Mark Cuban Proposes Conference Realignment

[bqmuzik]

Memphis should be in the east, plain and simple.

[GSWBlooded93]

Or instead of all this realignment bull, how about the crazy idea of the teams w/the 14 worst records in the league are in the lottery regardless of whether they make the playoffs or not?

The worst 14 teams are all in the lottery... Unless you mean they all have an equal chance in the lottery.

[ckp]

Maybe conferences need to be different each year? Take two of the worst, best, average, etc. teams and split them in each conference...shift it every year to balance out the competition?

are you crazy? this wont work for sure

[Furinkazan]

Mark Cuban can go ..... himslef

[jimmy keys]

The best solution is to eliminate conferences all together and realign the teams into 5 regional divisions of 6 teams. It would greatly reduce travel cost and create more intense rivalries. Top 16 make it regardless of division.

1. ATLANTIC - Toronto - New York - Brooklyn - Philadelphia - Boston - Washington

2. SOUTH EAST - Miami - Orlando - Atlanta - Memphis - New Orleans - Charlotte

3. MIDWEST - Chicago - Cleveland - Detroit - Indianapolis - Milwaukee - Minnesota

4. SOUTH CENTRAL - Dallas - Houston - San Antonio - OKC - Utah - Denver

5. WEST - Portland - Golden State - Los Angeles - Los Angeles - Sacramento - Phoenix

You play 1 home & 1 away game against the 24 teams not in your division and 3 home & 3 away games within your division for a total 78 regular season games.

Good alignment, but I switched Utah and Phoenix because it makes more logistical sense seeing as Phoenix is only 372 miles from LA.

Yeah you got it right, Phoenix & Utah should switch, now it looks good geographically at least.

[jimmy keys]

Correct. Maybe NHL isn't a good example in this case.

The best solution is to eliminate conferences all together and realign the teams into 5 regional divisions of 6 teams. It would greatly reduce travel cost and create more intense rivalries. Top 16 make it regardless of division.

1. ATLANTIC - Toronto - New York - Brooklyn - Philadelphia - Boston - Washington

2. SOUTH EAST - Miami - Orlando - Atlanta - Memphis - New Orleans - Charlotte

3. MIDWEST - Chicago - Cleveland - Detroit - Indianapolis - Milwaukee - Minnesota

4. SOUTH CENTRAL - Dallas - Houston - San Antonio - OKC - Phoenix - Denver

5. WEST - Portland - Golden State - Los Angeles - Los Angeles - Sacramento - Utah

You play 1 home & 1 away game against the 24 teams not in your division and 3 home & 3 away games within your division for a total 78 regular season games.

if top 16 teams make it, then divisions really dont make that much of a difference...

So what are you suggesting, one 30 team conference/division? How would scheduling work?

The whole point of having divisions is to reduced the cost of travel for the teams and hopefully create regional rivalries.

[jimmy keys]

Correct. Maybe NHL isn't a good example in this case.

The best solution is to eliminate conferences all together and realign the teams into 5 regional divisions of 6 teams. It would greatly reduce travel cost and create more intense rivalries. Top 16 make it regardless of division.

1. ATLANTIC - Toronto - New York - Brooklyn - Philadelphia - Boston - Washington

2. SOUTH EAST - Miami - Orlando - Atlanta - Memphis - New Orleans - Charlotte

3. MIDWEST - Chicago - Cleveland - Detroit - Indianapolis - Milwaukee - Minnesota

4. SOUTH CENTRAL - Dallas - Houston - San Antonio - OKC - Phoenix - Denver

5. WEST - Portland - Golden State - Los Angeles - Los Angeles - Sacramento - Utah

You play 1 home & 1 away game against the 24 teams not in your division and 3 home & 3 away games within your division for a total 78 regular season games.

also, atlantic division will still continue to suck regardless

Well Toronto and Washington would both be locks to finish in the top 16, but it doesn't matter if any one division sucks because the top 16 teams would make the playoffs regardless of division.

It would make the playoffs more interesting & competitive. What's not to like about that?

[Wingy]

Or instead of all this realignment bull, how about the crazy idea of the teams w/the 14 worst records in the league are in the lottery regardless of whether they make the playoffs or not?

The worst 14 teams are all in the lottery... Unless you mean they all have an equal chance in the lottery.

Say what? Compare Eastern vs Western conference records over several years and see if you feel comfortable restating the above.

[MrSparkle]

I would just like a re-draw of the whole thing.

With an even 30-teams and a ****ing computer, you can go a lot of ways.

