AROUND the NBA: CLE Coach Search Between Atkinson+Borrego

[RGP1981]

I hate the play-off format so much. You can make an easy argument that 8 of the best 10 teams in these play-offs were in the West. This is a war of attrition and the West is a wild brawl, while Boston is having pillow fights.Only times the East wins the championship, is when they have a huge physical advantage due to the path taken and this feels like one of those years.

I fully agree with this. The way I see it, there are two ways to make this make more sense.

1) Remove conferences completely... the 16 best teams in the whole NBA make it to the playoffs.

2) Make divisions matter more... i.e., only allow 2 teams per division to make it through to the playoffs. This can only happen after an expansion to 32 teams though... because then you have 16 teams per conference, split into 4 divisions of 4 teams each. 2 teams coming out of 8 divisions each is reasonable.

The trickle-down effect of only allowing 2 teams per division through... star players will automatically spread themselves around the league, to improve their chances of making the playoffs. So instead of the Western Conference being more loaded, now teams in the East will be on par with those in the West. It will force team Front Offices to be better, along with the new cap rules. It will also make divisional rivalries matter again.

#2 would be my preferred option.