Given unlimited power, how would you reform the NBA?

[bakahump]

Casual NBA fan at best...but why not try this...
 
Bottom 4 teams.
The 3 with the best winning % get more lottery balls.  Say 5 each.  The worst winning % gets 3.
 
That way you wont have teams tanking.  They would be fighting like hell to beat their "peers" and be in slots 2,3 and 4.
 
It also doesnt totally screw the worst team in the league (in theory the team with the worst winning%) at worst would get pick #4.
 
I suppose you could expand this to the Bottom 5 teams.
Say 5 Balls each for the 2nd 3rd 4th worst winning %s.  worst winning % gets 3 balls and 5th worse gets 2 balls.
 
Its not perfect.  You might still have the 5th place team "tanking" to get to 4th.....but they will be fighting like hell to stay above the worst. Again the worst team would get a "Top 5 Pick" even in a worse case scenario.
 
Beyond that you could either slot them as they finish 6th gets 6th, 7th get 7th etc etc or do a second lottery for that group of 5 (6-10)....again with the 6th place getting the worst odds....but the worse 6th can do is 10th overall pick.
 
 
Another idea is to "totally screw 2 teams".  You run a straight draft worse gets #1 next worse #2 etc etc......EXCEPT....you pick 2 teams by random equal draw from the bottom 8 and automatically make them pick 7th and 8th.
 
Say you draw the 2nd worst and 5th worst team.
 
So in theory the 2nd worst team and the 5th worst team would pick 7th and 8th   with #1 picking 1st, 3 picking 2nd, 4 picking 3rd, 6 picking 4th, 7 picking 5th and 8 picking 6th. 2nd would pick 7th and 5th would pick 8th.
 
I would imagine that a team would want to minimize its chances of "getting screwed" they would try as hard as possible to be close to picks 7 and 8 during the regular season.  If they tank with the worst record and then get the 8th pick....thats a kick in the balls and the difference of 7 slots.  If they finish 4th and get the 8th....eh thats bad luck and the difference of only 4 slots.
 
In another years example 1st and 7th might get picked.  
resulting in a draft order of
2
3
4
5
6
8
1
7
 
the team who lost the most games would be bumming.  The team who lost the 7th most games would be like "eh its 1 slot".
 
It would seem to me that teams would then play to their true talent levels.

 

[EL Jeffe]

I also kind of like the summer league rule of no one fouls out. So often a key players picks up a couple of ticky tack calls and then they have to sit for huge stretches at a time. How is that good for the fans or the game? I suppose you could argue that teams would go into full Hack a Shaq mode against the Dwight Howards of the league if they never have to worry about their players fouling out, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. NBA players should be able to make free throws.

 

[Kliq]

Why is there so much hate for the sleeved uniforms? It's seem like a pretty trival thing, and I personally like the way it looks on some teams.
 
Adam Silver explained it to Dan Patrick as being used for marketability, because their are a lot of middle aged men (Silver included himself) that do not want to walk around wearing sleveless tank tops, but still want the authenticy of wearing an NBA jersey.

 

[simplyeric]

Why is there so much hate for the sleeved uniforms? It's seem like a pretty trival thing, and I personally like the way it looks on some teams.
 
Adam Silver explained it to Dan Patrick as being used for marketability, because their are a lot of middle aged men (Silver included himself) that do not want to walk around wearing sleveless tank tops, but still want the authenticy of wearing an NBA jersey.

 
on a (vaguely) related note:  I think the requirement for the coach to wear the MLB uniform is dumb, but to circumvent this they should make "MLB Uniform Men's Suits".  Tito could have worn one, with official Red Socks.  Very classy.  Same for NFL.  gotta wear official NFL apparel?  Make official NFL suits, with pin stripes in team colors.  Maybe a sportscoat with a big team logo on the inside lining.  

Anyway, yeah, not sure where the "tshirts make them look like WNBA players" thing makes sense.  Seems kinda silly.

 

[steveluck7]

Why is there so much hate for the sleeved uniforms? It's seem like a pretty trival thing, and I personally like the way it looks on some teams.
 
Adam Silver explained it to Dan Patrick as being used for marketability, because their are a lot of middle aged men (Silver included himself) that do not want to walk around wearing sleveless tank tops, but still want the authenticy of wearing an NBA jersey.

"because there are a lot of middle aged men (Silver included himself) that do not want to walk around wearing sleveless tank tops, but the NBA still wants them to pay like they're wearing an authentic NBA jersey."
The non-BS version of the Commish's comment

 

[CreightonGubanich]

1. Extend the season, but shorten the number of games. 76 or so sounds good. This should eliminate back-to-backs, which are just terrible to watch, and increase quality of play.
 
2. I like the idea of getting rid of conferences and divisions. Top 16 teams make the playoffs, and are seeded in a bracket by rank.
 
3. I think both the player and team salary caps are needed, but I'd make it a hard cap. I kind of like the Bird exception, but I think instituting a hard cap promotes parity and smart cap management.
 
4. First round playoff series becomes five games. This increases the chances, if only slightly, of a lower seed knocking off a higher seed and should reduce the incentive to tank accordingly.
 
