Poll: Should NBA Use 1-16 Seeding For 2020 Playoffs?
While the idea has yet to gain a ton of momentum, there has been talk in recent years about the idea of the NBA re-seeding its playoff teams once the postseason begins, ranking those clubs first through 16th based on overall records, regardless of conference.
For instance, the Clippers have the second-best record in the West this year, but the fourth-best mark in the NBA, so they’d be the No. 4 seed. The Sixers, sixth in the East, would become a No. 12 seed, reflecting their place in the overall NBA standings.
Such a change would help even the playing field if one conference is significantly stronger than the other, as was the case for the Western Conference for much of the 2010s. However, it hasn’t really gained steam due to travel concerns and because it would require approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors — generally, team owners in the weaker conference have a vested interest in keeping the format as is.
However, as the NBA works toward potentially resuming its 2019/20 season, the league could have a unique opportunity to experiment this summer. Two important factors would work in favor of testing the idea of re-seeding playoff teams using a 1-16 system:
- If the NBA resumes play in a single bubble location (ie. Orlando), no travel would be required.
- Eight of the current top 16 teams in the NBA standings are in the Western Conference, while eight are in the East. In other words, if the playoff seeding is tweaked, no current lottery team would make the postseason and no current playoff team would fall out.
During an appearance today on ESPN’s Get Up (video link), Brian Windhorst said he thinks there’s a real chance the NBA could go straight to the postseason if and when it returns, which could open the door for re-seeding the 16 playoff teams. According to Windhorst, league commissioner Adam Silver has long been interested in that concept.
As Windhorst notes, it remains unlikely that two-thirds of the NBA’s owners would be on board with such a format change for the long term. And even this season, there would likely be a number of teams in the East opposed to tweaking the format, since it would make their playoff draw a whole lot more challenging.
Still, if ever there was a time for owners to get on board with a one-off experiment, this would be the year.
Here’s what the playoffs would look like if the teams were re-seeded, regardless of conference, based on their current records:
First side of bracket:
- Bucks (1) vs. Magic (16)
- Heat (8) vs. Thunder (9)
- Clippers (4) vs. Mavericks (13)
- Celtics (5) vs. Sixers (12)
Second side of bracket:
- Lakers (2) vs. Nets (15)
- Jazz (7) vs. Rockets (10)
- Raptors (3) vs. Grizzlies (14)
- Nuggets (6) vs. Pacers (11)
And as a reminder, here’s what the playoffs would look like under the usual format:
Eastern Conference:
- Bucks (1) vs. Magic (8)
- Heat (4) vs. Pacers (5)
- Raptors (2) vs. Nets (7)
- Celtics (3) vs. Sixers (6)
Western Conference:
- Lakers (1) vs. Grizzlies (8)
- Jazz (4) vs. Thunder (5)
- Clippers (2) vs. Mavericks (7)
- Nuggets (3) vs. Rockets (6)
While a handful of first-round matchups would be the same regardless of the format the NBA uses, the re-seeding approach would create a handful of interesting inter-conference series, including Heat vs. Thunder, Raptors vs. Grizzlies, Nuggets vs. Pacers, and Lakers vs. Nets.
Things could get very interesting in the second and third rounds of a 1-16 format, with the Clippers potentially having to go through the Celtics and the Bucks before perhaps facing the Lakers in the Finals. The Lakers, on the other hand, might play the winner of a Raptors/Nuggets showdown for the right to advance to the Finals.
What do you think? Is re-seeding the playoff teams a worthwhile experiment, given this year’s unusual circumstances? Or would it be in the NBA’s best interest to stick to its usual postseason format, separating the East and the West until the Finals?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to share your thoughts!
Should the NBA use 1-16 seeding, regardless of conference, for the 2020 postseason?
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Yes 61% (890)
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No 39% (577)
Total votes: 1,467
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Hornets To Reopen Practice Facility On Tuesday
The NBA is moving closer to having all its teams reopen its practice facilities for voluntary individual workouts, with the Hornets issuing a press release indicating they’ll make the Novant Health Training Center inside Spectrum Center available starting Tuesday.
According to Charlotte’s announcement, the club’s practice court is the only area that will be available to players and coaches, with the locker rooms, weigh rooms, and medical/training areas remaining off limits. The team also wants players only doing on-court activities (ie. shooting) that can’t be done at home.
The Hornets will also adhere to the rest of the NBA’s league-wide regulations on workouts, including allowing no more than four players in the facility at a time and conducting symptom and temperature checks on anyone entering the building.
