I think reducing the RS by about 10 games is possible, yes.

Lol, I think you’re over-estimating your “super fan” status.

if they die…. they die

They’ve tried nothing but they’re all out of ideas

Kruger, my son tells me you don’t know what the hell you’re doing

NOW you’re being reasonable

Cumulative fatigue from previous years can also rear its head later on. Over time spreading the games out would help

There are crazy schedules out there though.

Like back to back and away games either flying many hours?

Why do NBA still force that?

And its not like they plan weekly. They plan all season ahead its not like they try hot matchups based on current form.

Extend the time 3 weeks and you can eliminate all b2b. All of them

Euroleague teams play either 2 or 3 games per week. Its almost always has 2 or 3 day in between the games

They ban zone defense

Doesn’t this just make spread pick and roll even more deadly? Sure, post ups would be stronger but I don’t see how it erases all the offensive evolution that we’ve seen since Curry and the 3-point revolution.

I was just thinking about this the other day, bringing a few old rules back might be the only surefire way to significantly lower pace

I think this is it. We’ve just seen a ton of injuries during the first weeks of the season, these aren’t due to months of grinding out back-to-backs. People are playing at an unsustainable pace. Going to 40m won’t change anything for the stars.

Honestly just going back to ruling whoever initiates the contact is the one committing the foul would slow the game down a ton and prevent a lot of injuries.

And allow people to back down for more than 5 seconds

Road B2B’s are the single most relevant data point to increases in injuries.

Especially when teams will have 4 games in 1 week both back to back then a week later play 2 games all week

I think its mostly because pushing the ball in transition leads to so many good things that even if they made that change, teams wouldn’t just suddenly start pulling a Mark Jackson and causally walk the ball up, they’d still push

And you slow the pace of the game down by calling more traveling, carrying, and flopping, but they want their clippable highlights

I mean I guess I theory, but you can’t go 110% (despite hyperbole) . These players are already going 100% so claiming they are going to go even harder isn’t exactly possible.

Yeah it’s the same as the NFL and Boxing issue.

Deaths in boxing actually went up when boxing introduced gloves because it meant guys could punch more freely without worrying about breaking their hands.

The NFL introduced helmets and now players are more comfortable launching themselves at each other. It feels like every few years you see a report about NFL figures reaching out to various rugby leagues around the world trying to figure out why rugby players are making safer tackles.

I could possibly see that limiting stoppages could help (fewer time outs, fewer free throws, etc.), because if they have to play for longer periods without stopping, they are naturally going to reduce their pace because they won’t be able to keep it up, just like athletes running a 10K are going slower than athletes running 400m.

This is actually a really good point.

We had to do something similar in the Australian Football League (AFL) about a decade ago.

One of the teams took inspiration from the NHL, they started to spam shorter substitutions (which can be done during live play) so they could run their players faster. The whole league caught on and the league-wide average for subs went from ~60 to ~120 with some teams occasionally getting close to 200.

The AFL had to step in and start limiting substitutions to slow things down because of the increased injury risk.

Having guys play more fatigued is not going to reduce injuries

But it’s not just peak intensity that causes injuries, it’s fatigue plus intensity. Reducing fatigue while keeping intensity the same would indeed reduce injuries.

Do sprinters have more injuries than middle or long distance runners? I wouldn’t be surprised if the answer is yes, but I’m not sure.

They need to change the rules to limit offensive freedom. So much wear and tear is from the constant help required on defense because it’s literally impossible for a single defender to stay in front of their man.

But it won’t happen because rule of cool on offense sells.

No running

Speed bumps

Boo.

I don’t think they would ever do it but upping the shot clock might be the only answer.

At a certain point, the players have to adjust. They can see the people getting injured. We’ve already had past players talk about avoiding taking charges, preparing themselves well in advance of the regular season and Lebron even mentioned avoiding going for a dunk because he could see a defender sprinting. It’s the player’s health and career at the end of the day. They need to know what their limits are and what types of plays are unsafe and protect themselves. No rule or changes to the schedule will really stop someone from jumping off a bridge and hurting themselves.

BREAKING NEWS: pro sports teams try to win games.

