NBA Open Cup

[FootyLovin]

Looks like the NBA is starting their own Open Cup next year (article).

• The in-season tournament could arrive as soon as the 2023-24 season. The event will include pool-play games baked into the regular-season schedule starting in November -- with eight teams advancing to a single-elimination tournament in December. The Final Four will be held at a neutral site, with Las Vegas prominent in the discussion, sources said.
• Each in-season tournament game would count toward regular-season standings; the two finalists would ultimately play an 83rd game that would not count in the regular season. Winning players and coaches will earn additional prize money.

Not really sure what I think of this.

 

[twsj91]

Looks like the NBA is starting their own Open Cup next year (article).

• The in-season tournament could arrive as soon as the 2023-24 season. The event will include pool-play games baked into the regular-season schedule starting in November -- with eight teams advancing to a single-elimination tournament in December. The Final Four will be held at a neutral site, with Las Vegas prominent in the discussion, sources said.
• Each in-season tournament game would count toward regular-season standings; the two finalists would ultimately play an 83rd game that would not count in the regular season. Winning players and coaches will earn additional prize money.

Not really sure what I think of this.

I don't watch the nba, but I love this idea for American sports leagues that have an over abundance of regular season games. This gives every team a chance to win something and turns a relatively meaningless game into something important and competitive. It will give smaller teams the opportunity to have a playoff atmosphere for their fans and the owners get the gate receipts they desire. I think a lot of fans are going to complain about it in the beginning because its different, but once you have those first few buzzer beaters or the lesser teams in the league advancing it will have its own "magic" and "cupsets" like the FA Cup or US Open Cup.

Its a little weird that it gets tied into the regular season standings. Why not just decrease the regular season by X amount of games? Also curious how they'll draw the teams into groups. I assume geographically.

 

[Gotham Gator]

Interesting. Are they opening this up to non-NBA teams?

Do other countries already do something like this?

 

[adam]

I don't watch the nba, but I love this idea for American sports leagues that have an over abundance of regular season games. This gives every team a chance to win something and turns a relatively meaningless game into something important and competitive. It will give smaller teams the opportunity to have a playoff atmosphere for their fans and the owners get the gate receipts they desire. I think a lot of fans are going to complain about it in the beginning because its different, but once you have those first few buzzer beaters or the lesser teams in the league advancing it will have its own "magic" and "cupsets" like the FA Cup or US Open Cup.

Its a little weird that it gets tied into the regular season standings. Why not just decrease the regular season by X amount of games? Also curious how they'll draw the teams into groups. I assume geographically.

I think the reason they have to keep 82 games is the CBA. They probably will also have to reduce a preseason game from the 2 teams who make the final (my guess). Next CBA negotiations, maybe they change it. NBA season is too long as it is. And i know they want to put a limit on “rest games”, maybe making players ineligible for season awards if they take too many. All this will be in the new CBA.

 

[LionNYC]

Interesting. Are they opening this up to non-NBA teams?

Do other countries already do something like this?

Imagine if this tournament this starts with high school/AAU teams and then college teams then NBA G League teams then NBA teams similar to how the U.S. Open Cup goes with more professional teams starting later. That would be interesting but NBA would never do that...

 

[FootyLovin]

Imagine if this tournament this starts with high school/AAU teams and then college teams then NBA G League teams then NBA teams similar to how the U.S. Open Cup goes with more professional teams starting later. That would be interesting but NBA would never do that...

That would even fit in nicely with the new semi-pro status for college athletes coming up.

 

[gbservis]

Its a little weird that it gets tied into the regular season standings. Why not just decrease the regular season by X amount of games? Also curious how they'll draw the teams into groups. I assume geographically.

This was negotiated as part of the new CBA for the league. The players are already unhappy about how many games they have to play, the owners refuse to give up any games because it will reduce revenue. The compromise is this because all the teams keep playing even after they are knocked out to make sure every team still plays the same number of games to keep the owners happy. They had to make it so the games count for the regular season to ensure the teams would keep playing their starters in the games after they get knocked out so that fans would still come to the games.

Interesting. Are they opening this up to non-NBA teams?

Do other countries already do something like this?

It's just NBA teams, other than being a midseason knockout tournament it has no other similarities to soccer open cups.

European professional basketball leagues do operate similarly to their soccer counterparts. They have pro/rel systems, they have a basketball version of the champions league and some leagues have in-season cup tournaments that are more similar to cup tournaments in soccer than this new NBA tournament.

 

[mgarbowski]

The players are already unhappy about how many games they have to play, the owners refuse to give up any games because it will reduce revenue.

The league salary cap is directly tied to revenue. If revenue goes down, players will be paid less. Are the players on record wanting to lower the games played and revenue and salaries? If not, then it's not just the owners who are refusing to reduce games played.

 

[gbservis]

The league salary cap is directly tied to revenue. If revenue goes down, players will be paid less. Are the players on record wanting to lower the games played and revenue and salaries? If not, then it's not just the owners who are refusing to reduce games played.

Yes, many NBA players have been quoted saying they want a shorter season and feel the current length puts them at more risk for injuries. Teams have started regularly resting star players, sometimes even just throwing a game away to rest all their best players which screws over fans that pay money to go to a game only to find out all the stars they wanted to see are just sitting out. It's been a pretty constant topic of conversation the last 5 years or so in the NBA.

