That proposed divisional alignment you found would kind of involve breaking up the Texas rivals. Well, if there was any names I would have for the divisions in that proposed alignment, the division the Rockets would be aligned in with the Grizzlies, Hornets, T-Wolves, and the Thunder is what I would call the Midwest. The division with the Mavericks and Spurs aligned in with the Jazz, Nuggets, and Suns is what I would call the Southwest while the division involving the five Pacific Coast teams is what I would still call the Pacific.
But that's due to the schedule, not to the division alignment. Because we play the east 2 games every year, it's impossible to space out the wc matchups evenly. I believe there was one or more SW division teams where we only played 3 games against too.
I thought it was like this: You play everyone in your division 4x (2home, 2away) You play everyone in the opposite conference 2x (1home, 1away) The rest of your conference, it's kind of random - mostly you play 4 games against, but sometimes only 3 games against due to an 82 game schedule..
Correct. Actually, I think that as far as how many games a team plays against other teams within the conference outside of its division, teams a team played against three times one season will play four times the following season, or teams a team played against four times one season will play three times the following season. For instance, last season, the Rockets played the Lakers three times, so next season, they will be playing them four times. They also played them four times in the 2006-07 season as well.
The league should do what's right and finally step in and force the Utah franchise to rename its team, even though the half-dozen or so people in that state who actually listen to jazz might be upset about it. And in the tradition of stealing their team names from New Orleans franchises, I suggest they go with: the Utah Latter-Day Saints.
