The NBA MUST make a change this offseason...

[Defying]

The unbalance between Western and Eastern is sickening

Here's some prespective....

Toronto, the 3rd seed in the NBA curently is 42-32.. 3rd seed means they get a home court advantage in the 1st... If Toronto was in the Western conference they would be a 10th seed! And realistically, that's not true because that means they would play more games against the West and less against the weak East, so their record would be worse.. still...

Denver is 32-42 10th out of 15th in the West. Yet if they were in the East they would be a half game out of the playoffs.

Unreal.

Western Conference playoffs should be something special, while the East is a complete joke.

Do away with conferences and let the 16th best teams in the playoffs!

Isn't this more interesting?

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[Defying]

Pacers and Heat would meet in Round 2... Not the right to go to the Championship....

 

[KingofNicotine]

Look at all the sub 500 teams that are making the playoffs in the east. Its pathetic. You should not make the playoffs with a losing record. Just take the top 16 teams with the best records. No need to divide it into divisions.

 

[5teamparlay]

Like this in all sports--

 

[gtc08]

the 3-14 matchup is why this will never happen, but i agree with it. if it were up to me, one table, top 16 get in,

 

[NickPappagiorgio]

It goes in cycles, it wasnt too long ago that the complete opposite was true. People need to leave things the hell alone and not make knee jerk changes.

 

[TyBounce]

It seems weird to me that they play such a long marathon of a season and still take 50% of the teams to the playoffs.

If they want half the teams to make the playoffs they should shorten the season by 20 games , or if they want to keep it a marathon just take 8 teams to the playoffs.

...Of course the union would never agree to a shorter season and the owners wont agree to only 8 teams , so maybe realignment is the way to go.

 

[PatsFan1283]

ehh I see your point but that would make travel more brutal and might effect the product. Makes sense in a perfect world, it isn't like the AL and the NL with different rules.

The NFC was way better than the AFC for 15 years, it is way better right now. These things go in cycles

Agree w/ TyBoucne shorten season by 10 games or so. Eliminate 10 back to backs but obviously that won't happen because of money.

 

[CarolinaKid]

dont worry the one and done babies will save the day for some teams

 

[HacheMan]

I'd be all for a change, but if they do something different for the playoffs, I'm not sure they would ever combine both conferences.
Agree with Pats that it runs in cycles and just random luck which conference is better based on where certain players land.

West has better teams overall right now, but the best team lately still resides in the East.

But again I agree that it's time to try & spice things up and something different...

 

[PigskinArmor]

It seems weird to me that they play such a long marathon of a season and still take 50% of the teams to the playoffs.

If they want half the teams to make the playoffs they should shorten the season by 20 games , or if they want to keep it a marathon just take 8 teams to the playoffs.

...Of course the union would never agree to a shorter season and the owners wont agree to only 8 teams , so maybe realignment is the way to go.

hockey is even worse. May as well have playoffs from day 1...

 

[akphidelt]

While I completely disagree, it's getting even worse now that the Pacers are playing like the Bucks. San Antonio whooped that ass last night. Looking like it's basically the West against the Heat, lol. One thing is for sure, I can not wait for the western conference playoffs. Every single possible matchup is very intriguing. Gonna be fun!!

 

[JustinCruise]

I'll never understand how anyone can make that argument considering the East has won the past two championships.

If the NBa needs to make any changes its fewer games.

 

[Defying]

It goes in cycles, it wasnt too long ago that the complete opposite was true. People need to leave things the hell alone and not make knee jerk changes.

But that doesn't change anything here. The best 16 teams get in...

And travel isn't near the problem it was then. i think travel is a non issue with this. You still have road trips where you play all teams in a certain region...

 

[Defying]

While I completely disagree, it's getting even worse now that the Pacers are playing like the Bucks. San Antonio whooped that ass last night. Looking like it's basically the West against the Heat, lol. One thing is for sure, I can not wait for the western conference playoffs. Every single possible matchup is very intriguing. Gonna be fun!!

make your argument of why you're against it, because honestly, I dont see one

 

[RoofTop]

It's brutal to watch a reg. season NBA game. Usually start watching around the 2nd round of the playoffs.

 

[PatsFan1283]

make your argument of why you're against it, because honestly, I dont see one

travel for one would be a lot harder

also with unbalanced schedules it isn't necessarily fair to seed everyone together.

I.e a team in the east like Indiana gets a higher seed than say Houston or LAC possibly despite the fact their schedule was much easier being in the East. Unless you completely balance all schedules, which again won't happen because of travel.

Also another issue with your take is there would be way less rivalries, rematches because who plays who would be much more diverse. I.e The Thunder beat the Spurs 2 years ago, Westbrook doesn't go down they play last year, they rematch in WCF this year if both don't get upset.

I dunno, I mean it isn't the worst plan but I don't think its needed and mostly an overreaction to current times.

 

[shdw01]

I don't mind this really. That's how it has always been and it is just funky at this current time. There will be a day when the east teams are good again. The knicks, the Celtics, the pistons, etc. Just a low time for those franchises. I wouldn't mind the change but I think like pats said the travel would be much worse and they are already playing too many games in a short amount of time....and that isn't even considering the costs

 

[Defying]

travel for one would be a lot harder

also with unbalanced schedules it isn't necessarily fair to seed everyone together.

I.e a team in the east like Indiana gets a higher seed than say Houston or LAC possibly despite the fact their schedule was much easier being in the East. Unless you completely balance all schedules, which again won't happen because of travel.

Also another issue with your take is there would be way less rivalries, rematches because who plays who would be much more diverse. I.e The Thunder beat the Spurs 2 years ago, Westbrook doesn't go down they play last year, they rematch in WCF this year if both don't get upset.

I dunno, I mean it isn't the worst plan but I don't think its needed and mostly an overreaction to current times.

I fundamentally disagree that travel is an issue. With team private jets, with the operating budget, these teams have traveling down to a science. I don't think the traveling would be that much worse, it would be very minimal IMO...

However, I agree, it would have to be a balanced schedule. Play all teams 3 times (with the exception of 7 teams) makes 82 games.

Rivalries have been dead for a while, it's all media driven. Reality is public doesn't care about team a vs team b. There aren't many die hards of teams, generally speaking, people are a fan of players. The NBA world gets hyped because of match ups. In your theory, Knicks vs Lakers get hyped up... My theory give me Durant vs Lebron. There's no history between these teams yet this is what gets the buzz. This isn't the rivalry era between the Knicks and Heat, there's no coach hanging off players legs...

 

[Defying]

I the travel would be much worse and they are already playing too many games in a short amount of time....

General consensus is fewer games would be more... Which I agree... But last year in the lock out was the most interesting Regular NBA season in my adult life... Again, I don't think travel is that big of a deal. you travel as much as these players do, you're numb to it. It's just part of the job.