Sheed vs. Blazers

[elfman]

Hey what about a top 16 team playoff where the pistons don't sleepwalk their way to the conference finals

http://newnbaplayoff.blogspot.com

That would be a good matchup. Just heat up the microwave for the game-winning shot.

[bstein14]

So we'd get Portland in the first round?

And the Lakers/Magic winner in the second?

That would be pretty interesting.

[roc]

Just heat up the microwave for the game-winning shot.

That would now be Rodney Stuckey FTW.

[King Bugs]

That would be a fun way to do the playoffs. You'd get all kinds of matchups you usually wouldn't see and the 16 best teams actually make it instead of these "10 games below .500 EC teams" making the playoffs.

[ajaX82]

Gotta admit it is interesting and entertaining to look at. It would probably get the NBA playoffs higher ratings too.


Never happening, but a fun concept

[Snakebites]

It levels the playing field quite a bit, as it stands now the top eastern teams will have a MUCH easier time getting to the finals in general than the West.

In the West, every round will be a battle.

Nice idea, but the NBA would never allow two teams from the same geographical region to reach the Finals and face one another, which this theoretically allows for.

[theBigLip]

Cool idea, I think it would increase ratings, and no matter who plays in the Finals it would be worth watching. Just because the Spurs and Cavs were in different regions didn't make it worth watching.

[Snakebites]

Yeah but I still think two Texas teams or two West Coast teams making it would make for low ratings outside those regions.

[Muzzleshot]

The ratings for a Detroit/Atlanta match up that would have games starting at 7:00 or even 8:00 would get better ratings than a Pistons/Portland match up that would have to start a 9:00 (EST). There are a lot of casual Pistons fans as there are a lot of casual fans of every team that are not going to stay up till close to midnight to watch a basketball game.
Not to mention that games starting a 6:00 in Portland is far from the optimal starting time. In my opinion it's a terrible idea that the NBA would never go for.

Another reason, 7 out of the 10 biggest metro areas are located in the Eastern Conference. How about that dream match up of the Spurs and Jazz meeting in the NBA Finals? That would be a ratings nightmare for the NBA and Stern would probably have to be put on a suicide watch. Avoiding that potential match up alone would be reason enough for the NBA to never go with a open seeded playoff.

It's a terrible idea. The people who are proponents of it are looking at it from a match up standpoint and aren't looking at it from a financial point of view.