Silver, NBA Explore Midseason Tournament Possibilities

A midseason tournament means more primetime matchups

News broke last week that NBA commissioner Adam Silver is exploring the league's options about implementing a midseason tournament into the NBA schedule. As many have noted, there is only one trophy that a team can win. In fact, in American sports, there is only trophy in each league. The MLS and the soccer leagues overseas have multiple cups and trophies that can be won.

Here in the States, the MLS has their postseason playoffs with the winner being awarded the MLS Cup, but in the middle of each season they hold the MLS Open Cup, which is another tournament for the league. The NBA is smart for considering this option in their own league and would be wise to implement it. However, there are a few issues that the league would need to overcome first.

The biggest issue with Silver's proposed idea is that the NBA season is already packed with 82 games and potentially 28 more in the playoffs. Factor in the national team games for the World Cup and Olympics, practices, summer workouts, etc. and the NBA player never really gets a break. Money always wins though, so don't shorten the season by much, but perhaps a 76 game schedule. This takes six regular season games off the slate so the midseason tournament could only allow a team to play a total of 81 games.

That brings us to the layout of the tournament. If I were Adam Silver then this is what I would consider. Do the tournament in a single-elimination format. Seed the teams based on the current standings with the top two teams getting a first round bye. Forget conferences for the tournament and just seed them 1-30. The bracket above shows what the tournament would look like with the final 2013-14 NBA standings.

Beyond the layout of the tournament things could get interesting. Since David Stern was commissioner, the NBA has focused on growing the game all around the world. For the midseason cup I would suggest growing the game right here in the United States. All the games should be hosted in cities that do not have an NBA team. Seattle, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, St. Louis and Pittsburgh would all be viable options with arenas large enough to hold an NBA contest. Other sites such as Kansas City, Raleigh, Anaheim, Omaha and Buffalo could also be considered. The neutral sites means a neutral crowd just like the NCAA Tournament and it draws a crowd in cities that aren't in the league.

Lastly, the NBA should look at holding the tournament in late-January through mid-February. Every game leading up to the title can be held at the venues listed above, similar to the NCAA Tournament. However, the championship should be held on Friday night to kick off All-Star weekend. The Rising Stars Game could be the opening act for the title game, which would be held in the All-Star host arena.

After the Christmas Day games the league goes into a lull. All-Star Weekend isn't the exciting event it once was. The Dunk Contest is weak and many people complain about the playground-style All-Star Game. Inserting the cup championship would be huge for the league and make at least one part of the weekend must-see television.

The league has a great idea here. Without a doubt there are many things to sort out, but it's a possibility and it has the opportunity to be great for the league. Silver continues to show that he is the right man for the job and moving forward with this idea would bring a fresh new event to an already successful league.