Minnesota and Memphis deserve to be lumped with the East.

Maybe they should just split to a 3-conference league, and make longitude splits:

BOS NYK BRK PHI TOR CHA MIA ORL DC CLE

ATL DET IND MEM NOP CHI MIL MIN HOU DAL

OKC SAS DEN UTA PHX LAL LAC GSW SAC POR

Who cares if the number of games are perfectly symmetrically divided. They can be scrambled to 3 or 4-game series. The travel distances for most teams would come down... the playoff seeding would be more interesting. There'd be less hacks. 6-teams from each conf. make it... and then the actual playoffs would just scramble all the conferences together and give a 1st rd. bye to the 2 best-record teams.

[GSWBlooded93]

Or instead of all this realignment bull, how about the crazy idea of the teams w/the 14 worst records in the league are in the lottery regardless of whether they make the playoffs or not?

The worst 14 teams are all in the lottery... Unless you mean they all have an equal chance in the lottery.

Say what? Compare Eastern vs Western conference records over several years and see if you feel comfortable restating the above.

OHHH! I understand you now, I was thinking you thought that there were like only 7 (or etc.) in the lottery and that there should be fourteen teams in the lottery. I understand where you're coming from, but it's a bit flawed to me though if one of those bottom 14 teams were in the playoffs and they actually advance into the second round and what not, do you think putting that team should go into the lottery?

[Pickled Prunes]

Silly, Mark. Always looking for the angle. Did you forget about Memphis? I can see Memphis and Milwaukee trading conferences (which would help the balance) but San Antonio going East and Detroit coming west.... do you even know where these places are on the map?

that would also make no sense. why would milwaukee switch? when its east of minnesota and north of chicago? also new orleans is due south of memphis as well.

You and Mark should check into your local community colleges for a geography class lol

What are you talking about?

1) Milwaukee is east of Minnesota - Yeah, that's why Minnesota is in the west and Milwaukee is in the east. If Milwaukee moved to the west it would still be further east than Minnesota - and still have nothing to do with my previous comment.

2) Milwaukee is north of Chicago - Should they be in the Northern conference? - I'm not sure of your point here but this also has nothing to do with my previous comment.

3) New Orleans is due South of Memphis - Well, almost, but Memphis is still further east. And New Orleans doesn't make the East a whole lot stronger now do they. And there is where you clearly missed my point.

My point, in case you missed it:
Mark Cuban suggested moving Dallas (along with a few others) to the east. His clear motivation is that this would allow Dallas to walk into the playoffs for the foreseeable future. The problem was that he forgot about Memphis which is the top team in the league right now and 400 miles east of Dallas. It was just funny watching Cuban be Cuban. But then you questioned my education so I took you to school!

[RayClayMatthews]

Silly, Mark. Always looking for the angle. Did you forget about Memphis? I can see Memphis and Milwaukee trading conferences (which would help the balance) but San Antonio going East and Detroit coming west.... do you even know where these places are on the map?

that would also make no sense. why would milwaukee switch? when its east of minnesota and north of chicago? also new orleans is due south of memphis as well.

You and Mark should check into your local community colleges for a geography class lol

What are you talking about?

1) Milwaukee is east of Minnesota - Yeah, that's why Minnesota is in the west and Milwaukee is in the east. If Milwaukee moved to the west it would still be further east than Minnesota - and still have nothing to do with my previous comment.

2) Milwaukee is north of Chicago - Should they be in the Northern conference? - I'm not sure of your point here but this also has nothing to do with my previous comment.

3) New Orleans is due South of Memphis - Well, almost, but Memphis is still further east. And New Orleans doesn't make the East a whole lot stronger now do they. And there is where you clearly missed my point.

My point, in case you missed it:
Mark Cuban suggested moving Dallas (along with a few others) to the east. His clear motivation is that this would allow Dallas to walk into the playoffs for the foreseeable future. The problem was that he forgot about Memphis which is the top team in the league right now and 400 miles east of Dallas. It was just funny watching Cuban be Cuban. But then you questioned my education so I took you to school!

Your wording didnt clarify that you didnt mean Milwaukee and Minnesota both going West. Easily could have meant a swap with each other. It would make no sense for Chicago, WHICH IS NORTH OF MILWAUKEE, to be in the East and Milwaukee to be in the west as you said.
By the way, NO= 90.0500° W = 89.9711° W. Thats like 6 minutes E/W. Give me a break. You took me to school. LMAO, I have a degree in geography and a minor in cartography. GTFO

[RayClayMatthews]

NHL doesn't have 3 conferences.. It has 2 conferences and 2 divisions in each..

