We earlier reported that top-seeded NBA teams are exploring several ideas on how they will be able to gain some form of edge, given how the league is now looking to resume the current season in a bubble. There were some acceptable ideas presented on there, but quite frankly, others just seemed like they were born out of sheer desperation.
For starters, here is the premise. Several reports earlier stated that the league is leaning towards playing the remainder of the season in a single, neutral venue such as Disney World in Florida. As a result, this will eliminate any home court advantage for all teams — something that top-seeded teams are currently ruing. After all, they worked extremely hard throughout the regular season to secure a top seed in their respective conference, and were expecting that this would be rewarded by the usual home court advantage come playoffs time. This is obviously thrown out of the window with the NBA’s bubble idea.
As a result, these top seeded teams are looking for ways to reestablish some form of edge in lieu of the lack of a home court advantage. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin listed down some of the proposed ideas, which teams are reportedly looking to present to the NBA soon.
To be fair, some of the ideas make a lot of sense:
The higher-seeded team being awarded the first possession of the second, third and fourth quarters, following the traditional jump ball to begin the game
The higher-seeded team receiving an extra coach’s challenge
The same does not hold true for all of the propositions, however. One of them is looking to completely revamp one of the cardinal rules of the sport:
The higher-seeded team being allowed to designate one player to be able to be whistled for seven fouls instead of six before fouling out
Others are just downright bonkers, and seem like they were just placed on there because they were running out of viable ideas:
The higher-seeded teams being able to transport their actual hardwood home court from their home arenas to Orlando to try to preserve the feel of their home playing experience
An off-court feature in which playoff teams, in order of seeding 1-16, receive first choice on picking which hotel they will stay at in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and Disney World Resort. ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Co.
Perhaps these teams are playing some form of bargaining game with the league. They probably know that some of their ideas are out of of this world, and have very little chance of getting the green light from the NBA. This places their other, more logical propositions in a prime position to get the nod from commissioner Adam Silver.
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