Bobby Marks' NBA Season Idea Is Actually Pretty Good!
Everywhere you look people are throwing out ideas left and right for how to not only bring the NBA season back but then also what that might mean for next year. Out of all of the ideas and plans I've seen, I have to say I think I might like this idea by Bobby Marks the most. For those who don't know who this is (which would be weird if you're a basketball fan), he's a NBA Front Office Insider for ESPN who spent 20 years working in the NBA. The guy knows his shit and is a billion times smarter than all of us assholes on the internet so I don't really feel like this is him just throwing shit against the wall. I'm sure he's taking into account the million different factors that would have to be considered in order for this to work.
Obviously first and foremost this is assuming testing and all the health concerns are figured out by July. With that in mind, there is a lot to like with this plan.
It sounds like this plan gives us a normal length playoffs which I certainly would prefer and also gives us some quality basketball in August-September which most people will like since that's a big time dead period in a normal NBA calendar. It gets a little crazy for the teams that miss this year's playoffs, that's a lonnnnnng time for them to be off. A shortened training camp could result in more injuries but I'm choosing to be positive that all that extra rest will cancel that out. The one question I have is how he mentions the regular season starting on Christmas, but still playing all 82 games and wrapping up in the normal mid June. Does that mean the league will reverse all the work they've done to spread out games, get rid of bunch of B2Bs and like 5 games in 7 night stretches? With a shortened camp, that would concern me. You would think if they start in December they need to cut like 20+ games, but then you have to factor in TV money and all that bullshit, perhaps that's why this plan accounts for a full 82.
If it were me and we were coming up with a new plan to test wacky ideas, why not go one more level and make free agency BEFORE the draft? Figure out the details and let's see what that looks like. There have been front offices already trying to make this change a real thing, why not just swap the Draft date and free agency date? That's how it should be anyway and everyone knows it.
All in all, if this is the best case scenario for the league to come back this summer and give us a real playoffs while also not screwing up next season as well, where do I sign up? Remember, we are not shaming anyone who is doing their part to come up with potential solutions, but I think this one might actually be the one that happens.