NBA Playoff Changes A Good Start, But More Work Remains To Be Done

JT Volpe

Last season the Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers tied for having the least creative logos in professional sports. Seriously a "P" with a ball in the middle? Do they lack confidence in their game to the point that they have to stick a ball on their chest in the hopes that we remember what sport is being played?

The two clubs also tied each other with matching regular season records of 38-44. A winning percentage of .463 should be an embarrassment to a pro team, not to mention finishing 20 games out of first. But in the Eastern Conference mediocre is the new elite! The Nets edged out Indy on tiebreakers and qualified for the 8th and final playoff spot. Sitting just above them were the 40-42 Boston Celtics and the 41-41 Milwaukee Bucks. The fifth - FIFTH - seeded Wizards were the only team with a winning record that didn't have home court advantage in the first round. The team with the biggest gripe was the OKC Thunder, whose 45-37 finish was good enough for the golf course in a much tougher Western Conference.

The pressure from fans to change was the most intense its been in years and the NBA gave in. For the 2016 season only records will matter and division victory is just a tiebreaker. The only problem is that this doesn't solve the problem. In fact the only change to the playoff picture from last season is that the Portland Trailblazers would have slipped from the 4th seed to the 6th, giving the Memphis Grizzlies home court in Round 1. So what did we fix here? The Thunder are still out and the Nets Celtics and Bucks still get to play playoff basketball they have no business being a part of. Not only that, but the purpose of divisions was in essence voided. It seems odd that Commissioner Silver would remove the importance of being a Divisional Champion, yet still leave untouched the issue of conference unbalance.

My assumption is that this must be step one of a series of changes forthcoming. Here's how I predict the playoff changes unfolding...

2016: Pure record based seeding

2018: Pure record based seeding, but teams that miss the Playoffs in their own Conference can steal a spot from the other Conference if they finish with a better record than either the 7th or 8th best team. Last season Oklahoma City would have bumped the Celtics to 8th and the Nets would have missed.

2020: Pure Top 16 seeding regardless of Conference affiliation. Last season's field would have been:

Team	Wins	Losses	PCT
Golden State	67	15	.817
Atlanta	60	22	.732
Houston	56	26	.683
LA Clippers	56	26	.683
Memphis	55	27	.671
San Antonio	55	27	.671
Cleveland	53	29	.646
Portland	51	31	.622
Chicago	50	32	.610
Dallas	50	32	.610
Toronto	49	33	.598
Washington	46	36	.561
New Orleans	45	37	.549
Oklahoma City	45	37	.549
Milwaukee	41	41	.500
Boston	40	42	.488
Phoenix	39	43	.476

While I think this is the route the NBA will take, my opinion is that more drastic change is needed. Sub-.500 teams making the playoffs is a joke. I say 6 teams in each Conference with first round byes to seeds 1 and 2 like the NFL. And if we can't find 6 Eastern Conference teams at .500 (and with this year's 6th seed being the 41-41 Bucks, we were close), then a deserving Western Conference team takes the spot? Your thoughts? Share them in the comments below!

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