With the Nets also announcing plans to reopen their practice facility on Tuesday, more than two-thirds of the NBA’s clubs will have done so as of tomorrow. We’re still waiting on the Bulls, Celtics, Knicks, Mavericks, Pistons, Sixers, Spurs, Warriors, and Wizards.
Rest Of EuroLeague, EuroCup Seasons Canceled
As a potential NBA return gains momentum, the world’s second-most competitive professional basketball league won’t resume its 2019/20 season. The remainder of the ’19/20 EuroLeague and EuroCup seasons have officially been canceled, according to a press release.
While 29 of 30 NBA teams play in the United States, EuroLeague and EuroCup teams come from all over Europe, which complicated a return to play. Within its announcement, the ECA Shareholders Executive Board noted that there was no guarantee all teams would be able to hold training camps and prepare for games under the same conditions, or that all clubs would be able to travel to and from the necessary location(s).
The decision comes on the heels of the EuroLeague Players Association urging the league to cancel the season due to concerns about limited preparation time and an increased injury risk. The Executive Board cited those concerns in its press release as well, stressing that player safety was its top priority.
“Without a doubt, this is the most difficult decision we have had to take in our 20-year history,” Euroleague Basketball president and CEO Jordi Bertomeu said in a statement. “Due to reasons beyond our control, we have been forced to cut short the most successful and exciting season in European basketball history. This comes after two and a half months in which all the league’s stakeholders maintained their determination and exhausted every possible avenue in trying to deliver a complete and uniquely special season to our fans, whose passion is the driving force for all our efforts.”
At the time the EuroLeague season was suspended in March, Turkey’s Anadolu Efes – led by former NBA guards Shane Larkin and Rodrigue Beaubois, along with Sixers draft-and-stash prospect Vasilije Micic – was in first place with a 24-4 record, followed by Real Madrid and Barcelona at 22-6.
The 2020/21 EuroLeague season is now scheduled to begin on October 1, with the same 18 teams that played in the league this year returning for next season, per today’s announcement.
The ’20/21 EuroCup season, meanwhile, is tentatively set to tip off on September 30, with eight of 24 teams locked in for next year as a result of qualifying for this year’s quarterfinals. The other 16 spots will be determined based on this season’s domestic league standings.
2020/21 Salary Cap Preview: Sacramento Kings
Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.
The Kings‘ 39-43 performance in 2018/19 qualified as a breakthrough. It was the team’s best record in 13 years, after all. Sacramento didn’t take another step forward in ’19/20, but hung around the outskirts of the playoff race even as former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Bagley III missed most of the season and other key contributors – like De’Aaron Fox and Richaun Holmes – were sidelined with injuries for extended stretches.
Continued development from young players like Fox and Bagley will be crucial as the Kings look to make the leap from frisky lottery team to solid playoff contender. However, the team’s young core will start getting more expensive going forward, beginning with Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic in 2020/21.
Here’s where things stand for the Kings financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:
Guaranteed Salary
- Buddy Hield ($24,931,817)
- Harrison Barnes ($22,215,909)
- Cory Joseph ($12,600,000)
- Marvin Bagley III ($8,963,640)
- De’Aaron Fox ($8,099,627)
- Richaun Holmes ($5,005,350)
- Justin James ($1,517,981)
- Total: $83,334,324
Player Options
- Jabari Parker ($6,500,000)
- Total: $6,500,000
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Nemanja Bjelica ($7,150,000) 1
- Kyle Guy (two-way)
- Total: $7,150,000
Restricted Free Agents
- Bogdan Bogdanovic ($10,661,733 qualifying offer / $16,205,833 cap hold): Bird rights
- DaQuan Jeffries (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total (cap holds): $17,651,530
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Kent Bazemore ($28,904,493): Bird rights
- Alex Len ($5,408,000): Early Bird rights
- Yogi Ferrell ($4,095,000): Early Bird rights
- Harry Giles ($3,976,510): Bird rights 2
- No. 12 overall pick ($3,831,840)
- Corey Brewer ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights
- Total: $47,836,407
Offseason Cap Outlook
Parker will likely opt in, so adding his salary and the cap hold for Sacramento’s first-round pick increases the club’s guaranteed commitments to about $94MM for nine roster spots. It’s safe to assume the Kings will do all they can to re-sign Bogdanovic too, so they’ll operate as an over-the-cap team.
