Blazers vs. Lakers for Pacific Division '09-'10?

Discovery69 · Post #1 » by **Discovery69** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:05 pm

It couldn't happen this season, but the NBA is looking at realigning the Western Conference with the recent move of the Seattle to Oklahoma.

With the state of the economy and the desire of David Stern for the NBA to be more "green". This shift could happen as soon as after this season.

All I can say is WOW, this would make the Blazers vs. Lakers rivalary even more interesting.....

Here is a most recent article from ESPN / NBA.com
http://www.nba.com/2008/news/features/art_garcia/11/19/111908garcia_westinsider/index.html

Pacific: Golden State, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland and Sacramento.

Mountain: Denver, Minnesota, Memphis, Phoenix and Utah.

Southwest: Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

Yangsing · Post #2 » by **Yangsing** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:09 pm

I wouldn't mind it. Would make some rivalries more intense. Kind of weird that Portland is really the only Northwest team in the northwest division.

Post #3 » by **Billy** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:13 pm

I think that's a solid re-alignment and I hope it does happen next year. It's just a crazy situation this year.

d-train · Post #4 » by **d-train** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:16 pm

I think I would rather the Blazers be in the Mountain division.

d-train · Post #5 » by **d-train** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:18 pm

It would be cool to rename the SW to Texas.

Nonstop · Post #6 » by **Nonstop** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:34 pm

it makes sense... seeing as phoenix is about 5-6 hours away from the pacific and , and we're about an hour

Red Robot · Post #7 » by **Red Robot** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:43 pm

This makes a lot of sense for the Blazers: Oakland and Sacramento are both closer than Salt Lake City, while Los Angeles is closer than Denver. That's not even counting the long distances to Oklahoma and Minnesota. I don't think travel time should be too much of a consideration in divisional alignment though. You still have to play most of the teams in the conference four times.

Travel time does matter, though. Without the Sonics, Portland has become easily the most isolated city in the NBA. Sacramento is like 500 miles from here. Presumably this helps for home games but hurts for away games. The Blazers have to travel long distances for away games, but their opponents have long plane rides before the home games. I wonder how much of the Blazers' considerable home-away disparity comes from this effect.

PDXKnight · Post #8 » by **PDXKnight** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:56 pm

I'd love these divisions! We'd finally return to the division that brought us very fond memories in past years and we'd be much closer to hope for a larger number of games. Also, it'd be very nice to re-fuel the Lakers rivalry yet again.

SoHo · Post #9 » by **SoHo** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:11 pm

I'm a big fan of Portland being put back into the Pacific division. It makes way more sense than what we have currently.

The only team I don't think this makes sense for is Memphis, but they don't really make that much sense in any Western division. I mean they're way closer to the Southeast teams than the Southwest teams...

Post #10 » by **BlackMamba** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:20 pm

re-alignment again?

Post #11 » by **mojomarc** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:50 pm

Red Robot wrote:This makes a lot of sense for the Blazers: Oakland and Sacramento are both closer than Salt Lake City, while Los Angeles is closer than Denver. That's not even counting the long distances to Oklahoma and Minnesota. I don't think travel time should be too much of a consideration in divisional alignment though. You still have to play most of the teams in the conference four times.

Salt Lake City is closer than Los Angeles, however, and I would much rather play the Lakers and have them as our main rival than the Jazz.

Travel time does matter, though. Without the Sonics, Portland has become easily the most isolated city in the NBA. Sacramento is like 500 miles from here. Presumably this helps for home games but hurts for away games. The Blazers have to travel long distances for away games, but their opponents have long plane rides before the home games. I wonder how much of the Blazers' considerable home-away disparity comes from this effect.[/quote]

Napoleon7 · Post #12 » by **Napoleon7** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:30 am

Makes too much sense!
They should already be working the plan to make it happen!

Twith · Post #13 » by **Twith** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:39 am

I love hating the Lakers. I hate hating the Jazz.

Something about hating the Lakers is so much more gratifying. I hate the Jazz too but I don't have nearly as much fun doing it.

Clipsz 4 Life · Post #14 » by **Tim Lehrbach** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:47 am

Pretty close to the alignment I proposed a while back, but I had Phoenix in the Southwest and Oklahoma City in the leftovers division.

It makes sense and should happen. I want to battle the Lakers for the Pacific crown.

Zyme · Post #15 » by **Zyme** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:48 am

Twith wrote:I love hating the Lakers. I hate hating the Jazz.

Something about hating the Lakers is so much more gratifying. I hate the Jazz too but I don't have nearly as much fun doing it.

+1

Clipsz 4 Life · Post #16 » by **Tim Lehrbach** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:48 am

Twith wrote:I love hating the Lakers. I hate hating the Jazz.

Something about hating the Lakers is so much more gratifying. I hate the Jazz too but I don't have nearly as much fun doing it.

This is one of the best posts I've read in a while. Really captures my feelings about these two teams.

Post #17 » by **mojomarc** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:28 am

Zyme wrote:
Twith wrote:I love hating the Lakers. I hate hating the Jazz.

Something about hating the Lakers is so much more gratifying. I hate the Jazz too but I don't have nearly as much fun doing it.

+1

+2. If only I could have punched smiling Magic Johnson right in the throat in the 1991 WCFs, I think I would have. And by all accounts, he's a pretty nice guy when not cheating on his wife and getting HIV.