Bill Simmons to NBA : Change Playoff/Conference System Immediatley.

[Findog]

Arizona Wildcats have done pretty well for themselves in college basketball as well. No timeout meltdowns at the end of championship games for that state's college.

They won with Bibby and Miles Simon, correct? Hey, there's something to hope for, they were the Mavs of college basketball, Stevie Nash sent them home as a 15-seed. Hopefully our franchise's luck will turn someday too.

[DarkReign]

Arizona Wildcats have done pretty well for themselves in college basketball as well. No timeout meltdowns at the end of championship games for that state's college.

Professional Sports, thank you.

But if you want to include college, the comparison just gets more weighted.

DBacks - One le
AZ College BBall - ??? (i dont know or care, ill give em 2 for posterity)

Need I go on with this list?

[Findog]

Professional Sports, thank you.

But if you want to include college, the comparison just gets more weighted.

DBacks - One le
AZ College BBall - ??? (i dont know or care, ill give em 2 for posterity)

Need I go on with this list?

Well, of course not, Pistons have 3 les, Tigers have one in my lifetime and another in 68, Lions probably won an NFL le before the merger. Really, if it weren't for the Pistons, Michigan professional sports would have a pretty bare trophycase.

[monosylab1k]

Professional Sports, thank you.

But if you want to include college, the comparison just gets more weighted.

DBacks - One le
AZ College BBall - ??? (i dont know or care, ill give em 2 for posterity)

Need I go on with this list?

i could give a about that, just shooting down the claim that a sports team in Arizona has never won a championship.

[SRJ]

I don't think the system needs changing at all. Having said that, the only big change I could support is the following.

The regular season remains exactly the same, and division les still apply. However, in the playoffs, there are not two brackets in a conference system; there is one sixteen team bracket and seeds are parceled out according to record. The 2007 Playoff Bracket under this proposal looks like this:

1 DAL
16 ORL/LAC (you could have a play-in game for a tiebreaker)

8 CHI
9 TOR

5 HOU
12 LAL

4 DET
13 GS

3 SA
14 NJ

6 UTA
11 MIA

7 CLE
10 DEN

2 PHO
15 WAS

[MrChug]

I think we should just have America vote on which teams they want to see in the Finals.

Then we'd never see a Finals ever again!!!

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I don't think the system needs changing at all. Having said that, the only big change I could support is the following.

The regular season remains exactly the same, and division les still apply. However, in the playoffs, there are not two brackets in a conference system; there is one sixteen team bracket and seeds are parceled out according to record. The 2007 Playoff Bracket under this proposal looks like this:

1 DAL
16 ORL/LAC (you could have a play-in game for a tiebreaker)

8 CHI
9 TOR

5 HOU
12 LAL

4 DET
13 GS

3 SA
14 NJ

6 UTA
11 MIA

7 CLE
10 DEN

2 PHO
15 WAS

And out of all of those (factoring in the same injuries that made MIA and WAS such washouts this year) most of those first round series would have sucked, and Denver would have likely knocked King James out in the first round. That would not have helped the league. GS/DET might have been good. The second round would have been worthwhile, but would anyone still be watching after a six bad series?

This postseason got killed by a lot of stuff that reseeding won't solve. It won't ensure that stars like Wade and Arenas are healthy. While it might have saved Dallas this year, a nightmare matchup might knocking out a media darling isn't something that a seeding system can prevent or ensure. That's always a possibility. Reseeding wouldn't have kept the Pistons from choking against a team they should have beaten soundly to set up a finals rematch. And reseeding won't prevent two small market teams with unmarketable superstars from meeting in the finals and playing horrible basketball, even if they are the best. The 2005 finals saw four blowouts, followed by three incredible games. Those last three games were easily the best out of the entire postseason and they happened thanks to the current system.

Or to put it more tersely, happens. It doesn't matter how you seed this , will happen and your up sometimes.

[DarkReign]

Well, of course not, Pistons have 3 les, Tigers have one in my lifetime and another in 68, Lions probably won an NFL le before the merger. Really, if it weren't for the Pistons, Michigan professional sports would have a pretty bare trophycase.

We'll ignore the 2 you mentioned:

Pistons. 3 Rings
Michigan. 2 National les

.