A deadline deal that sent Dewayne Dedmon to Atlanta ensured that the Kings should have the flexibility to negotiate a market-value deal – or match any reasonable offer sheet – for Bogdanovic without approaching the luxury tax line. As such, Sacramento should have the non-taxpayer mid-level and bi-annual exceptions at its disposal this offseason, though it might not make sense to use both exceptions in full — especially if the team wants to retain Bjelica, Bazemore, or any of its other free agents.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Mid-level exception: $9,258,000 3
- Bi-annual exception: $3,623,000 3
- Trade exception: $2,673,334 (expires 2/8/21)
Footnotes
- Bjelica’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after October 17.
- The Kings can’t offer Giles a starting salary worth more than his cap hold, since his rookie scale team option for 2020/21 was declined.
- These are projected values. If team salary gets high enough, it’s possible the Kings would instead be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,718,000).
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Coronavirus Notes: Travel Parties, Testing, More
The traveling parties for NBA teams typically exceed 50 members, but Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) says the league has told clubs that number will have to be trimmed down if and when the season resumes in a bubble/campus-like environment.
According to Stein, teams have been informed that they’ll likely be permitted to bring approximately 35 total players, coaches, and staffers into the “bubble” this summer. Of course, if all 30 teams return to play, that would still work out to over 1,000 people, and that’s before taking into account all the other individuals, including league officials and staffers, who would need to be involved as well.
Here’s more on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the NBA:
- The NBA has informed its teams that it’s engaged in discussions with multiple national providers of COVID-19 tests, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). As Charania notes, coronavirus testing will be a “central component” of the resumption of the season, so the league is shoring up its testing protocols and has asked clubs to create accounts with BioReference Laboratories, LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics and Vault Health/RUCDR Infinite Biologics at Rutgers.
- Two medical experts who spoke to Seerat Sohi of Yahoo Sports have concerns about the “campus-like” environment described by Jared Dudley this week for the NBA’s return, suggesting that the plan relies too much on the accuracy of coronavirus tests, which may produce false negatives.
- In an ESPN report that features 15 bylines, writers who cover several different sports take an in-depth look at how those sports are attempting to return to action. As ESPN’s writers observe, the attitude among sports leagues has shifted over the last couple months, “from fear of one positive test shutting down a season to the gradual acceptance of risk.”
And-Ones: Anthony, Thibodeau, R. Paul, No. 1 Picks
Former NBA big man Joel Anthony has been hired by the Hamilton Honey Badgers, a Canadian team, as a player consultant, the club announced in a press release. Anthony, a Canadian himself, appeared in nearly 500 regular season NBA games from 2008-17, winning a pair of titles with Miami.
“Joel Anthony brings extensive playing experience at the highest level of basketball that will help in the development of our players this season,” Honey Badgers general manager Jermaine Anderson said in a statement. “… He has learned the game under the guidance of coaches such as Pat Riley, Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, Brad Stevens, and Stan Van Gundy. He has a lot to offer our players, coaches, and staff.”
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Appearing on The Woj Pod this week with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, veteran NBA head coach Tom Thibodeau talked about what he has learned since being let go by the Timberwolves, addressing load management, the increased size of coaching staffs, and more. Ian Begley of SNY.tv shares a few of highlights from Thibodeau, who is expected to be a candidate for the Knicks‘ job and others later this year.
- With Klutch Sports branching out beyond basketball to represent football and baseball stars as well, agent Rich Paul spoke to Joe Vardon of The Athletic about that transition. The conversation also touched on several other topics, including whether or not Paul would have advised Darius Bazley to play in the G League if the NBAGL’s professional path had looked two years ago like it does now.
- With his usual NBA power rankings column on hiatus, Zach Harper of The Athletic tries his hand at ranking all 70 first overall picks in NBA history, from the best (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and LeBron James) to the worst (LaRue Martin, Gene Melchiorre, and Anthony Bennett).
2020/21 NBA Salary Cap Preview Series
Even as it remains unclear when exactly the 2020 NBA offseason will happen, Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 teams, breaking down the guaranteed salaries, non-guaranteed salaries, options, free agents, and cap holds on each club’s books.
Due to the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the salary cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that the cap for next season will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, and the numbers in our previews reflect that. However, it’s entirely possible next year’s cap will end up higher or even lower than that.
