New Commish for the NBA

[dmavsfan]

Stern was fired and the NBA board of governors have selected a new Commissioner for the NBA. It's you! What changes do you make in any area. Pretend you have the power to implement your changes or influence others to do it. What do you do?

Here's what I would do: Get rid of the stupid no foul zone underneath the basket! If the guy is out of control driving to the basket why can't you draw an offensive foul? This rule appears to have been put in to give us more slam dunks. No thanks.

[Hitman]

Here are 3 things I would do immediately.


1. I would have 4 teams from each conference make the playoffs. 'This can't happen,' is what some posters will say. 'There is too much money made in the first round of the playoffs.' That is not a good argument. By having 4 teams make the playoffs, you are losing 1 round of the playoffs, but you are increasing the value of the regular season one hundredfold. One of the top 5 teams in the West is not making the playoffs. Do you realize how much more meaning that gives to the regular season?

Can you imagine the coverage of the games in March and April if the Mavs, Kings, Lakers, Spurs and Wolves were within a couple of games of each other? And only four of them would actually make it? That would mean, as a Mavs fan, that we would need to win a MINIMUM of 55 games this year to make the postseason. That means that, suddenly, the games are ALL IMPORTANT! What a concept?

Can you imagine the importance of the games in November and December for the Suns and the Rockets ( as well as the afforementioned top 5) as they know they need to win at all costs just for a chance to make the postseason?

The regular season would ACTUALLY BE IMPORTANT! That is what the NFL has going for it that the NBA simpy does not. You hear posters talking about "not caring" what the Mavs "regular season" record is. They only care about the playoffs.

Whether that thinking is right in basketball terms is irrevelant. However, when fans think your regular season is irrelevant, than you need to rework your regular season.

2. I would form a partnership with European basketball. I would incorporate those leagues into broacasts. I would put these games on NBA TV, I would talk about the future stars and I would promote them. I would negotiate with the European leagues to have a tournament amongst each other in the Spring to determine a "European champion" and I would have the NBA champion play the European champion following the finals to determine the "true" world champions. This would be a huge ratings draw around the world and would draw new fans year after year. The "World Championship of Basketball". I would also negotiate with leagues in Africa, Asia and Australia, and have them develop their leagues and in the future, have a true "World Championship" every year.

3. I would strike down Mark Cuban's attempt to make contracts invalid during international competition. These competitions are the future of basketball. The Yao Mings, the Dirk Nowitzkis, the Peja Stojakovics, the Emmanuel Ginobolis and the Nenes of the world spend their summer not just playing, but spreading the game of hoops around the world. They should be commended, not threatened, as the long term gain that they are affording the game (not to mention Cuban's wallet) are immeasurable. The gains far outweigh any potential ankle sprain that could keep Dirk out a few games.

[Rod1975]

Dude, don't do that! I was giddy at what I thought was good news. Thanks for the disappointment I experienced after reading the second and third sentences.

What would I do? First I would fire myself for incompetency, something David Stern refuses to do. No wait, before I did that I'd hire Larry Joe to the highest possible position within my power, and then fire myself.
I might find a few minutes to fire Stu Jackson, Russ Granik, Ed Rush, and any official that has more than 3 yrs on the job. We need new blood.

[Rod1975]

1. I would have 4 teams from each conference make the playoffs. 'This can't happen,' is what some posters will say. 'There is too much money made in the first round of the playoffs.' That is not a good argument. By having 4 teams make the playoffs, you are losing 1 round of the playoffs, but you are increasing the value of the regular season one hundredfold. One of the top 5 teams in the West is not making the playoffs. Do you realize how much more meaning that gives to the regular season?

I'd say 6 teams. The 3 division winners and 3 wild cards. That would be awesome.

[LRB]

I'd fire all the NBA officials and all managers over officials. I'd bring in international refs and have them call a foul is a foul no matter who it's against and no matter who is making it. And I'd have them call all fouls and cut out the wrestling under the basket. I'd also fight to limit contracts to no more than 3 years for players.

[rakesh.s]

get rid of guaranteed contracts like the NFL.....the money some of these guys are making is just sick

call fouls equally on all players...i don't care if you're t-mac or kobe

[Fidel]

I would negotiate with the European leagues to have a tournament amongst each other in the Spring to determine a "European champion" and I would have the NBA champion play the European champion following the finals to determine the "true" world champions.

That´s a pretty good idea Hitman.

Only we have something like the "european clubchampion" for ages allready. It´s called euroleague since the 90`s (had a different name and format before) and the current champion is Maccabi Tel Aviv. You can find info about it at www.euroleague.net. Actually I´d like to see Maccabi play against Detroit. Only problem would be under which rules should these games be played? I´d prefer int. rules cause I think they make for very attractive gameplay. Maccabi would also want to play under int. rules but the Pistons would obviously prefer NBA rules.

Just a little tidbit: Drazen Petrovic once scored 62 points in 38 mins for Real Madrid in the european cup final. He also scored 112 points in a 40 minute game in a yugoslavian league game while playing for Cibona Zagreb. He made 40 of 60 shots in that game.

[MavKikiNYC]

I'd make Joey Crawford and Steve Javie referree in drag.

[dmavsfan]

Originally posted by: Rod1975
Dude, don't do that! I was giddy at what I thought was good news. Thanks for the disappointment I experienced after reading the second and third sentences.

What would I do? First I would fire myself for incompetency, something David Stern refuses to do. No wait, before I did that I'd hire Larry Joe to the highest possible position within my power, and then fire myself.
I might find a few minutes to fire Stu Jackson, Russ Granik, Ed Rush, and any official that has more than 3 yrs on the job. We need new blood.

