In just over a week, the balls bounce for real, with the start of training camps, including the Miami Heat’s. Until then, there remains time to deal with some of the abstracts being considered by the NBA for 2021-22 and beyond.
— No automatic out-of-bounds reviews: For years, the NBA struggled with the never-ending reality that was the final two minutes of games and overtimes, eventually reducing timeouts allowed per team. It was a step in the right direction.
And then, with officials allowed to trigger video replay for out-of-bound calls in the final two minutes, there again were unceasing stoppages.
In that regard, it makes sense that the league is moving toward only allowing such reviews via coach’s challenge.
But those currently are limited to a single instance. And if the goal is getting things right in the tightest of situations, is a swift-but-incorrect call preferable?
If officials are removed from the process on such calls, the NBA at least has to allow teams to retain challenges if successful, and perhaps not require a timeout to invoke such an out-of-bounds challenge in the final two minutes.
Yes, there has to be a balance. But when the stakes are highest in games, certainty shouldn’t be removed from the equation.
— Midseason tournament: This has been a pet project of Commissioner Adam Silver for years, similar to the various “cups” in international soccer.
The WNBA schedule featured the Commissioner’s Cup last month and the 2021-22 G League schedule essentially dedicates the first third of the schedule to such a cup concept.
Yet to equate the success of the NBA’s play-in tournament to such an NBA midseason tournament is misguided. The play-in tournament is a ticket to the NBA playoffs, which is the path to the league’s most coveted prize, the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Even incentivizing a $1 million player payoff comes with its limitations, considering there now are players earning $500,000 per game, anyway.
Beyond that, such cups require historical significance. In the NBA, history is made in the playoffs. The difference in soccer is most major leagues (Major League Soccer withstanding, if you consider the MLS a major league) do not feature playoffs, just a final table.
Play-in tournament? Yay. Midseason cup? Nay.
— Outdoor game: Also floated has been the idea of an outdoor game in the vein of Major League Baseball’s successful Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa, a compelling nostalgic matchup last month of the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox.
There are hurdles, though, to an NBA version. First, winter venues would be out. Beyond that, concrete or hard-court surfaces would be stress fractures waiting to happen, ruling out anything similar to Harlem’s Rucker Park or similar venues.
So, as has been floated in this space in recent years, why not something like an outdoor game in the Miami moonlight in February, an All-Star Game at the home of the Miami Marlins?
If rain comes, close the roof. That way a regulation NBA court could be placed to allow shots of the Miami skyline in the background.
No, not quite Field of Dreams. But doable.
— Olympic coach: With Team USA fresh off Olympic gold, the search for a coaching successor to Gregg Popovich is under way. Already linked, among several candidates, is the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra, who guided the Select Team that trained against Team USA in July in Las Vegas.
While a Popovich USA Basketball assistant such as Steve Kerr might have the upper hand, Spoelstra has shown, in his work with the Heat’s Big Three, an ability to work with elite-level talent.
It would be an ultimate honor for any candidate, considering the lineage of the position that has included Popovich, Mike Krzyzewski, Chuck Daly, Bobby Knight, Henry Iba and Pete Newell.
For Spoelstra it could come down to whether he ultimately inherits additional Heat personnel power from Pat Riley or, if summoned, is able to invest the necessary offseason time to a USA Basketball program now led by Grant Hill.
