Sunday, August 17, 2008

The Ultimate Hoops Tournament

By Rick Morris

Forget what you are witnessing with the Olympic basketball tournament right now. Forget anything you think you've seen in terms of previous basketball tournaments. We at The FDH Lounge are proposing a concept for the NBA to utilize (they can take this free of charge; we're simple folk who need not their bags and bags of caysh) that would create the Ultimate Hoops Tournament and lead to a shortened, more-meaningful regular season.

First, let's discuss the regular season. It would consist of 66 games, down from the present 82, with the following breakdown:

^ 4 games apiece against every rival in-division
^ 2 games apiece against every other team in the league

Granted, the only additional games in-conference (as opposed to non-conference) would be the ones in-division, but I question how lopping off some Clippers-TWolves tilts would affect the survival of Western Civilization.

The regular season would start later (mid-November, as opposed to the start of November) and end earlier (start of April, as opposed to mid-April) and the playoffs would end at the start of June instead of mid-to-late June. This would allow for the tournament to be played in July and August.

Now, this proposal lops 240 games off of the NBA calendar, about one-fifth of the season. The main reason that the season hasn't been shortened prior to now is a straight cash grab, the unwillingness of owners and players alike to give up that one-fifth of the year's revenue from the gate, merchandising and perhaps above all else, TV. Because David Stern and Company are among the greatest marketers in the world, I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that that revenue could be recouped through this tournament -- if participation for healthy players was deemed mandatory. Of course, all of this would have to be collectively bargained.

This tournament also would benefit the entire sports world, since it would fall during the deadest time on the calendar, from the day after the MLB All-Star Game until August. ESPN wouldn't have to hold us hostage with more round-the-clock gaga like what Brett Favre had for breakfast if that time were legitimately occupied with something special.

So here's the tournament parameters:

^ Nine all-star squads, formulated based on where players went to college -- if they went to college. There would be teams formed with players who used to play in the SEC, the ACC, the Big East, the Big 10, the Big 12 and the Pac 10. Additionally, there would be an international all-star squad (not counting players who played college basketball in this country), a team made up of mid-major/small school players and a "high school" team (comprised of players who did not attend college). The proposed rosters are listed below, in this order, with a starting lineup, remainder of a rotation and remainder of a bench unit proposed for each team.

^ Games would be played from the day after the MLB All-Star Game until the first week of August, all across the country. Each of the nine teams would play every other team, before being seeded into a single-elimination final tournament with quarterfinals, semifinals and the championship game. The exact schedule follows below, beneath the rosters.

Here are the rosters:


A

SEC
C S O'Neal

LSU
PF A Horford

FLORIDA
SF T Prince

KENTUCKY
SG J Johnson

ARKANSAS
PG M Williams

ALABAMA


Rotate R Rondo

KENTUCKY

G Wallace

ALABAMA

M Miller

FLORIDA

D Lee

FLORIDA

J Noah

FLORIDA






Bench A McDyess

ALABAMA

R Brewer

ARKANSAS

G Davis

LSU

T Green

FLORIDA

C Brewer

FLORIDA
A Walker
KENTUCKY





B

ACC
C T Duncan

WAKE
PF C Bosh

GA TECH
SF L Deng

DUKE
SG V Carter

UNC
PG C Paul

WAKE


Rotate A Jamison

UNC

E Brand

DUKE

C Boozer

DUKE

J Howard

WAKE

S Marbury

GA TECH

C Maggette

DUKE


Bench M Dunleavy

DUKE

J Stackhouse

UNC

R Mason

VIRGINIA

S Battier

DUKE

J Crittendon

GA TECH

M Harpring

GA TECH

R Wallace

UNC

R Felton

UNC

B Haywood

UNC

C Wilcox

MARYLAND

S Williams

UNC

G Hill

DUKE

B Wright

UNC

M Williams

UNC





C

Big East
C E Okafor

UCONN
PF T Murphy

NOTRE
SF C Anthony

SYRACUSE
SG D Wade

MARQUETTE
PG A Iverson

GEORGE.


Rotate R Artest

ST JOHN'S

C Butler

UCONN

R Gay

UCONN

R Hamilton

UCONN

R Allen

UCONN

B Gordon

UCONN


Bench J Green

GEORGE.

R Foye

VILLANOVA

J Maxielle

CINCY

J Boone

UCONN

K Martin

CINCY

S Williams

BC

S Dalembert

SETON HALL

D Mutombo

GEORGE.

