Looks like one of the many proposals from the league looks like it would resemble the FIFA World Cup. But what does that mean for the Toronto Raptors.
The World Cup means something special to everyone, whether you’re a hardcore soccer fan (or football if you’re in Europe) or a casual fan. It’s a time where nations and cultures get together to watch games. Well, Canada and the Toronto Raptors can be involved in their own Mini World Cup this summer.
There has been a proposal from the league that they might try to emulate the FIFA world cup style tournament. So in this specific format, the most likely scenario is four groups of five teams. This would include the top twenty teams in the league, which is a good way compromising those teams who were not so far off a playoff spot.
Kevin 0’Connor from The Ringer explains the whole process best. He also set up the five tiers/pots of teams on how the groups would be picked out. So each tier/pot has four teams, and each group will have a team from each tier, and a team in the same tier cannot be in the same group. Here is how KOC set up the tiers based on the standings.
- Tier 1: Bucks, Lakers, Raptors, Clippers
- Tier 2: Celtics, Nuggets, Jazz, Heat
- Tier 3: Thunder, Rockets, Pacers, Sixers
- Tier 4: Mavericks, Grizzlies, Nets, Magic
- Tier 5: Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs
Now let’s give an analysis on each team and explain the matchups the Toronto Raptors want and want to avoid.