In an effort to spice up All-Star Weekend, the NBA announced sweeping changes to the game format back in October. The new format will feature a fan-voted captain for the East and West All-Star teams, and team captains will then pick from the remaining pool of 22 All-Stars, resulting in players from the East playing for the West, and vice versa.
The NBA is hoping that the new format will turn what has been a forgettable 48-minute layup line into a competitive basketball game. There is some skepticism among NBA fans and insiders that simply changing the format will result in a better on-court product, but you have to applaud the NBA for trying something new.
If nothing else, watching the draft should provide its fair share of memorable moments. If LeBron James is captain, will he pick Kyrie Irving? If Kevin Durant is captain, will he pick Russell Westbrook? Who is going to be the last pick? These are things NBA fans want to see play out on live television.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like the draft, or even the draft order results, are going to be made public. The NBA hasn’t made any official announcements regarding this just yet, but Rachel Nichols and her crew on The Jump reported Friday that there is a league memo floating around where it appears as though the NBA is heading in this direction.
Nichols’ analysis here is sound. If the NBA isn’t going to make the draft public, then why did they announce this format change in the first place? Nichols mentioned that the players had expressed some concern over the change and didn’t want to be put in the position of having to select someone last, or creating awkward moments, even though that is precisely why anyone would want to watch this thing in the first place. Embarrassment and awkward moments is kind of the point, isn’t it?
Nichols made sure to mention that the NBA isn’t locked into the private draft idea just yet, so there is still some hope that they don’t destroy what was a potentially fun idea.
