NBA has to fix this. take away the conferences lol look at the standings, the East standings, now look at them again, and then again. and yes Washington is third in the conference and yes the Bobcats are making the playoffs
Agree, this isn't a thing that's occurred just this year either. Hell even if it was in the reverse it's still a disgrace. You can't have the 19th best team making the playoffs and the 16th best team not, while the 16th had a harder schedule and the 19th an easier one...
Get rid of conferences, make the length 58 games and everyone plays eachother twice. Then pick the best 16. DONE
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers">@trailblazers</a> We asked you to keep that on the down low. That eager to get rid of us already?</p>— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) <a href="https://twitter.com/Suns/statuses/408331262563057664">December 4, 2013</a></blockquote><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Thank U 4covering 4us <a href="https://twitter.com/Suns">@Suns</a>-many folks think we R East of Miss River&would assume us MT <a href="https://twitter.com/Suns">@Suns</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers">@trailblazers</a> We asked U 2keep on down low</p>— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) <a href="https://twitter.com/dmorey/statuses/408337123373113344">December 4, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
As of this morning only two teams with a winning record in the East, and three teams with a losing record in the West. East 120-157 West 158-121 West vs East 63-26 West - 4 teams undefeated against East East - 1 team undefeated against West West - 4 teams with only 1 loss against East East - 1 team with only 1 loss against West
I wouldn't completely scrap the conferences and divisions, but the there would no longer be a need for a conference championship round for a 16 team playoff tournament. I'd say that any team that wins their division gets into the playoffs guaranteed and after that best records fill out the rest of the bracket. I can only imagine some of the match ups we can see in a 7 game play off series. Looking at it now: we would see Spoiler 1.Indiana 2.Portland 3.San Antonio 4.Miami 5.Oklahoma 6.L.A. Clippers 7.Houston 8.Denver 9.Dallas 10.Golden State 11.Phoenix 12.L.A. Lakers 13.New Orleans 14.Memphis 15.Atlanta 16.Boston (only team under .500 due to division winner) It's a slow day at work.
Divisions and conferences help with merchandise sales and rivalries and money....it's mainly about what's best for money, competitive balance be damned.
NBA rivalries have little to do with divisions and conferences. Some of the biggest enemies the Rockets have had over the years, Seattle, Jazz, Lakers, etc. are not in our division. The most storied rivalry in NBA history between the Lakers and the Celtics is from different conferences.
Don't try to persuade me; I'm all for changes. I'm just telling you their crazy ass thinking about the division and conference championship merch.
We all know the west has been better for a long, long time, but this is getting ridiculous: - The 4th seed in the east has a losing record (9-12) for .429 - There are only 3 teams with winning records in the east vs. 11 in the West! Something has to change..
Sorry if this has already been suggested in the thread, but why can't the NBA consider a NL/AL or NFC/AFC alignment like in their rival leagues? I guess the hard part would be figuring out who winds up where, but it can't be worse than the situation we're currently stuck with.