Except the Chargers of course

yeah they should get like 6 weeks off and then get back to work

imagine a standard NBA Tuesday and Friday night game every week across all teams

but teams like winning games, and there isn’t some sort of huge untapped talent pool lmao

Teams are not going 15 deep as is. What would 3 more people that never play do?

Basketball is such a top-heavy sport that adding more roster spots doesn’t matter. If teams want to win games the top 8 guys need to play heavy minutes, adding a dozen roster spots won’t change that. This is also why I’m against expansion as the league truly isn’t that deep if you’re serious about winning games.

Or just give more minutes to end of the bench guys they currently have? Trading minutes of quality each game in exchange for greater long-term availability of the front-line players.

This was my thought too but I don’t expect it to work as intended

Teams already only play about half their roster regularly anyways. It would just be some extra guys at the end of the bench who never play

why would that help? Every team already has 5 guys who never hit the floor anyways

I’m not sure, a lot of teams already don’t use their full roster outside of blowouts and injury crises. A 15 or 20 man roster might just mean more DNP-CDs

15 guys seems awfully short, I agree. It’s worse in women’s meh

Less money = bad

It’s like 6 minutes a game from each of your core players. If teams can’t afford that, that’s a roster or coaching problem

Idk man, I feel like the Pacers go deep into their bench and them MFers have consistently been one of the most injured teams 🤣

The problem is pacing? Higher paced games, higher strain on body from games and workouts, and more overall skill. The only way a team could help is resting a player which the NBA also fines for.

Nfl does the same thing with the clock. College football is longer because of all the shitty long replays they do.

Why? You think team owners would start looking for less revenue if they had a different public face representing them?

Globalist?

It often betrays casual bigotry or at least otherization. Fear of other countries and cultures has become (always was?) a right-wing staple. Like “there’s no way we would want to be like those savages who aren’t us”…

Man I absolutely fucking hate how long 2 free throws can take.

You forgot some of the “practice warms ups” some players do in addition to taking like 8 seconds to shoot.

Alsl, why do subs need to happen between free throws? With 2 free throws, make the subs at literally any time before the 2nd one is put up.

Reduce 10 seconds to like 6 seconds while we are at it. Its a freebie shot from dead center at a makebale distance for 80+% of the leagues players. They dont need THAT much time.

I have zero understanding why this lowest of hanging fruits is not picked up.

Just speed that shit up. Make the players move their asses faster. Let the viewers feel a sense of urgency and hectic.

That complete chill mode when FTs are on is lazy bs.

A real shot clock on free throws, including BEFORE the player gets the ball, walking all around refusing to take the ball.

You’re right, I don’t know why this never occurred to me, but it should be like the pitch clock in MLB, everyone should see the FT clock.

Hard agree, was about to comment that it’s funny how less commercials never seems to be considered as an option to shorten pro sports program length in the US. But of course, we know why that is

Soccer also starts exactly at the scheduled time. You don’t have to be guessing or watching ads while you wait. First half ends, you have 15 minutes to do whatever you want, come back for second half and when the game ends you didn’t watch a single ad the whole time.

It’s the best sport to watch on tv bar none for this reason alone. I watch both halves and mute during halftime while I clean my place. I watch zero commercials and a full sporting event

100%, I went to an Inter Milan game live… what a joy. No stops, no commercials, just 80K+ fans chanting for 2 hours and then on their way.

Less commercials, more seats in the stadium, cheaper tickets. Soccer is just better.

F1 as well. Races have a time limit and no commercials, it’s great. I can’t go back to nascar, what a slog

Soccer is enjoyable because the crowds are great.

College basketball is enjoyable because the crowds are great.

Quality of game is a factor too but crowds drive enthusiasm

Soccer has been adding ads during substitutions

used to be no commercials, anyway.

Now they have “Hydration breaks” which are really just commercial breaks unfortunately.

We will ignore the recently introduced “hydration breaks,” which, in reality are just commercial breaks.

Right the first easiest change they could make is fully within their control which is get rid of the TV timeouts. They won’t do this and for the same reason I suspect if they reduced game time to 40 minutes they’d find a way for that 8 minutes to go to more ads rather than actually shortening the broadcast.

