There should be a primers NBA league where 20 team compete ,and team ranked lets say from 16-20 go to secondary NBA league ,where top 4 in that league promoted to Primary ( vise-versa) league ( similar to soccer league played in some countries).. Then teams like Philly and LAKers ( feel good to say it ) ..would really compete hard, or demoted to lower league
I think that would be too much honestly, then the east becomes a powerhouse with the west turning weak. Cavs Grizz Spurs Rox Raps Mavs Hornets Wizards Nets Being playoff caliber teams and even Hawks/Heat/Knicks/Bobcats being semi deserving playoff teams. OKC Clippers Warriors Blazers Bulls Kings ...Who else? Pacers when George gets back? I think we could switch Grizz, Pelicans and Rockets for Bulls, Pacers and Bucks. Grizz Spurs Cavs OKC Rox Clippers Raps Vs Bulls Wizards Warriors Heat Blazers Nets Kings Hornets Mavs Much more even IMO.
In my opinion it isn't really about talent pool. Let's face it to be a professional athlete takes talent that most people can't fathom. I mean the average joe in the NBA and NFL are still better athletes than 99% of the world. In my opinion the NFL regulates its talent with a hard salary cap and is also the reason there is so much parody in the NFL. Before the salary cap dominant teams stayed dominant for a long time because they monopolized talent. Since then you often don't see many teams repeat superbowl runs the closest thing the NFL has to a dynasty is New England and they haven't been to the Super Bowl in a while. There is plenty of talent in the NBA it just so happened that you have multiple teams hogging all of the talent with two or three stars on one team which leaves no talent for the smaller markets; leaving very poor competition amongst the rich and the poor
If you wanted more parity in the NBA you would eliminate 3 teams and spread the talent of those teams equally over the existing teams. Its not Rocket science, just basic common sense.
The NFL has so much more for parity, the schedule (you think its an accident that Seattle only has 1 home night game? plus the whole playing the opposing division winners etc) and injury rates (the 49ers havent had more than 1 all pro linebacker from 3 all season), and the whole nature of one and done. Make basketball one and done and Dallas, OKC, Golden State and Portland play round 2 last year, notice how the eventual champion is gone already?
Ghost of Akeem, I think the exact opposite of you. I think there is enough talent for the NBA to add 2 expansion teams and there would be absolutely no downgrade in the quality of play. The NBA is the hardest league in the world for a player to get in too The reason that there is more parody in the NFL is two fold: 1) There are only 16 games. That's a pretty small sample size. Smaller sample size increases the variable of luck. 2) there are only 5 players on the court. If you manage to get 2-3 all stars, 40-60% of your team would be all star caliber. That would be like an NFL team having 15 Pro Bowlers on their team. There are guys on every NBA bench that don't get any minutes and have the potential to be VERY good NBA players. Just look at what DMo and Canaan are doing after getting more minutes.
You keep missing the point everyone is telling you ... Though you are now at least realizing it's about an even spread of talent. The number of teams is somewhat irrelevant. There could be 50 teams or 10 teams. In all scenarios there are ways, "mathmatically", to spread out talent "evenly" so that all teams a effectively "average". Now it is certainly true that the definition of average will be a better team in leagues with fewer teams. But I don't think that's the issue. If I look at average NBA teams... They're actually pretty compelling to watch. The Suns. But getting to that average via CBA renegotiation is basically impossible, given the players have a say (which they should)
realignment isn't the way to fix the parody between the conferences. this is stupid because it won't solve the problem long term. the reason the west stays so strong every year, and the east stays weak, is because in the west you have 50 win teams missing the playoffs and getting late lotto picks... while in the east you have 40 win teams making the playoffs and getting worse draft picks than the 50 win teams in the west. therefore an influx of talent goes to the better teams, not the worse teams. what needs to happen is a change in the lotto system, and not the change that they are already making. the top 14 teams that get lotto tickets should be based on overall record, not weather they made the playoffs or not. there it is! done! parody problem fixed. the worst 14 teams get the best 14 picks regardless of playoff standings! its so obvious.
Just take the top 16 teams across the NBA with the top two teams in each conference guaranteed to get the top seeds on their side of the bracket. Solves everything.
Right now as it stands, only the #1 and #2 teams in the East would make it to the playoffs in the West. And a #9 in the West not making the playoffs would be a top seed #3 in the East. What's cool about the Sweet 16 in March Madness is when you get the 16 best teams, there is more chance for Cinderella stories, teams getting hot, upsets. The disparity sends a Western Conf champ to the Finals after a gauntlet of wear & tear tough games, while the Eastern Conf champ gets golf-carted to the final competition.
I agree the NFL has much more parity, that was the point of my post. I was saying that the NFL keeping a hard salary cap is the reason for parity and balanced competition. In my opinion there needs to be a hard salary cap in the NBA . Think about how many teams have 2 or more stars. There isn't really any balance. Another reason teams in the NBA can afford to tank, where in the NFL it is much harder to tank because you are never gaurunteed that one player can take from bottom dweller to playoff contender. With the exception of Andrew luck, how many 1st round draft picks in the nfl have transcended their teams to playoff contention? In the NBA teams tank more often because one player can make a much bigger impact, so there are more teams that try to lose rather than win, ie the 76ers. In my opinion the NBA needs a hard salary cap and a reformatted draft system
Yes you are right. If the NBA wants more parity than it does need a harder cap. If you take Howard off the Rockets and send him to the 6ers. Take Westbrook off OKC and send him to Detroit. Take LMA and send him to another team, take CP3 and send him.... The point is, most of the best teams have 2 or 3 stars. If people really wanted parity the answer is forcing teams to have one star, which would mean some kind of hard cap. The NBA is basically the rich get rich, getting a star is like a stroke of luck because once you get a young budding star...another star else where is thinking "I want to play with that guy and we can rings..." and so you also have the flip side of teams like Philly and like half of the East last year was tanking for Wiggins and Parker...oh and Philly has been tanking for like 3 years now.
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The problem in recent years is that the best 3 players of this last generation that stayed with 1 team there entire career were all in the west. Duncan kobe and dirk have been to 14 out of the last 15 finals or something ridiculous like that.