- 1 day ago
The NBA is considering expanding & Solana believes it opens up the perfect scenario for his plan to fix the NBA regular season once and for all.
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00:00uh espn just sticking with uh basketball here for a second espn reported that the nba is going to
00:06hold a vote for at their board of governors meetings next week they want to do expansion
00:13teams las vegas and seattle and guys like this is going to happen i don't know if it's going to
00:17happen this go around there's going to be a las vegas team and then everybody wants seattle back
00:22in the fold so fine we'll give seattle their team they're targeting the 2028 season as the first year
00:29no complaints for me right las vegas team yeah i don't know what's the what's the other side of
00:36this is great well it's funny because you know you said there's no guarantee that it's going to
00:41happen but i just can't come up with a scenario where they're not going to allow this to happen
00:46if you're an owner the franchise fees are going to be astronomical and every current owner gets a piece
00:51of that and then you're going to have more teams which i'm guessing increases revenue all over the
01:02board because you've got two more teams so more revenue and even from all the other sides fandom
01:08side why do you care if there's a team in seattle if you know or not why do you care
01:13i know they got
01:14to split them up and make the conference divisions and all that but from the player side too there's
01:18two more teams now right that are opening up positions for players to be in the nba there's
01:24going to be another players association like yeah we want more options for more players i don't know
01:29the other side of people against expansions of leagues it doesn't make sense to me people think
01:33it waters it down people think it waters down the talent pool
01:39well i i think i fixed the regular season issue can i just propose this yeah sure i really do
01:44think
01:44i fixed it and stick with me here because you're gonna you're gonna hear it at first you're gonna
01:48say this is funky but just stick with me all right how long is this gonna take oh 42 minutes
01:53because anytime somebody says stick with me here then i'm like that's like you know when somebody
01:57shows you a youtube video and they go you got to watch this and then all of a sudden you
02:01see the
02:01progress bar and there's eight minutes yeah you're like hold on wait a second you're gonna hold this
02:06in front of my face for eight minutes i've got to react to it like right so how long do
02:11i have to
02:11stick with you here yeah combine the breaks combine the breaks 16 minutes for sure 16 minutes
02:16fair enough but but but i have a great headline i think i fixed the nba's regular season issue is
02:22that the headline i think i fixed the nba's regular season issue yeah that's so basketball started in 1907
02:31so let me tell you about dr james naysmith and what his original idea was
02:38it's either that or a novak jokovic take again so you guys you take okay let's go basketball
02:44do that one all right so 32 teams starting in 2028 32 regular season teams eliminate the conferences
02:51for the regular season eliminate them no more western no more eastern conference really okay
02:56you play 62 regular season games 62 games every team twice one home game one away game so the heat
03:05play every regular season game uh every every team one home game one away game right so there's 31 teams
03:13remaining after you take your own team out play them each twice there's 62 games that makes every
03:19regular season game more important and you've eliminated conferences top 16 seeds right it's not
03:25like you go and we're playing minnesota tonight who cares right like every game matters there's more
03:30importance and there's less games eating at the end uh top 16 seeds go in no more playing tournament
03:36like everybody plays everybody once at home everybody plays all teams could conceivably be from
03:43california they're all going to the playoffs even playing field even playing field everybody has
03:49the same advantage disadvantage you don't play the hawks four times in a year like the heat do
03:54it is what it is now everybody's going to say the magic i mean that's a killer right yeah right
04:01by the way 16 teams from california because there aren't
04:06and i know what people are saying at home they're saying solana that's stupid the nba isn't going to cut
04:1120 games off the regular season schedule that's too much tv money and i'm with you i i understand
04:17that but they're not going to because here's what they're going to do to make up for the 20 regular
04:22season games that they're losing quote unquote you expand the in-season tournament and miss me with
04:28nobody cares about the in-season tournament that might be so right now that might be so right now
04:32but the nba has has discussed tinkering with it maybe bring in some european clubs maybe bring in
04:40some other latin american clubs look like the world baseball classic or the nhl four nations