They need to be more willing to say the replay is not conclusive and let the call stand when they can’t make a determination quickly.

If it’s an important game, fine, take the time to get it right. But the viewing experience should take priority over spending 5 minutes scrutinizing every angle of a relatively inconsequential play in November.

I’m increasingly in favor of some changes to free throws to speed up the game. Any free throw for a shooting foul is worth the points missed. 2 for a 2, 3 for a 3. No more watching James Harden shoot 3 free throws with 30 seconds in between for the whole team to dap him up. It’s ridiculous.

The end of all basketball games should just be broadcast on CSPAN, since it is just procedural technicalities

It’s crazy that the “last 2 minutes of a close game takes half an hour” thing has been going on forever and they’ve just never taken meaningful steps to change it. It’s not even always a more commercials thing because I swear on a lot of these broadcasts we just get extended shots of the refs at the review table, players milling around, etc.

There is not a significant chance in the number of hits per game it went from 8.4 - 8.1. They are major league hitters if the can’t hit into the large openings the shift creates they shouldn’t be there.

Pitch clock and the pitching change rulrs are gamechangers.

Don’t worry, the arena will keep you occupied during the tv time out by with loud music, lights, a hype team running around, and more. Some arenas seem like they are operating under the assumption that the arena may blow up if there is a second of down time without stimulation.

they dont start the game on time so they can get people to watch ads for 10 minutes when they tune in at the stated time

Reading comprehension is rough

The problem with the NBA is the time from tip off to end of game buzzer. Too many stoppages from fouls to reviews that take 5 years.

Getting rid of the pre game stuff doesn’t change the rest.

I’d settle for keep them but they have to be back in the 75 seconds a timeout is actually meant to be now.

They did that in the past. It was called Slamball and it used to air on MTV iirc

I’m intrigued

Having some additional give on the court could be interesting. Could also lead to more injuries though.

Exactly, like would it not make more sense to just give players 10 games off a year and see if there is a difference? Or just cut the preseason down and spread the season out a bit longer.

I don’t even understand proposing this as a fan. I love basketball I would never want to see less games.

Sure makes you wonder where the comments are coming from, doesn’t it? Almost feels… manufactured?

I just don’t see it, somehow 40 year old Lebron or James harden can still be relatively healthy in the same league. Even a Demar derozan has racked up miles on his body yet seems ok for the most part.

The pace of play will still be the same and if it’s really that bad they court easily give players 10 rest days a year and keep it all the same.

It takes place in the course of three different months, hence why I said three months, but you’re not wrong. But they are still far too long.

Drastically is a massive overstatement.

It would temporarily slightly reduce revenues, while simultaneously improving the overall health of the game, which would increase viewership. Then once they renegotiate TV deals, they’ll be making even more money than they were before.

A lot of it is the amount of games players are playing right out of the gate

Nothing to do with being lazy

Your last point is reductive to the point of being dumb, we saw JDub’s ankle turn 90 degrees in game 3

The MLB is doing well and has seen an increase in ratings every year since 2023 as far as I know; a significant amount of baseballs appeal is the option to turn on a game throughout a 10ish hour window for half the year

If it was humanly possible for the NFL to play 50+ games they would, seeing as owners have been pushing for an 18th game for years now after already adding a 17th game in 2021

This man hates pancakes

Not to the extent that American sports would prefer to let historic records hold them back from reforms

I mean the premier league shortened its season in the 90s, also the creation of the premier league delegitimized most records set before 1992

No but never been to Europe or Asia so it didn’t feel right to speak for them ha

Considered by who? The early 2000s might have been rough, it is the toughest defensive era in the history of the game. But it wasn’t unwatchable by any stretch. Also I said mid 2000s, that’s when scoring started to rise but players still played every night and wasn’t tearing Achilles left and right

It can be especially when an elite offensive player gets locked down or his shot getting blocked. But the League wants the flashy high paced style of play for highlights.

I love a good, ugly, game 7. Those are the most intense games. Always rough on the stat sheets but the intensity is unmatched. Bulls vs Pacers ‘98 is like the ugliest game ever lol but it’s a fantastic watch. Every game 7 should be that intense. But the regular season shouldn’t be that intense

Just make midcourt a QR code for Kalashi or polymarket.