And move on to the others:

Tigers. 2 Series (in modern era, save the 1900s crap)
Red Wings. 3 Cups (10 total, but again, screw that pre-modern era stuff)
Lions. Suck. (some le before there was a Super Bowl)
Michigan State. 2 National les (or 1, cant remember because I dont care)
Shock. 2 Rings ()

[Don Quixote]

I basically agree with Simmons. We need a setup where the best teams play each other at the end. (2) No more weeks off between playoff games, the playoffs are long enough. I would shorten the first two rounds as well. (3) I'm fine with getting rid of the conferences in the finals. The point is to try to prevent scrubs like Cleveland from beating the system in the future and making a mockery of the Finals. So, while I might disagree with Simmons' execution, I like the basic idea.

[Don Quixote]

The Spurs would still win under any scenario, most likely. But I would have liked to have seen better series along the way.

[Switchman]

It'd be perfectly fine with me

but why not change it long time ago when the west sucked.

[romad_20]

I like the idea actually. I mean as a Spurs fan I would rather be playing PHX or Dal right now. It would be way more exciting and we'd still beat them.

[word]

Much of it has to do with demographics. The first baby boomers have started retiring and by and large, old peoples aren't interested in the NBA so it's only going to get worse. Plus America is still a white nation that doesn't want to see a 90% black league. This is why extreme sports, neck racing, etc are getting bigger and bigger. White America isn't buying the NBA product.

[confined]

yes, and at the end of that arrangement you'll still get the Spurs in the finals, and you'll still complain about them being boring. You can adjust all you want, but the problem isn't in the seeding, the problem is the Spurs are too damn good, and too damn boring for everybody else.

If it were the spurs and say either dallas or the suns in the finals it would be FAR from boring, west just dominates east nowadays, its quite obvious that cleveland is no where as good as the spurs. These finals are boring because its too one-sided, having the 2 best teams in the league battle it out in the finals would solve this problem

[mFFL03]

a lot more people are in favor of this than I thought.....

once again, good job for the spurs, they are doing what they are supposed to do....

but that new playoff system does sound cool...I would be down in a heart beat..

[B and P Cats]

a lot more people are in favor of this than I thought.....

once again, good job for the spurs, they are doing what they are supposed to do....

but that new playoff system does sound cool...I would be down in a heart beat..

I would be down with this too. There might even be a lot more compe ion during the year to be part of the elite top four teams that play in the conference finals. I thought this year it was too bad that the Mavs lost to the 8th seeded Warriors, because a conference Finals with the Mavs and Spurs would have been fun to watch. The new system might preserve the fact that they they would likely meet each other.

Just as a point way off of this conversation, I thought that had Wade been healthy this year it would have been fun to watch a Spurs - Heat match-up in the Finals. It would have been Shaq against Duncan; Wade against Parker; and Riley against Popovich (both have won many trophies). I would have watched that!

[mFFL03]

I would be down with this too. There might even be a lot more compe ion during the year to be part of the elite top four teams that play in the conference finals. I thought this year it was too bad that the Mavs lost to the 8th seeded Warriors, because a conference Finals with the Mavs and Spurs would have been fun to watch. The new system might preserve the fact that they they would likely meet each other.

Just as a point way off of this conversation, I thought that had Wade been healthy this year it would have been fun to watch a Spurs - Heat match-up in the Finals. It would have been Shaq against Duncan; Wade against Parker; and Riley against Popovich (both have won many trophies). I would have watched that!

trust me....buddy...you don't ever want the Heat in the finals again....

stoppage of play every 40 seconds for a foul....I'll almost guarantee the Heat don't make it back to the Finals in the next 10 years

[B and P Cats]

trust me....buddy...you don't ever want the Heat in the finals again....

stoppage of play every 40 seconds for a foul....I'll almost guarantee the Heat don't make it back to the Finals in the next 10 years

I really hope that the Heat are not in the Finals again for a long time either. You guys really got worked over by them last year, and I don't think it was your fault. Watching the games got annoying even for a 'cats fan! You should have won those games IMO! I really hope you have another chance for a championship soon.

I was just saying that it would have been interesting if the Spurs were up against something like them. Even though the games got stopped a lot, it would have been interesting to see winning coach against winning coach, and winning players against winning players. Providing , of course, the referreeing was good!