5. I don't really think tanking is that much of a problem. For the most part, it's just the inevitable consequence of smart organizations making move for the long term and not the short term. I'm OK with that, although it does start to be a problem when coaches and players are making decisions in-game to avoid a win (ML Carr). With that in mind, I'd propose keeping the lottery system, but making the odds based on a franchise's record over the last five years. This would decrease the incentive to tank for any one individual season while maintaining some semblance of parity. I'm sure there's unintended consequences of this approach that I haven't thought of.
 
I'm not a fan of many of the more gimmicky changes; adding four or five point shots falls into the category for me. For the most part, I think the on-court product these days is pretty damn good.

 

[Klostrophobic]

Get rid of age restrictions.
Get rid of all the timeouts. One per half.
Widen the court and move the three point line back a couple feet.
Fewer playoff teams. Maybe move to 7 in each conference and the 1 seed gets a bye.
 
Get rid of max-salary players and the salary cap. Easily the most confusing salary structure system in sports. No trade or signing can be evaluated based on the merits of the player(s) involved which is atrocious from a fan standpoint.

 

[canderson]

- Make it 3 on 3 instead of 5 on 5. I'm only half-joking. I completely agree with everyone who said spacing is an issue.

 

[wutang112878]

With so many in favor of the hard cap, I'd love to get some insight on this. Why? How high
 
To me, in the context of revenue sharing, I don't see the downside of removing the cap and allowing teams to spend a lot of (or a little) money on constructing their team. I also see no problem with having a revised "soft cap" which is basically a luxury tax line above which the penalty is painful, but not unbearable (~25-35%).

 
The average spending per team this year was ~$70M, so thats where I would set it.  As for why, there are haves and have nots and I dont think revenue sharing has bridged the gap.  OKC wont go into tax-land so we cant watch a Durant, Westbrook and Harden have a 4 year run.  But the Nets will set a luxury tax record this year.  The Knicks think the tax is just a sales tax they pay on payroll. Even if we eliminate max salaries we have this problem and I'd like to eliminate it.

 

[simplyeric]

I would eliminate two foul calls:

When player fakes a shot, the defender jumps up, and shooter jumps forward into the other player. It just sucks because it replaces 'playing for a shot' with 'playing for a foul'

Related: player has the ball, defender has hands up in front, ball handler rotates his arms around in a circle initiating contact on a player who otherwise had perfectly legitimate had position.

Playing for the foul in such a deliberate way just is boring and leads to so many tickytack fouls.

Ok a third, echoing the notion of real-time reviews for fouls: lots of 'and ones' involve either a really lame foul call, or a real foul followed by a travel or what should be an offensive foul. That should all be reviewed. A really weak foul call should be rescinded. A travel after the foul should negate any continuity, and an offensive foul call should also be called.

Oh and fourth: shitty foul calls should be rescinded during a game. Obviously can't undo all of the effects, but a terrible call in the 1st half should be roved from a player's tally. Maybe end of each quarter each team can challenge 1 foul, so if a key player had a terrible call (resulting from playing legitimate defense against a flopping player) then that foul is removed. Maybe only first three q's, unless its done at the 5 minute mark in the 4th or something. This would be done in the background. No play stoppage.
(Alternately, maybe when a player gets his 5th foul, a team can challenge one previous call, and an off-court ref reviews that call and possibly removes it. No play stoppage )

 

[wutang112878]

I would eliminate two foul calls:

When player fakes a shot, the defender jumps up, and shooter jumps forward into the other player. It just sucks because it replaces 'playing for a shot' with 'playing for a foul'

Related: player has the ball, defender has hands up in front, ball handler rotates his arms around in a circle initiating contact on a player who otherwise had perfectly legitimate had position.

 
You mean the Paul Pierce fouls?  During his prime he had 3 foul drawing moves: 1 (your 2nd) - the face up, rotate ball, make contact with defenders arms, immediately go into shooting motion and flail arms, 2 - face up, pump fake, get defender in air, jump into defender, immediately make shooting motion and flail arms, 3 - drive to hoop, aim leap to both make contact with defender and get into position to make shot/layup  I swear he got about 30% of his FTs from the first 2, and probably 50% from the 3rd.  The interesting part of the 3rd was that on his drives he was somehow able to aim his jump to make just enough contact but also still have enough separation so the defender couldnt make a good play on the ball, while also being able to physically take the contact and still get off a decent shot.  It was really an unique combination of skill, physical ability and strategy all in one drive.  But I know he was looking for the foul just as much as he was looking to hit the shot.
 
Having said all that, I loved watching PP do this, but the game of basketball is better without this stuff in the game.

 

[simplyeric]

 
You mean the Paul Pierce fouls?  During his prime he had 3 foul drawing moves: 1 (your 2nd) - the face up, rotate ball, make contact with defenders arms, immediately go into shooting motion and flail arms, 2 - face up, pump fake, get defender in air, jump into defender, immediately make shooting motion and flail arms, 3 - drive to hoop, aim leap to both make contact with defender and get into position to make shot/layup  I swear he got about 30% of his FTs from the first 2, and probably 50% from the 3rd.  The interesting part of the 3rd was that on his drives he was somehow able to aim his jump to make just enough contact but also still have enough separation so the defender couldnt make a good play on the ball, while also being able to physically take the contact and still get off a decent shot.  It was really an unique combination of skill, physical ability and strategy all in one drive.  But I know he was looking for the foul just as much as he was looking to hit the shot.
 
