No, make it 5

No 4

Should've become Top 5 when SEM came in now since Tassie also come in it's a joke. Perth deserved to play finals this season only fell away towards the end and the Law injury didn't help if not for that they would've cruised in and Tassie would've missed out.

4 now
6 with 1-2 more teams

Nah don't want to reward mediocrity. Top 4 rewards the most elite teams for their consistency throughout the season not just flashes of their best.

Top four is perfect which was proven yesterday by how bad it would be for a craptacular team like Perth to quality for it.

Yep, 4 is fine for now.
It's the playoffs to determine the champion, not a participation award.

There's nothing elite about the Top 4 in any NBL season though. On no planet are the JJ's 'elite' nor the Hawks really. Every year there are only 1 or 2 legit contenders this season it's Melbourne and Sydney last season the only team that could win it was Melbourne.

If as we currently do are going to reward teams that have had good seasons but aren't legit championship contenders then why not at least add one more spot for a team like Perth (or Tassie) that had good seasons but missed out due to an antiquated format.

What incentive is there for crap teams like Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns and NZ? Going into each season they know they need everything to go right to even be in playoff contention let alone actually making them. Those four teams knew their seasons were over at the halfway point of the season.

It's the playoffs to determine the champion, not a participation award.

The Hawks are as good a chance as anyone to win it this year. United Sydney or Hawks are the standouts. Weather its perth or tassie in the 4 this year they would be off the pace. Why have another two teams in the finals that are just making up the numbers? It would just dilute the standard of the finals series.

If we want to make tv viewing more interesting then yes. So many dead games in the last 3rd of the season. Give reasons for members to keep re-signing with their teams and overall generate more financial viability for clubs.

NBA with its Play-in tournament I think was a brilliant move and the NBA has understood the value of keeping fans engaged, bringing "play-offs" to more places.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-play-in-tournament

Our league should be looking more to NBA as a guide , so I would be all for it.

Otherwise its basically Sydney and Melbourne as the two richest teams that lock in a spot each year.

Top 4 is fine by me. Agree with Weedy Slug - 2 more teams and I think a top 5 or 6 makes sense.

The Hawks are as good a chance as anyone to win it this year.

We are talking about the violet crumbles after all. I do agree the kings are favorites but anything can happen in a finals series and many times in history the favorite has been knocked out in the semis. Increase the number of teams to 12 and ill enjoy watching a top 6 format with the chance of a dark horse to make a fairy tale run.

Keep it top four until we have at least 12 teams. We shouldn't celebrate mediocrity and most teams have been especially mediocre this year. I am not sure what kind of league we would be if we rewarded a completely 'meh' season from Perth and an underwhelming performance from SEM with any kind of Finals spot. The JJs deserve their spot because against all odds they got the wins necessary and I couldn't be happier than to have them as the fourth team. As to whether they're 'elite' or not, who decides that exactly? What makes a team elite? I know what elite isn't - Perth and SEM's underperforming asses. Are the JJs not elite for outperforming everyone's meagre expectations by a million miles? Put it this way - Jack Jumpers have the best chance of any team not named Sydney, Illawarra or Melbourne just due to their consistency, coaching and fighting spirit so I am willing to call them elite on what they actually produce if not on paper.

Keep it at four but play best of five for all series'.

I'm not sure how we're saying Perth and SEM are mediocre when their records would have got them into the playoffs most years prior. The last team to miss out with the record Perth have was the 1990 Cannons.

The win column was inflated this season due to NZB.

Record, schmecord.
With playoffs on the line we just had a 9 game streak of home games and we went 3-6 including getting pumped by Adelaide.
Mediocrity accusations are totally warranted. We're back in the pack with plenty of other non-contenders.
I very much wanted to make the playoffs to keep the streak alive, but I was under no illusions about making an impact once we were there.

I think Nba style play in 3-6, if it was active this year we would be watching -

JJ's at hawks - winner locks in 3rd, loser plays winner of SEM v Per, and plays off for 4th


Adds 3 games, to the schedule, 2 of which are elimination, these could be played this week and playoffs could still start by this weekend!!!

Wouldn't a Hawks JJ finals surprise. Would get juicy odds for that. Can’t see it happening but would be awesome.

When we get an ACT team and a second NZ team it'll be 12.

Then reduce the season to 22 games.

Have 6 v 5 one off game to make finals.

Top 5 finals.

22 games, lol why

Elimination final & qualifying final

2 v 3 3 games loser plays team 1
4 v 5 3 games loser eliminated

1 bye

Semi final

Team 1 v loser 2/3 5 games
Winner 2/3 v Winner 4/5 5 games

Grand final

Winner 1 v 2/3 semi

vs

Winner 2/3 v 4/5 semi

7 games.

