No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs (sorry, Dallas fans). So why do we force them to play out the string when one team wins the first three games? One response: I bet the playoff teams being guaranteed only one game of playoff ticket revenue instead of two wouldn't be so popular with NBA franchises.
That, and some much cheerier HoopIdeas in this week's Five for Friday:
PLAYOFF SERIES MERCY RULE
Here's a @HoopIdea: Going up 3-0 = Sweep. Makes Game 3 a dramatic elimination game & we waste less time. -- Ethan Sherwood Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) via Twitter
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER IDEA
#HoopIdea Because development is such a big part of the NBA, hand out MIP awards like Gold Gloves. -- Matt Moore (@HPBasketball) via Twitter
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AS POSITION-BASED AWARD
How about DPOY as Gold Gloves? One per position so little guys get some love. -- Derrick Prose (@WorldwideJames) via Twitter
NBA COACHING BOOTHS
One or two assistant coaches from each team NBA team should sit in a booth during the game. Like their NFL counterparts, these coaches would be able to watch the game unfold live at the same angle they review the game on tape. Why should they receive their game day information at a different angle than the one at which they review and teach the game? -- Matt Scribbins on Magic Basketball
ASK FANS TO SUPPORT TANKING
What we are worried about in the context of tanking is that the game will get less interesting. We have a pretty good method for telling whether the games are interesting -- attendance. It is really hard to get people to show up to games when stars aren't playing and the outcome is certain. What if the league required teams to meet certain attendance figures in order to get lottery balls/draft spots? If attendance fell below 10K a game, you lose X number of lottery balls and fall in draft order (you'd have to control for market size and ensure that they weren't giving away tickets, but that doesn't seem too hard). This way bad teams have an incentive to put a good product on the court. Or even more interestingly, they can tank, but only if their fans are in on it. This would also goose attendance and revenue. -- David Schleicher on PrawsBlawg
You can give us your ideas and talk with us and other fans in the following places:
Google+: Go to our HoopIdea Google+ page and discuss
TrueHoop: Read our HoopIdea posts here and contribute on the conversation page
Email us at hoopidea@gmail.com
And for the truly ambitious: Shoot a short video of yourself explaining your HoopIdea, upload it to YouTube and share the link with us on Twitter or Google+.