Having said all that, I loved watching PP do this, but the game of basketball is better without this stuff in the game.

Yep.
I loved watching PP when he was winning games for us, but it's frustrating basketball, and I think it would be a better game without it.

 

[Infield Infidel]

1. Extend the season, but shorten the number of games. 76 or so sounds good. This should eliminate back-to-backs, which are just terrible to watch, and increase quality of play.
 
 

 
I was thinking similarly. In the current division system, if the games played were 4-3-2 Div-IntraConf-InterConf, there would be 76 games

 

[Devizier]

I like Mugthis' suggestions for the most part. Here are some of mine:
 
1) Require that officials pass a physical competency test each season. There's no reason why Dick Bavetta should be officiating in a professional sport.
 
2) Spread out the season but leave the number of games intact.
 
3) Eliminate the player max.
 
4) Raise the salary cap and eliminate all cap exemptions.
 
5) It's odd that the NBA has teams in Memphis, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans, but none in Seattle, St. Louis, or Baltimore. I'm the tyrant, fix that.

 

[wutang112878]

 
5) It's odd that the NBA has teams in Memphis, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans, but none in Seattle, St. Louis, or Baltimore. I'm the tyrant, fix that.

 
I dont know if Baltimore could support a team.  In 11/12 and 12/13 Washington won 20 and 29 games respectively, but was 18th then 19th in attendance.  This year they won 44 but were still 18th in attendance, that market seems maxed out.  OKC has been 13th, 11th and 11th in attendance the past 3 years, which seems to justify its location.  Seattle should get a franchise thats a no-brainer.  Not sure about St Louis though, I have no idea how much interest that market really has in basketball

 

[The Social Chair]

Would the NBA's deal with the St. Louis Spirits owners block a franchise from moving there?

 

[zenter]

 
The average spending per team this year was ~$70M, so thats where I would set it.  As for why, there are haves and have nots and I dont think revenue sharing has bridged the gap.  OKC wont go into tax-land so we cant watch a Durant, Westbrook and Harden have a 4 year run.  But the Nets will set a luxury tax record this year.  The Knicks think the tax is just a sales tax they pay on payroll. Even if we eliminate max salaries we have this problem and I'd like to eliminate it.

 
I read your statement as, "I have to keep taking statins because I eat a lot of high-cholesterol foods." Well, duh. If you don't correct the problem, then of course you need to rely on a more invasive solution so you don't kill yourself. 
 
IOW, that OKC won't go into tax land has virtually everything to do with the incentives the market defines.
 
A source of Brickowski's terribly-articulated problem is that players who have very little mobility have very little incentive to outperform expectations - at most only a handful of teams can afford them. And teams have little incentive (or ability) to transform themselves outside draft picks. Team cap and all the associated salary rules create the stagnation. So, let's actually cut cholesterol from NBA's diet instead of masking its effects.
 
The owners can certainly afford to pay the tax as it currently is, but they can get away with saying "too rich for my billionaire blood" and force players to make less thanks to an obviously-prohibitory tax rate. If you remove the hard cap, make going over the soft cap something less apparently-prohibitory (30% instead of 150%), enhance rev-share (particularly from the NBA to teams), and kill cap-neutrality provisions from trade rules, you'll certainly see more teams going over cap and team owners being pressured into taking more payroll chances.
 
You'll also see more players hitting free agency to see what they can get without the specter of salary cap limiting their destinations. Which means you get more (and more interesting) turnover during the offseason, which removes some tanky pressure, makes bad teams able to recover more quickly, and puts pressure on all to compete on a more even playing field.

 

[reggiecleveland]

Have a coach or somebody talking Xs and Os with Kenny and Charles, have a video about with highlights showing coaching moves each week. The Heat play different types of man to man than the Spurs. The nfl makes Brady throwing the Gronk down the seam sound like brain surgery. The Ncaa pays more attention to coaching that is far less complex. Pop and Doc and most of these NBA guys have chunks of guys like Bill Self in their stool, show us what they are doing. Sure in the 80s Stern marketed the league as stars, but the media today has room for unlimited content for the hardcore fan, feed the monster. When I go back and watch old baseball broadcasts from the 80s I am shocked by the lack of stats, or the meaningless stats the announcers use (average, average with risp, record in games player X hit a homer) baseball fans are more sophisticated. The big difference in the NBA from the 80s on TV is HD and camera angles.
 
Reffing/rules
 
1. Treat faking/flopping just a step below roids. If videos show a guy flops and pretends he got hit by an elbow that missed him, 5 game suspension.
 
2. Call fucking travel, Fist foot down after touching the ball is the pivot. Fucking deal with it.
 
3. Allow some after the whistle interaction. In game one Pierce was inside Derozan's head, then when KG gives the young guy a little shot after the whistle just to mess with th young fella it a tech. In any pickup game the kid has to make some shots and play ball to get  protect himself not the refs. Hockey refs handle this every playoff game, and sure there are a few times it goes too far, but it adds personality to the game. Marchand is good player but a great personality.The NBA is the sport where you see the guys without equipment and they are real personalities, let them talk and bump. Nowadays if Bird came out of the huddle and said to X "I will go right here and shoot in your face," he may get a T. If a guy is trash talking and acting like an ass when he dunks losing by 20 youtube, twitter and Shaqtin a fool will deal with it.
 
