Should there be LESS games in the NBA season?

games in a NBA season


  • Total voters
    8

metrocard

Legend
Most importantly, there's too much money in an 82-game season...so owners would be against this all the way which is why 82-game season will be here forever and I won't be surprised they push it to more games.

But looking at it from a health stand point.

Injuries are apart of the game. We've seen so many injuries this year, and I don't know if anyone has a great source where they can dig with the assurances of injuries that have been happening this year in comparison with previous years, but I believe it's been increasing. We're talking about players physically superior compared to the average players of 10-20-and 30 years ago. Game is not as physical as it use to be, but anytime it does get physical, players get hurt and eventually that injury will sit a player out for weeks or months or it can be severe. Sometimes it may happen out of no where like Derrick Rose. Those things you can't control. Injuries are apart of the game...

I grew up playing baseball...watching baseball with my grandfather, but as I got older, the entire format was boring to me. 162 games is way too many games especially in comparison to a 16 game playoff format to win the world series, that ratio just seemed off to me.

NFL, in the other hand; has beautiful format thus their popularity........but to their advantage their games are knockouts....not playoff series best of 5s or 7s....just one game and go home, thats where the difference is.

In Spain, they take winter break halves. Meaning, they play one half of the season in the fall and the other half in the spring. They play about 34 matches in total.

I believe personally that the NBA just needs 64 games. You spread these games out so teams can have enough time to rest and recover from previous games. I also believe no one watches all 82 games, probably 40-60 full games, and the rest highlights.

I rather see star players play at 100% than see a sluggish Melo take bad shots because he got hacked hard and the ref didn't call it, Melo is in a bad mood and goes in chuck mode.(still love Melo tho).

I love the NBA, it's my favorite league to follow and I'll still follow it if it went to 100 games.

I'm gonna add a poll to this.
 

knicksin60

Starter
Excellent thread! The NBA definitely needs to shorten their seasons.One of my favorite and most exciting seasons that I've watched was the 98-99 season,not only because the Knicks made it all the way to the NBA finals but because there was a certain thrill factor to it being only 50 games.You saw a Knicks team,that was really more talented than what their record showed, knock off a 1st seeded Miami Heat team.I believe that had that season been longer than what it was the Knicks would have not gotten hot at the right time to make the run that they did.

As entertaining as the NBA is, its seasons seem redundant and sluggish at times.Things don't start really picking up until the playoffs come around.You have teams that don't take the regular season that serious and only bring their A game in the postseason and teams that beat up on a lot of lesser talented teams in the regular season but get exposed in a seven game series.

The NBA regular season can be very predictable.It is rare that you see a surprise team come up out of nowhere and win 50 games.It pretty much is set in stone which teams are going to easily make it to the playoffs and which teams aren't.I don't care if teams like San Antonio Spurs and the OKC Thunder beat up on eachother during the regular season because most likely those teams will make it far in the playoffs and face eachother.Championships aren't really determined until mid May.

The regular season is something that is used to market teams and players in order to get fans of these teams and players to empty out their pockets for 6 months.If someone is just an NBA fan and not a fan of a particular team I think it is better for that person not to watch any NBA games until mid March.I feel that if the NBA season were shorter you wouldn't see teams like the Miami Heat sleep walk during the regular season but take their schedule a bit more serious.You would also see teams that are not that talented, but tend to be streaky, finish with a higher seed and even win a playoff round. These are a couple of benefits that the NBA could receive if they featured lesser games on their schedule.
 
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metrocard

Legend
Excellent thread! The NBA definitely needs to shorten their season.One of my favorite and most exciting seasons that I've watched was the 98-99 season,not only because the Knicks made it all the way to the NBA finals but because of there was a thrill factor to it being only 50 games.You saw a Knicks team,that was really more talented than what their record showed, knock off a 1st seeded Miami Heat team.I believe that had that season been longer than what it was the Knicks would of not gotten hot at the right time to make the run that they did.

As entertaining as the NBA its seasons seem redundant and sluggish at times.Things don't start really picking up until the playoffs come around.You have teams that don't take the regular season that serious and only bring their A game in the postseason and teams that beat up on a lot of lesser talented teams in the regular season but get exposed in a seven game series.

The NBA regular season can be very predictable.It is rare that you see a surprise team come up out of nowhere and win 50 games.It pretty much is set in stone which teams are going to easily make it to the playoffs and which teams aren't.I don't care if a team like the San Antonio Spurs and the OKC Thunder beat up on eachother during the regular season because most likely those teams will make it far in the playoffs and face eachother.Championships aren't really determined until mid May.