H Warrick

SYRACUSE

C Villanueva

UCONN





D

Big 10
C G Oden

OSU
PF Z Randolph

MSU
SF J Richardson

MSU
SG M Redd

OSU
PG D Williams

ILLINOIS


Rotate J Crawford

MICHIGAN

D Harris

WISCONSIN

M Conley

OSU

B Miller

PURDUE

M Finley

WISCONSIN






Bench M Peterson

MSU

R Davis

IOWA





E

Big 12
C L Aldridge

TEXAS
PF M BEASLEY

KSU
SF K Durant

TEXAS
SG P Pierce

KANSAS
PG C Billups

COLORADO


Rotate D Gooden

KANSAS

D Gibson

TEXAS

J Rush

KANSAS

K Hinrich

KANSAS

N Collison

KANSAS

TJ Ford

TEXAS


Bench J Tinsley

ISU





F

Pac 10
C K Love

UCLA
PF C Frye

ARIZONA
SF R Jefferson

ARIZONA
SG B Roy

WASHINGTON
PG G Arenas

ARIZONA


Rotate J Kidd

CAL

B Davis

UCLA

OJ Mayo

USC

A Iguodala

ARIZONA

SA Rahim

CAL

M Bibby

ARIZONA


Bench J Kapono

UCLA

L Walton

ARIZONA

L Ridnour

OREGON

J Farmar

UCLA

N Robinson

WASHINGTON





G

International
C Y Ming


PF D Nowitzki


SF P Stojakovic


SG M Ginobili


PG T Parker




Rotate P Gasol



Z Ilgauskas



H Turkoglu



J Calderon



A Nocioni



L Scola




Bench B Udrih



L Barbosa



G Giricek



S Pavlovic



B Diaw



A Kirilenko



Nene



N Krstic



A Varejao



D Milicic



Y Jianlian





H

MM/Small
C C Kaman

C MICHIGAN
PF D West

XAVIER
SF S Marion

UNLV
SG K Martin

W CALI
PG S Nash

S CLARA


Rotate L Odom

URI

D Granger

N MEXICO

J Posey

XAVIER

A Bogut

UTAH

D Rose

MEMPHIS

B Bowen

CSF


Bench J Nelson

ST JOE'S

M James

DUQUESNE

D West

ST JOE'S

R Bell

FIU

L Hughes

ST LOUIS

W Szczerbiak

MIAMI OH

A Daniels

BGSU

B Wells

BALL STATE

S Jackson

JUCO

B Wallace

VCU

D Fisher

ARK-LR

Eddie Jones

TEMPLE

Jamario Moon

JUCO

Rafer Alston

FRESNO ST

Kyle Korver

CREIGHTON

Cuttino Mobley

URI

Andre Miller

UTAH

M Camby

UMASS

Ku Thomas

TCU

Ke Thomas

N MEXICO

R Carney

MEMPHIS

E Boykins
EMU



I

High School
C D Howard


PF K Garnett


SF T McGrady


SG K Bryant


PG L James




Rotate A Jefferson



A Stoudamire



A Bynum



M Ellis



R Lewis



Josh Smith

S Telfair




Bench A Harrington



J O'Neal



T Chandler



E Curry



T Outlaw



JR Smith

And here is the schedule:

Wednesday July 15
SEC/ACC (Atlanta)
International/MMSmall (New Orleans)
Thursday July 16
Big East/Big 10 (Chicago)
Big 12/Pac 10 (Las Vegas)
Friday July 17
SEC/Big East (Cincinnati)
Big 12/International (Phoenix)
Saturday July 18
International/High School (San Antonio)
ACC/Big East (Philadelphia)
Sunday July 19
SEC/Big 10 (Cleveland)
Big 12/MMSmall (Denver)
Monday July 20
Pac 10/High School (Salt Lake City)
ACC/International (Houston)
Tuesday July 21
Big East/Big 12 (Minnesota)
Big 10/MMSmall (Detroit)
Wednesday July 22
SEC/High School (Memphis)
ACC/Pac 10 (Las Vegas)
Thursday July 23
Big 10/Big 12 (St Louis)
Friday July 24
Big East/Pac 10 (Portland)
MMSmall/High School (Indianapolis)
Saturday July 25
SEC/Big 12 (Oklahoma City)
ACC/Big 10 (Chicago)
Sunday July 26
International/Big East (Oakland)
Pac 10/MMSmall (Milwaukee)
Monday July 27
Big 12/High School (San Antonio)
Tuesday July 28
ACC/MMSmall (Toronto)
SEC/Pac 10 (Dallas)
Wednesday July 29
Big East/High School (Sacramento)
Big 10/International (Columbus)
Thursday July 30
SEC/MMSmall (Miami)
ACC/Big 12 (Charlotte)
Friday July 31
Pac 10/International (Anaheim)
Big 10/High School (D.C.)
Saturday August 1
Big East/MMSmall (Houston)
Sunday August 2
Big 10/Pac 10 (Los Angeles)
SEC/International (Orlando)
Monday August 3
ACC/High School (Raleigh)
Tuesday August 4
no games
Wednesday August 5
QUARTERFINALS (St. Louis)
QUARTERFINALS (Indianapolis)
Thursday August 6
QUARTERFINALS (Atlanta)
QUARTERFINALS (Detroit)
Friday August 7
no games
Saturday August 8
SEMIFINALS (Syracuse)
SEMIFINALS (Philadelphia)
Sunday August 9
no games
Monday August 10
FINALS (New York)


Apologies for any formatting issues that arose in the translation from Excel to Blogger -- but that lays out the gist of our idea. Clearly, the NCAA would have to be cut in on the monetary action, but again, if there's not enough scratch to go around with a cash cow like this, then I've grossly underestimated the NBA marketing machine. Even with an interruption of the summer vacation, the players would still play fewer games, they'd have a longer break and they'd be super-energized for this tournament. Unlike the Olympics, in which the star power is concentrated onto very few teams, the great players would be distributed far more evenly (more akin to Olympic hockey, in which there are seven super-teams largely comprised of NHL players).

We will revisit this concept from time to time, first on our FDH LOUNGE Internet TV show on Sunday, August 17 (2-5 PM EDT and rebroadcast from 8-11 PM EDT on SportsTalkNetwork.com) and subsequently again on the show and here. Our Senior Editor Jason Jones will surely have some striking thoughts on this concept, inasmuch as he participated somewhat in its execution. As always, it's a fully-original, thought-provoking subject from those of us here at The FDH Lounge.

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