Should NBA adopt Joe Mazzulla's idea to improve NBA Cup?

BOSTON — Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said he likes the idea of the NBA Cup, which is aimed at injecting more excitement and competitiveness into a traditionally dull section of the schedule.

There’s one change he would make, however. He wants to see it turned into a true standalone tournament that is separate from the regular season.

“The best way to, in my opinion, make it more impactful is to move it away from the 82-game schedule,” Mazzulla said before Boston hosted Atlanta on Tuesday night in the NBA Cup opener for both teams. “So it’s not just a regular-season game; it’s something different. You see the other tournaments around the world, they don’t count toward your domestic league. It’s its own league entirely.

“So that, to me, is my only negative towards it. I like it. I think having something like that in the middle of the season is good, especially for a long year. Just that’s the difference between what we do here and what you do around the world. But it’s an opportunity for us to win something, an opportunity to go after something, so we’re kind of looking at it from that perspective.”

Under the current format, nearly all NBA Cup games — group play, quarterfinals and semifinals — count toward teams’ regular-season standings. Only the championship, which will be played on Dec. 17 in Las Vegas, is not part of the 82-game schedule.

To adopt Mazzulla’s proposed setup, the NBA would need to either shorten its season or require every team to play an additional half-dozen or so games, which likely would be unpopular with players.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder spent one season coaching in Europe with CSKA Moscow, which competes in both the Russian Professional Basketball League and the international EuroLeague, so he had prior experience with this type of tournament setup. He also believes the event previously known as the NBA In-Season Tournament is good for the game.

“I do like it,” Snyder said. “I don’t know what there isn’t to like right now. I think as people have gotten comfortable with it and will get more and more comfortable with it, it’s something that is unique. Obviously, having spent a little time in Europe with the EuroLeague and the tournaments and some of those things, it does add something to our league. I know that logistically, it can be challenging at times, but I think the benefits of it far outweigh that.

“And it does create, I think from a competitive standpoint, to be able to focus on something else — even though there is the regular season attached to it, of course. But a chance to play in a tournament, there’s just a different mindset, a championship and all those different things that are associated with that that I think it’s great for the players, I think it’s great for the coaches and in particular, the fans.”

The Celtics will face Cleveland (home, Nov. 19), Washington (away, Nov. 22) and Chicago (away, Nov. 29) in their other NBA Cup pool-play games. They advanced to the knockout rounds last season before losing to Indiana in the quarterfinals.

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