Philadelphia 76ers Head of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey has enjoyed quite a bit of the limelight recently. Morey’s decision to turn down several packages for Ben Simmons despite the superstar sitting out the whole season turned out to be a masterstroke, with the Sixers eventually managing to make a trade with the Brooklyn Nets instead that saw them land James Harden.
Morey has been widely admired within the NBA from his time with the Houston Rockets, even though he does tend to get on the bad sides of a few other executives across the league. He has also always been quite outspoken, previously landing in some hot water with China after he spoke out in support of independence for Hong Kong on Twitter.
While that controversy seems to have died down now and changing the world doesn’t seem like an option at the moment, Morey has some radical takes on how to change the NBA instead. Speaking to Colin Cowherd on Volume Sports about potentially shortening the NBA season, Morey suggested huge cuts to the number of the regular season as well as playoff games (via New York Post).
“You’re too timid, but you gotta go farther,” Morey said. “I like 58. Every team plays every (other) team two times. The playoffs, I 100 percent agree, shorter is better.”
“I would have it one-and-done. There’s a reason everyone tunes into every game at huge ratings in the NFL. It is literally one-and-done. And the NCAA Tournament, in 63 games, gets more money than we do in our entire regular season.”
“Any sport should want more games that are close to the Super Bowl. Nothing’s going to beat the Super Bowl for a little while, though I think the NBA can pass the NFL in my lifetime for sure for their biggest game being a big deal.”
The NBA’s ratings have struggled at times and even when they don’t, they’ve rarely ever approached the sort of numbers the Super Bowl and even the NCAA tournament are regularly able to draw. At a time when the league is looking to expand, perhaps the idea has some merit, but considering that basketball is a game of so many different variables, a one-and-done system in the playoffs might make the game almost unrecognizable.