Most of the top NBA players make so much more money from their shoe deals and other endorsements as compared to their salaries that I think a considerable number of them would likely give up some salary to play fewer games.

 

[mgarbowski]

Yes, many NBA players have been quoted saying they want a shorter season and feel the current length puts them at more risk for injuries. Teams have started regularly resting star players, sometimes even just throwing a game away to rest all their best players which screws over fans that pay money to go to a game only to find out all the stars they wanted to see are just sitting out. It's been a pretty constant topic of conversation the last 5 years or so in the NBA.

Most of the top NBA players make so much more money from their shoe deals and other endorsements as compared to their salaries that I think a considerable number of them would likely give up some salary to play fewer games.

So you're assuming they're OK with the salary cap tradeoff but can't actually point to players saying that. I'm well aware of the complaints about the season length and the issue of players resting. I've never seen any explicit statement suggesting a shorter season it with reference to the salary cap and how it entails a tradeoff that players are willing to make. Everybody wants to live on Big Rock Candy Mountain. Until there is a union statement proposing fewer games, blaming the status quo on the owners is not accurate or fair.
Owners and players in every sport are aligned with each other to maximize revenue from fans. As they should be. But for reasons I cannot fathom many fans want to pretend that is not true and only blame greedy owners.

 

[Fantazma]

i would not say its Open cup. its more of a league cup where only the teams in the league can compete.

im surprised they are ok with this. i guess the play in tournament had good revenue and now want more single game knock out competition.

 

[Fantazma]

i dont get why there needs to be different uniforms or different court for the "cup tournament"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1648369485563281415

 

[twsj91]

i dont get why there needs to be different uniforms or different court for the "cup tournament"

https://twitter.com/x/status/1648369485563281415

Because money would be my guess

 

[Fantazma]

Because money would be my guess

But they do this already with throwback jerseys and other alternate jerseys. and even court changes. Not sure what they really meant by that comment.

We’ll see how they go about it

EDIT:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1648461496647843842

 

[mgarbowski]

I'm not currently enough of a basketball fan to have a sense of this so I'm asking active fans to weigh in:

Now that the Knicks won this tournament, on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is "Nobody cares at all because the tournament is fake and stupid" and 10 is "It's just as meaningful as an NBA title," how much satisfaction do Knick fans take in this achievement?

 

[FootyLovin]

I'm not currently enough of a basketball fan to have a sense of this so I'm asking active fans to weigh in:

Now that the Knicks won this tournament, on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is "Nobody cares at all because the tournament is fake and stupid" and 10 is "It's just as meaningful as an NBA title," how much satisfaction do Knick fans take in this achievement?

Didn't know they won. Used to be a die hard Knicks fan (season ticket holder 1998-2002). Boycotted NBA after the 2009 lockout and never went back. (This was also partly a convenient excuse to reclaim time from sports to put into my family.)

But with that as backdrop, for me this is stupid and contrived, especially as most of the games serve dual capacity for Cup and regular season. Knicks need to win an NBA title, last one in the year of my birth, 53 years ago.

 

[JayH]

I'm not currently enough of a basketball fan to have a sense of this so I'm asking active fans to weigh in:

Now that the Knicks won this tournament, on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is "Nobody cares at all because the tournament is fake and stupid" and 10 is "It's just as meaningful as an NBA title," how much satisfaction do Knick fans take in this achievement?

We had fun watching it and celebrated a little bit more than usual when we won, but emotion-wise in that moment it didn’t feel like a major accomplishment. And unlike other championships, I won’t ever think back on it as something special. I do think for the Knicks, there is some value in the experience as their goal is to win it all. And it also was an acknowledgement of the importance of a deeper bench of role players in key moments/games which was missing last season. If they win the championship this season, I would say the cup run contributed a fraction.

 

[FootyLovin]

We had fun watching it and celebrated a little bit more than usual when we won, but emotion-wise in that moment it didn’t feel like a major accomplishment. And unlike other championships, I won’t ever think back on it as something special. I do think for the Knicks, there is some value in the experience as their goal is to win it all. And it also was an acknowledgement of the importance of a deeper bench of role players in key moments/games which was missing last season. If they win the championship this season, I would say the cup run contributed a fraction.

That description makes it sound like those weird "cup" tournaments that some teams do in preseason with a few other teams. It's a tournament. It has a trophy. It feels good to win. But ultimately at year end no one will look back on it as meaningful.

 

[JayH]

That description makes it sound like those weird "cup" tournaments that some teams do in preseason with a few other teams. It's a tournament. It has a trophy. It feels good to win. But ultimately at year end no one will look back on it as meaningful.

I think they made the right decision (for a change) not to hang a banner even though the previous winners have. They have bigger aspirations and a cup win is not iconic or historic.

 

[FootyLovin]

God damn it is crazy how much the game has changed. I just looked at the Knicks roster just out of curiosity. Out of the 8 players logging the most minutes / game, wanna guess how many are throwing up at least 4 3PA per game?

Spoiler: Spoiler

All mother fuckin' 8!!!