The regular season is something used to market teams so that fans can empty their pockets for 6 months.If someone is just an NBA fan and not a fan of a particular team I think it is better for them to not watch any NBA games until mid March.I feel that if the NBA season were shorter you wouldn't see teams like the Miami Heat sleep walk during the regular season but take their schedule a bit more serious.You would also see teams that are not that talented but tend to be streaky finish with a higher seed and even win a playoff round. These are a few benefits that the NBA could have if they had less games on their schedule.

Man, this was reply of the year, totally broke this topic down.

I totally forgot to mention that season, that was 3 years before I started following this team and I thought that season was just intense because the fight for the 8th was just a dramatic event to spectate.

Miami Heat sleeping walking is bad for basketball IMO, I mean it's great the guys stay active, but I feel it's important to play at your best at every competition, it's a win for the fans and the player himself because some of these players in this league don't know how really good they are. Quality basketball is something that should be delivered and I feel it's hard to do in 82 games.

I kinda get tired of seeing the Bobcats lose every game and you know Lakers are going to lose to every elite team in the league...these blow out could be less avoided and we could see more competitive match ups.
 

knicksin60

Starter
Man, this was reply of the year, totally broke this topic down.

I totally forgot to mention that season, that was 3 years before I started following this team and I thought that season was just intense because the fight for the 8th was just a dramatic event to spectate.

Miami Heat sleeping walking is bad for basketball IMO, I mean it's great the guys stay active, but I feel it's important to play at your best at every competition, it's a win for the fans and the player himself because some of these players in this league don't know how really good they are. Quality basketball is something that should be delivered and I feel it's hard to do in 82 games.

I kinda get tired of seeing the Bobcats lose every game and you know Lakers are going to lose to every elite team in the league...these blow out could be less avoided and we could see more competitive match ups.

I congratulate you for becoming a fan of the Knicks when they were struggling in the early 00's. Not many New Yorkers I know start showing interest in a team that is buried in the pits.

The 98-99 season was an interesting one. I remember how a lot of Knicks fans picked their team to win the NBA championship because they had just finished seeing Michael Jordan retire and saw GM Ernie Grunfeld add two solid players to the Knicks' roster in Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby.

The Knicks struggled throughout that season to stay above water. It seemed like in every game they were fighting for their life. I recall their being a game that they played very hard because they didn't want Van Gundy to get fired. Grunfeld was already gone by the middle of the season and the Knicks' playoff hopes were in jeopardy. But somehow they were able to sneak into the postseason by winning six of their last eight regular season games and once they were in the playoffs they just turned on a switch.

I hate watching today's NBA at times. Fans pay millions of dollars to watch their favorite players compete every night and are let down by soft, aloof and lackadasical effort from them. One main advantage that the NBA of yesterday had was that good teams played their best basketball from training camp until their season ended. The reason why Michael Jordan's Bulls won 72 games was because they treated each game like it was game 7 of the NBA finals. Players like Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Karl Malone knew that fans paid good money to see them perform at their highest level and they rarely took nights off because of it.

I feel that today's NBA is far from what it used to be. Players care more about controlling franchises than helping their team win, any fool with billions of dollars in his bank account can own a team, David Stern programs the officials to give superstars special treatment in order to make tons of money off of them, and there are teams that have no hope of being competitive in the next five years.

I really hope that whoever becomes the next commissioner can undo everything that is wrong with the NBA today. The league could use lesser games, eliminate a few teams, bring in a hard salary cap, improve their officiating and only allow people with true basketball knowledge to own franchises.Those things could make the game more fair and entertaining than how it is now and also bring in a decent amount of revenue.
 
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NYk_Reloaded718

★KNICKS-TAPE★
I don't think their should be more or less games, but i do feel their should be more games Live on TNT, ESPN etc etc for the smaller Market teams.

 
This is a business, one that is extremely fortunate for having grown men get paid millions to play a kids game, It's a remarkable feat to say the least. Shortening the season may alleviate injury concerns but there are a whole lot of people looking forward to their paychecks... as a shorter season means less money for the employees at the concession stands, janitors, security/ushers, arena staff, media personal, Modells, Sports Authority, etc...
 

Starks

Starter
From what we've seen in shortened seasons was arguably the most exciting basketball around. The stakes are higher and teams are much more engaged both physically and emotionally. The bottom line is that anything that takes dollars away from league revenue is guaranteed to be shot down. Supply and Demand would also probably make way for higher ticket prices-which is something I don't want to see happen. It's interesting though because a shorter season has many positives associated with it: Healthier players, less tanking?, better quality games, and more intensity.

When Basketball season is over I turn my sports boner over to the NY Mets. Yea the Mets suck and a hard to follow these days but the enormous length of the season is really what kills it. Baseball's long season is a big reason I think people seemed to have stopped caring about baseball, so that's a league where a shorter schedule could really help.
 

Weissenberg

Grid or Riot
@metro: the whole football system in Europe is much more complicated. Let's clear it up on the example of the Bundesliga (just because I ****ing love this competition). The league contains of 18 teams with the top six in the European zone and the bottom three in the drop zone (promotion-relegation system). Each team plays each opponent twice, at home and on road, which makes a season consist of 34 games. And here it gets complicated, because there is the Bundespokal which is a five KO round competition. And to makes things even more complicated, there are also European competitions and even more games to play! :lol:
So... indeed, an average team that didn't make it into any of the Eurocompetitions and got knocked out in the 1st round of the national cup plays around 35-37 games/season. But the top clubs like Bayern or Barcelona often double this number.

And the NBA? I believe there should be 58 games in a RS. Each team would get to play each opponent twice, at home and on road, like in football. Why? Players would get healthier, which would boost their performace; teams would not be able to accept the "we're gonna be fine" BS anyone after recording a L5 streak, which would eventually lead to pumping up the performance level, RS would finally mean something and last but not least it'd be easier for every NBA fan to catch all games of his much beloved franchise.
 

metrocard

Legend
I congratulate you for becoming a fan of the Knicks when they were struggling in the early 00's. Not many New Yorkers I know start showing interest in a team that is buried in the pits.

The 98-99 season was an interesting one. I remember how a lot of Knicks fans picked their team to win the NBA championship because they had just finished seeing Michael Jordan retire and saw GM Ernie Grunfeld add two solid players to the Knicks' roster in Latrell Sprewell and Marcus Camby.

The Knicks struggled throughout that season to stay above water. It seemed like in every game they were fighting for their life. I recall their being a game that they played very hard because they didn't want Van Gundy to get fired. Grunfeld was already gone by the middle of the season and the Knicks' playoff hopes were in jeopardy. But somehow they were able to sneak into the postseason by winning six of their last eight regular season games and once they were in the playoffs they just turned on a switch.

I hate watching today's NBA at times. Fans pay millions of dollars to watch their favorite players compete every night and are let down by soft, aloof and lackadasical effort from them. One main advantage that the NBA of yesterday had was that good teams played their best basketball from training camp until their season ended. The reason why Michael Jordan's Bulls won 72 games was because they treated each game like it was game 7 of the NBA finals. Players like Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Karl Malone knew that fans paid good money to see them perform at their highest level and they rarely took nights off because of it.

I feel that today's NBA is far from what it used to be. Players care more about controlling franchises than helping their team win, any fool with billions of dollars in his bank account can own a team, David Stern programs the officials to give superstars special treatment in order to make tons of money off of them, and there are teams that have no hope of being competitive in the next five years.

I really hope that whoever becomes the next commissioner can undo everything that is wrong with the NBA today. The league could use lesser games, eliminate a few teams, bring in a hard salary cap, improve their officiating and only allow people with true basketball knowledge to own franchises.Those things could make the game more fair and entertaining than how it is now and also bring in a decent amount of revenue.

That's been the huge problem and I feel like it will hold the NBA back from reaching it's full potential as a competitive league. Everything at this point is becoming predictable.

Who ever becomes new commissioner let's hope he doesn't have a relationship with David Stern. I respect what Stern did for the game, but we need to move forward. We need new owners like you said, you saw how the Maloofs destroyed Sacramento? If we keep having owners like that, soon we'll see the Timberwolves play in Detroit, the Suns play Minnesota and the Pistons playing in Phoneix. It all won't make no damn sense anymore.


From what we've seen in shortened seasons was arguably the most exciting basketball around. The stakes are higher and teams are much more engaged both physically and emotionally. The bottom line is that anything that takes dollars away from league revenue is guaranteed to be shot down. Supply and Demand would also probably make way for higher ticket prices-which is something I don't want to see happen. It's interesting though because a shorter season has many positives associated with it: Healthier players, less tanking?, better quality games, and more intensity.

When Basketball season is over I turn my sports boner over to the NY Mets. Yea the Mets suck and a hard to follow these days but the enormous length of the season is really what kills it. Baseball's long season is a big reason I think people seemed to have stopped caring about baseball, so that's a league where a shorter schedule could really help.

If we get healthier players, we'll get to see teams preform at their highest potential, and we won't have to see depleted rosters and Tim Duncan being benched because Greg doesn't want him playing back to back. These things kill the quality of the game for me. I want to see Tim Duncan play.

I agree, and baseball is so tough because if your team is not good, the only reason to watch a game is to see a prospect develop. I remember when the Mets were very back with Mo Vaugh, Alomar, Burnitz, D'Amico, era...Jose Reyes came up in the summer to give that team some life, David Wright was this good looking guy from Virginia and producing...Mets became interesting to watch again. I was a Yankees fan...still am, but that was around the time YES came to life and it shut out of poorer Yankee fans out of the seeing the games, so I watched the Mets everyday sadly.


