That’s the guy running the NBA. Of course something is going to be wrong.
ESPN’s John Hollinger wrote an article dealing with the possibility of changing the NBA’s playoff format in an effort to avoid finals that have predetermined champions.
I love his format. He proposed that the West play the East in the first round rather than the last round. Which I think would work as well.
In my opinion, if we just seeded the teams 1-16, according to winning percentage, it would produce the fairest, most systematic playoff system. It’s easy. Basic. It’s how it should be.
I mean, let’s think about this. For all you old-schoolers who love conferences, divisions, division titles, conference titles, good news! We can still have all that shit. I promise. It just might not seem as important.
The scheduling can be the same. Teams can still schedule according to conference. They can still schedule according to division. There will still be “division standings” and the best team in that division at the end of the regular season will still win the division title. The only thing that will be missing would be the absence of division leaders automatically holding the top 3 seeds entering the playoffs. Which in my mind, was stupid anyway considering one division could be stacked while another is terrible. It doesn’t make sense to penalize teams for being in certain divisions.
There can still be a Western/Eastern conference champion, but instead of awarding the championship to the team who reaches the NBA finals, the conference champion would be decided at the end of the regular season. The best team from the West and the best team from the East, disregard what seed they are (1-16), would be crowned Western/Eastern conference champions.
Here is how the 2007 NBA playoffs could of looked like:
- Dallas Mavericks (Western Conference champions)
- Phoenix Suns
- San Antonio Spurs
- Detroit Pistons (Eastern Conference champions *instead of Cleveland)
- Houston Rockets
- Utah Jazz
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Toronto Raptors
- Chicago Bulls
- Denver Nuggets
- Miami Heat
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Golden State Warriors
- New Jersey Nets
- Washington Wizards
- Orlando Magic
OK, let’s look at the improvements we made:
- First off, as a Dallas fan, the Mavericks would of avoided that nasty pairing against Golden State in the first round. The regular-seasons’ best team would of faced the Orlando Magic. No worries. Dirk’s still MVP. Cuban’s still happy. Avery’s still smiling.
Dallas in four.
- Denver, one of the NBA’s most exciting teams, would of faced Cleveland in the first round instead of San Antonio. It would of been fun to see Allen Iverson and Carmelo play another round together. And as Hollinger noted, it would of been nice to see Cleveland actually play somebody in the playoffs before Detroit. I could of got to the Eastern conference finals if I was in Cleveland’s position this year.
- An interesting in-conference match-up, LA Lakers vs. Houston. Instead of the Lakers getting slapped around by Phoenix, we would have a McGrady vs. Kobe confrontation. Damnit. Fucking David Stern.
- A Toronto vs. Chicago match-up in the 8 vs. 9 game. A lot of young talent would be feature in this one. Rising stars Chris Bosh, Ben Gordon, T.J. Ford, Luol Deng, etc. would be facing off in a high-scoring, fast-paced, must watch seven game series that basketball fans wouldn’t want to miss.
- And finally, my favorite part, the best three teams. The teams awarded the 1-3 seeds. Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio would face the three worst teams in the league. New Jersey, Washington and Orlando. The way it should be.
I mean the main reason that we had conferences were so teams could travel less back when traveling was an issue. It’s not anymore. Every team pretty much has a hotel to fly in. In which they probably have their own shitter next to each individual seat. So “conferences” and “divisions” really don’t matter. At all. Except for sheer sentimental reasons. Banners. Rings. And record books.
Which I love also. That is why we can still have all that.
Let’s just not let the system depreciate the level of the game at its highest level.
The NBA finals.
Spurs suck.
