Why do they say a division winner is guaranteed the "4th" seed

The NBA needs to change the playoff system. We don't play our division more than the other teams in the Western conference. They need to get rid of all of that in general and have the best 8 teams ranked accordingly.

 

Back when they made the rule, I thought it was r****ded -- my thinking was all they should've done was guarantee the division winner a playoff spot. This current system where a team is forced into a top-4 seed "in name only" only serves to further screw up matchups and reduce the fairness of the system, IMO.

 

Yeah, the current system is pretty silly. The original point was to reward teams for winning their division, but as it is, it only actually rewards a team if they won their division but had the sixth best overrall record or worse. In that case, why would you reward a team that was in such a crappy division where the 6th best overrall record was good enough to win it?

And if the top 4 records ended up being all from the same division, then what? Just scrap the rule completely, and let the records speak for themselves.

 

because there are only 3 divisions in each conference and the winner of each is guaranteed home court adv. however since the rankings are based on wins and losses it is possible for a team to win their division and place fourth behind a team in another division with a better record eventhough they are not the div leader.

 

The winner of the division is not guaranteed home court advantage. All they get is a minimum 4th seed. If the 5 seed has a better record, then the 5 seed gets home court advantage (see: last year's Rockets-Jazz series). All it does is give them a potentially better playoff matchup than they deserve (e.g. getting to play the 5 seed instead of the 3 or 2 seed despite having a worse record than the 6/7 seeds).

 

i think stern said that he wants winning a division to hold some kind of significance. otherwise, divisions would be completely useless.

 

What happen, said, if four teams from the SouthWest and Atlantic division have better records than the team which won the NorthWest Division, did the NorthWest Division leader still make the playoffs?

 

I think it's a good idea. Like someone said above, it gives significance to winning your division. It gives every region in the nation a spot in the playoffs which will be good for business. As much as some teams fair, you wouldn't want the east to suddenly go bankrupt and see teams dying off. Some may say, the talent pool will be greater. Yeah but theres billions of people in the world, divided into 30 teams. I think the talent pool is great. Good teams need good role players, every starter can't be all star material (See: TEAM USA).

 

Yes. Division winners are guaranteed playoff seedings. In the case you outlined above, the top 4 records of the conference and the division would be ranked by their respective records. The division winner is still considered a "top 4 seed" and will face the "5th seed," but will not have home court. So in essence, although the 8th seed would have a better record than the division winner, it will still miss the playoffs.

Confusing? Yes. LOL. I hope I didn't lose you in that explanation.