Some of the wonderful things rattling around in this full brain 'o mine. UPDATED EVERY TUESDAY AND THURSDAY (or at least twice a week)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Spurs NBA Champs, How to fix the NBA Playoffs?

Have to admit, I knew San Antonio was a better team, but I didn't think they'd sweep. But, I'm glad they did. Being a huge basketball fan, I watched every game I could even though my beloved Pistons weren't part of the finals, but besides me and some people in San Antonio, I don't think anyone else really watched the Finals. That begs the question, what can the NBA do to make the Playoffs more entertaining and a bigger draw to all the markets?


First, the obvious answer: Reseed the teams in each conference after each round.
The reason they would want to do this is that it would mostly solve the problem of the best two teams in the conference playing each other before the conference finals. Think about it, in the West, after the first round, you had the following seeds playing each other: 3 vs. 2 and 5 vs. 8.
Hence San Antonio's domination in the Conference Finals over a promising Utah team. But, if they reseeded after each round, you would have had the Suns vs. the Warriors (WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO SEE THAT?) and the Spurs vs. Utah, with the promise of Spurs/Suns to come. It would have provided a much larger stage for the league to screw the Suns with, that's for sure. But it also would have helped build things up a bit better. In the East you had 1 vs. 4, and 2 vs. 6. At the very least, a Detroit/New Jersey warmup to the winner of the Bulls/Cavs would have been great, and I'm sure the conference finals would have been much better with the correct buildup. Reseeding each conference after each round would also make the regular season that much more important. The top teams will be beating the crap out of each other that much more to get the easiest path to the conference or NBA finals.

Here's another answer that would never happen, and I'm sure I'll get flamed all over again (see my Pistons wishlist), but it's something that would create instant intrigue in the league because no one else does it:


Do away with the conferences, and reseed after each round.
Think of it...they're trying to get to be a more global league anyway. Do away with Eastern vs. Western Conference. Let everyone play everyone. Playoffs would include the top 16 teams after an 82 game season, regardless of zip code. Sure, it would enrage those in the Eastern conference, just like it would have enraged the Western Conference 15 years ago, but it would definitely add another dimension to the regular season. The Pistons wouldn't be able to slide into the #1 seed winning a paltry 54 games anymore. Also, reseed after each round again...except over the entire playoffs. You wouldn't have two brackets anymore, you'd just have one gigantic bracket. That would guarantee that the best two teams in the league have the easiest path to the Finals. Of course that would make it incredibly difficult for a Cinderella to break through at all, but meh.

Like I said, I don't think that would ever happen, but dang it would be interesting. One things for sure, something needs to be tweaked yet again, so the best two teams in the playoffs (Spurs/Suns or Spurs/Mavs) don't meet in the 2nd round again next year.

Any other ideas that would make the playoffs more exciting? Leave 'em in the comments!

No comments: