OT Adam Silver hints at change to the playoff format....

[Chris Craig]

Wouldn't we be picked first - everybody should want to play against us. It would be a bye week to the 2nd round.

Teams would be fighting over us

 

[Orion Bailey]

This is a horrible idea. Many of the new rule changes over the years, as well as the overuse of the 3-point shot have already dampened my enthusiasm for the game. I already hate the NBA as a league, I would still like to enjoy basketball but as it is the NBA is making that more and more difficult.

please explain why you think its a bad idea?currently and ofr a while, its been widely thought that the finals is really the western comference series.

Lets get back to making the finals great again.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Not sure I'd like having to travel across country for a first round series. But we've done first round series in Texas so what's another 1000 miles? haha

Are you saying you'd be traveling with the team?

 

[MARIS61]

I think it’s a great idea.

Only makes sense if they all meet equal times during the regular season.

 

[THE HCP]

Travel is not an issue to be honest anymore. We played Memphis a couple seasons ago, nobody mentioned the travel. LA has played Minny in the playoffs at one point if I’m not mistaken. Obviously tougher on whoever is playing a west coast or east coast team, but travel should not be the reason they wouldn’t try this.

 

[handiman]

Yeah, it'd either need to be an 87-game season (3x every team) or 58-game season (2x every team). I don't see either happening, but would be in favor of 58 games.

I'd be okay with it being randomized which teams you play 2x and which ones 3x. You can't make a perfectly level playing field, but at least you smooth out the regional imbalances.

 

[Driew]

Are you saying you'd be traveling with the team?

Maybe!

 

[BonesJones]

He'll no. The Eastern teams have an easier schedule and better records because of that, so what does this fix?

 

[THE HCP]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22542306/zach-lowe-real-possibility-nba-playoffs-play-tournament

 

[illmatic99]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/22542306/zach-lowe-real-possibility-nba-playoffs-play-tournament

Bill Simmons has been clamoring for that for more than a decade

http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070411

3. Shorten the regular season by four games, guarantee the top six seeds in each conference, then have a double-elimination tourney for the seventh and eighth seeds between the remaining 15 teams. I suggest this for five reasons. First, it would be entertaining as hell. In fact, that's what we'll call it: the Entertaining-as-Hell Tournament. Second, I'm pretty sure we could get it sponsored. Third, the top 12 teams get a reward: two weeks of rest while the tournament plays out.

Fourth, a Cinderella squad could pull off some upsets, grab an eighth seed and win fans along the way. And fifth, with the Entertaining-as-Hell Tournament giving everyone a chance, no team could tank down the stretch without insulting paying customers beyond repair. That's the lamest thing about tanking: not that it's morally unsound, but that fans pay full price to see a depleted group of losers with dubious intentions. At a recent Bobcats-Celtics game, my father (a 34-year season ticket-holder) watched Boston toss away a double-digit lead while Pierce and Jefferson watched from the bench. To his right, a fan screamed at Doc Rivers, "You're doing the right thing!" To his left, another fan screamed that the collapse was "an absolute disgrace!" And as my father told me later, the disturbing thing was that both guys were right.

 

[THE HCP]

Bill Simmons has been clamoring for that for more than a decade

http://www.espn.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070411

Thanks for highliting.

 

[tester551]

The NCAA teams that get probation will now have an auto-bid into the NBA playoffs.

 

[SportsAndWhine]

I like all of it at once: a 1-16 format, with a giant single-elimination play-in tourney for teams 13-20. 13 plays 16, 14 plays 15, then the two losers play the winners of 17-20 and 18-19. Expand the lottery to all the teams in the tourney and out of the playoffs, and unweight the chances of getting the top 3 picks significantly. Offer significant monetary bonuses to teams that make the playoffs or play-in tourney (not just players, but organizations, including partial luxury tax forgiveness and larger portions of the profit sharing). That should stop institutional top-down tanking almost entirely.

Shorten the season to 72 games (in conference opponents x3, out of conference opponents x2), no more than 5 games every two weeks. Playoffs start first week of May after a ten day rest period for the play-in tourney. Players will want that 12th+ seed for the extra rest.