NBA Regular Season
From Hoopedia
Every October, each NBA team holds training camp, which allows the coaching staff to evaluate players, scout the team's strengths and weaknesses, prepare the players for the rigorous regular season, and determine the 12-man active roster (and a 3-man inactive list, if needed) with which they will begin the regular season. Teams can also assign players with less than two years of experience to the NBA Development League. After training camp, a series of preseason exhibition games are held, with the regular season beginning the first week of November.
Each team plays 82 regular season games, half home and half on the road. Schedules are not identical for all teams. A team faces opponents in its own division four times a year, teams from the other two divisions in its conference either three or four times, and teams in the other conference twice apiece. A team can therefore have a relatively easy or difficult schedule, depending on the division and conference it is located in. The NBA is now the only major league in North America in which all the teams play each other during the regular season, and where a season ticket holder can see every team in the league come to town in any one season.
The regular season is interrupted every February to celebrate the annual NBA All-Star Game. Fans are balloted throughout the United States, Canada and through the Internet, and the top vote-getters at each position in each conference are given a starting spot on their conference's All-Star team. Coaches choose the remaining 14 All-Stars. The player with the best game performance is rewarded with a the MVP award. Other attractions of the All-Star break include the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge game, which pits the best rookies and the best second-year players against each other; the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout; and the Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk contest.
After the league's trade deadline, which is shortly after the All-Star break, teams are not allowed to exchange players for the remainder of the season, although they may still sign and release players. Major trades are often completed right before the trading deadline, often making that day a hectic time for general managers.
The regular season concludes in April, which is when voting begins for individual awards, as well as the selection of the honorary league-wide postseason teams. Individual awards include the NBA Sixth Man Award, the Rookie of the Year Award, the Most Improved Player Award, the Defensive Player of the Year Award, the Coach of the Year Award, and finally, the Most Valuable Player Award. Additionally, The Sporting News awards an unofficial (but widely recognized) NBA Executive of the Year Award to the general manager who is adjudged to have done the best job for his franchise.
The postseason teams include the All-NBA Teams, the All-Defensive Teams, and the All-Rookie Teams; each consisting of five players. There are three All-NBA teams, consisting of the top players at each position, with first-team status being most desirable. There are two All-Defensive teams, and two All-Rookie teams, consisting of the top first-year players regardless of position.