4, Fiba rules on the rim, ball hits the rim it is live. I played with these rules in Europe a bunch of white guys fighting above the rim to knock the ball out/grab it or tip it in dunk it is exciting. NBA guys doing this would be of the charts.
 
Contracts ETC.
 
I agree that the lottery should go, or be modified.
 
Allow guys that declare to go back to school if they are not drafted out of high school. Lots of guys made bad decisions declaring and then could not play.
 
Don't make any decisions on what is good for the NCAA, they exploit talent more than develop it.
 
Miscellaneous
 
Run public service announcements with the motto "Learn to shoot young man" and "Learn a post move, son" for players and "Stop running fucking ball screens with 9 year olds asshole" for coaches.
 
Move the Lakers to Seattle. This title said unlimited power.
 
Cut out the pregame intro videos.

 

[wutang112878]

 
I read your statement as, "I have to keep taking statins because I eat a lot of high-cholesterol foods." Well, duh. If you don't correct the problem, then of course you need to rely on a more invasive solution so you don't kill yourself. 
 
IOW, that OKC won't go into tax land has virtually everything to do with the incentives the market defines.
 
A source of Brickowski's terribly-articulated problem is that players who have very little mobility have very little incentive to outperform expectations - at most only a handful of teams can afford them. And teams have little incentive (or ability) to transform themselves outside draft picks. Team cap and all the associated salary rules create the stagnation. So, let's actually cut cholesterol from NBA's diet instead of masking its effects.
 
The owners can certainly afford to pay the tax as it currently is, but they can get away with saying "too rich for my billionaire blood" and force players to make less thanks to an obviously-prohibitory tax rate. If you remove the hard cap, make going over the soft cap something less apparently-prohibitory (30% instead of 150%), enhance rev-share (particularly from the NBA to teams), and kill cap-neutrality provisions from trade rules, you'll certainly see more teams going over cap and team owners being pressured into taking more payroll chances.
 
You'll also see more players hitting free agency to see what they can get without the specter of salary cap limiting their destinations. Which means you get more (and more interesting) turnover during the offseason, which removes some tanky pressure, makes bad teams able to recover more quickly, and puts pressure on all to compete on a more even playing field.

 
I dont want to ignore the rest of what you wrote, because its a very interesting discussion but I think we have to talk about the equality amongst owners issue.  Some owners want more benefit from their team than others, so Sterling might have a "I want $10M in cash generated each year" while Dolan probably doesnt mind operating the team at a loss.  But lets assume all owners operated their franchise to earn $10M a season, then the Lakers can still spend more than OKC and they truly can afford the tax while OKC cant afford the tax and still generate the $10M.  So when you say the owners can afford to pay the tax, thats not true of all owners.
 
Based on this, before we talk about changes to the cap, if we really want a level playing field the first order of business is probably to even out revenue across the board.  Obviously we cant get it to be identical for each team, but just close enough so that the Lakers arent willing to make a $30M luxury tax bill while other teams are just spending $60M.  Thats probably difficult to get the owners agreement on.  Along with additional revenue sharing, you would also need a floor provision so the system is not abused, but I would have to think thats easy to pass.  The players wouldnt oppose a floor, I'm sure the big market teams would be in favor of the floor if they are giving more money to the small market teams, and if the small market teams wont accept this floor condition in order to get the additional revenue then they are idiots and deserve to suck anyway.
 
Are you thinking along these lines?  Because if we even out the playing field like this, now we can narrow our focus onto the CBA/cap system that then produces the best NBA product.  But actually before that we probably need to define what that ideal product is?  Do we like teams with 2+ elite players so we have powerhouses?  Or do we want to implement rules to more evenly spread out the talent playing field as well, so there is greater parity and less cut to the bone rebuilding?

 

[Devizier]

 
I dont know if Baltimore could support a team.  In 11/12 and 12/13 Washington won 20 and 29 games respectively, but was 18th then 19th in attendance. 

 
This was sort of tongue-in-cheek, referencing the cities that have historically had good franchises and then lost them.
 
Kansas City could be mentioned as well.

 

[Mugthis]

 
4, Fiba rules on the rim, ball hits the rim it is live. I played with these rules in Europe a bunch of white guys fighting above the rim to knock the ball out/grab it or tip it in dunk it is exciting. NBA guys doing this would be of the charts.
 
Move the Lakers to Seattle. This title said unlimited power.

 
YES on the FIBA rules.
 
But I say NO on the Lakers move. They are the King Joeffry of the NBA...actively hating them and rooting for their demise is a big boon to my life. Moving them to Seattle would be like killing Joeffry too early--sensible but sad.

 

[worm0082]

 
 
 
5. Because I'm a dictator: the Hawks are forced to revert to their Dominique era uniforms/brand, Houston must revert back to their Hakeem uniforms, and Toronto must re-brand completely and will not be allowed to name themselves after a movie that is popular currently but may not stand the test of time. And Sacramento is moving to Seattle, where they'll become the Sonics.
 
