NBA: 4 changes Adam Silver should make to improve league

1. Shorten the regular season:

For as exhilarating and as edge-of-your-seat exciting the NBA Playoffs get, the regular season can drag. 82 games is far too many, so many that each game, in itself, holds very little importance. It results in players taking nights off and teams taking nights off, which thus results in a lot of bad basketball games over the course of the six-month regular season.

So I propose that the regular season be shortened from 82 to 34 games. Each team plays the other four teams in its division twice, another team outside of the division twice, and the other 24 teams in the league only once.

The NBA could model itself after the NFL and shorten its regular season to 17 weeks, where each team would play twice per week. The current NBA schedule has teams playing roughly three times — sometimes more — per week. Fewer games and fewer games per week would mean far less injuries, which, combined with the fact that games would be far more significant than they are now, would mean better and more competitive basketball.

Who says no? The owners? Sure, with the number of home games dropping from 41 to 17, it’s plausible to think teams might lose revenue in ticket sales. But television ratings for these games would be through the roof, and sellouts would be far more common. Demand for tickets would be higher than ever, allowing owners to hike ticket prices.

It’s a cycle: fewer games means more significance per game means players give more effort means higher quality of play means fans are more willing to pay to watch.

Sometimes, less is more.

It also paves the way for my next proposal…