Novak - USAToday DuPree's early pick to win the 3pt shooting contest

Well he's the first guy I've seen that predicts we'll have the 4th seed, and I think that should be our realistic goal.

Home court in the first round may be the difference between us advancing and JVG keeping his job.

 

swizzle!

 

First, DuPree's seed order is impossible.

For us to get a fourth seed, we need to be one of the top 2 teams in the division. That means we're better than either Dallas or San Antonio. Further, it would mean that we aren't better than then the Northwest division winner (likely Denver or Utah). It's basically an unrealistic scenario. DuPree is a bit of an idiot, and I'm not surprised that he still doesn't grasp how the playoff seeding works.

 

His prediction is actually impossible. The new rule doesn't allow this. The three division winner and the top 2nd team in the division will be ranked 1-4. So, if the Rockets, Spurs and Mavs are 1-2-3 in wins, one of them will be a 5 seed.

Sucks for one of us.

Did I explain that well enough?

 

I think it's conference, no?

EDIT: I take it back. The 4th seed is reserved for the best regular-season team in a conference minus the 3 division leaders. How does that sound?

 

That's not it. The 4th seed would go to whichever of those four teams has the worst record. For this season, almost assuredly it will go to the winner of the North West division (Denver or Utah). I expect we'll be a 5th seed, with homecourt advantage playing against Denver or Utah in the first round. Technically, we're a 5th seed, but for all practical purposes we'd be like a 4th seed.

 

It doesn't matter if we are 5th seed,we will have homecourt advantage if we have a better record than the 4th seed...

 

So the division leader with the worst regular-season record (among 3 division leaders) is not assured the 3rd seed? Has this been the case since all 30 NBA teams were classified into 6-division 2-conference?

 

That's the new rule. They used to get the 3rd seed. Now, they could get the 4th seed.

So, last year the Mavs were the 4th seed and the Nuggets were the third seed. Even though the Mavs won 16 more games in the regular season.

With this year's rules, the Nuggets would be the 4th seed, and the Mavs would be the 2nd seed. And the Spurs and Mavs would likely meet in the WCF, instead of the second round. Much better.

 

Make much more sense to me too.

Here's another question. In the old 2-division per conference format, the rule says, IIRC, although a division leader gets 2nd seed, the home court advantage in the first and later round goes to the team with better regular-season record. Is this still true with the new rule and 3-division format?

 

I think so.

 

I think Novak is a safe pick. It would be a shame if the league didn't invite him. Which most likely wont be the case.

 

It's a good rule, but I think still think they should go further and just seed according to record.

 

If they just seed according to record, wouldn't that shred the division system of its last vestiges of relevance? Why keep the teams in three divisions then? Why not just have two massive conferences with the top 8 in each conference advancing to the playoffs?

 

They need to have some kind of Affirmative Action program running in NBA.

 

he's my pick to win it too

BTW, can snyder get in the dunk contest?

 

Novak's hot now, but it doesn't mean he'll be in the same condition later on, maybe better, maybe worse.
In any case, many times in these competitions the calmest player won not the best shooter. However if he's gonna shoot like that for the months to come, I'd surely invite him for it.

 

Sigh. I wasn't praising his seeding and the rule change was talked about ad infinitum during the first round of the playoffs last year and then here when it became official. But it's always good to see the Rockets get props from anyone with a national audience and that's all I commented on.

It is not impossible for us to finish 2nd in our division and finish with a better record than than a division winner. It's not. I didn't say it was likely either, but it could happen and that's probably the highest we can hope for with a hint of realism.

If you want to go through a laundry list of likely scenarios there's a very good chance we'll hit Dallas or S.A. in the first round unless we wind up with the 6th seed.

I do not stand corrected, but thanks anyway.

 

I ask myself this all the time. Divisions are meaningless and irrelevant to me. It should just be the best against the best, period.

Does anybody here give a damn about divisions? All they do is screw up the conference seeding order. We don't need a 'division' to remind us that we have rivals in Texas. It's silly. It's sad to think we're losing out on the best playoffs we can have in the name of 'divisional rivalries.'

If they scrapped the entire East Conference Champ vs. West Conference Champ I would shed a tear for nostalgia, dry it, and then look forward to the most fair, exciting, competitive playoffs ever- when the best play the best, every time.