04:46and and and guess what if you're one of these people who doesn't like the in-season tournament
04:50fine but the nba is not going away from it well the other thing we we may not love the
04:56in-season
04:56tournament but it's it's it's not any worse than a thursday night game against portland exactly i mean
05:05like it's not it's not any worse than that you may not think it's better but it's not any worse
05:10than a
05:11random thursday night game against a team you don't care about quickly just in nc tournament does it
05:15count towards the final 62 game season no which which why which is what i think people also don't
05:21like about it it's confusing do these count these don't count what do they count for who am i playing
05:26why am i the 62 regular season games are the 62 regular season games one home one away each team
05:33and but but there's the question of hey you know division rivalries kind of still matter in-state
05:39rivalries kind of still matter that's where the in-season tournament comes into play four groups
05:44of eight teams that's 32 teams four groups of eight teams you still kind of keep the conferences and
05:49division rivalries alive each team in their in their their conference or division in the in-season
05:56tournament plays every team twice so that's 14 games think about it eight teams seven times two 14
06:02one home one away so the lakers will still play the clippers will still play the warriors will
06:06still play all the teams that they already play multiple times they'll still play them three or
06:11four times and that gets you to like 76 games and then you have a knockout the top four teams
06:19from
06:19every conference move on you have a knockout stage and like you you've literally accomplished gimme
06:26hate this but no no but but quickly let's go back to this in-season tournament so i'm eric spolstra
06:31i have 62 games to win a championship before the nba playoffs why do i play my team in the
06:37in-season
06:37tournament why do i why do i put my people on the floor i'm glad you asked one trillion dollars
06:45boom
06:49per person and per coach boom who's who's fretting this money listen we're not getting in the weeds
06:58right now we're just we're just telling you what the idea is no i i get monetary reward but not
07:04why
07:05hawk not only that bro 10 years i i genuinely believe 10 years from now 15 years from now the
07:12in-season tournament will be prestigious i'm not saying it'll be more prestigious than winning an
07:16nba title i'm don't get me wrong they don't matter especially if they continue to to invest in it and
07:22put resources into it and make it more fun bring teams from other countries in bring teams from from
07:27other organizations in uh maybe a g-league team and you can have surprises like almost like having
07:34enter miami in that tournament the the whatever it was that they got placed into oh no because i'm
07:40yeah right even last night they were talking on tv about the world baseball classic where
07:46the manager has to deal with all the managers of major league baseball teams because they're like
07:51don't throw my pitcher out there for 85 pitches we have to go play baseball for real in a little
07:56bit
07:56so as if i'm eric spolstra i'm going to tell you during the in-season tournament
08:00i need to go play real basketball here soon right but but it's the same it's the same idea of
08:05the
08:05in-season tournament there are teams like the miami heat like the orlando magic like the charlotte
08:10hornets right just as an example who likely aren't going to compete for an nba title crowder they're
08:14just not but the in-season tournament provides that moment where you can catch fire and go and
08:21win something you can prioritize hey we have we have an opportunity to win something here in the
08:26middle of the season and sure it's not the nba title but our team is playing for something it makes
08:31the games more meaningful in the month of january in the month of of november and october all i've done
08:37here is make games more meaningful and i love it ha correct me if i'm wrong you better put that
08:43trillion dollars up the biggest criticism of the nba right now is that nobody cares about the regular
08:49season the players don't want to play in the regular season because nobody's watching it anyways
08:55adam silver himself has said well you can just watch the highlights on social media so like he's
09:00defalued it i'm propping up the value of every game i'm with regular season games i think it's great
09:07and and i'm being 100 honest the tournament like if you don't think anyone's going to care about it
09:12they don't care about game 63 now anyway that maybe 10 years from now like solana suggesting
09:19you will care about it because there will be some sort of prestige that goes along with it
09:24but no one cares about the 63rd game against portland right now if you're a member of the heat
09:30they just don't the fans don't care the players don't care it's evidenced by the amount of times
09:36you see players miss games so i'm i'm with him it immediately increases the value of 62 games
