Tim Bontemps | ESPN8 from Jul, 2023, 20:11Reading: 5 min.
LAS VEGAS — The NBA officially unveiled its new season tournament, and the NBA Cup teams will claim for winning it, at Summer League on Saturday afternoon. The event is the culmination of a vision NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has had for years to bring European Cup-style competition to the league.
“This is a concept that’s been around the league office for about 15 years,” Silver said on a special “NBA Today” episode of “NBA Con” as part of the league’s annual meeting in Las Vegas. . “We thought it was a perfect opportunity for a global league like the NBA, and it fits our game perfectly.
“New traditions take time. But, in all sports, we’re seeing new innovations, and now it’s time for this tournament of the NBA season.” As part of Saturday’s announcement, the league also unveiled the six five-team groups, three made up of Eastern Conference teams and three made up of Western Conference rivals, that will make up the group stage of the tournament:
Grupo 1: Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons
Grupo 2: Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets
Grupo 3: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic
Group 4: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers
Grupo 5: Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets
Group 6: Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs
Adam Silver, during a meeting with the governors of the NBA. Photo: Getty
To create the groups, the NBA used a World Cup-style draw process, dividing each conference into five pots separated by last year’s regular season standings. Pot 1 featured the teams that finished first to third, namely in the East, the Bucks, Celtics, and 76ers, followed by the teams 4-6 that landed in Pot 2 (Cavaliers, Knicks, and Nets); teams 7-9 landing in Pot 3 (Hawks, Heat, Raptors); teams 10-12 landing in Pot 4 (Bulls, Pacers and Wizards); and teams 13-15 landing in Pot 5 (Magic, Hornets and Pistons).
From there, one team was randomly selected from each of the five pots to create what the league hopes will be three evenly matched pools of teams to compete against each other.
The group play portion of the tournament will consist of four games, one against each of the other four teams in each group, taking place over seven dates throughout the month of November. This year, those dates will be November 3, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 28, a combination of four Fridays and three Tuesdays.
Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball strategy and analysis and a key person behind the creation of the midseason tournament, said the league will do everything possible to have back-to-back games as part of those group games that take place. out for a minimum.
“The commitment we made to the teams is that we’ll do everything in our power to keep the group games from being the second night in a row, it’s probably going to be impossible to keep some of them from being the first night in a row.” with their backs turned,” Wasch said. “It’s probably not feasible for us to deliver a show that isn’t the first or second night of [cualquiera] back to back. So the compromise we hope to achieve at this point is to avoid back-to-back second nights. .”
From there, the winner of each group will advance to the knockout round, along with the highest ranked team that did not win a group in each conference. Those teams will then play quarterfinal games on Monday, December 4 and Tuesday, December 5 in the top-ranked teams, with the four teams that win those games advancing to the semifinals on Thursday, December 7 at T-Mobile Arena. followed by the championship game on Saturday, December 9.
Until the title game, the East and West teams will only play opponents within their conference, setting up an East vs. West matchup in the championship game in the same format as the NBA playoffs.
Players will take home $500,000 for being on the team that wins the NBA Cup, while players on the losing team in the title game will take home $200,000 each, and players from teams semifinal losers will each receive $100,000 and quarterfinal losers’ players will receive $200,000 each. house $50,000. But while other incentives were discussed to give players and teams more incentive to invest in the tournament, such as guaranteeing the winner a playoff spot, the league ultimately chose not to enact such measures.
As part of that process, the league readily admits that it will take time for people to adjust to having a new trophy to win and a new competition as part of the NBA season, but believes that over time it will become a part of it. part of the NBA calendar.
“Not everyone is going to buy right away,” said Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations. “So that can’t be the goal ever.
Everyone will buy from day one.
“These things take time. And I think as time goes on, I think you can build this and people can really get involved.”
As for the decision to name the championship trophy the “NBA Cup,” rather than, for example, naming it after former NBA commissioner David Stern, as some had speculated, Wasch said the league considered a variety of names. different for both the tournament itself and the championship trophy before deciding to go with basic descriptions for each of them.
However, he admitted that both could change in the future, particularly if sponsors get involved.
“I would say we did an extensive exercise in naming both the tournament and the trophy because they don’t have to be the same, right?” Wasch said. “Ultimately we decided that, at least in the early years, you’re trying to establish something from the ground up and build understanding. So the literal terms that we felt were the most resonant in the market and we recognize that that might come with some criticism that they lack creativity and are too simple, but we felt that was the best way to build a fan understanding of what this is.
“This is a seasonal tournament and the winner will lift a cup – the NBA Cup. Now, could those names change over time? Yes. Could they have rights attached to them as we build partners around this? Yes, sure. So I think those things will change, but for now, the kind of more basic descriptions that we thought were the right approach to get this off the ground.”
2023-07-09 00:21:30
#NBA #presents #format #Cup #Tournament