22 games, one home one away for each team and to allow for more finals games without fatiguing the players.

Out of interest have JJs beaten any of Sydney, Illawarra or Melbourne? Not playing ignorant, legitimately curious.

Yes mate, we actually have beaten each of the 9 sides including some good away wins....

Tassie:

vs Syd 1-2
vs Melb 2-1
vs Ill 2-1

United will beat them 2-0 coming up though. Tassie did really well to finish 17-11 after starting the season 2-6.

I believe Sydney is the only team the JackJumpers haven't beaten on the road. Won in Melbourne, won in Illawarra, won in Perth...all in year one.

The value of the play-in comes from the unpredictability of a single game contest. No waiting for game three to decide it. Sometimes you get the close finish to a regular season, but play-ins guarantee it.

They could do a 5v6 play-in to make a five team post-season, and add some excitement, but that's probably giving too much to a sixth placed regular season team in a ten team league. That said, fifth place is currently getting nothing, so the impact is mostly on what reworking the format does to other teams (if anything).

Well that bodes well for the JJs. An upset in the semis isnt unthinkable and I am here for it.

It needs to be 6 so we don't have nearly half the league giving up on the season with over 10 games to go. 4 teams does for a better finals series, but it hurts the integrity of the regular season.

Watching the Bullets, Breakers, 36ers and Snakes for the last 2 months has been painful at times.

With 10 teams - top 4

Once we hit 12 teams, then go back to top 6.

re: mediocrity - I hated those mid to late 2000 seasons when Hunter, Perth (yes, Perth!), Adelaide, Singapore, Gold Coast etc. had either losing records or were well off the pace and still made the playoffs. Top 8 finals with only 11 teams total.

And I hated the "3rd v winner of 7th v 8th, 4th v winner of 5th v 6th, 1st and 2nd bye" format.

Hopefully we can get back to the days where we have a top 8 finals, with at least 14 teams total (personally, I want at least 16 to do this format). 1st v 8th, 2nd v 7th, 3rd v 6th, 4th, v 5th. Best of 5 in all rounds.

LK is doing a great job getting new teams into the league with the correct backing behind them. Not handing out licences like they are lollies like Rick Burton did.

I think you should have to be an above average team to qualify for Finals. So you can make an argument for 5th making it, but that just makes for a messy finals bracket. 6 teams is just too much like rewarding mediocrity.
This year, with NZ playing away from home and being terrible all year and having a clear top 6 who were all above 0.500, it looks like it makes sense to have a top 6. On an average season, the 6th team would usually be a losing team.
Only 4 out of 10 teams making Finals does seem harsh, but it's a way better option than having 6 teams.

That's why it should be Top 5 because Top 4 in a 10 team league is a joke. If there were a draft yeah okay then but there isn't and the NBL will never be high paying enough to implement one so there needs to be some sort of incentive for the no hopers.

How does a draft give incentive to no-hopers? It does exactly the opposite.

I like the EuroLeague final 8 format. Problem is the nbl don't have top-8 final system. There’s barely any teams in the nbl to begin with!

EuroLeague do best of 5 series quarterfinals, semifinals, and maybe best of 5 Final?

So much better having 2 home games, then 2 away then the decdier at home.

Personally as I keep saying NBL. Let’s have Top-6 finals 1v6, 2v5, 3-4 best of 3 and highest loser goes as 4th seed to semis. Then best of 5 semis and best of 5 grand final with home, home, away, away and home.

Otherwise give the top-2 seeds straight to the Semifinals. And 3v6, 4v5 play two games on aggregate point system. Not Play-In because it means 3rd spot only has one chance.

Here's a tip instead of reflexively responding with your snarky posts try reading through people's posts properly that way you wouldn't have posted what you just did.

Top-5 is the most likely going to happen because top-6 is uneven which was always a problem.

4v5 play 2 games on aggregate. Then winner goes through as 4th seed. Best of 5 series for semifinals and Grand Final series.

Sorry Zodiac, had a rough day. It's always difficult with 10 teams but once we have 11 teams then each team could play each teams 3 times per season in a 30 game regular season.

Top four right now for me varies between being cromulent and supoib but it certainly is no joke.

I'd give JJ's a bigger chance than Hawks, their 4th qtr decision making is dismal, Harvey jacking up shots for no reason, Cleveland and XRM fouling for no reason. Jessup and Reath seem like the smartest guys on the court at the end of the game.

As for 6 teams, I don't mind it, I think United and Kings are well and truly in front, then you could group JJ's/Hawks/Cats/SEM in the same group anyway.