Hate to see teams with losing records qualify for the NBA playoffs? Me, too.
More importantly, Adam Silver sounds fed up with what’s been going on for far too long in the Eastern Conference and the NBA commissioner is ready to do something about it.
Silver wants to restructure the playoff system by eliminating conferences for the seeding process. You’d still have the six division winners qualify, but the final 10 teams would be seeded by record, regardless of conference.
It’s a brilliant idea, especially when you consider that here we are again looking at the distinct possibility that the East will have perhaps two teams with losing records qualify for the playoffs, while the West could have two teams sitting at home despite finishing the season with winning records.
This would mark the fourth time in the last five seasons that a team from out West with a winning mark would find its season over at the end of the regular-season, while a team from the East would advance to the playoffs with a losing record.
It’s the kind of trend the NBA doesn’t need and clearly it’s time the league stop rewarding losers with a trip to the post-season, even if that’s been the way the playoffs have been formatted since 1984.
But it looks like we’re headed that way again, with Charlotte and Miami holding down the final two playoff spots in the East, and neither is close to having a winning record. Charlotte is 22-27 and in seventh place, while the Heat is 21-28 and in the final playoff spot. In the new system, those two lightweights would replaced by two teams in the West that have winning records: New Orleans (26-23) and Oklahoma City (25-24).
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Last season, as Atlanta qualified for the playoffs at 38-44, but only because of the lack of quality teams in the East. Meanwhile, the Suns posted a 48-34 record but paid the price for being stuck in the much-tougher West and finished ninth, out of the playoff hunt. Before that, in 2013, the Jazz missed the playoffs, despite a 43-39 record. But over in the East, the Bucks made the playoffs with a 38-44 mark. It also happened in 2011, when the Rockets posted a 43-39 mark and finished in ninth place in the West, while Indiana made it into the East’s field with a 37-45 record.
Frankly, it’s embarrassing enough when players from teams with losing records make the All-Star Game, which comes to New York next weekend. But that’s only an exhibition game, so it really doesn’t matter in the big picture.
The playoffs, on the other hand, are the league’s crown-jewel event, and only the very best 16 teams should be rewarded for the chance to compete for the championship. So this is a change that is needed, especially as the East has slipped into “JV’’ status for far too long, compared to the ultra-competitive West. Everyone has been assuming that the East would rebound because everything is cyclical, as the saying goes. But that theory isn’t holding, so a major change is in order.
“I think that’s the kind of proposal we need to look at,’’ Sliver said earlier week during a visit to the Bay Area to watch the Warriors play the Mavs.“There are travel issues, of course, but in this day and age every team, of course, has their own plane, travels charter. I don’t think the discussion should end there. And as I’ve said, my first year I was studying a lot of these issues, and Year 2 is time to take action. It’s something I’m going to look at closely with the competition committee. A lot of owners have strong feelings on it, but I think it is an area where we need to make a change.”
Here’s hoping we get the new system in place for next season. Knowing how Silver works, that’s a distinct possibility and would be hailed league-wide, not just by players, but also fans.
Longtime New York columnist Mitch Lawrence continues to write about pro basketball, as he’s done for the last 22 years. His columns for NBCNewYork.com on the Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the NBA, along with other major sports, will appear twice weekly. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch _ Lawrence.