@metro: the whole football system in Europe is much more complicated. Let's clear it up on the example of the Bundesliga (just because I ****ing love this competition). The league contains of 18 teams with the top six in the European zone and the bottom three in the drop zone (promotion-relegation system). Each team plays each opponent twice, at home and on road, which makes a season consist of 34 games. And here it gets complicated, because there is the Bundespokal which is a five KO round competition. And to makes things even more complicated, there are also European competitions and even more games to play! :lol:
So... indeed, an average team that didn't make it into any of the Eurocompetitions and got knocked out in the 1st round of the national cup plays around 35-37 games/season. But the top clubs like Bayern or Barcelona often double this number.

And the NBA? I believe there should be 58 games in a RS. Each team would get to play each opponent twice, at home and on road, like in football. Why? Players would get healthier, which would boost their performace; teams would not be able to accept the "we're gonna be fine" BS anyone after recording a L5 streak, which would eventually lead to pumping up the performance level, RS would finally mean something and last but not least it'd be easier for every NBA fan to catch all games of his much beloved franchise.

Is the German league known to be faster than other leagues or more defensive? How many injuries occur as often?
 

Weissenberg

Grid or Riot
Well, the Bundesliga is widely considered to be a defensive competition, with the exception of BVB of course. Injuries are slightly less often than in the NBA, but... coaches are usually very careful, most of the minor injuries that keep players sidelined in Europe would be played through in the NBA, also, more serious injuries are treated much more carefully, while an average NBA player returns on the court within 6-7 months after suffering a torn ACL it takes approx. 10-12 months for a footballer to see the pitch again.
 

bigapple

Starter
its all about $tern
Sure season could have not 82 but even 41 games but again its $ from TV broadcasting overseas and some fans are addicted to NBA. Some players simply are not destined to show own talents like Roy Oden......

worst thing is too many games in 1 week + few states and then goin back from coast to coast time diffrences and home team can be destroyed with reason of travel


Same thing is for futbol [soccer for americans]

when champions league has been expanded to 32 teams and they are paying tuesdays and wednesdays once UEFA score totaly fail group after group and they cancel that.


and 3 strongest leagues competition playing 38 matches home and away spain la liga Uk premiere league Italian serie a german bundesliga have 34 but winter break
and some strong teams playing also in domestic cups so they are playing each 3 days even.
 

Kidd Karma

Benchwarmer
To use injury as a way to reduce injuries is a weak cry. Love it getting hurt the 1st month of the season. Rubio 30 games into last season. Torn ACL's are freak injuries, not a sign of wear and tear. Not like Microfracture. You look at a guy like Kidd, his missed major time for his microfracture and a broken ankle, other than that, a back here and there.

Now if you want to create excitement, sure then that is definitely a valid point. How would the sked be arranged, 3 games in division, 2 intra conference and a single game in the other conference/maybe a home and home with a division in the other conference, sort like how the NFL breaks it down. 66 games? Does it really hurt the owners pocket books? Higher ticket prices due to fewer games, it's only win win, smaller market teams contain costs by not having to book the arena as many dates. You'd probably guarantee ads on the uniforms as well.
 

tiger0330

Legend
I don't think their should be more or less games, but i do feel their should be more games Live on TNT, ESPN etc etc for the smaller Market teams.

I agree the NBA has tight control on their games, bunch of greedy bastards. You can't even hear the games on radio for free this year, the NBA decided to offer radio broadcasts as part of League Pass so you have to pay to listen to the Knicks on radio

I doubt you go back to when the NBA played less than an 82 game schedule. More regular season games equal more $$$ even if it's only the playoffs that really count.
 

metrocard

Legend
Well, the Bundesliga is widely considered to be a defensive competition, with the exception of BVB of course. Injuries are slightly less often than in the NBA, but... coaches are usually very careful, most of the minor injuries that keep players sidelined in Europe would be played through in the NBA, also, more serious injuries are treated much more carefully, while an average NBA player returns on the court within 6-7 months after suffering a torn ACL it takes approx. 10-12 months for a footballer to see the pitch again.

I did my research and read that the Bundesliga teams avoid debt at all cost. The clubs in Germany have learned to avoid needless spending in the transfer markets and focused on building youth systems, which have already started to bear fruits.

I've always respected that. In Major League Baseball, the teams that aren't the Yankees and don't have a high salary focus on building and developing their young players to turn into superstars and hopefully keep their loyalty to the club.

Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Mesut Ozil, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Thomas Muller came out the German League, so Bundaligas teams do a good job on producing talent.
 
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