I'd rather just have the top 4 teams on each conference make the playoffs. After that, they can keep the current 7-game format.
Like most people, I favor the 5 games in the first round. 7 games is too long and it really takes the excitement out of the first round 1 v 8 matchups This is precisely why Stern has to go. He always takes the short view and runs the league like it's still a 70s bus league. The league would make more money with exciting series year in and year out driving better ratings for short series as opposed to lower ratings for long boring series. The reason why NBA has lower ratings is because the playoffs are too ****ing long. Casual fans dont even really pay attention to the early rounds because everyone figures that with the long series, the refs working games for the top seeds, it's not worth watching the early games, everyone knows whats up. The reason why people watch March Madness and why brackets are so fun is the unpredictability. You have to watch every game, even G-town versus Ohio. Shorter series, fairer officiating is the way to increase both buzz and ratings for the playoffs and the way to increase the value of the league longterm. I agree that they're not going to do that because they're looking at revenue from 1 or 2 extra games instead of thinking strategically. That's why the NBA needs new blood in management.
Personally, I'd love a Best-of-3 double elimination format. It would would involve more playoff matchups, and each game would mean more because losing once means you can be eliminated the next match. No. The problem would be that the regular season becomes even less important than it already is. Who'll pay full NBA ticket prices to watch glorified preason games?
What the NBA should do is this: First round: All conference teams play (excluding the #1 ranked team) in a one (1) win-or-go-home game. For example, 2 vs. 15, 3 vs. 14, ... , 8 vs. 9. This would give an incentive for getting the number one seed. Conference Quarterfinals: The teams that won in the previous round would then play in the standard format but a best of 3. For example, 1 vs the winner of 8/9, winner of 2/15 vs. winner of 7/10... Conference Semifinals: Best of 5 Conference Finals: Best of 7 Finals: Best of 7...but the format is 2H-2A-1H-1A-1H (home and away) All teams that are seeded 9 or below become lottery teams even though they might advance to the next round
As already stated, it's about revenue. There will be no reduction in the number of playoff games till it makes financial sense to do so. In other words, when playoff games stop selling out. THE NCAA really is about money too. It's just that they figure more revenue comes from a 65 team format (maybe 96?) then a tournament with fewer teams, not one and done. Personally, I'd love to see the NBA stick with a series style, but do not have off days in between, similar to baseball. That would really be a radical change though, as you can't have players play every night, so you wouldn't be able to play your best every night. You'd have to expand your team size and rest players as needed. You'd see a lot more variety of players out there, and probably see some players develop into a closer role (offense and defense). I'd love to see more interest in team ball over individual stars though. Never happen though. Too drastic a change. I'd think they'd be able to reduce ticket prices and and sell more seats over all. You'd lose some of your star power drawing in fans as there's no guarantee you're going to see your favorite player. As well, it's so different from every other basketball league in the world.
I wouldn't mind if the NBA went back to the best of 5 for the first round only to give the lower seeds a shot. Fran reppin this city! HAHA!
