Watercooler Talk: Relegation?

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I think a better solution would be the "split" system that was implemented in Scottish football for a few seasons. Basically, you go through about 3/4th of the season and then split the teams into two tiers that only play each other, the 1st tier competing for the championship and the 2nd competing to avoid relegation.

You could adopt this to the NBA (sans relegation, of course) as follows:

1. split the league 20-10 64 games into the season. (Lets call these League A and League B
2. League A teams would play each other League A team in their conference twice to jockey for playoff seeding
3. League B teams get their records reset and play each other League B team twice with the winner of League B getting the #1 draft pick, and the remainder of the picks being assigned according to finishing position.

The numbers may need a bit of tweaking but I think it would be a lot of fun. You'd create more of the big team v. big team national TV matchups while giving the bad teams something to play for. You also solve the problem of teams making the playoffs by beating up crap teams like the 76rs late in the season.

Would eliminate tanking and make those last few throwaway games of the regular season more interesting.

This is actually a great idea.

I would suggestaybe taking the bottom 4 teams of each conference "playing for" the number 1 pick as a minor tweak. That way the teams competiting for the final 8 spots for every side would still be even.

[Celtics4ever]

please keep your hands off European soccer. The farce that is American pro sports is best left in America.

Yeah, we don't have enough  stands collapsing, stampedes or hooligans here for it to work.  You would have one soccer team, Nazi Germany if not for us Yanks.

[hwangjini_1]

please keep your hands off European soccer. The farce that is American pro sports is best left in America.

Yeah, we don't have enough  stands collapsing, stampedes or hooligans here for it to work.  You would have one soccer team, Nazi Germany if not for us Yanks.

Penalty kick for unnecessary roughness!! 

[Eja117]

There is simply zero chance of the NBA even allowing a CHANCE that they could lose a team like the Knicks, Lakers, Celtics, and Bulls out of the league and off network television, which is what would happen under relegation.

European soccer and the way it is structured is a different animal. Relegation just would not work in any league in America.

agreed. No Euro gimmicks in US leagues.  Although I'd be fine with d league teams vs big league in preseason

[AngryAndIrritable]

I think a better solution would be the "split" system that was implemented in Scottish football for a few seasons. Basically, you go through about 3/4th of the season and then split the teams into two tiers that only play each other, the 1st tier competing for the championship and the 2nd competing to avoid relegation.

You could adopt this to the NBA (sans relegation, of course) as follows:

1. split the league 20-10 64 games into the season. (Lets call these League A and League B
2. League A teams would play each other League A team in their conference twice to jockey for playoff seeding
3. League B teams get their records reset and play each other League B team twice with the winner of League B getting the #1 draft pick, and the remainder of the picks being assigned according to finishing position.

The numbers may need a bit of tweaking but I think it would be a lot of fun. You'd create more of the big team v. big team national TV matchups while giving the bad teams something to play for. You also solve the problem of teams making the playoffs by beating up crap teams like the 76rs late in the season.

Would eliminate tanking and make those last few throwaway games of the regular season more interesting.

This is still going in the Scottish Premiership, and is actually only really there as a poorly contrived solution to the problem of a 12 team league either playing each other twice - 24 games, too few - or four times - 48 games, too many.

It would work a lot better in the NBA as a way of determining the higher draft picks.

I don't think relegation would work in the NBA under the current 30 team format. However, I don't buy the argument that relegation would have the devastating consequences that it sometimes does in European football, because the whole set-up is different.

This is a very extreme example, but my home town team, Portsmouth, were in the top division of English football and winning the FA Cup just 6 years ago, but they were there due to paying wages far in excess of their income. After being passed through a handful of owners, most with criminal/money laundering connections and one of whom may not have even existed, and suffering numerous relegations and penalties, they were finally bought by a fan-owned and backed consortium. Despite this they nearly went out of the bottom tier of the Football League altogether this year.

