Top 16 teams make it. End of story. Don't want the longer flight? Too bad. You're getting payed enough to sit for an hour longer.
I see a couple of references to the Magic. T Mac was not happy in Orlando, he put them in a bad position and they got what the could. that same gm drafted howard when everyone said take the proven prospect in okafur. that team won 21 games before with tmac the year before he was traded.
DUDE wiseass sucked, He traded Mac for francis mobley and cato...then turned around and moved mobley to sac town for christie who never did a damn thing for orlando...everyone, including myself, knew that christie was done and had been done for about a year before that trade...not only did they get nothing for mobley he also jepordized his investment in steve...A good GM would have handled that situation better, instead stevie tanked and the season was lost(they were fighting for a playoff spot) New GM came in and fixed things by trading cato for darko and getting rid of stevies contract...but basically he gave mac up for nothing... fired his coach during the season( i believe) and quit the job inorder to GM hockey...LOL
I don't know what is about the East, alot of the bottom feeders have decent rosters and very good young players.....but I don't know what problems is exactly. If you look at teams, like Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago, and even New York. They seem like they have teams that could be in the thick playoffs, it's hard to say. I think if they all end up with good big men, like Nowitzki, Duncan, Yao, or Brand....I believe most of those teams would be near top Eastern Conference, instantly. Imagine if Duncan end up in Chicago without them losing alot of players. lineup would look like this C-Gooden/Thomas Pf-Duncan SF-Deng SG- Gordon PG-Hinrich/Duhon Imagine, if Nowitzki went to the Bobcats C-Okafor PF-Nowitzki SF-Wallace SG-Richardson PG-Felton Imagine, Yao in Atlanta C-Yao PF-Horford SF-Smith SG-Johnson PG-M.Bibby Put Brand on the Heat or the Bucks. Every one of those teams could win the East, this year, if you added those players. You think that would Celtics would blow those teams out, if they had the worry about a beast in the middle and great young athletic players.
What's interesting is that for about a 15 year period from the early 80's to the mid-90's the NFC dominated the AFC including wining 11 Superbowls in a row. For awhile the Superbowl was considered an afterthought after the NFC championship as it was a foregone conclusion that the NFC would win. I don't know whether it was in response to that that the NFL engaged in more revenue sharing and greatly increased parity throughout the league. The balance seems to have tipped to the AFC in the last few years but over the last 10 years there seems to have been much more parity in the NFL than in the NBA.
That's a good point but also given the level of competition though you could be a star free-agent and help your team to 50 wins and still be out of the playoffs. It seems like the easier path for a free agent to make it to the playoffs and go deep might be in the east.
It seems that a lot of teams in the east give up on players too early or they don't build teams that mesh together well. Tyson Chandler is an example, Elton Brand, lots of players leave the East to come West and all of the sudden they get better. DD
this is kinda on the side track, but i think instead of the current format, we can make the following changes to make the whole thing work better. 1, every team play any other team 3 times a year. if you played a team 2 times at home, then switch the next year. 2, top 16 teams make the playoffs. 3, all teams don't make the playoffs have the same odds in lottery.
One word: incompetence Actually, I agree with everything KeepKenny said. Also, in today's transportation system and big money business, there is no real reason for creating artificial things like conferences and divisions. Just play a simple round-robin regular season with everybody and then the top teams go into the playoffs.
I think this is a great point. I think a lot of Eastern Conefernce teams have unsuccessfully made short-sighted move to please to pacify their more demanding fan base, and often teams those moves have backfired, particularly long-term. The Knicks are the classic example of this, but the Heat, Nets, Sixers, etc. have all done similar things. The teams who are up-and-coming (Hornets, Blazers, Sonics) have been willing to suck for a few years and adopted the model of tearing the whole thing down to build back up from scratch with young guys. That generally doesn't fly well with East Coast fans, and the few who have gone that way (i.e the Bulls, Raptors) haven't fared as well as they would have liked. The lottery, also, has not been kind to the East. Also, with the East sucking, there has been a vicious cycle in that it becomes more tempting to make a short-term move because it may well put you over the top. Finally, veterans/free agents have been more willing to jump to teams in the West because they have a better chance of winning it all, which makes the discrepancy greater.
Well maybe the commissioner really does read CF.net. http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/17036346.html [rquoter]Notes Jefferson had four of his blocks by halftime on a night when his jump shot was way off. "Maybe that's why I go shooting all those airballs," he said rolling his eyes when asked about his recent defensive improvement. ... Stern said he and the league will further discuss one general manager's proposal to address the disparity between teams that will reach the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and the ones who won't in the West. The idea calls for eight teams from each conference to still make the playoffs, but they would be seeded 1 through 16, which could mean a potential first-round matchup of, say, Boston and Portland. Stern said the idea will be considered despite the travel complications because teams now travel in their own planes. [/rquoter]
Think: AL East. The BoSox and the Yanks keep pushing the envelope and the rest of the AL East and the AL have to aggressively 'keep up' Now, Think: NL Central. The Astros are not predestined to have a very good year but if the stars align etc etc they just might compete in their Division. In the AL teams are more competitive and their front offices are better. In the NL teams are generally less aggressive and less competently operated and thus they have less effort in keeping up. Same in the NBA. What, the Cavs were last season's #2 team? Mavs/Warriors/Nugs survivors are meritoriously 4th seed in the East, but what if lightening strikes and the loser wins the Lotto? BTW - West losers like Blazers (and even injury riddled Clips) look to have brighter tomorrows than most of the Eastern squads.
[rquoter]Stern said the idea will be considered despite the travel complications because teams now travel in their own planes. [/rquoter] If travel is not an issue, why do you still want to divide the teams into East and West?
I don't know if having their own planes eliminates the travel issue. But, I think the main reason for conferences now is not travel, but regional rivalries. With conferences, you'll have teams butting heads with the same opponents year after year and developing a history. By eliminating conferences, you water down the rivalries.
