Stern wants 6 divisions if 30th team added How will the teams be split? What will the divisions be called? My thoughts: Still be 2 conferences with 3 divisions in each conference. The 6 divisions will be called NorthEast, SouthEast, Central, NorthWest, SouthWest and WestCoast. The teams <i>could</i> be split like this: <table border=1><tr><td colspan=3><center>Eastern Conference</center></td><td colspan=3><center>Western Conference</center></td></tr><tr><td>NorthEast</td><td>SouthEast</td><td>Central</td><td>WestCoast</td><td>SouthWest</td><td>NorthWest</td></tr><tr><td>Boston</td><td>Atlanta</td><td>Chicago</td><td>Golden State</td><td>Dallas</td><td>Denver</td></tr><tr><td>New Jersey</td><td>Charlotte</td><td>Cleveland</td><td>Clippers</td><td>Houston</td><td>Milwaukee</td></tr><tr><td>New York</td><td>Miami</td><td>Detroit</td><td>Lakers</td><td>Memphis</td><td>Portland</td></tr><tr><td>Philadelphia</td><td>Minnesotta</td><td>Indiana</td><td>Phoenix</td><td>New Orleans</td><td>Seattle</td></tr><tr><td>Washington</td><td>Orlando</td><td>Toronto</td><td>Sacramento</td><td>San Antonio</td><td>Utah</td></tr></table> I tried to split the teams as best I could according to geographic location, but I got a bit stuck when it came to finding the 15th team to put in the West, instead of the East and Milwaukee seemed like the Western most city out of the lot, so I put them in the West. (Now lets see how far Ray, Sam and the gang get in the big, bad West!!) Thoughts?
Switch Memphis with Minnesota. Then Switch Denver with Minnesoto. That's at least a little bit more practical.
So what's the playoff format? Top 2 in each division plus the 2 third place teams with the best record? Or the top 8 regardless of Divison?
it better just be top 8 regardless. divisions are fairly insignificant in basketball right now as far as playoff postioning and i like that. keep it that way. personally i wish they would just keep it at 2 divisions (like i said, divisions are fairly insignificant anyway so what's the payoff of 3 divisions) so the standings will look the same in the paper.
Actually divisions play a somewhat important role... For example:The Top team in the division is at least the number two-seeded team in the conference. Also, don't you play the team in your division 4 times, and teams in your conference, but not division 3 times?
No. The Rockets will play the Lakers, Clipps, Blazers, Kings and Sonics, Warriors and Suns 4 times each this season. Just like they do the TWolves, Spurs, Nuggets, Mavs, Jazz and Grizz. That's 52 WC games and 2 each against the 15 EC teams for 82.
Chuck04 - looks good out west, though I'd move Washington to the Southeast, Toronto to the Northeast, and Minnesota into the Central. This cuts down on regional imbalance. As for how games would break down... 4 each against 10 of your 14 conference opponents (40 games) 3 games against the other 4 opponents (12 games) 2 games against each of the 15 teams in other conference (30 games) ...for a grand total of 82 games.
while that is true, home-court is still determined by record (like in 97 when houston was 3 and seattle was 2 but we had the better record and got homecourt) so the importance of being 2 or 3 really only comes down to your first round opponent. i mean obviously divisions mean something, but just not that much.
Not sure if you're ignoring me or...? I think you misunderstood mfclark. He was describing games in the new 30 team conference. Please see my other post. It's currently the 13 other WC teams 4x and the EC 2x.
Eh, Didn't mean to ignore you...I was just so sure that we play some WC teams only 3 times, and then misunderstood MfClark... Sorry about the(my) confusion.
I think the EC has to have a different schedule, because they have one more team. They play each WC team twice, but I am not sure how their conference games break down.
It's currently the same as with the West, except they play just 3 games a season against 2 of their in-conference opponents, randomly selected.
I would split the divisions like this: Northwest: Seattle Portland Sacramento Golden St. Utah Southwest: LA Lakers LA Clippers Phoenix Denver San Antonio Central: Houston Dallas New Orleans Memphis Minnesota Great Lakes: Milwaukee Chicago Indiana Detroit Cleveland Southeast: Miami Orlando Miami Charlotte Washington Northeast: Toronto Boston New York New Jersey Philadelphia
What about the playoff scenarios? You would probably have to do something along the lines of the 3 division crowns ranking 1, 2, and 3 with the best of the last 5 making up the remainder in either conference. Only problem is you could feasibly encounter several years with the southwest division spawning 3 or 4 50+win teams but the other two division champs maybe even having worse records than the Southwest 3rd place team...yet that 3rd place team (who very well might have the 3rd best record in the NBA) would end up seeded #5. Oh well, baseball and football do it...I guess you just gotta go for the division crown or learn how to play on the road in the playoffs.
