Daryl Morey just made a blockbuster trade for James Harden, and now the 76ers head of basketball operations wouldn’t mind seeing some radical things happen to the NBA season.
As relayed by RealGM, Morey proposed the idea of drastically altering the regular season schedule and the playoffs, during a visit with noted sports radio/TV pontificator Collin Cowherd of Volume Sports.
Cowherd said the NBA should shorten the regular season, and perhaps return to the good old days of a best-of-five series in the first-round of the playoffs.
“You’re too timid, but you gotta go farther,” Morey said, via RealGM. “I like 58. Every team plays every (other) team two times. The playoffs, I 100 percent agree, shorter is better.”
And when it comes to the playoffs, forget best-of-seven, best-of-five, whatever. Per Morey, it’s time to make things more intense, and therefore, boost revenue.
“I would have it one-and-done,” Morey said. “There’s a reason everyone tunes into every game at huge ratings in the NFL. It is literally one-and-done. And the NCAA Tournament, in 63 games, gets more money than we do in our entire regular season.”
Morey thinks there is a way to change all that.
“Any sport should want more games that are close to the Super Bowl,” Morey said. “Nothing’s going to beat the Super Bowl for a little while, though I think the NBA can pass the NFL in my lifetime, for sure, for their biggest game being a big deal.”
Morey’s idea would be a major change for a league that has operated this way almost since its inception.
But most interest in the league comes in the form of highlights and dialogue on social media (as opposed to people actually attending games and buying merchandise). And social media doesn’t result in income.
So hey, maybe Morey is on to something?
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