Wouldn't it be interesting if the two best teams in the league were in opposite brackets so we might actually get an interesting NBA finals? Wouldn't a Lakers-Sacromento Finals be more fun to watch then Lakers-Nets? I think it's time that the top 16 teams in the NBA go to the playoffs and get seeded 1 to 16 (instead of 1 through 8). Conferences are great for reducing travel time and creating rivalries, but they suck for more making the playoffs interesting. Maybe the NBA should take a page from the NCAA tourney...
Feigen already introduced this concept a while back in the Chronicle. If the East keeps on losing stars, and the NBA finals continues to be a laughing stock, we might see this idea being considered. But, you have to realize that these things run in cycles... in a few years, we may see Indiana put it all together, as well as the continued development of Lebron. Hell, right now... the teams playing the best ball in the leauge is Detroit and Indiana. The East is still very far away, but you can't rule them out forever.
No, actually I hope all the stars will move to the West. Then the NBA will figure out that they don't really need 30 teams. Just eliminate half of the league and we'll have great basketball night in and night out.
It would make the finals a lot more entertaining. The last few years have sucked. Like Nick said though, it is sort of like a cycle. Perhaps in the coming years the East will put up a battle.
FWIW, the WNBA did this in its first two seasons. They still had conferences but it didn't matter when it came to playoff seedings. 1997 Finals: Houston vs New York (both in the East) 1998 Finals: Houston vs Phoenix (both in the West)
If you can't fathom how the east is ever gonna get better, just remember that Dallas and Sacramento were once HORRIBLE year after year throughout the 90's... Also, Golden State was once a proud franchise. This thing will turn around for the East... its mathmatecially impossible for it not to.
Preach on NewYorker. Some of us have been asking for something similar for YEARS!!!! Forget all this cycles crap. This isn't some person going through a phase in his/her life, it's a competition.
If more free agents begin to take the Alonzo Mourning and Jason Kidd approach, wouldn't that eventually even out the league?
I'd love to see that. Playing equal games against East and West? We'd be somewhere in the top 5 or 6 considering our record against the East in the past 3 seasons (including this one).
we have the 10th best record. dallas has the 7th. so if there were 16 teams in the tourney we'd play them 1. pacers vs. 16. knicks 2. kings vs. 15. blazers 3. wolves vs. 14. jazz 4. lakers vs. 13. bucks 5. spurs vs. 12. nuggets 6. pistons vs. 11. hornets 7. mavericks vs. 10. rockets 8. grizzlies vs. 9. nets
I think the top 3 seeds in each conference should go no matter what. For example, if the number 3 seed in the east is not a top 16, they should go regardless. Otherwise there is no point of having conferences at all.
I don't see any reason why we can't have a entertaining finals this years. The pacers can play with anybody. And lets not forget the finals went to 6 games last year so that series wasnt a complete wash.
I believe we're MUCH better against the East, while other teams are just betetr against the East. We swept the entire Atlantic Division one season. I mean, come on.
Why does it matter how 'entertaining' the Finals are? Are you only tuning in when the Finals start? No matter what, some rounds of the playoffs aren't going to be 'entertaining'. I'm not a fan of the endless pursuit of making things more entertaining...that's how the zone came about.
The system that is in place in fine. These things occur in cycles. If you get rid of conference playoffs then you'd have to rearrange the NBA schedule so all teams play their opponents the same amount of times during the regular season. That way a team like Detroit or Indiana doesn't have the opportunity to beat up on Washington 4 times while the rockets are stuck playing Dallas 4 times.
