coasting and just sometimes spoiling some contender and other times just getting blown out because they want to get to the best draft picks anyway and they'll get the better % by losing.

In soccer, depending which leagues and how you're ranked the best 1-4 of each country go to the champions league and win more and more money the more they advance in that competition and money per wins too. The 5-8 (depends on the leagues ranking ofc, a shitty league only gets to send like 1 team) play the europa league, then the ones who didn't go through but also manage to win some games go to the conference league, etc. So there's always some kind of trophy and motivational additional money/reward you're playing for which makes no team want to lose. Every team wants to always win the most possible which makes all the games more interesting.

Agree for soccer. Also, in sports like baseball and football, you are more likely to have an upset. Once you're in the playoffs anything is possible so if teams are even close to making the playoffs they push for it. In basketball sneaking into the playoffs rarely amounts to anything other than a 1st round exit.

Regardless something needs to change. I don't think the current system or even the old system is/was good.

[WhiteKyrie]

Non casuals barely know or care. It’s stupid. And a needless reinvention of tradition, and the need to ball out in the regular season. It’s really, really dumb.

[FKAri]

Non casuals barely know or care. It’s stupid. And a needless reinvention of tradition, and the need to ball out in the regular season. It’s really, really dumb.

The tradition was shit too. But the play-ins aren't the answer imo. The NBA playoffs and/or regular season needed and still need a change. Too much tanking by teams that aren't good enough and too much coasting by the teams that are. The hope was that with play-ins it would incentivize some of these teams on the cut off to try to make it but I don't think it's working.

[Dbrog]

There should be a bigger motivation getting into the playoffs and some kind of second playoff bracket for the 9-15 ranked "losers" where the one who wins this "losers playoff" has a bigger chance of getting the best draft picks or sth and where their regular season record counts/gives them some kind of advantage.

Because with all this tanking, it clearly takes away from the integrity of the game. It's ridiculous that some teams are trying to lose games/not win enough to get better picks. Specially at the end, some teams could have been in the playoffs if others didnt rest everyone or tried to lose on purpose against a direct opponent of those other teams trying to get in. It's understandable in their case in those circumstances, but they need to create a way where everyone wants to win even to get the best draft picks.

Tanking isn't really even a great strategy now though. It used to guarantee you #1 pick, then went to 25% or around there. It's 14% now...those odds are quite awful my man