 

Mine are mostly cosmetic. 
 
Was just about to post something similar to this.  I'd also make the Magic go back to their original unis.   The Lakers as well. Lakers had one of the nicest classic unis in all of sports and screwed it all up the last 10 years or so.  I don't like 'updated retro" unis either so the Pistons are going back to their classic 80's unis. Cavs too. 
 
Get rid of these newer style jerseys with the odd V shaped collar and go back to the classic style like the C's still wear.  Eliminate t-shirt jerseys/nicknames on back jerseys.   Your allowed an alt but can only be worn 5 times a year and MUST be a throwback.   
 
Rename the Wizards the Bullets again. 
 
Move the Thunder back to Seattle.  Again the SuperSonics. 80's unis. 
 
Reduce length of shorts.  I'm not saying these guys gotta be wearing the old 'nuthugger' shorts out there but its almost like they are wearing pants out there.  It's driven me nuts since it started with O'Neal and Webber. 
 
Bring back the old style warmup outfits.  Those snap-off pants and coats. 

 

[DJnVa]

Job #1 if I was given unlimited power: Boot Donald Sterling
 
I wish his players would stage a walkout. I can't imagine how powerful that would be.

 

[SumnerH]

Mine are mostly cosmetic. 
 
Was just about to post something similar to this.  I'd also make the Magic go back to their original unis.   The Lakers as well. Lakers had one of the nicest classic unis in all of sports and screwed it all up the last 10 years or so.  I don't like 'updated retro" unis either so the Pistons are going back to their classic 80's unis. Cavs too. 
 
Get rid of these newer style jerseys with the odd V shaped collar and go back to the classic style like the C's still wear.  Eliminate t-shirt jerseys/nicknames on back jerseys.   Your allowed an alt but can only be worn 5 times a year and MUST be a throwback.   
 
Rename the Wizards the Bullets again. 
 
Move the Thunder back to Seattle.  Again the SuperSonics. 80's unis. 
 
Reduce length of shorts.  I'm not saying these guys gotta be wearing the old 'nuthugger' shorts out there but its almost like they are wearing pants out there.  It's driven me nuts since it started with O'Neal and Webber. 
 
Bring back the old style warmup outfits.  Those snap-off pants and coats. 

 
You forgot "move all the kids off my lawn".

 

[ivanvamp]

Have a coach or somebody talking Xs and Os with Kenny and Charles, have a video about with highlights showing coaching moves each week. The Heat play different types of man to man than the Spurs. The nfl makes Brady throwing the Gronk down the seam sound like brain surgery. The Ncaa pays more attention to coaching that is far less complex. Pop and Doc and most of these NBA guys have chunks of guys like Bill Self in their stool, show us what they are doing. Sure in the 80s Stern marketed the league as stars, but the media today has room for unlimited content for the hardcore fan, feed the monster. When I go back and watch old baseball broadcasts from the 80s I am shocked by the lack of stats, or the meaningless stats the announcers use (average, average with risp, record in games player X hit a homer) baseball fans are more sophisticated. The big difference in the NBA from the 80s on TV is HD and camera angles.
 
Reffing/rules
 
1. Treat faking/flopping just a step below roids. If videos show a guy flops and pretends he got hit by an elbow that missed him, 5 game suspension.
 
2. Call fucking travel, Fist foot down after touching the ball is the pivot. Fucking deal with it.

 
Where can I sign the petition for these two ideas?  Good lord they make so much sense it hurts.  Flops have no place in the game and should be punished severely.  And traveling?  Good grief.  They literally take three steps when catching the ball, before they ever make a move to the basket.  It's insane.  

 

[riboflav]

Have a coach or somebody talking Xs and Os with Kenny and Charles, have a video about with highlights showing coaching moves each week. The Heat play different types of man to man than the Spurs. The nfl makes Brady throwing the Gronk down the seam sound like brain surgery. The Ncaa pays more attention to coaching that is far less complex. Pop and Doc and most of these NBA guys have chunks of guys like Bill Self in their stool, show us what they are doing. Sure in the 80s Stern marketed the league as stars, but the media today has room for unlimited content for the hardcore fan, feed the monster. When I go back and watch old baseball broadcasts from the 80s I am shocked by the lack of stats, or the meaningless stats the announcers use (average, average with risp, record in games player X hit a homer) baseball fans are more sophisticated. The big difference in the NBA from the 80s on TV is HD and camera angles.
 

 
YES!
 
I remember the first coaching clinic I attended years ago, Paul Hewitt was there. One of the first things he said is that when he was a high school coach and then as a college coach, he always watched the NBA in order to steal their Xs and Os. They were the best at their craft and the most innovative, things would filter down to college and then high school, etc. At the time, being a new young coach, this blew me away. All I had heard was that the NBA was a players' league and that coaches don't matter. Fast forward to today and I still hear this, even quite a bit on this board. It's one of the reasons I like Hubie Brown announcing games - sure talks a lot but is very technical in his analysis and will not cater to LCD.

 

[amfox1]

Force Sterling to sell the Clippers to Magic Johnson.

