There is no doubt that the West is the best when it comes to the NBA. But think about this—the eight seed in the West could end up with 50 wins, while the eight seed in the East could have 50 losses. Is it fair, probably not?
But that’s the way the NBA operates, and there’s nothing that can be done to help this.
Or is there?
What if the NBA made the playoffs the same format as the SEC conference tournament? Like the SEC, the NBA should have the top seed in the West play the eight seed from the East and the two seed in the East play the seven seed in the West and the three seed in the West play the six seed in the East, etc.
Don't change only that, but also make the eight seeds from both conference wild cards. Allow those two playoff spots to be filled by the remaining teams with the best records regardless of conference affiliation.
That way, not only do we get rid of the terrible teams in the East that sneak into the playoffs with a 34-48 record, but it also gives a Western team with the 48-34 record, (that may only be good enough for ninth in the West) a chance to keep playing. After all, they clearly have earned it more than most of those teams in the East.
It appears that this year there could be three teams from the East in the playoffs with a losing record. It really makes the regular season seem worthless to all those teams that get 50 wins, when a team that has a losing record in the regular season could come into their house and take away their chances at a championship in one week.
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10 months ago
Or just take the top 16 records and have a normal tournament. 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15....so on and so forth.
10 months ago
the reason for this is national appeal. stern's manifesto dictates that in order for basketball to be nationally popular throughout the season, the finals must be west v. east, and that fans from boston can drive to playoff games in ohio or lakers fans to phoenix.
its pretty thin i think, but as far as i can tell that's his reasoning. according to stern-logic, nba fans in boston wouldnt watch if the finals were between the suns and the spurs.
10 months ago
Safa,
And Stern is DAMN right! When NY, LA, Chicago, Boston are not in it, Nielsen Ratings gets as high as a gallon of gas. The franchise and the cities must be made relevant else there goes the fan base. While it would make more sense for the TRUE FAN of the sport, it would not make economic sense for the League and its investors.
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