Bensational wrote:I'd like to see the league run a mini tournament for the #8 seed in each conference, putting teams 9-12 in a sudden death tournament that ends in the winner battling the Grizz and Magic for the 8th seeds. Then jump into playoffs with the other teams already seeded.
Use the results of that tournament to decide the season record for the lottery. So if the Knicks somehow make it through the tournament to play the Magic, they fall to the 13th team's odds in the lottery.
That way the league fan still fees exposure back in to the bottom ranked teams to close the season out. It could be unfair for the current 8th seeds, but neither has a commanding grip on the positions. There aren't really any blatant tank teams in the 9-12 spots, either, except maybe the Knicks. In the West, they're all good teams just underperforming. In the East, we're presently just the best of a bad bunch.
It would give us more games and some stakes from day 1 at any rate!
I don't know about the league's proposal for a 20 team playoff series that adds in 4 west conf teams but no extra EC teams. Though, Portland and SAS probably have more playoff hopes of an upset than the Magic or any East team below us in the standings.
Open it up to the top 12 in each conf, make the bottom 5-6 run a 'play-in' tournament and finish off seeding to start the playoffs.