Besides that though, I think it’s been a real success so far. You have to remember that to casual fans the pre-Christmas NBA is basically spring training. The IST has already managed to provide some extra intrigue and we haven’t even hit the knockout stage yet.

I mean, anything that makes players take the regular season more seriously is good. I had no problem with guys trying to win by 30 instead of 25 last night–the NBA should strive to put on a good product for 48 minutes a night. This is why I also support a complete decoupling of record and draft position. We should have a system that incentivizes as much high-quality basketball as possible.

I read in Soap Opera Digest rumors that Hubert finally has his shit together.

Lies!

I guess they’re doing this every year from now on? Meh.

Or the winner gets to pick one quarter in the playoffs where they can choose one player on the floor for the opposing team who has to wear an eye patch over one eye while they play. If the coach subs out that player, they can pick another player who now has to wear the eye patch.

Please do tell. I don’t read any of the other stuff so I’ll never find out on my own.

Well, in the AP review of Alan’s book yesterday, they discussed the merits of the hybrid approach as it pertained to killing off Marisa, a member of the Core Four. Apparently there was a lot of internal debate about whether the producers could get replacement value for her via the draft.

Also, I read in Soap Opera Digest rumors that Hubert finally has his shit together.

Please do tell.

Material on here shows up in the papers/websites, in essentially unchanged form. I’ve seen it at least three times.

It’s not fair.

The absolute bare minimum that should be done is that a KO round qualifier automatically wins any seeding tiebreaker against a non-KO round follower. So the Knicks should automatically win a tie-breaker against the Magic, full stop no questions asked.

Frankly, the Knicks should win tiebreakers even if the Magic finish a game ahead, i.e., the Knicks should get a “free win,” so if they finish 47-35 and the Magic finish 48-34, the Knicks get a better seed. Would add even additional incentive for the Cup tourney.

Unlikely to happen, but it should.

But, just like I’ve made peace with other basketball things (often Knicks related), I’ve accepted that it’s not going anywhere, the way the League and media are pumping it shows the Silver Cup is here to stay.

My only gripe now is that if you want to do it at all cost, at least do it in the best possible way, and instead the “1 game for 2 competitions” concept is bad enough for me to hate it to death, and “be rewarded playing stronger teams in RS games” is just as stupid.

I understand Ptmilo’s envy for who enjoys the Cup, because I just can’t.