Sorry dude! I agree with you (in regards to Stern).

[V2M]

I'd sit down with the FIBA administrators and come up with rules and guidelines that are standard across all the leagues around the world. It doesn't make sense to have maybe 40 of the best 50 players and not be able to win the Olympic Gold because we're playing under different rules.

[dirk2003]

1-8 in the west play 1-8 in the east.

So the number 1 seed in the west plays the number 8 seed in the east.

[mavsfanforever]

Originally posted by: dmavsfan
Stern was fired.

I wish.

[dmavsfan]

Ha Ha. Another thing I would do is get the game back to being a sport. Not entertainment. I mean sports is naturally entertaining and interesting. Does the NBA need to be partners with Hollywood and MTV? This is Stern's doing I think. I think that Stern is probably upset that he didn't get Janet Jackson first. The NBA All-Star show was not far removed from the NFL fiasco.

And.....I would offer David Robinson to be head over the whole USA basketball. He could put an executive team together to select a team for International play. That would be a GOOD TEAM!

[sike]

just for LRB's fancy I would make all the men wear the short shorts from the 80's.....

[LRB]

Originally posted by: sike
just for LRB's fancy I would make all the men wear the short shorts from the 80's.....

How about all the huge 'fros from the 70's to go with 'em. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[NYCdog]

1.........Bring back the original Slam Dunk Contest and get rid of that Sprite "rising stars" crap.

2.........In light of Team USA's recent Olympic showing, redo the All-Star format to feature an NHL-type "USA vs. World" format.

Imagine the American team of Shaq, Duncan, T-Mac, Kobe, and AI versus the World team of Yao, Dirk, AK47, Manu, and Nash. It would definitely ante up the stakes as there would be alot of pride on the line.

3.......Like all of you previously said, form a "Champions League" with European and other world clubs in which the Champion form each league battles each other in a tournament until a real "World Champion" is crowned.....i.e. the current "Champions League" format for soccer in Europe.

Basketball is a global sport.....capitalize on it.

[StvNash13]

I definitely agree with you guys about globalizing the sport of basketball, but I think that it is slowly moving in that direction. I see the huge amount of international players picked in the recent drafts, and USA's lack of dominance in international play as leading factors toward the globalization that you're talking about.

[mavsman55]

I would start by rigging all the games so Sacramento loses, finishing the season 0-82. Then, I would take some of the $500 billion/year that Kobe makes and build myself a nice condo in the Caribbean somewhere. Then I'd retire and watch Sacramento lose for the rest of my life.

[Fidel]

Originally posted by: V2M
I'd sit down with the FIBA administrators and come up with rules and guidelines that are standard across all the leagues around the world. It doesn't make sense to have maybe 40 of the best 50 players and not be able to win the Olympic Gold because we're playing under different rules.

Hmm well you either think about making NBA rules the standard or I don´t see how this would help the US. FIBA rules are played allover the world except the USA. So why should the world adapt to the NBA? If anything the NBA might want to adapt the international rules. But even that wouldn´t help you so much in the short term, since most of those 40 players you are talking about aren´t suited very well to play the international style of ball.

By the way, personaly I think international rules are far superior to NBA rules in terms of gameplay. Another plus is that in international comp you don´t have a bullshit star system and all players and teams are judged relatively even.

[Fidel]

3.......Like all of you previously said, form a "Champions League" with European and other world clubs in which the Champion form each league battles each other in a tournament until a real "World Champion" is crowned.....i.e. the current "Champions League" format for soccer in Europe.

You might have missed my previous post, but like I said we allready have something like that in Europe. It´s called "euroleague". All the good clubs from Spain, Italy, Serbia, France, Greece, Russia, Lithuania, Israel, Germany... do compete in it. The current champion is Maccabi Tel Aviv. Leagues from other parts of the world aren´t as strong. Perhaps countrys/leagues from asia and southamerica should be included somehow, but I´m really not sure if they could compete. For example most of the Argentinian olympic champions do play in Spain.

[V2M]

Originally posted by: Fidel

Hmm well you either think about making NBA rules the standard or I don´t see how this would help the US. FIBA rules are played allover the world except the USA. So why should the world adapt to the NBA? If anything the NBA might want to adapt the international rules. But even that wouldn´t help you so much in the short term, since most of those 40 players you are talking about aren´t suited very well to play the international style of ball.

By the way, personaly I think international rules are far superior to NBA rules in terms of gameplay. Another plus is that in international comp you don´t have a bullshit star system and all players and teams are judged relatively even.

You could do this in phases, over a period of time. I agree with you that the International game is more fun as it emphasizes team play. As for the rule differences, there could be a give and take between NBA and FIBA, such as:

1. Like the shot clock can be cut down to 24s and make the game 48min to add more scoring in FIBA.
2. The painted zone near the basket can be made more uniform.
3. 3PT arc can be standardised to about 21 or 22 feet. (A foot more than FIBA and a foot less than NBA).
4. Zone defenses allowed and encouraged in NBA.
5. Call the travelling and foul calls uniformly in NBA (yes, even the superstars need to be called when they travel or foul).

NBA players may be at a disadvantage initially. But their talent level is as such that within a year or two of good coaching, they'll catch up.

My point behind the argument is, the game that we've invented and dominated for so long is no longer ours. Rest of the World have lesser athletes but are kicking our behinds 'cuz the rules are different. Why not eliminate the difference in rules and make it a fair game? Let the better team win!!