 

[GreenMonster49]

I would join the crowd here and a) force Donald Sterling to move to the Marge Schott Memorial Retirement Home, and b) adopt the FIBA rules for goaltending.
 
Here are my other edicts:
 
c) the draft lottery has to be transparent--i.e., the whole exercise has to be done in public. I would also suggest that it be simpler: 14 teams in the lottery means the worst team gets 14 balls out of 105, and the best of the non-playoff teams gets 1 ball out of 105.
 
d) the NBA traveling rule itself--never mind how it is actually called--is a joke.  The FIBA rule (Art. 25) is reasonable and centers around establishing a pivot foot and forbidding lifting the pivot foot, except to jump off that foot to shoot or pass if you release the ball while that foot is in the air.  The NBA rule has the sentence  "A player who receives the ball while he is progressing or upon completion of a dribble, may use a two-count rhythm in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball."  It's a mess and it leads to players picking up the ball and taking three steps in the lane.  I mandate use of the FIBA rule.
 
e) FIBA and the NCAA each have a real defensive 5-second rule.  The NCAA uses it in the frontcourt only, and that seems reasonable enough for my NBA.  It rewards close defense and penalizes isolation basketball.  The current NBA 5-second rule comes up once in a blue moon and prevents only perverse forms of posting up.
 
f) For some reason, teams get 3 team fouls before the bonus in each 5-minute overtime, plus they start each overtime with 2 timeouts.  I am okay with the 2 timeouts because they do not carry over.  But I would mandate that we use (1) the FIBA concept that overtime is an extension of the fourth quarter and (2) the 2nd team foul after 10 minutes have elapsed in the quarter puts the other team in the bonus. 
 
g) Technical fouls carry too little force in the NBA.  It encourages referees to dole them out for minor transgressions and major transgressions alike.  It might be too much of a change to make them worth 2 free throws (as in almost every other league in the planet), but I would mandate that a player's six fouls include technical fouls as well.
 
h) The 3-point line is a good distance at 23' 9", but it should be that distance everywhere.  The court shall now be 54 feet instead of 50 feet wide, so there is room on each sideline to make the 3-point line 23' 9" there as well instead of 22' increasing to 23' 9".
 
i) Expand Rule 3.I.a. to allow teams to opt to allow any player to remain in the game after his sixth foul at the cost of a technical foul assessed to the team.  (This is the same penalty that applies under the existing rule that allows players to stay in the game if there are no substitutes available.)
 
j) The block-charge interpretations that accompany the NBA rules are reasonable, but under my reign they would actually be enforced.
 
k) Steal from the NHL the concept of a central office that handles all reviews.
 
EDIT: l) The Silnas (the former owners of the Spirits of St. Louis) get a firm handshake and nothing more from the NBA TV revenues, period.  What the Silnas have collected ($255 million and counting) is perfectly legal, but it's my unlimited power.

 

[Devizier]

 
 
c) the draft lottery has to be transparent--i.e., the whole exercise has to be done in public. I would also suggest that it be simpler: 14 teams in the lottery means the worst team gets 14 balls out of 105, and the best of the non-playoff teams gets 1 ball out of 105.

 
I like this system. I should note, however, that this is how the NBA used to do things.

 

[GreenMonster49]

 
I like this system. I should note, however, that this is how the NBA used to do things.

 
Very true.  What I like about the old system (besides the simplicity) is that it discourages some kinds of tanking.  Here is a hypothetical scenario.  Let's say you run a team that called the 75ers, and you have enough talent, or lack thereof, to be better than 4 of the 29 other teams.  Under the current system, you have am 8.8% chance of the #1 pick, but your chances more than double (to 19.9%) if you have the second-worst record.  Under the old system, you started out with a 9.5% chance and tanking down to the second-worst record gets you only a 12.4% chance.  Is that worth tanking for?  I would think that developing players or trying out new defensive and offensove schemes might be a better use of the rebuilding year than actively increasing your lottery odds very slightly.
 
What is tricky about the old system is that it increases the changes that one of the better non-playoff teams might get the #1 pick.  But I think it will be rare for a playoff team to tank in order to get an outside chance at the #1 pick.  We would still see rebuilding-by-choice, but that is unavoidable.
 
One more thing, after realizing what the Nets did in game #82 order to maximize their chances to play the Raptors (dubbed "sportsmanlike dumping" by someone pithier than me):
 
m) In each round of the playoffs, the seeded playoff teams get to choose from the lower half of the remaining teams who will be their opponents.  We start with #1 and continue (in the first round) until the final upper-half seed had made its (forced) choice.

 

[doc]

Add two teams, Seattle and elsewhere and create a two tier league, 16 teams in the upper and 16 teams in the lower divisions, bottom 3 teams get relegated to the lower  league a la the English Premiere League.  Only the upper league teams get on TV, money splits would have to be worked out.   Draft by order at the end of the seasons, so the 3 relegated teams  get a double penalty of sent down and lower draft positions than the teams promoted.  50 game seasons. 

 

[Infield Infidel]

5. Because I'm a dictator: the Hawks are forced to revert to their Dominique era uniforms/brand, Houston must revert back to their Hakeem uniforms, and Toronto must re-brand completely and will not be allowed to name themselves after a movie that is popular currently but may not stand the test of time. And Sacramento is moving to Seattle, where they'll become the Sonics.
 