09:4362 yes 62 games because you're 32 teams increases the value of 62 games and maybe has the effect on
09:53120 additional games as well and and there's a way to fix tanking there's a way to fix tanking with
09:59it as well you've got to figure out an elevator pitch for this you know what an elevator pitch is
10:05i do not you know an elevator pitch is crowder yeah something less than an hour and a half
10:10something you can present to another human on an elevator on an elevator you walk onto an elevator
10:15and jeff bezos is standing there and you've got what you think is a million dollar idea you've got
10:21an elevator rides amount of time to pitch it right an elevator pitch is the most important pitch
10:28because oftentimes you have 10 or 15 seconds with someone that you think might be able to change
10:33your life this elevator would literally have to be stuck the fire department would have to have a day
10:38off it would just this would have to be a confluence of events that would never happen so you've got
10:44to
10:44hone that down but other than that i i'm not even joking i think it's a very good idea who'd
10:50you steal this
10:50from this has been my take for years nba 60 regular season games and then a mid-season tournament
10:58like champions league that gets everybody involved i've been saying this since before the in-season
11:03tournament and now that you're expanding you can get to 62 regular season games and and you you
11:10format the tournament correctly you make up the other 20 regular season games with in-season
11:16tournament game i like and you're using teams that aren't in the league so you've got the savannah
11:20bananas playing the heat in round one who wouldn't watch that solana adam silver's old man he can't
11:28concentrate this long i like it 62 27 how old is that old how old do you think adam silver
11:37adam
11:37adam silver gotta be 70 something oh stop it are you kidding look at him 50 adam silver
11:46he looks good and spry 63 63 yeah lied on his birth certificate 70 stop it he doesn't look old
11:56adam silver doesn't look old no no
12:03old oh he may not look healthy but he doesn't look old he's a he's young and ready to party
12:10nobody nobody said young and ready to party but nobody he doesn't look 70 come on he doesn't
12:17no like if i had to choose a word to describe adam silver it wouldn't be old it would it
12:22would be
12:22bald or just unpleasant
12:31he ages ages like an apple but he's not he's not aging like an apple he looks
12:40young like he looks 60 you know you keep saying young and none of us
12:44he does not look old that's 60 well he's 63
12:51come on man that boy yeah i can't get me on this one i like that you win the in
12:57-season tournament
12:58automatic bid into the playoffs yeah there's definitely ways that you can reward or
13:05you get like if you're already tracking to be a playoff team then how do you keep them interested
13:12maybe you can bank it for one season or maybe you can bank it for an automatic victory the next
13:19season
13:19or you can use it to move up five slots in the like something there's a way to keep everyone
13:25involved
13:25there's you just got to think all the little machinations through the only thing i i would say
13:30and a lot of people tweeted me this nba players may not be on board because they'll never catch
13:37other guys with with the stats because like now regular season has been shortened by 20
13:42and although stats can count right that's what i was thinking the stats can still count the game
13:49doesn't count in the playoff standings the 20 games but the stats count for your 82 game season as
13:55regular season games you might you can work it out i like it only because it's not like
14:04you can't magically make the 63rd game against portland matter it it's already been devalued
14:11so you got to do something and again we're you know the funny part of this is like we talk
14:17about
14:17you've got to do something you really don't because they have a multi-billion dollar tv deal
14:22they've got two teams that are probably willing to pay a billion dollars just to buy into the league
14:27so they really don't need anyone's help even though everyone tells them that they need their help
14:32monetarily they're just fine they're fine i'm not telling you that the nba is broken i'm just telling
14:37you i like this system better because it's a proven system in soccer in europe that is is wildly
14:46effective in making money like they figured it out they make a lot of money over there the nba could
14:51profit off of it but hawk you're right like i don't i don't consider the nba broken i'm not even
14:56so sure that the tanking thing is as big of an issue as people make it seem i'm fine with
15:02the jazz
15:02benching their players in the fourth quarter if they don't want to win games because they want a
15:06better draft pick i'm fine with that um but the nba clearly is listening to people on twitter who are
15:13upset about it and talking heads were upset about it because they're prioritizing talking about that and
15:17making changes too so did you did you see the uh 65 games um superlative uh cutoff wherever you had
