the NBA needs to address the disparity between east and west

[ElFenix]

the 7th and 8th teams in the west have a .604 record (GS and Denver are tied). there are another two teams 1 game behind them (Houston and Portland) at .583.

the 7th and 8th teams in the east both have losing records, with Atlanta being 21-24 and New Jersey being 20-29.


there is a chance that the east will have several losing teams in the playoffs. meanwhile, several teams with winning records in the tougher west will be left out.

and this disparity between east and west has gone on for the better part of a decade.

my solution: under .500 teams in one conference do not make the playoffs if there are winning teams in the other conference. if the 8th team in one conference has a losing record and the 9th team in the other conference has a winning record, the winning team should play in the other conference playoff bracket. if the 7th team in one conference has a losing record and the 10th team in the other conference has a winning record, the winning team would, again, play in the other conference playoff bracket.

that'd fix one of the big problems with the NBA. you might still get the most compelling playoff series in the conference semifinals, but at least you wouldn't have the joke of having losing teams in the playoffs.

the IHL did something like this back in the day.

 

[Anubis]

its the NBA no one cares

 

[JulesMaximus]

Go Lakers!

 

[bladder23]

deal with it

 

[LS21]

do it like soccer

relegate the bottom performing teams to the CBA

 

[bladder23]

go raptors

 

[anxi80]

i agree with what you wrote as long they go back to a best-of-5 series in the first round. 7 games in the first round is too damn long.

 

[pmoa]

you are right...the bottom feeders in the east are just that....but I like your idea

 

[oiprocs]

But then you're punishing the 1-8 seeds in the West, who have to battle it out with each other. The 9th seed would get to play in the Eastern bracket, which gives them a way better shot at getting to the championship. This will not work.

 

[maddogchen]

No. Its up and down. it'll go back to norm and then opposite sometime in the future.

 

[torpid]

Or they could just eliminate conferences entirely.

 

[Mermaidman]

Shaq's move to PHX is the first step towards balancing the conferences.

OASN, I haven't looked at the conference records, but are there more losing teams in the East because the conference is dominated by a couple of powerful teams (like BOS and DTW)?

The OP's idea is good, but may result in a lot of grueling travel if there is an inter-conference playoff series. Of course, reducing the first round to a 5-gamer would help alleviate that problem.

Another solution is to get rid of the current alignment and have two conferences consisting of teams that span the entire continent, and then reduce the number of regular season and playoff games.

 

[RagingBITCH]

That is retarded.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: Mermaidman
Shaq's move to PHX is the first step towards balancing the conferences.

OASN, I haven't looked at the conference records, but are there more losing teams in the East because the conference is dominated by a couple of powerful teams (like BOS and DTW)?

I'm not sure who DTW is but there are a lot of losing teams in the west. 5 out of the 7 worst records unless I can't read (possible).

 

[bladder23]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
That is retarded.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: Mermaidman
Shaq's move to PHX is the first step towards balancing the conferences.

OASN, I haven't looked at the conference records, but are there more losing teams in the East because the conference is dominated by a couple of powerful teams (like BOS and DTW)?

I'm not sure who DTW is but there are a lot of losing teams in the west. 5 out of the 7 worst records unless I can't read (possible).

there are 10 teams at close .583 or better, and because the schedule is unbalanced, they can't be racking up all those wins over just eastern conference opponents. there are only 3 teams in the east at .583 or better. there are 10 teams in the east without winning records today.

if the playoffs were to begin today, two teams in the west who would be tied for fourth in the east would be left out of the playoffs.

if my plan were implemented and teams seeded based on overall record, cleveland would play a road series against either houston or portland.

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
That is retarded.

more retarded than 3 teams without winning records getting into the playoffs?

 

[neegotiator]

should just be top 16 teams regardless of conference i think, but doubt anything changing anytime soon

 

[Juno]

follow NFL's method where dallas is in NFC east....

 

[zinfamous]

More appropriately, the NBA needs to address their overall suckiness. I haven't been able to watch an NBA game in some 7 or 8 years.

Playoffs should be scaled back. Is it still 75% of the league makes it to playoffs? Ridiculous. IIRC, 8 out of 12 teams qualifies for each conference, right? This is absolutely horrid. Hell, even if it's 8 out 16 from each conference, that's still 50%, which doesn't seem like playoffs at all.

 

[dougp]

They really need to get rid of the confrences and come up with a better scheme. Not quite sure how to do it outside of basically doing the top 16 teams going at it. It's kinda frustrating to see a team that has the 2nd best record in it's division be ranked #5 in a confrence when it has a better record than the #4 seed.

 

[slayer202]

what does it matter when it is only the 2 best teams that will make it to the finals anyway...


why not just take the 2 top regular season teams and have them play in the finals....


What about the years when the celtics were dominating, bulls dominating, pistons dominating?


goes in cycles

 

[Inspector Jihad]

i was looking at the standings earlier...interestingly, the 2 top teams in the league are in the east. like slayer said, it shouldn't matter because the 2 best teams will make it to the finals, but the team in the easier conference will have the easier road to the finals...but thats just tough luck.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
there are 10 teams at close .583 or better, and because the schedule is unbalanced, they can't be racking up all those wins over just eastern conference opponents. there are only 3 teams in the east at .583 or better. there are 10 teams in the east without winning records today.

They do win a lot of them that way if you compare their conference record to their overall record. They also win a lot of games against the dregs in the west. I think some of the east teams are better than their record might indicate, but there is definitely a lack of balance right now.

if the playoffs were to begin today, two teams in the west who would be tied for fourth in the east would be left out of the playoffs.

if my plan were implemented and teams seeded based on overall record, cleveland would play a road series against either houston or portland.

I would rather see fewer teams in the playoffs and maybe a bye system (or just 1 less round). Either MLB or NFL style. 3 division winners + 1 wild card from each conference would be mighty fine.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: Anubis
its the NBA no one cares

you bring your bullshit to every NBA thread. stay the fuck out then.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: ElFenix
there are 10 teams at close .583 or better, and because the schedule is unbalanced, they can't be racking up all those wins over just eastern conference opponents. there are only 3 teams in the east at .583 or better. there are 10 teams in the east without winning records today.

They do win a lot of them that way if you compare their conference record to their overall record. They also win a lot of games against the dregs in the west. I think some of the east teams are better than their record might indicate, but there is definitely a lack of balance right now.

if the playoffs were to begin today, two teams in the west who would be tied for fourth in the east would be left out of the playoffs.

if my plan were implemented and teams seeded based on overall record, cleveland would play a road series against either houston or portland.

I would rather see fewer teams in the playoffs and maybe a bye system (or just 1 less round). Either MLB or NFL style. 3 division winners + 1 wild card from each conference would be mighty fine.

the 7 game series makes it difficult to have that kind of system. they should make it a 3 game series...it will make for more upsets and make every game so much more important.