NBA Playoff Controversy

(2007 NBA Playoff Bracket)

In the NBA, the top 8 teams from both conferences make the playoffs. For some strange reason, the Western Conference is more competitive than the Eastern Conference. By more competitive, I mean that if you were to pick the top 16 teams in the league, 13 would be from the West and 3 would be from the East. The last playoff spot in the West is currently held by the Golden State Warriors who have a record of 38 wins and 23 losses. This is an excellent record, especially for the 8th seed. In the East, the last playoff spot is held by the New Jersey Nets who are 26-36.

As you can see from the last two playoff spots alone, the East is a joke compared to the West. However, the top 2 teams in the East have better records than ANY team in the West. The Celtics (48-12) and the Pistons (45-17) are better than the number one team in the West, the Lakers (44-18). The records just do not make any sense. Why should a team like the Denver Nuggets (37-24) or the Portland Trail Blazers (32-30) not make the playoffs? They have better records than the last 2 playoff teams in the East, the 76ers (29-33) and the Nets (26-36). The answer is they are in different conferences, seperating the competitive West from the dreadful East.

There has to be some solution that allows the NBA to have the best 16 teams in the playoffs. Why would they want mediocre and below mediocre teams competing in the playoffs? This is why basketball ratings have been down for years. The playoffs are for elite teams to compete for the world championship. Perhaps the league could lower the number of teams who get into the playoffs. Instead of 16 teams, why not make it 12 teams, or even 8 teams like in baseball. Or, if basketball wants to keep the playoffs at 16 teams, why not select the TOP 16 teams. You can still have the East and the West conferences, but why not discard the conferences when it comes to playoff teams? The 16 teams with the best records make the playoffs. That is a brilliant idea. If you pick the 16 teams with the best records, you will have the most competitive games possible. It is untraditional to have a team play another team from the other conference in the playoffs, but hey, doesn't the NBA want good games? I think this would work better than having the 48-12 Celtics play the 26-36 Nets in the first round of the playoffs. ESPN is doing a vote on their website that asks if the NBA should re-format the playoff system and choose the top 16 teams. Right now, the vote is 66 percent in favor of changing the system to the one i mentioned. The NBA would be a lot more entertaining if they best teams played each other, but who am I to say this? They are the professionals. As I mentioned earlier, NBA ratings are way down to what they used to be. I'm sure NBA Comissioner David Stern has it all figured out.