There are too many checks and balances (salary cap etc.) in the NBA for this to happen in the event of relegation.

[nickagneta]

I think a better solution would be the "split" system that was implemented in Scottish football for a few seasons. Basically, you go through about 3/4th of the season and then split the teams into two tiers that only play each other, the 1st tier competing for the championship and the 2nd competing to avoid relegation.

You could adopt this to the NBA (sans relegation, of course) as follows:

1. split the league 20-10 64 games into the season. (Lets call these League A and League B
2. League A teams would play each other League A team in their conference twice to jockey for playoff seeding
3. League B teams get their records reset and play each other League B team twice with the winner of League B getting the #1 draft pick, and the remainder of the picks being assigned according to finishing position.

The numbers may need a bit of tweaking but I think it would be a lot of fun. You'd create more of the big team v. big team national TV matchups while giving the bad teams something to play for. You also solve the problem of teams making the playoffs by beating up crap teams like the 76rs late in the season.

Would eliminate tanking and make those last few throwaway games of the regular season more interesting.

This is actually a great idea.

I would suggestaybe taking the bottom 4 teams of each conference "playing for" the number 1 pick as a minor tweak. That way the teams competiting for the final 8 spots for every side would still be even.

Actually it would never work. NBA teams share arenas with hockey teams and other various functions(circus, ice capades, concerts, conventions, etc.). Scheduling is done a year ahead of time and coordinated with all the other entities that have events going. The logistics of trying to leave the end of the season unscheduled and to be determined could never happen.

The differences between outdoor soccer in Europe where soccer has little to no competition for sports entertainment dollars and indoor basketball in America on a professional level with television rights, local broadcast rights, arena scheduling, and the competition of other sports for the entertainment dollar make relegation impossible here

[Yoki_IsTheName]

I think a better solution would be the "split" system that was implemented in Scottish football for a few seasons. Basically, you go through about 3/4th of the season and then split the teams into two tiers that only play each other, the 1st tier competing for the championship and the 2nd competing to avoid relegation.

You could adopt this to the NBA (sans relegation, of course) as follows:

1. split the league 20-10 64 games into the season. (Lets call these League A and League B
2. League A teams would play each other League A team in their conference twice to jockey for playoff seeding
3. League B teams get their records reset and play each other League B team twice with the winner of League B getting the #1 draft pick, and the remainder of the picks being assigned according to finishing position.

The numbers may need a bit of tweaking but I think it would be a lot of fun. You'd create more of the big team v. big team national TV matchups while giving the bad teams something to play for. You also solve the problem of teams making the playoffs by beating up crap teams like the 76rs late in the season.

Would eliminate tanking and make those last few throwaway games of the regular season more interesting.

This is actually a great idea.

I would suggestaybe taking the bottom 4 teams of each conference "playing for" the number 1 pick as a minor tweak. That way the teams competiting for the final 8 spots for every side would still be even.

Actually it would never work. NBA teams share arenas with hockey teams and other various functions(circus, ice capades, concerts, conventions, etc.). Scheduling is done a year ahead of time and coordinated with all the other entities that have events going. The logistics of trying to leave the end of the season unscheduled and to be determined could never happen.

The differences between outdoor soccer in Europe where soccer has little to no competition for sports entertainment dollars and indoor basketball in America on a professional level with television rights, local broadcast rights, arena scheduling, and the competition of other sports for the entertainment dollar make relegation impossible here

I still think theres a way. If money and TV deals are the issues, I think you can find ways to deal with that. I havent thought of an idea yet, but if the NBA can brodcaat games in the Philippines, I think they can find ways to make their "second division" profitable and seen regionally or nationally.

[oldtype]

I think a better solution would be the "split" system that was implemented in Scottish football for a few seasons. Basically, you go through about 3/4th of the season and then split the teams into two tiers that only play each other, the 1st tier competing for the championship and the 2nd competing to avoid relegation.

