Change Needed in NBA Playoff Format
December 3, 2009
Jay Singh recently wrote on what he thought were some changes that need to be made to the NBA playoff format and I think it’s worth a look. He makes the point that there are a few dominant teams in the league, this year those teams being the Lakers, Magic, Cavs, and Nuggets (based off of their superstarts Kobe, Dwight, LeBron, and Melo.) Jay thinks it goes without saying that these teams will be competing through the final rounds of this year’s playoffs, and it’s hard to argue with him there.
Jay’s problem is with the early rounds of the playoffs, when these dominant teams will be going against mid-level teams and ending series’ quickly with sweeps. His thoughts are that the playoffs really don’t begin until the second round, and with few exceptions he’s right. How about last year when the Celtics and Bulls had one of the best playoff series of all-time? Or the upsets like the Nuggets over the Sonics back in the days of Mutombo and Kemp/Payton?
His solution is pretty drastic, with a complete restructuring of the league. Currently, the 30 NBA teams are split up into six divisions in two conferences. Each division winner is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, and then the next five teams ranked by winning percentage, bringing the total number of playoff teams to 16, and some of which do not even have a winning record.
He believes the first step is to expand to 32 teams and to split up each conference into just 2 divisions. Teams would play every other NBA team twice (62 games), and each division member twice more (14 games). This would create a 76-game season, only six games fewer than the current format. Then it’s playoff time with one team from each division will get a guaranteed spot; otherwise, it is all dependent on overall win percentage.
This creates a highly competitive field of eight teams. An even amount of teams from each conference is not required, but instead the most competitive set of teams is the goal. Since the playoffs would only have three rounds in total, each series can be increased to best 5 out of 9, which requires the eventual champion to win 15 games, 1 less of the mark needed now. But, every one of the rounds will contain high octane competitive matchups, that require a team to win 15 quality games. I don’t know if you need to expand the series, since one of the knocks right now is that the NBA’s playoff systems drags on for two months, which can be cut down by the elimination of a round.
For example, in the 2008-2009 NBA season, the playoff teams would have been:
- Cleveland
- LA Lakers
- Boston
- Orlando
- Denver
- San Antonio
- Portland
- Houston
From the 08-09 season this set of teams include all the teams from the respective conference finals. What this method would increase would be competitiveness from the first round.
Imagine having teams go into the first round with matchups like, Orlando-Denver, Boston-San Antonio, LAL-Portland, and Cleveland-Houston. The possible second-round matchups up the ante, leading up to the final. The final also does not necessarily have to be one team from each conference. Another problem this fixes is when one conference is talent heavy, teams often were burnt out by the finals because of the level of conference play.
Interesting piece, but not something we are likely to see.
If you have been trying to beat the NBA point spreads but haven’t had much luck, try the NBA picks offered by some of our top handicappers!
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
