The finish line in sight, I tilted on Mavericks and Bulls the other night, both teams fought for play-in positions.
Wow. Good game.
Two nights later I tried the kings and pacers. The same efforts.
Again, wonderful theater.
So now I’m ready to make an in -depth statement:
Why is refueling such a bad thing?
Look at Mavericks without Luka and the bulls without … Yes, basically everyone was a bit like watching Ferris State playing slippery rock in football.
Entertaining, but at a Division II level. Trust me, you don’t want Ohio State.
Should MAVS and/or the bulls survive the Play-in silver carrot that the Commissioner wants them to fight their darnest to Corral-Skulle they are no more than sweeping feed for one of the extremely superior top seeds in the playoffs.
Honestly, Dallas did a bear service and tried to win the Chicago game. MAVS would be much better at taking a full court at the next Doncic or in this case even better-in the draft lottery.
Same with the kings, except that they were smart enough to get to cards against pacers. They try to win and still lose, which tells how necessary it is for them to land a generational star in the draft.
There is not always one out there, but there is this year. So goals must be adjusted.
Commish silver says refueling is bad for its sport. He assumes everyone agrees.
I don’t. In fact, you don’t … or at least a majority of you.
At some point in the position, most fans would prefer to see their team lose to increase their chances in the lottery. Especially when Cooper flag is the price.
Maybe I would draw that line a little higher than others. But if I wanted the best for heat and bull-two teams currently in the Play-in position in Eastern or Mavericks and Kings-Tea’s mirror photos in the West would I pay the points holder to slip an extra point or two to the opponent … say about every five minutes.
Please note that I did not mention Suns. These guys may look like the thoughts, but they have no incentive to do it.
They do not own their first round. Bulls and Mavericks have theirs, while the heat will retain theirs if it is in the lottery, the same for the kings if they land in the top 12 in the draft.
Refueling at the expense of a playoffs Sounds – Pardon Term – Ludicrous. But these four teams are not better than the nine at the bottom of the position that are already backstroking as fast as they can.
They can make the playoffs, but like Wizards, Hornets, Jazz and their colleagues, they have zero chance of winning a single match against Cavaliers, Celtics, Thunder, Nuggets or Lakers.
Ten years from now, when these teams will not have to refuel to be in the lottery, they will ask themselves: Was it really smart to replace our butt to make the playoffs in 2025, when all that did was get us embarrassed by Cavaliers? Or thunder? Or anyone?
Ask the hawks and timberwolves. They celebrated Play-in success in 2023, just to win a combined three of 11 games in the playoffs and threw a shot at Victor Wembanyama.
Do you think their fans would like to light the lamp to challenge that conversation?
And here’s the thing with refueling …
Ok, it is clear that the tactics can be positive for many teams, and a large majority of their fans would be for.
But what about the opponent? You know, the one who gets the boat race.
I don’t hear anyone complaining from them.
For starters, they get a much needed victory in their quest to better position themselves for the big tournament.
Secondly, they are allowed to rest their top players, who certainly beats Silver’s other great concern – uninterrupted absence. Even Kawhi Leonard was able to do a back-to-back if the opener was a glorified review.
And finally, you really think these fans leave the arena and say: “What a waste of money. I came here to see Cam Johnson go over Jayson Tatum again.”
So in the end: the tanker and its fans like it, and Tanke and its fans like it.
Other than rivals that already had their shot on these weaknesses, so stick a sock in it, the only people who could not refuel are the TV managers, who are of course Silver’s directed audience when he arranges a state of the NBA address and rails of his illness during the day.
But that is another thing with refueling: if you rightly applaud the leading concept, it becomes more predictable. And therein lies the solution:
Svisar another game.
Here it hopes that a seriously incorrect No. 10 seeds go ultra trial and refuel its play-in game, then defies the odds and wins flag sweepstakes.
Give that guy head of the year in place.
Silver would go nuts, threaten to invalid the lottery and hope that incensed fans would revolt in support of their hero. Not bloody likely.
He would have a better chance of landing an expansion team in Greenland.
