If The Playoffs Format Was Top 16 In The NBA

Jordan45822 · Post #61 » by **Jordan45822** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:30 am

You are right. Not Everybody is going to accept a change. Especially the East. And i bet some teams would riot if Stern did that. Stern is not going to change it anyways becasue of one team who will be over .500 and won't make the playoffs/

richboy · Post #62 » by **richboy** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:03 am

You think its bad now its only going to get worse. Portland will probably be a 50 win team next season. Seattle could have another high draft pick.

Moses_Malone95 · Post #63 » by **Moses_Malone95** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:08 am

Do this when the conferences are equal.

richboy · Post #64 » by **richboy** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:16 am

How about we give each conference 7 playoff spots. Then the total winner of the head to head matchups between the East and West get the final 2 spots. We then seed the teams 1-16. To avoid complete travel nightmares the far west teams could not matchup with the far East.

Moses_Malone95 · Post #65 » by **Moses_Malone95** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:18 am

A system that becomes too complex is likely to break. Nothing is wrong with the current way of doing things. Maybe if they would shorten the first series to five games again.

durden_tyler · Post #66 » by **durden_tyler** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:30 am

Greatest idea of all actually, Stern wouldn't do it though because of "tradition" But we all know even tradition should be changed to keep up with the times. It's called innovation.

And for those who say that rivalries will be reduced or will be gone... Think of it as creating just another set of rivalries. Tweaking tradition to create another tradition.

Moses_Malone95 · Post #67 » by **Moses_Malone95** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:33 am

durden_tyler wrote:Greatest idea of all actually, Stern wouldn't do it though because of "tradition" But we all know even tradition should be changed to keep up with the times. It's called innovation.

And for those who say that rivalries will be reduced or will be gone... Think of it as creating just another set of rivalries. Tweaking tradition to create another tradition.

Or tweaking tradition to ruin a working system

durden_tyler · Post #68 » by **durden_tyler** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:56 am

^And who says that the Top 16 System wouldn't work?

Moses_Malone95 · Post #69 » by **Moses_Malone95** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:58 am

Nothing. I'm saying the league wouldn't consider something like this until the current system needs an overhaul.

Post #70 » by **Young_Star11** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:02 am

Would be a very good IMO, just won't happen anytime soon

durden_tyler · Post #71 » by **durden_tyler** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:02 am

Yeah, for all our argument for and against it, it won't be happening SOON. Maybe when the time comes that there's only one winning team in the East? What's the mathematical probability for that one anyway...

Moses_Malone95 · Post #72 » by **Moses_Malone95** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:03 am

durden_tyler wrote:Yeah, for all our argument for and against it, it won't be happening SOON. Maybe when the time comes that there's only one winning team in the East? What's the mathematical probability for that one anyway...

The way things are progressing shows that it's highly probable.

MrCheerios · Post #73 » by **MrCheerios** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:07 am

Moses_Malone95 wrote:Nothing. I'm saying the league wouldn't consider something like this until the current system needs an overhaul.

Doesn't it need an overhaul now? If there was a year to spark the change this would be it. Next year could be worse. And the west/east disparity has existed for years. Change it now and you avoid all future snubs.

Jordan45822 · Post #74 » by **Jordan45822** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:56 pm

There is no guarantee this will happen again next year. Teams in the West just need to suck it up and live with it.

MrCheerios · Post #75 » by **MrCheerios** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:51 pm

Jordan45822 wrote:There is no guarantee this will happen again next year. Teams in the West just need to suck it up and live with it.

Do you like the current system because it's the only chance the bulls have of making the playoffs? You keep saying "Respect the east" and "The west just has to suck it up" without giving any reasons why.

Ming Kong! · Post #76 » by **Ming Kong!** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:29 pm

I look at it one way, and one way only.. no 8th seed team in either conference has ever won a title. The Knicks came the closest, and they got their arse whooped to the Spurs in 5 games. Now what's a 9th seed team going to do? How about a 10th seed?

If these teams are going to have legit chance for a title, they actually benefit from getting a better draft pick.

Jordan45822 · Post #77 » by **Jordan45822** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:34 pm

Bulls fan has nothing to do with. I just don't understand why it has to change because of two teams. Wizards have been injured thats why they are under .500 ( they will end up over .500 they are only 1 game under) and the way the Sixers are playing they too will end up over .500. So the 8th seed in the end will be only under .500 IMO. And Celtics sweeping the 8th seed is way over-rated not happening that team will give up 1 or 2 games. And Sixers give Pistons problems so I doubt that will be a cake walk either.

Anticon · Post #78 » by **Anticon** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:39 pm

Powder Blue wrote:
If you rank crappy in a crappy conference how is that somehow a good thing? In your example the teams that get the artificially high seedings are the top eastern teams cause they have a weak division.

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant. The good East teams have better records than they deserve and the good West teams have poorer records than they deserve, and this is compounded based on divisional matchups.

The point is that top 16 is not actually the top 16. Some teams have weaker records because they play tougher competition and some teams have better records because they play weaker competition.

Unless you can somehow equalize the schedule, making it a league wide playoff ranking is still going to be unfair.

Ming Kong! · Post #79 » by **Ming Kong!** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:54 pm

Anticon wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant. The good East teams have better records than they deserve and the good West teams have poorer records than they deserve, and this is compounded based on divisional matchups.

The point is that top 16 is not actually the top 16. Some teams have weaker records because they play tougher competition and some teams have better records because they play weaker competition.

Unless you can somehow equalize the schedule, making it a league wide playoff ranking is still going to be unfair.

You could never do that! The Heat would have a tougher schedule than the Celtics no matter what, just for the simple fact that while the Celtics get those free-b vs the Heat , the Heat instead have a few games vs an .800 team in the Celtics. So unless you have the team play against themselves we'll always have total anarchy! NO!!!

Synciere · Post #80 » by **Synciere** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:12 pm

I've read most of this thread and I can't believe no one has brought up what this system would do to the television formatting. That's the real reason this system wouldn't work. It makes too much sense in terms of the competitive balance, but none whatsoever when LA has to travel to Orlando for a seven game series in the first round. No, that's not the matchup this year, but this system will give teams that have light travel a HUGE advantage.

It's the end of the year, you've just bust your butt for 82 games, and now you may have to travel back and forth the entire country for up to four straight series? Not to mention the mess it'll make for scheduling the broadcasts. Shortening the distances between travel is the real reason for this current system. If you have a day in between games when you're in the same city, you have to give a day for travel if you're going cross-country.

Lastly, if you can't be one of the eight best teams in your conference, you aren't a championship caliber team. Plain and simple. That doesn't mean Atlanta in this case is; it means that Denver probably isn't. There will always be a wild-card factor. That's what makes sports special, but to totally change the system would be more exciting, but would take away from tradition, as well as create havoc in the scheduling. Not worth it.