Simple and mind you any decision has to go through collective bargaining the players have no issues with injuries they get paid regardless

Oh noooooooooooooo

Baseball has less revenue than basketball, and both of them have less revenue than football that has the least amount of games

Time to be a trail blazer. Its not like they haven’t gotten creative to create more games like the play in games and create high interest games with the in season tournament.

It’s the 3 point revolution and the resulting response from defenses that’s responsible imo. So much five out offense and rotation on defense, everyone is scrambling to close out on guys who would have been considered premier knock down shooters 15 years ago, but now it’s just every player lol.

So basically everyone just moves more than they used to.

I think the pace of play is quicker, the players are faster and stronger, and players are playing more games starting at an earlier age (so more wear and tear on bodies, especially when the training isn’t as good as it needs to be)

“and fucks with historical records”

I’ll admit, I’ve never understood this line of thinking. Adding the three-point line and eliminating hand-checking “fucked with historical records.”

Go back and watch the old games and count how many steps they take throughout a game. Then look at how high they were jumping. The my are not comparable to today’s game

Players are bigger, faster, stronger, and the game is played with a lot more running, cutting, and jumping, and a lot of it at more awkward angles. More force, more often, more injuries. This is basic biomechanics.

I personally would love, say, 20 less games. They’d all become much more meaningful.

Also, I think less games would definitely help. Unless you implement rules that slow the game down (which they’re unwilling to do because Adam Silver likes that they have a high octane fast paced product) the only other way to meaningfully decrease wear and tear is less games. I think injuries are occurring more often because the game is very fast and the spacing is so spread out that players are just moving way more to cover more ground, among other things.

Guys are running 100s of more miles a year now than 20 years ago. Pace is the reason for the rise in injuries.

Like the other comment below says, it’s 82 games at a much much higher pace of play for all the players. Centers running the floor, possessions are shorter and all 10 guys are moving more on each possession so that’s the real truth. The number of games really is the only thing that would help IMO. Reducing the length of the game just means less players play

The playoff should be best of 5

Its capitalism. No business is ever allowed to float or regress, increasing profits is the only way.

Your 2 points could eventually be the breaking point that reduces games. But it won’t happen now because they just signed tv deals with massive increases. So the “stars don’t play and regular season games aren’t meaningful enough, which translates to less fan interest and less ratings, thus less ad revenue for media partners” argument needs to translate into an actual lower media deal before they’ll seriously consider reducing the schedule.

I don’t even understand the money argument. You can charge more per game if the games mean more. The NFL plays fewer games and makes more money than the NBA. Supply/demand.

How are you sure that less games = less injuries? Stars today can get a dayoff anytime they want as they get paid regardless.

Your ignoring the players would also make less money playing 10 less games a season. And they will not be down for that

I think you just described having a short attention span.

I agree. Looking at other sports we can clearly see that while overuse is a component of injury it’s not the only issue. Pitchers throw way fewer pitches now than they used to, even without rule changes we see teams doing more than ever to try and reduce load on pitchers, but it hasn’t done anything to prevent injuries. It’s not about the raw number of pitches its the velocity and the biomechanics involved, combined with (what I think is probably the biggest culprit) early sports specialization. In basketball its not about the minutes played, its about how they play.

Everyone seems to agree that the change is childhood sports has been horrible for health; Blake Griffin just did an episode of his show about it, Mind the Game just talked about it, obviously parents fucking hate it, but it’s also the best path to the league. Sure your kid may play way fewer minutes and have a much shorter career, but most draft picks are people who have played intensively one sport their whole life, so many parents and kids see it as the only way to be competitive. It’s bad for adults to practice year-round without breaks, in what world would it be different for kids. Unfortunately it starts way below NBA or even NCAA, so the leagues themselves don’t actually have the power to address the problem. I’m not sure what the solution is, could congress do something? You can’t stop kids from playing sports, but the damage is insane.

They’ve done studies on this. The number of games is not the issue, back-2-backs don’t cause more injuries, nor does 4 games in 5 days, etc.