Time To Retire Divisions?

[Apollo]

Silver came out yesterday and said rather strongly that while it's not official it looks like division winners will no longer be guaranteed a playoff spot:

Adam Silver says the NBA is leaning toward not guaranteeing a playoff spot to a team that wins its division.

Silver said Wednesday no decision has been made, but he believes it’s likely that teams will qualify for the post-season only if they have one of the top eight records in their conference.

Division winners are currently guaranteed no worse than the No. 4 seed, though that’s expected to be changed before next season.

He says no team has won its division without a top eight record, and league officials estimate there’s less than a 5 per cent chance it could happen.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...ticle25630748/

Here's the thing, what meaning does a division really have if they remove the only reward for winning it? And yeah, I know someone will point out scheduling and rivalries but that can all exist without divisions. I would not be shocked if you saw them disappear shortly after this comes into affect. No need to hang on to old relics with no point to them.

[Puffer]

Eliminate them. It's enough to have conferences, to encourage regional rivalries and to lower travel costs. On the other hand, I don't know how much ticket prices would have to go up to have all teams play all other teams an equal number of times. Probably not significantly.

[Katman]

But if we get rid of the divisions we won't be able to delude ourselves that we are good.

Seriously, they are not useful anymore if they don't influence the seeding. Could you imagine winning the division and still not having a record good enough to make the playoffs LOL

[KHD]

my ideal NBA: eliminate divisions, eliminate conferences, 58 game season (play everyone twice, home and away), no back to backs.

[DanH]

It would basically just be for scheduling purposes, but the NBA isn't like the NHL - there is barely any difference between number of games against divisional rivals versus number of games against conference rivals. So really no purpose at all.

[DanH]

my ideal NBA: eliminate divisions, eliminate conferences, 58 game season (play everyone twice, home and away).

Will never happen. Means a roughly 30% pay cut for all involved.

[KHD]

Will never happen. Means a roughly 30% pay cut for all involved.

oh i know.

I'm speaking purely on my own selfish interests, I would rather watch a few less games if i could see the teams at their "best" (i.e. not on the 2nd night of a b2b).

[Apollo]

So everyone agrees? This must be a forum first.

Ah... I guess there's nothing left to say now. Well played everyone, well played.

[distorsun]

YES. Let's CLOSE THE THREAD NOW before someone starts to talk bout DD's 3point shooting.

So everyone agrees? This must be a forum first.

Ah... I guess there's nothing left to say now. Well played everyone, well played.

[Puffer]

YES. Let's CLOSE THE THREAD NOW before someone starts to talk bout DD's 3point shooting.

He would be exposed with more games against the Western Conference.

[Apollo]

Peace for a fleeting moment and then, poof, gone.

[JWash]

Tbh I wish divisional rivalries were emphasized more in the NBA like it is in the NFL and MLB.

Imo the league would be better if you added 2 expansion teams and went with 2 conferences (non-geographical) and 4 divisions in each (geographical) like the NFL does.

ABC Conference:

EAST
Toronto Raptors
New York Knicks
Boston Celtics
Miami Heat

NORTH
Denver Nuggets
Oklahoma City Thunder
Dallas Mavericks
Utah Jazz

SOUTH
Memphis Grizzlies
Orlando Magic
Charlotte Hornets
Houston Rockets

WEST
Sacramento Kings
Los Angeles Lakers
Golden State Warriors
Las Vegas

NBC Conference:

EAST
Cleveland Cavaliers
Washington Wizards
Philadelphia 76ers
Brooklyn Nets

NORTH
Chicago Bulls
Minnesota Timberwolves
Milwaukee Bucks
Detroit Pistons

SOUTH
Atlanta Hawks
Indiana Pacers
New Orleans Pelicans
San Antonio Spurs

WEST
Portland Trailblazers
Seattle Sonics
Los Angeles Clippers
Phoenix Suns


Division winners make playoffs and 2 wild cards, so last year based on records:

ABC Playoffs:
1.) GSW
2.) HOU
3.) DAL
4.) TOR
WC: MEM
WC: OKC

NBC Playoffs:
1.) ATL
2.) LAC
3.) CLE
4.) CHI
WC: SAS
WC: POR


Wild Card Rounds:
3.) DAL vs. 6.) OKC
4.) TOR vs. 5.) MEM

3.) CLE vs. 6.) POR
4.) CHI vs. 5.) SAS


Still get 4 rounds of playoffs, just top 2 seeds get a bye. First round becomes much more unpredictable and competitive.

EDIT: To get enough games out of this. Play your division rivals 6 times each (18), conference 3 times (36), other conference 2 times (32). That's an 86 game schedule

[e_wheazhy_]

I think maybe they should adopt an NHL style division system, where it's only 2 divisions per conference,

That way the top 2 seeds are guaranteed, cause they probably would deserve it and then everyone else fights for 6 wildcard spots

They could even do a mark Cuban style thing where the top 2 get byes and 8 wildcard qualify

[iblastoff]

Tbh I wish divisional rivalries were emphasized more in the NBA like it is in the NFL and MLB.

Imo the league would be better if you added 2 expansion teams and went with 2 conferences (non-geographical) and 4 divisions in each (geographical) like the NFL does.

ABC Conference:

EAST
Toronto Raptors
New York Knicks
Boston Celtics
Miami Heat

NORTH
Denver Nuggets
Oklahoma City Thunder
Dallas Mavericks
Utah Jazz

SOUTH
Memphis Grizzlies
Orlando Magic
Charlotte Hornets
Houston Rockets

WEST
Sacramento Kings
Los Angeles Lakers
Golden State Warriors
Las Vegas

NBC Conference:

EAST
Cleveland Cavaliers
Washington Wizards
Philadelphia 76ers
Brooklyn Nets

NORTH
Chicago Bulls
Minnesota Timberwolves
Milwaukee Bucks
Detroit Pistons

SOUTH
Atlanta Hawks
Indiana Pacers
New Orleans Pelicans
San Antonio Spurs

WEST
Portland Trailblazers
Seattle Sonics
Los Angeles Clippers
Phoenix Suns


Division winners make playoffs and 2 wild cards, so last year based on records:

ABC Playoffs:
1.) GSW
2.) HOU
3.) DAL
4.) TOR
WC: MEM
WC: OKC

NBC Playoffs:
1.) ATL
2.) LAC
3.) CLE
4.) CHI
WC: SAS
WC: POR


Wild Card Rounds:
3.) DAL vs. 6.) OKC
4.) TOR vs. 5.) MEM

3.) CLE vs. 6.) POR
4.) CHI vs. 5.) SAS


Still get 4 rounds of playoffs, just top 2 seeds get a bye. First round becomes much more unpredictable and competitive.

EDIT: To get enough games out of this. Play your division rivals 6 times each (18), conference 3 times (36), other conference 2 times (32). That's an 86 game schedule

we the east? thats a lot of merch needing to be redone!

[Bendit]

I also like Cuban's suggestion of 10 teams (based on record) making the playoffs in each conference. My own preference in addition is to somehow reduce the number of reg. season games...I think the number of back-to-backs (or 3 in 4 nights) are too many and probably lead to more injury. Having a longer playoff season should mitigate some the loss of revenue of shortened reg. season.

Some of these decisions would have to be part of new cba discussions.

http://www.si.com/nba/2015/07/16/mar...expansion-idea