Thought this should have its own thread. Stories out there on yahoo sports and others. Basically it takes away the division winners getting a free pass into the top 4 and instead seed 1-8 based on W/L. I think Portland got the 4 seed this year even though they had a worse record than a couple other teams. Like it or don't like it?
I like it. They should do the same in the NFL. Wild card Saints had to travel to 7-9 division winner Seahawks a few yeas ago.
I'd take it a step further and eliminate the conferences. The top 16 teams in the league get in, period. I'll concede automatic bids to the 6 division champions, but they don't get guaranteed top seeding.
How many teams from the East would this have kept out of the playoffs last year? All of them but Cleveland and Atlanta?
Actually, this past season it would only have eliminated Brooklyn; OKC would have gotten in. Playoffs would have been: 1 Golden State 16 Boston 8 Portland 9 Chicago 5 Memphis 12 Washington 4 LA Clippers 13 New Orleans 3 Houston 14 Oklahoma City 6 San Antonio 11 Toronto 7 Cleveland 10 Dallas 2 Atlanta 15 Milwaukee
Actually no, doing it that way last year doesn't look a whole lot different than what we had as far as teams. Only difference is Brooklyn is left out from the East and replaced with OKC from the West, Everything else stays the same. If they went all in 1-16 no conference affiliation the playoffs would have looked like this for the first round. GS / Boston Atl / Mil Hou / Okc LAC / Nola Mem/ Wash SA/ Tor Cle / Dal Port / Chi