15:27to play 65 games to get an all nba and mvp and all now guys are on the edge of
15:3265 games where they're
15:33not going to make that cutoff and now people are mad that oh my goodness sga should be able to
15:38be on
15:38that list people are going to complain either damn way it's about the damn money that's what they're
15:43upset like they're just complaining about anything that's why i don't think like the nba should care
15:47so much about what people on twitter are saying like everything's okay yeah the jazz are benching
15:52guys in the fourth so what well i i do think though that the product can be better you know
16:00i always use
16:01the equivalency of if you buy tickets to go see u2 in concert bono doesn't take a quarter of the
16:08shows off because he doesn't want to stress his vocal cords and you get there and you go yeah tonight
16:14no bono but the edge and adam clayton and larry mullen jr like they've got you covered like there's
16:20a there's a devaluation of the product that goes on because you don't know who you're going to see on
16:25a
16:25night nightly basis as evidenced maybe by last tuesday and the team that bam scored 83 points
16:31against but but hawk and and i know this is a deeper conversation we don't have time for
16:35to me the nba is not the cause for the value for the product being devalued it's people like us
16:46it's espn it's talking it's the players who have made in my opinion who have who have cultivated a
16:53culture of what do you do in the playoffs that's all that matters how many rings have you won that's
16:59all that matters and that's all any of us want to talk about now which is what did you do
17:04in the
17:04playoffs what did you did you win a ring oh you didn't win a ring well then you don't matter
17:08in
17:08the in the grand scheme of things we have devalued anytime we talk about any of this
17:12any sort of regular season success any sort of individual success in the regular season none of
17:19it matters because of how all of us frame our our our discourse about the nba and about sports
17:25now and i think that's the biggest issue but no to your point that jose sports media created that
17:31uh charles barkley no rings no rings no success the players feel that the players feel that way too
17:36and the players don't want to play every night because they want to extend their career
17:40and the fans want to see to hunk's point the fans want to see the lebrons and the steps and
17:45the sgas
17:45and the kds when they come to their city who are these rules trying to make happy every time you
17:50change a rule what's the rule to to make the players happy the fans happy the media happy the owners
17:56happy the league who are we trying to make happy because all everybody in that list can't be happy
18:03about every rule they're not going to appease everyone so who's the goal of these rule changes
18:07and that's the hardest part for this young teenage adam silver like y'all tell me to figure out i
18:14mean
18:14how about you get paid to play 82 games play 82 games well that's what that's what jordan did
18:21i'm telling you i know i sound like you know old guy yelling from the lawn you're not you're not
18:27but
18:27but i also think it's it's there's more context to it but i'm not taking the blame because i want
18:33champion players to win championships and i use that as a barometer i'm not i'm not taking the blame for
18:39devaluing the nba product the players have done that and the league and the coaches have allowed it
18:47and we're the ones who suffer the fans and i you can have all your takes you want it's the
18:55you want them to be healthy for the playoffs or whatever i don't know mj seemed to be healthy for
18:59the playoffs but but crowder's saying you're not playing who are the rules who are we changing the
19:04rules for hawk for the fans you're talking about his solana's rules yeah i'm saying solana's rules
19:12the 65 game rule the ending rules that the load management rule is that just for fans because the
19:17players are going to be pissed about this well listen uh everybody uh who works for someone is
19:22going to be pissed about something that their employer tells you to do but that's uh they get
19:27paid well go out there and perform see and that's a tough job for 18 year old adam silver to
19:32do
19:40i'm gonna put this on the circle backlist i still have more takes on this that i want to
19:43we just don't have time i think it's a good idea i really do i i think at least it
19:48addresses what's
19:49an obvious problem that tuesday night game against washington did not matter it mattered because bam
19:57scored 83 points that game didn't matter washington fielded a team in order to not win
20:09that's a problem in in my estimation
20:16well you're welcome everybody thank you appreciate it the uh the panthers did lose last night they'll
20:25play in vancouver tomorrow rest everybody
20:32gotta get them healthy for next year
20:36that's a great segue
20:42yeah march it down
20:47bob is old now let bob take a couple games now
20:57oh that's so funny
20:59oh that's so funny