You could adopt this to the NBA (sans relegation, of course) as follows:

1. split the league 20-10 64 games into the season. (Lets call these League A and League B
2. League A teams would play each other League A team in their conference twice to jockey for playoff seeding
3. League B teams get their records reset and play each other League B team twice with the winner of League B getting the #1 draft pick, and the remainder of the picks being assigned according to finishing position.

The numbers may need a bit of tweaking but I think it would be a lot of fun. You'd create more of the big team v. big team national TV matchups while giving the bad teams something to play for. You also solve the problem of teams making the playoffs by beating up crap teams like the 76rs late in the season.

Would eliminate tanking and make those last few throwaway games of the regular season more interesting.

This is actually a great idea.

I would suggestaybe taking the bottom 4 teams of each conference "playing for" the number 1 pick as a minor tweak. That way the teams competiting for the final 8 spots for every side would still be even.

Actually it would never work. NBA teams share arenas with hockey teams and other various functions(circus, ice capades, concerts, conventions, etc.). Scheduling is done a year ahead of time and coordinated with all the other entities that have events going. The logistics of trying to leave the end of the season unscheduled and to be determined could never happen.

Given that we already do it for the playoffs the logistics wouldn't be completely impossible. It would be a headache to coordinate but having a large number of teams involved gives you a decent margin of error. If 20 is too much, the # of post-split games could also be shrunk down to a point where it's easier to arrange.

[Ogaju]

please keep your hands off European soccer. The farce that is American pro sports is best left in America.

Yeah, we don't have enough  stands collapsing, stampedes or hooligans here for it to work.  You would have one soccer team, Nazi Germany if not for us Yanks.

excuse me?

[Eja117]

please keep your hands off European soccer. The farce that is American pro sports is best left in America.

Yeah, we don't have enough  stands collapsing, stampedes or hooligans here for it to work.  You would have one soccer team, Nazi Germany if not for us Yanks.

I suspect they could have up to three.  Germany, Soviet, and England.

[Celtics18]

Oh come on, guys,

This is an interesting thread.  Why you gotta act like knuckleheads?

[GreenArmy]

please keep your hands off European soccer. The farce that is American pro sports is best left in America.

Yeah, we don't have enough  stands collapsing, stampedes or hooligans here for it to work.  You would have one soccer team, Nazi Germany if not for us Yanks.

Russia won the war, and Canada is the reason why the US had any impact in the first place. We wouldn't have even hit the shore if it wasn't for the Canadians.

[Mazingerz]

I'll go get my tear gas and face mask.

[Kuberski33]

I do not think there is any avid supporter of European Soccer that has not given thought to the idea of a relegation system in American pro sports. This will never happen because the American Leagues are based on a monopoly based partnership that is a win win for everyone regardless of team performance. That is why a DTS made millions for years though he did not field competitive teams.

When you have true competition in the NBA for example with city based teams then you will have fans follow their teams even to the second division. You will also need different competitions. The soccer teams have league play and playoff type competition that get played simultaneously. The playoff type competition is open to all teams across all divisions. The league play (what we call the regular season) is actually a more prestigious title (as it should be) than the playoffs. What we have done here is render the regular season secondary to the playoff season. In England the regular season is the big title and the playoff type competition is the secondary competition. In England Indiana would have received a big trophy for winning the regular season and whoever wins the playoffs gets a lesser trophy. I get it because it takes a different type of preparation and planning to win a regular season than it takes to win a playoff. Try convincing anyone of that here.

Bottom line is a lot of dynamic has to be changed before you can implement a relegation system.

Too much of American Sport is based on entertainment. Soccer is more passion driven.

I'm in complete agreement with this.  On the other hand, when Donald Sterling wins his anti trust suit against the NBA and the league is broken up because it's ruled a monopoly, then we'll see it... 

[indeedproceed]

Relegation would mean there is an available team that's better than a NBA squad. Since Kentucky can't be elevated as they're currently still amateurs, I don't think it's a topic right now that has much merit .