| Re: okay, so does the reg. season matter or doesn't it?
I guess one way to think about it might be to ask if you would be a fan of a league with 32 teams that didn’t have a regular season but only a five round playoff series. First two rounds would be best of five, last three best of seven so the maximum number of games to be played is 31, minimum is 18. Seedings are based on last year’s playoff series. Would you watch? Would it be as much fun or as interesting? What do you did if your team lost in the first round?
I suspect most of us would watch, but I’m not sure it would be nearly as much fun or as engaging. For me it’s the long season that makes it all worthwhile. It’s seeing the team play four games in five nights with the last two back-to-back with a flight in between and overtime in the first game. It’s seeing them deal with injuries, with slumps, and with those exquisite brief periods when they can simply do no wrong. It was the road trip when the Pistons held four or five teams in a row to under 70 points and set a record. It was seeing Ben Wallace make two or three game saving plays on the last possession during that streak. It was seeing New Jersey celebrate a loss in which they managed to score over 70. (Just sit down and think sometime about the sight of the Nets celebrating not losing as badly as other teams and what that really meant at the time.)
I’d be happy with a league without playoffs in which the regular season champs were the champs. Playoffs always seemed more a marketing gimmick to me rather than something useful for a sport. If you really care about finding the best team, then that’s how to do it, not through the best four of seven format where anything can happen. Bottom line, I like to watch the games. And I like to watch a lot of them. 31 wouldn’t be enough.
But, in the current format, does the regular season matter? I still say yes. I think it’s pretty simple. If you can’t consistently win in the regular season you can’t win in the playoffs. Juggling the need to win games (to keep fans in the seats to generate a substantial share of team revenues if nothing else) with the need to develop players and keep them sharp with the need to have everyone refreshed at the end is what makes it fun.
I think playoff success is directly related to regular season success. And that regular season success is mainly, but not entirely measured in wins. There are other factors to consider and as Lee is fond of pointing out to us, playing the bench doesn’t necessarily equate with losing. But the other side is equally important – teams use the regular season to develop and maintain a fan base that is what really generates the revenues.
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"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi |