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The NBA plans to switch to six five-team divisionsMCOGATE121L

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by Rockets34Legend, Oct 15, 2003.

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  1. Rockets34Legend

    Rockets34Legend Member

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    http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1638863

    NEW YORK -- The NBA plans to switch to six five-team divisions for the 2004-05 season, when the Charlotte Bobcats become the league's 30th team.

    The proposal, which includes having three divisions per conference instead of two, is expected to be approved formally by the Board of Governors, deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Wednesday. A vote could come as early as next month.

    Eight teams from each conference still would make the playoffs: the winner of each division plus the teams with the next five best records in each conference.

    The NBA will realign along geographic lines. New Orleans will move from the East to the West, and Charlotte will be in the East.

    Granik said the regular-season schedule would be affected only minimally by the realignment.

    No names were discussed for the new divisions. Currently, the Eastern Conference has the Atlantic and Central, while the West has the Midwest and Pacific.

    The Board of Governors also decided Wednesday that the WNBA will take a four-week break during its 2004 season for the Athens Olympics. No WNBA games will be played Aug. 2-31; the Olympics are Aug. 13-29. The gap at the beginning would allow national teams to practice.

    WNBA commissioner Val Ackerman estimated 30 WNBA players would be on Olympic teams, including most or all of the U.S. squad. The league will resume on Sept. 1 and play through Sept. 19, followed by playoffs that could run as late as Oct. 12.

    Usually, the WNBA is finished by mid-September.

    Ackerman said the WNBA is working with USA Basketball to arrange a preseason training camp for the U.S. Olympic team.

    "This gives our players the opportunity to train and travel and then return to the WNBA," she said. "It's an extraordinary opportunity for the WNBA."

    Ackerman is eager to see how the WNBA fares during the busiest time on the sports calendar.

    "This is an opportunity to test how the league does as we go later into fall," she said.

    The WNBA still must decide whether teams will be allowed to practice during the hiatus. The NHL limited practices while its players were participating in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics, in part because the league worried such practices could provide a competitive advantage for teams with few Olympians.

    NBA commissioner David Stern reiterated the league's support of the WNBA, saying it "is here for the long run. It strengthens women's sports and helps develop new fans for basketball."
     
    #1 Rockets34Legend, Oct 15, 2003
  2. Rockets34Legend

    Rockets34Legend Member

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    Whoops on the title.....work always gets in the way!
     
    #2 Rockets34Legend, Oct 15, 2003
  3. codell

    codell Member

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    I like it.

    However, if you look at the way the divisions will possibly line up, someone is going to get screwed, and my bet is that it will be Minnesota:

    West:

    Northwest - Seattle Sonics, Portland Trailblazers, Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggetts, Minnesota Timberwolves

    Pacific - Phoenix Suns, GS Warriors, Sacramento Kings, LA Clippers, LA Lakers

    Gulf Coast - Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies

    Minny should really be in the Great Lakes division. But what are you doing to do??



    East

    Atlantic Coast - Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Charlotte Bobcats, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers

    Great Lakes - Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors

    Northeast - NY Knicks, NJ Nets, Boston Celtics, Washington Wizards, Philadelphia 76ers

    I think you could flip flop Indiana or Washington. The rest makes sense.
     
    #3 codell, Oct 15, 2003
  4. Severe Rockets Fan

    Severe Rockets Fan Takin it one stage at a time...

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    Didn't they announce this last year too?
     
    #4 Severe Rockets Fan, Oct 15, 2003
  5. Darrinlane

    Darrinlane Member

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    So I guess a team could possibly get screwed in the seedings(not at all likely). What if a division winner didn't have as good a record as the sixth non-division winner? I assume that we would continue to play all the teams in the west the same # of times. I only say that because, with our luck, it would be us.
     
    #5 Darrinlane, Oct 15, 2003
  6. Relativist

    Relativist Member

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    A season would be 84 games (4*14 in conference, 2*14 out of conference).

    It's not significantly different from what we have now. Rockets aren't really better or worse off by the change.
     
    #6 Relativist, Oct 16, 2003
  7. vunny1408

    vunny1408 Member

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    30 teams, that's gonna be even harder for teams to make playoffs. If the NBA were smart, they'd allow more teams in the playoffs - possibly 2 more from each conference, cos thats where the money and the ratings are.
     
    #7 vunny1408, Oct 16, 2003
  8. DallasThomas

    DallasThomas Member

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    But whatever division they name the Rox/Spurs/Mavs/Hornets, etc...damn.


    That's one deeeeeeeeeep division.
     
    #8 DallasThomas, Oct 16, 2003
  9. ragingFire

    ragingFire Contributing Member

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    Would they make more money if all 30 teams make the playoffs?
    You have to draw the line somewhere. 16 out of 30 is only a little worse than last yr and is still more than 1/2. Theoretically, someone will make the playoffs with losing record!
     
    #9 ragingFire, Oct 16, 2003
  10. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    Hell
    Look at our Division now!!

    Rocs/Mavs/SPurs/Timberwolfs - Up an Comers Nuggets [i think even Memphis]
     
    #10 Rocket River, Oct 16, 2003
  11. PhiSlammaJamma

    PhiSlammaJamma Member

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    The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day, but our butt ain't seen a ray of sunshine in weeks.
     
    #11 PhiSlammaJamma, Oct 16, 2003
  12. vunny1408

    vunny1408 Member

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    Hey, no one ever said to let all 30 teams in the playoffs - it kind of defeats the purpose of having a regular season. I'm just saying, back 10 years, there was probably only 26-28 teams in the nba, the NBA ran the 16 team playoff format. Then came alot of expansion teams including charlotte, orlando, toronto and a few other expansion teams. In 04, we'll have 30 teams in the NBA, and the playoffs will be a tougher goal to reach. What I'm saying is, we'll probably miss out on a lot of good stories and games with some decent teams missing out on the playoffs. This is especially true in the last few years when you see minesotta just sneaking into the playoffs with 47 wins or something like that (the best 8th seed ever) and the likes of the rockets and sonics unable to make the playoffs with winning records. let's face it, playoffs would even make the most boring team in the nba look exciting(well maybe i'm overexaggerating , but you know what I mean - atmosphere etc).

    Maybe, there's some other method of making the playoffs a little fairer ie. based on the best records out of the whole league instead of conference...which has had been discussed before. Especially since there's not much of a parity in terms of team talent in each conference lately. Back in the 90's it was the East which were the more dominant conference, now it's the West.
     
    #12 vunny1408, Oct 16, 2003
  13. ragingFire

    ragingFire Contributing Member

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    A little omission ...
    It should be 86 games (4*14 in conference, 2*15 out of conference).
     
    #13 ragingFire, Oct 16, 2003
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