https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/28145944/sources-nba-considering-reseeding-conference-finalists-postseason-play-inHate the idea of mixing up conferences in the playoffs (Celtics V Lakers should always be the Finals; it’s not fair to the top team in t he league to possibly have to travel to and from the east and west coasts throughout the playoffs based on chance), so here’s an idea to preserve that, virtually eliminate the practice of tanking, and add huge excitement to April:
Regular season is still 82 games. After the 78th game, which is always scheduled to occur immediately after the NCAA national championship game, seeds 1-7 are locked in for each conference (usually happens anyway by then). Those 14 teams play their final four games against each other in a random order that works with scheduling, availability of venues, etc. While seeds 1-7 are locked in for each respective conference, who gets each seed may change until all 82 games are complete (and we could have higher stake games since the 14 best are fighting each other the last four games of the year).
The remaining 16 teams play in a March Madness-style tournament (market it as “April Madness”) where the worst 8 teams in each conference play a single-game do-or-die to either advance and win their conference 8th seed or become eliminated for the season. 15 of these 16 teams will enter the lottery after the season with equal odds of winning the first overall pick (with one exception below). Seeding is the same as for the playoffs (best record versus worst, second best versus second worst, etc.). Perhaps neutral sites are booked and rotated each year similarly to the March Madness tourney.
The winners of each 8th seed play each other in the 82nd game (coin toss to determine who gets home court) and the winner of the April Madness Tournament wins a 50% chance of winning the draft lottery regardless of what they do in the NBA playoffs (the loser has the same odds as the other losers). Ultimately, the winner of April Madness gets the 8th seed and a 50% chance of winning the lottery. The runner-up gets the 8th seed in their conference and a 3.33% chance of winning the lottery (50% divided by 15 teams, so 1 of 30 balls for the losers of the tourney and 15 of 30 balls for the winner of the tourney). To make it even more exciting, right after the game the lottery is conducted where 15 of 30 balls are in the bin at the beginning of the game and the final 15 balls are placed into the bin for the winning team. A triumphant end to April Madness.
All other teams are eliminated with a 3.33% chance of winning the lottery (so some teams will see their season end on the 79th, 80th and 81st games...or perhaps the losers play the losers in some random order to have everyone play 82 games altogether?). To increase parity, the non-playoff teams will be given some sort of extra cap space the following year based on their overall record, and an automatic revenue adjustment to make up for ending on their 79th, 80th or 81st game (that is, compensation if they had fewer than 41 home games).
Thoughts? Ways to improve this?
Topic: Sources: NBA considering reseeding conference finalists, postseason play-in (Read 12671 times)