32 Teams. Add Seattle + ?

[jay]

If the NBA went to 32 teams, who would you add.  I think you could make some pretty tight divisions - better than the NFL.

Seattle
Portland
Utah
Denver

Golden State
Sacramento
Clippers
Lakers

Phoenix
Dallas
Houston
San Antonio

Minnesota
Memphis
OKC
New Orleans

Boston
New York
Brooklyn
Philly

Miami
Orlando
Charlotte
Atlanta

Chicago
Milwaukee
Detroit
Cleveland

Toronto
Washington
Indiana
Columbus


The reason I went with Columbus is pretty simple.  K.C., St. Louis, Nashville, and Columbus all have decent arenas. 

Pittsburgh, K.C., and St. Louis all have MLB and NFL.  Nashville doesnt have MLB, but they do have hockey. 

Columbus only has hockey, they are close in proximity to Indianapolis and not too far from Toronto and D.C.  Columbus is ranked right there with Nashville and K.C. in market size.  Pittsburgh and St. Louis are a little bigger. 

The biggest markets the NBA is missing is #12 Tampa,
#21 St. Louis, #22 Pitt, #24 Baltimore, #26 San Diego.    Nashville, K.C., and Columbus are #30-#32. 

[Donoghus]

I add Vegas to go with Seattle but that would never happen.

St. Louis.  There's a history there plus I believe they have an arena that could pull off basketball.

[Lucky17]

Mexico City? Montreal? London (UK, not Ontario)?

I kind of think the league should consider contracting a couple teams, actually.

Are the franchises in Charlotte and New Orleans really viable? I've heard Milwaukee's name as a potential relocation candidate, which seems shocking to me, but economics are the driving factor, not any sense of history.

[Yoki_IsTheName]

How about just putting one back in New Jersey?

[Stizz44]

I would move Memphis to the Eastern Conference and add Seattle and San Diego or Las Vegas to the Wild West.

[CelticConcourse]

I highly doubt the league wants to add more teams, didn't Stern+Silver say they didn't want any?

Virginia Beach? lol

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I kind of think the league should consider contracting a couple teams, actually.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Charlotte should go, along with Toronto. Maybe Orlando too. Would love to see Seattle have a team again, but not as part of an expansion—relocate the Grizzlies maybe.

[Lucky17]

I highly doubt the league wants to add more teams, didn't Stern+Silver say they didn't want any?

Virginia Beach? lol

On the contrary, Stern reportedly dangled the prospects of an expansion team to the Ballmer group as a diplomatic resolution to the Sacramento situation.

Also, Stern has openly mused about a potential European division of the NBA at some point in the future. That does seem like "pie in the sky" thinking, but it also gives you a sense of how incessantly Stern is thinking about marketing the NBA brand to a global audience.

[CelticConcourse]

I kind of think the league should consider contracting a couple teams, actually.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Charlotte should go, along with Toronto. Maybe Orlando too. Would love to see Seattle have a team again, but not as part of an expansion—relocate the Grizzlies maybe.

Charlotte and the Grizzlies ain't going nowhere. Neither is Orlando, tbh. Canada won't want Toronto to go either. I don't see any of those 4 moving or contractin'.

[CelticConcourse]

I highly doubt the league wants to add more teams, didn't Stern+Silver say they didn't want any?

Virginia Beach? lol

On the contrary, Stern reportedly dangled the prospects of an expansion team to the Ballmer group as a diplomatic resolution to the Sacramento situation.

Also, Stern has openly mused about a potential European division of the NBA at some point in the future. That does seem like "pie in the sky" thinking, but it also gives you a sense of how incessantly Stern is thinking about marketing the NBA brand to a global audience.

Probably dangled it to shut Ballmer up.

I heard about the global division, but I think that's quite a few years away (if ever). Stern has repeatedly said expansion is not in the discussion for the next year or two.

[LooseCannon]

I kind of think the league should consider contracting a couple teams, actually.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Charlotte should go, along with Toronto. Maybe Orlando too. Would love to see Seattle have a team again, but not as part of an expansion—relocate the Grizzlies maybe.

If you were going to contract a team, it shouldn't be based on who is a bad team.  This season, the average season attendance was about 732,000.  Toronto was about 11,000 above that mark, Orlando around 11,000 below that.

From a business perspective, I think you should contract the teams that show an inability to draw even when they have a good team.  The worst-drawing playoff teams this season were Milwaukee, Indiana, and Atlanta.  When they are drawing 6560-660K for a playoff team and Charlotte is drawing 630K for a decidedly non-playoff team, it's not hard to believe that Charlotte would do much better business if they actual put together a nice team.

If I had to get rid of two teams, I'd probably say New Orleans and one of the three playoff teams I mentioned.  Probably not Atlanta given the size of its media market.  But I think adding two teams makes more sense than contracting two teams.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

I kind of think the league should consider contracting a couple teams, actually.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Charlotte should go, along with Toronto. Maybe Orlando too. Would love to see Seattle have a team again, but not as part of an expansion—relocate the Grizzlies maybe.

If you were going to contract a team, it shouldn't be based on who is a bad team.  This season, the average season attendance was about 732,000.  Toronto was about 11,000 above that mark, Orlando around 11,000 below that.

From a business perspective, I think you should contract the teams that show an inability to draw even when they have a good team.  The worst-drawing playoff teams this season were Milwaukee, Indiana, and Atlanta.  When they are drawing 6560-660K for a playoff team and Charlotte is drawing 630K for a decidedly non-playoff team, it's not hard to believe that Charlotte would do much better business if they actual put together a nice team.

If I had to get rid of two teams, I'd probably say New Orleans and one of the three playoff teams I mentioned.  Probably not Atlanta given the size of its media market.  But I think adding two teams makes more sense than contracting two teams.

Good point, but I'd still contract, because the level of play across the league seems kind of watered down to me. Same with every other major sport (especially baseball).

[Onslaught]

I kind of think the league should consider contracting a couple teams, actually.

Took the words right out of my mouth. Charlotte should go, along with Toronto. Maybe Orlando too. Would love to see Seattle have a team again, but not as part of an expansion—relocate the Grizzlies maybe.

If you were going to contract a team, it shouldn't be based on who is a bad team.  This season, the average season attendance was about 732,000.  Toronto was about 11,000 above that mark, Orlando around 11,000 below that.

From a business perspective, I think you should contract the teams that show an inability to draw even when they have a good team.  The worst-drawing playoff teams this season were Milwaukee, Indiana, and Atlanta.  When they are drawing 6560-660K for a playoff team and Charlotte is drawing 630K for a decidedly non-playoff team, it's not hard to believe that Charlotte would do much better business if they actual put together a nice team.

If I had to get rid of two teams, I'd probably say New Orleans and one of the three playoff teams I mentioned.  Probably not Atlanta given the size of its media market.  But I think adding two teams makes more sense than contracting two teams.

Yeah, Charlotte had the attendance record for years I think even when they stunk at first. Then they had a fall out with the owners and they took the team away. It will take time and a winning team to bring people back. And us getting our name back now can't hurt.

[ACF]

Are the franchises in Charlotte and New Orleans really viable?

It looks like they're bringing back the Buzz:

http://news.sportslogos.net/2013/05/20/nba-on-the-path-to-renaming-bobcats-the-hornets/

Now, if they started winning basketball games...

[ACF]

How about just putting one back in New Jersey?

http://www.remembertheaba.com/new-jersey-americans.html