Expansion/Re-Alignment

[boscel33]

I was reading an article today that was speaking about, what team will move into the East when expansion occurs, since everyone expects Seattle and Vegas to be the two teams.  That will make 16 teams per conference.  The obvious choices are:  New Orleans, Memphis, or Minnesota.  Looking the map, New Orleans and Memphis are the two most eastern of the three.  I don't know if there are any current rivalries with those, but I would lean New Orleans I think.

[Donoghus]

If they go to 4 team divisions, I'm interested to see how they handle the Atlantic and who is the odd man out there.  I have to imagine BOS, NYK, & BKN are locks.  Who will be the odd man out; TOR or PHI?  Would they separate a historical rivalry like BOS/PHI? 

[aefgogreen]

If they go to 4 team divisions, I'm interested to see how they handle the Atlantic and who is the odd man out there.  I have to imagine BOS, NYK, & BKN are locks.  Who will be the odd man out; TOR or PHI?  Would they separate a historical rivalry like BOS/PHI?

I don't see 4 team divisions. I think it is much more likely to get rid of divisions altogether and simply have two 16-team  conferences.

[Roy H.]

If they go to 4 team divisions, I'm interested to see how they handle the Atlantic and who is the odd man out there.  I have to imagine BOS, NYK, & BKN are locks.  Who will be the odd man out; TOR or PHI?  Would they separate a historical rivalry like BOS/PHI?

I'd keep us with Philly.  One proposal:

Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia

Atlanta
Charlotte
Miami
Orlando

Cleveland
Indiana
Memphis
Washington

Chicago
Detroit
Milwaukee
Toronto

... with Memphis moving East. 

[LatterDayCelticsfan]

If they go to 4 team divisions, I'm interested to see how they handle the Atlantic and who is the odd man out there.  I have to imagine BOS, NYK, & BKN are locks.  Who will be the odd man out; TOR or PHI?  Would they separate a historical rivalry like BOS/PHI?

I'd keep us with Philly.  One proposal:

Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia

Atlanta
Charlotte
Miami
Orlando

Cleveland
Indiana
Memphis
Washington

Chicago
Detroit
Milwaukee
Toronto

... with Memphis moving East.

Why not New Orleans moving East?

[dannyboy35]

Ugh. worst thing for the league is expansion.

[keevsnick]

Its true that Memphis and New Orleans are the most East, but I think it makes the most sense travel wise to move Minnesota.

Right now Minnesota is "on an island" in terms of its proximity to other Western conference teams. It is just very far from the other teams it plays most regularly. Meanwhile Memphis and New Orleans are closer to each other and the OKC/Texas teams.

Moving Minnesota creates a tighter upper mid-west cluster.

[Birdman]

Ugh. worst thing for the league is expansion.

I agree, there?s too many bad teams now

[Roy H.]

Ugh. worst thing for the league is expansion.

I agree, there?s too many bad teams now

I also agree, but there's no looking past those dollar signs.  With NBA franchises selling for north of $5 billion lately, the odds of the league passing on news teams is zero.

[Roy H.]

If they go to 4 team divisions, I'm interested to see how they handle the Atlantic and who is the odd man out there.  I have to imagine BOS, NYK, & BKN are locks.  Who will be the odd man out; TOR or PHI?  Would they separate a historical rivalry like BOS/PHI?

I'd keep us with Philly.  One proposal:

Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia

Atlanta
Charlotte
Miami
Orlando

Cleveland
Indiana
Memphis
Washington

Chicago
Detroit
Milwaukee
Toronto

... with Memphis moving East.

Why not New Orleans moving East?

I think NOP makes sense in a division with the Texas teams. 

Dallas
Houston
New Orleans
San Antonio

OKC then moves ...

Denver
Minnesota
Oklahoma City
Utah

Golden State
Portland
Sacramento
Seattle

Las Vegas
LAC
LAL
Phoenix

[Donoghus]

Ugh. worst thing for the league is expansion.

I agree, there?s too many bad teams now

I also agree, but there's no looking past those dollar signs.  With NBA franchises selling for north of $5 billion lately, the odds of the league passing on news teams is zero.

I also think 32 is a clean number to work with.    Additionally, it's been 22 years since the last expansion so its not like the league has been constantly watering itself down with expansion. 

Might be a while to the next expansion after this.  Have to imagine that expansion will be international in some manner.

[slamtheking]

it's at the point where divisions are kind of pointless.  go with 2 16 team conferences or at most, 4 - 8 team divisions.  the issue is the layout of where the teams are located where only 10 of them (including the 2 new teams) are clearly West Coast.  If including  the Texas team and OKC that's only 14 in the West.  With that layout, the next 2 closest teams to go with them are NO and Memphis which would move Minnesota East which would allow them to have rivalries with other upper midwest teams. 

using divisions,
Pacific - the 4 Cal teams, Seattle, Portland, Vegas, Utah.
Plains - the 3 Texas teams, Denver, PHX, NO, Memphis, OKC
Midwest - Minny, Det, Chi, Mil, Tor, Cle, Indy, Atl
Atlantic- Bos, NY, Brooklyn, Phil, Wash, Orl, Miami, Char

[Csfan1984]

I'd agree Wolves join the East if Vegas and Seattle got teams.

[aefgogreen]

I'd love to go with no conferences or divisions at all - you play each team twice in a 62 game schedule. Obviously this will never happen so I'll settle for two 16 team conferences.  We don't need divisions.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I generally despise the idea of expansion in any sport, because I think we have plenty of teams in general, and plenty of bad teams in particular, and because each sport already has numerous players who aren't good enough to be playing at the highest professional level but are there anyway because teams have slots they have to fill.

That said, pro sports leagues are greedy and never satisfied, so I know they'll just keep expanding. Adam Silver is perfectly content to add teams in smaller markets because that instantly creates new fan bases that can spend gobs of money, yet the big-market teams remain the ones that will most often be in the NBA Finals, which is better for TV ratings. A win-win for him and the league, even though many expansion teams don't have much hope of ever being great, because the best free agents usually want to be where it's warm (L.A., Miami) or where the biggest media are (N.Y., L.A.).

In light of these facts, and also factoring in geographical/travel considerations, I think the NBA should go wild:

• Move Minnesota, Memphis, and New Orleans to the East
• Add West teams in the following cities:
  > Seattle (already a given)
  > Vegas (already a given)
  > San Diego (great weather, great destination for players and for All-Star Weekend, already has baseball, used to support an NBA team)
  > St. Louis (already has baseball and hockey, used to support an NBA team)
  > Albuquerque/Santa Fe (warm weather, meets a need for NBA fans in the large gap between the Phoenix, Denver, and Texas teams)
  > Omaha (one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the U.S., used to (partially) support an NBA team, and meets a need for NBA fans in the heartland)

This means 18 teams in each conference:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia
Toronto
Washington

Central Division
Chicago
Cleveland
Detroit
Indiana
Milwaukee
Minnesota

Southeast Division
Atlanta
Charlotte
Memphis
Miami
New Orleans
Orlando

WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division
Denver
Las Vegas
Portland
Sacramento
Seattle
Utah

Pacific Division
Golden State
L.A. Clippers
L.A. Lakers
New Mexico
Phoenix
San Diego

Southwest Division
Dallas
Houston
Oklahoma City
Omaha
San Antonio
St. Louis

I'm sure there are factors I'm not taking into consideration, but that's my wild, somewhat haphazard stab at expansion/realignment.