Conferences…Do We Really Need ‘Em
Posted by Dan on April 17, 2008
The NBA is split up into two conferences…the Eastern and Western. Each conference has its own divisions and own standings. This seems simple enough…and harmless. However, when one conference has nine teams that are 14 games over .500 or better there must be a problem.
The Western Conference is far superior depth-wise than the Eastern. This year, nine teams are 14 games over .500 as compared to the East which only has five teams over .500 at all. And, only three of which are 14+ games over .500. My point: there should be no conferences in the NBA.
At first thought this sounds like a crazy idea. Afterall, conferences help develop travel schedules for teams and create some good rivalries. However, the six different divisions in the NBA do the same. So, if conferences were eliminated all together, teams could just play division rivals more often and all other teams at least once or twice throughout the season. This would allow the playoffs to be purely a 16-team bracket as opposed to two 8-team brackets. Also, there wouldn’t be an eight-team limit to how many teams from a conference can make the playoffs. For example, in this season, Golden State wouldn’t be left out with their 48-34 record, which is better than all but three teams in the Eastern Conference! Furthermore, this would enable a better seeding process as it would be based soley on record regardless of where your city is located or what conference or division you’re in. In that case, the 55-27 Suns wouldn’t have to play the 56-26 Spurs on the road in the first round, which is absolutely ridiculous in the first place! What an awful reward for Phoenix after a season in which they were 28 games over .500.
All in all, it would do the NBA good to get rid of the conferences and go to a 16-team playoff bracket. Aside from the benefits for teams and players and being rewarded on a good season, the fans might enjoy this more as well. We’ve seen how successful and popular the NCAA Tournament is with its 65-team draw…so why not take a page out of their book and make the NBA more interesting with a bigger bracket? If David Stern is seriously looking into developing the NBA in Europe and having some European teams in the NBA, he might want to think about conference play first. What is he going to do, put all those teams in the Eastern Conference? Maybe he should perfect the NBA in the U.S. before he does anything too dramatic in another country. Just a thought, Commish; take a look at my suggestion first.