 
One thing about the Raptors, it's the name of an actual class of animal that exists today. They could just change the logo (which I agree is definitely crappy) to a bird of prey other than a hawk, like an osprey or a harrier. 
 
Or they could figure out a way to bring back the Huskies
 

 

[section15]

I'm an old fart.
 
I attended many Celtics games in the 60s.
 
The three-point basket,  and the 35-40 minutes it takes to play the last two minutes of a game just bores me to death.   Yeah,  I'm in a prime demographic,  but I shut it off after the third time-out in 30 seconds.   And I don't watch the ads.   It's like watching a movie on the MGM Channel - a 2-hour movie taking over 3 hours with breaks and commercials.
 
Reducing the time-outs will help GREATLY.   Sick of NBA games going three and a half hours.     
 
What is happening now in the NBA is what used to turn my stomach watching college basketball in the 60s and 70s.   NCAA had no shot clock.   If a team built a 10 point lead,  they would freeze the ball - pass pass pass pass pass pass with five defenders standing in a "vee" formation with their hands up.    Today's NBA is nearly as bad.

What drove me away from Roberts Center and high school ball and into Boston Garden is what the NBA is doing today.
 
Oh yeah,  I'd love to see an NBA doubleheader with four of the league's nine teams playing in the Garden,  at $2 a ticket,  but that ain't gonna happen....

 

[section15]

 
One thing about the Raptors, it's the name of an actual class of animal that exists today. They could just change the logo (which I agree is definitely crappy) to a bird of prey other than a hawk, like an osprey or a harrier. 
 
Or they could figure out a way to bring back the Huskies
 

 
Or the Cleveland Rebels,   Pittsburgh Ironmen,   maybe even the Providence Steam Rollers.

Although - Sheboygan Red Skins,   Anderson Duffey Packers,   and Waterloo Hawks have a warm place in my heart....

 

[simplyeric]

I'd institute a 3-second rule for whining.
Player can generically protest, then the ref gives a '3-seconds' sign, an counts down.
If the player is still bitching after 3 seconds, automatic T.

So, whistle blows, lebron yells 'aw man, me? ME?'
Ref holds up 3 fingers.
3 seconds later lebron is still bitching... T him up. No ambiguity, easy line in the sand.

 

[ALiveH]

The 3-second rule might be the most genius suggestion so far.  I do something similar with my toddlers and it works pretty well.

 

[wutang112878]

The 3 second rule is genius.
 
And comparing NBA players to toddlers really speaks to the whining in the NBA, awesome.

 

[ZP1]

Going off the idea of removing the personal foul limit, I'd add on to it in the following way:
 
Remove Personal Foul Limit
 
Add a Reverse Foul Limit -  Basically, a reverse foul limit would mean that fouling a certain player (ie: Shaq in the day, Dwight now, etc)  can only be done so many times before you start running into adverse penalties (ie: 2 shots + ball for each foul). The reverse foul limit would be there to compensate for teams theoretically having unlimited fouls to throw at bad free throw shooters.  Not sure what the proper number to set it at would be though.  

 

[johnmd20]

Going off the idea of removing the personal foul limit, I'd add on to it in the following way:
 
Remove Personal Foul Limit
 
Add a Reverse Foul Limit -  Basically, a reverse foul limit would mean that fouling a certain player (ie: Shaq in the day, Dwight now, etc)  can only be done so many times before you start running into adverse penalties (ie: 2 shots + ball for each foul). The reverse foul limit would be there to compensate for teams theoretically having unlimited fouls to throw at bad free throw shooters.  Not sure what the proper number to set it at would be though.  

 
I don't like it. So you reward a player for being horrendous from the free throw line?

 

[Grimace-HS]

This is a great thread and, of all the four major sports leagues, the NBA is the one I think needs the most work.  In a game where one player makes up 20% of the on-court team, the ability for any team to consistently dominate is just too great.  I would do the following:
 
1.  Alter the draft lottery by dividing the league into three draft groupings...A, B, and C (for lack of anything more creative).  Each grouping would consist of ten teams.  In year 1, the teams in group A would be in the lottery regardless of their season record, with an equal probability of getting the #1 pick.  The lottery would be applied until draft positions 1-10 were occupied by the teams in group A; then the rest of the draft order would be based on record.  In year 2, this process would be repeated but group B would be the lottery teams...year 3 would be group C's turn at the lottery, and then the cycle would be repeated.  This approach would virtually eliminate tanking, and give any team a chance at the number 1 pick every three years.
 
2.  I was going to add a lot about the D-league or contraction, but had something in line with creating a tiered system similar to what doc said:

Add two teams, Seattle and elsewhere and create a two tier league, 16 teams in the upper and 16 teams in the lower divisions, bottom 3 teams get relegated to the lower  league a la the English Premiere League.  Only the upper league teams get on TV, money splits would have to be worked out.   Draft by order at the end of the seasons, so the 3 relegated teams  get a double penalty of sent down and lower draft positions than the teams promoted.  50 game seasons. 