Correct. Maybe NHL isn't a good example in this case.

The best solution is to eliminate conferences all together and realign the teams into 5 regional divisions of 6 teams. It would greatly reduce travel cost and create more intense rivalries. Top 16 make it regardless of division.

1. ATLANTIC - Toronto - New York - Brooklyn - Philadelphia - Boston - Washington

2. SOUTH EAST - Miami - Orlando - Atlanta - Memphis - New Orleans - Charlotte

3. MIDWEST - Chicago - Cleveland - Detroit - Indianapolis - Milwaukee - Minnesota

4. SOUTH CENTRAL - Dallas - Houston - San Antonio - OKC - Phoenix - Denver

5. WEST - Portland - Golden State - Los Angeles - Los Angeles - Sacramento - Utah

You play 1 home & 1 away game against the 24 teams not in your division and 3 home & 3 away games within your division for a total 78 regular season games.

I would name them differently just because South Central sounds off. Maybe Pacific, West, South, North, Atlantic? I dunno, SC just rubs me the wrong way, though I like the concept. Just need a Seattle in there though.

[Wingy]

OHHH! I understand you now, I was thinking you thought that there were like only 7 (or etc.) in the lottery and that there should be fourteen teams in the lottery. I understand where you're coming from, but it's a bit flawed to me though if one of those bottom 14 teams were in the playoffs and they actually advance into the second round and what not, do you think putting that team should go into the lottery?

What does advancing have to do w/it though? We have 82 games to show who is better. Just because one team gets hot for 2 weeks doesn't mean they're suddenly really good and don't need help to improve their roster.

Look at the 8th seeded Sixers beating the #1 Bulls when Rose and later Noah were injured. Since Philly won a series they're suddenly better? I know records didn't shake out that way that particular shortened season, but the current system doesn't make sense. When a 48-34 team has a better pick than a 38-44 team, something doesn't add up.

[Pickled Prunes]

that would also make no sense. why would milwaukee switch? when its east of minnesota and north of chicago? also new orleans is due south of memphis as well.

You and Mark should check into your local community colleges for a geography class lol

What are you talking about?

1) Milwaukee is east of Minnesota - Yeah, that's why Minnesota is in the west and Milwaukee is in the east. If Milwaukee moved to the west it would still be further east than Minnesota - and still have nothing to do with my previous comment.

2) Milwaukee is north of Chicago - Should they be in the Northern conference? - I'm not sure of your point here but this also has nothing to do with my previous comment.

3) New Orleans is due South of Memphis - Well, almost, but Memphis is still further east. And New Orleans doesn't make the East a whole lot stronger now do they. And there is where you clearly missed my point.

My point, in case you missed it:
Mark Cuban suggested moving Dallas (along with a few others) to the east. His clear motivation is that this would allow Dallas to walk into the playoffs for the foreseeable future. The problem was that he forgot about Memphis which is the top team in the league right now and 400 miles east of Dallas. It was just funny watching Cuban be Cuban. But then you questioned my education so I took you to school!

Your wording didnt clarify that you didnt mean Milwaukee and Minnesota both going West. Easily could have meant a swap with each other. It would make no sense for Chicago, WHICH IS NORTH OF MILWAUKEE, to be in the East and Milwaukee to be in the west as you said.
By the way, NO= 90.0500° W = 89.9711° W. Thats like 6 minutes E/W. Give me a break. You took me to school. LMAO, I have a degree in geography and a minor in cartography. GTFO

Dude! Minnesota is already in the Western conference.... and I didn't mention them at all. Seriously, you come out swinging and have no idea what you are talking about. That is why you had no idea what I was talking about. I know this was like your fourth post on RealGM but over time you will find some smart guys on these boards. Your degree has no value here other than you probably learned how to research ideas in school. Your going to want to use those research skills before you get uppity on these boards. I am a teacher in real life but on these boards my advice is free!

I will try explain my point another way but re-read my comments above with a clear mind and I promise you will understand. It was never about being geographically correct; it was about balancing the east and west while poking fun at Cuban.

Moving Chicago west weakens the east.
Moving Milwaukee west hurts the west.
Moving NO east is a wash because they're a middle of the road team.
Moving Memphis east strengthens the east considerably.

Therefore, moving Memphis to the east and Milwaukee to the west does the most to balance the conferences without getting too geographically out of whack. NO and Chicago stay where they are.

We good?