You can find the link to your favorite team’s offseason salary cap digest below. You can find this post anytime on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” or under “Features” in our mobile menu.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic
Central
Southeast
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest
Pacific
Southwest
Draft Updates: J. Harris, Watson, Wiseman
Nevada guard Jalen Harris, who declared for the draft before April’s early entry deadline, has decided to keep his name in the 2020 pool and go pro, according to his father (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports). Harris published a tweet of his own saying goodbye to Reno and indicating that he’s ready for his “next chapter.”
Harris, who began his college career at Louisiana Tech, transferred to Nevada and had a huge year in 2019/20 as a junior, averaging 21.7 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 3.9 APG with a .446/.362/.823 shooting line in 30 games (33.0 MPG). He’s not a lock to be drafted, but should be in the second-round mix, ranking 60th on SI.com’s big board and 85th on ESPN’s top-100 list.
Here’s more on the 2020 NBA draft:
- Dayton guard Ibi Watson has decided to withdraw from the draft and will return to school for his senior season, he tells Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Watson elected to test the draft waters this spring after averaging 10.1 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 31 games (22.5 MPG) off the bench for the Flyers as a junior.
- After Jeff Goodman of Stadium polled 35 NBA evaluators and found that 20 picked James Wiseman as the top prospect in the 2020 class, Goodman asked Wiseman for his reaction. The former Memphis Tigers big man stressed that he’s not concerned about whether or not he’s picked first overall, adding that his focus is on continuing to improve as a player, regardless of where he’s drafted (video link).
- In case you missed it, our Thursday poll focused on whether Wiseman or another player is the best prospect in the 2020 NBA draft.
Southeast Notes: Hornets, Jordan, Heat, Wizards
After the final two episodes of The Last Dance aired on Sunday, Scott Fowler of The Charlotte Observer writes that the second act of Michael Jordan‘s life in basketball has been “the polar opposite” of the first. While ESPN’s 10-part documentary series accurately portrayed Jordan as a wildly successful player on the court, he has been largely unsuccessful as a team owner since gaining control of the Hornets.
As Fowler acknowledges, a team owner doesn’t have nearly the same impact on night-to-night results as a star player would, but Jordan has been heavily involved in the Hornets’ personnel decisions. Since Jordan took over as the organization’s majority owner, Charlotte has just three winning seasons and hasn’t advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs.
Fowler wonders if Jordan has any more appreciation for former Bulls GM Jerry Krause than he did during his playing days, since the current Hornets owner could have used his own version of Krause since arriving in Charlotte.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- There are teams in the NBA that wouldn’t be significantly affected if the NBA’s cap projection for 2020/21 (and potentially 2021/22) dips by a few million dollars. However, the Heat would feel the impact of such a change. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald examines how the NBA’s new financial reality could alter the club’s approach to free agency in 2020 and 2021.
- Two sources close to Heat players praised the way the franchise has been handling the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Team president Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra have both remained in constant contact with players and have advised them to put their health and families’ health first, Jackson writes. “Guys consistently have been getting attended to,” one source told The Herald.
- Due to a positive trend in COVID-19 cases in D.C., Washington’s stay-at-home order may no longer extend through at least June 8, as previously anticipated. That could be good news for the Wizards, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, who notes that the team is still waiting for government clearance to reopen its practice facility.
Former Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan Passes Away
Former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan has passed away due to complications from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, the team announced today in a press release. Sloan was 78 years old.
“Jerry Sloan will always be synonymous with the Utah Jazz,” the club said in a statement. “He will forever be a part of the Utah Jazz organization and we join his family, friends and fans in mourning his loss. We are so thankful for what he accomplished here in Utah and the decades of dedication, loyalty and tenacity he brought to our franchise.”
After a two-and-a-half-year stint coaching the Bulls from 1979-82, Sloan took over as Utah’s head coach during the 1988/89 season. He remained in that role for 23 years, compiling a 1,127-682 (.623) regular season record with the franchise during that time. He also won 96 postseason contests with the Jazz, leading the club to two NBA Finals appearances against Michael Jordan‘s Bulls in 1997 and 1998.
Sloan’s 1,221 wins as an NBA head coach place him fourth in league history, behind only Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, and Gregg Popovich. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.
Prior to becoming an NBA coach, Sloan was a standout player, having been drafted fourth overall by the Baltimore Bullets in 1965. He spent most of his playing career in Chicago, earning a pair of All-Star berths and six All-Defensive nods for the Bulls.
We at Hoops Rumors send our condolences to Sloan’s family and friends.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.