Basically, we could have 16 teams in "tier 1", with about 16-20 teams in "tier 2".  The top four teams in "tier 2" would then join the 16 teams in "tier 1" for the playoffs.  If any of these four teams advanced further in the playoffs than any of the four bottom "tier 1" teams, then these teams could replace them in "tier 1" for the next season.  I think that this approach would keep things exciting for a smaller market that knows it is playing to join "tier 1", and even has a shot at making a run in the playoffs for that season.  The league could essentially have a total of 32-40 teams, with only the bottom "tier 2" teams being out of the mix toward the end of the season.  If this system were implemented, I would still want to use my draft groupings idea in #1, but perhaps it would have to be altered slightly (I would still want to keep the spirit of rotating clusters of teams with equal probability in the draft lottery).
 
3.  As for in-game changes....I like what was said by others, but would add that any intentional foul under two minutes and the team within three points would yield automatic three free throws.  One of the most annoying things in the game is to see a team battle back, pull within three points, get the ball back, but then be fouled with only a few seconds left; thus leading to the intentional missed free throw.  If you would have a chance to tie with a three pointer, then you should have the chance to tie with three free throws.
 
4.  As was mentioned before in this thread, eliminate the in-game music (at least I haven't heard Super Mario Brothers music played recently) and also message boards telling the fans to make noise....fans should be able to figure out when to make noise.

 

[Infield Infidel]

Reading this article about players taking lower salaries to create super teams (and listening to this), I had the idea for a minimum-maximum salary, or mini-max. I think it would promote parity in the league
 
This would be the minimum salary a player under 30 could get for the contract after signing a max contract. If a player signed a max deal, on his next contract, his mini-max would be based on a percentage of that. I'm not sure where the cut-line would be, but somewhere between 50%-75% of their max deal.
 
If no team wants to sign the formerly max player to the mini-max, then the player would have to wait until Dec 1 or Jan 1 (or some date between) before he could sign a deal lower than the mini-max. However, there would probably be teams lower on the totem pole that would offer more than the mini-max. If the player really wanted to go to a particular team for less money, it would impact the team in that the team would have a month or more without that player
 
Players 30 or over would be exempt since they might not worth as much as they were on their max deal
 
I'm not sure this would work, but if the league's goal is more parity, it would have to reduce the inclination of players signing deals under market value

 

[ALiveH]

i think the league's goal is revenue maximization and owner's profits.  not sure how parity correlates with that.

 

[Devizier]

IDEAL: Eliminate the player max and all exemptions. Set a hard cap (absolute limit - no exceptions) at a given revenue level (% of NBA revenues/team), perhaps around the level of the largest current payroll. Then maybe a soft cap (luxury tax) at about 80% of the hard cap. The numbers are squishy here. If you want to spend $40M/year on Lebron James or Kevin Durant, be my guest.
 
(slightly more) REALISTIC: Create a true supermax exemption. No caps in the exemption, but only one for roster. For cap purposes, the salary counts as a normal max. Every dollar beyond is off the NBA's official books. Think of it like the Lin/Asik contracts.

 

[wutang112878]

IDEAL: Eliminate the player max and all exemptions. Set a hard cap (absolute limit - no exceptions) at a given revenue level (% of NBA revenues/team), perhaps around the level of the largest current payroll. Then maybe a soft cap (luxury tax) at about 80% of the hard cap. The numbers are squishy here. If you want to spend $40M/year on Lebron James or Kevin Durant, be my guest.
 
(slightly more) REALISTIC: Create a true supermax exemption. No caps in the exemption, but only one for roster. For cap purposes, the salary counts as a normal max. Every dollar beyond is off the NBA's official books. Think of it like the Lin/Asik contracts.

 
I've brought a version of this idea up before, basically have one 'max' guy (however you want to define that) per team.  The top talent would be spread around, you'd get closer to the top 30 players being the 30 highest paid players, and this also eliminates some of the advantages the big market teams have to outspend so there should be more parity.  There really is a lot to like about any version/variation of '1 max per team'

 

[moly99]

 
I've brought a version of this idea up before, basically have one 'max' guy (however you want to define that) per team.  The top talent would be spread around, you'd get closer to the top 30 players being the 30 highest paid players, and this also eliminates some of the advantages the big market teams have to outspend so there should be more parity.  There really is a lot to like about any version/variation of '1 max per team'

 
Getting rid of the max cap essentially accomplishes the same thing. No one is going to be able to afford two players at 35 million each.
 
I honestly believe the max contract hurts the league and owners way more than it does the players. There are a couple of owners like Micky Arison that benefit, and then there are something like 28 other owners that are angry about the creation of super teams where star players like Chris Paul can force their demands onto the teams.

 

[ElUno20]

Not a major overhaul but id love to bring in the play on foul call that futbol has. I hate fast breaks being stopped by intentional fouls at mid court

 

[Max Venerable]

• Nine players on the court for each team.
• Court 50% bigger.
• Pit in the center with snakes at the bottom.

 

[simplyeric]

I wonder if a team that has been fouled on a non-shooting situation should have the opportunity should have the option to 'decline' the foul, such that instead of a 1-1 or 2 shots, they could choose that it be enforced as a possession foul (if they need to be shooting for three points, they can inbound and run a play).