Adam Silver, I like you so far. But there’s still room for improvement of the league you are running.
The NBA has changed things in the playoff format, which is definitely an improvement. Now, even though you win the division it does not guarantee home field advantage. The breaking point may have been the recent Western Conference results, when the Clippers should have nabbed the #2 seed and the Spurs should not have had to drop all the way to #6 below the Blazers (ugh, the Eastern Conference needs to step its game up). The NBA can indeed do this division winner importance assassination without much protest because the scheduling in basketball is nearly identical across the board---resulting in fair play. The NFL could never really do this, because everyone’s schedules are very different, and depend more on the results of the season before.
But we really don’t care because it still doesn’t address the biggest issue: it’s far too long. The NBA Playoffs are far too lengthy. The sport and the league itself doesn’t have the unpredictability factor of the NHL and (especially) MLB, so most of these 7-game series we know who is going to win---and we hardly see upsets. The seeding part is an improvement, but more needs to be done. Even though the internet-popular Top 16 Teams Regardless of Conference idea will never take off (Too radical even in 21st century standards, even if it produces far better basketball), there are a variety of ways to improve the postseason of basketball and make it more bearable and less taxing to watch.
Best-of-5s needs to make a comeback, and in a big way. One of my most bitter NBA fan moments was when the first year that the playoff format expanded. My Orlando Magic was up three games to one against the Pistons----it should have been ours. But the greed of the NBA and the mouth of Tracy McGrady resulted in us losing three straight and not advancing. Not saying we would have won it all that season, but the darn Pistons have had our number for over a decade and this series was the catalyst (4-12 against the Pistons in the NBA Playoffs in the new millennium).
America loves underdog stories, and loves a good upset once in a while to shake up the foundation of the league. When the Nuggets upset the #1-seeded Sonics in 1994, it would trigger a shock that resulted in one of the better franchises of the 90s struggling to get out of the opening round (Nobody remembers they were upset by the Lakers the very next season). We don’t get many upsets anymore, with the Bulls dropping to the 76ers being the gargantuan upset back in 2012---and that only occurred because Chicago lost Derrick Rose in Game 1. A little insanity never, ever hurts, and dipping the first round to a best-of-5 would potentially produce some crazy. Oh dear God, that was three years ago. Dear goodness, the 76ers nearly made it to the Eastern Conference Finals just three years ago…
Hey, want to strum along and get to the good meat of the NBA playoffs quicker? Then Best-of-5 the conference semifinals as well. In here, you’ll have the best cluster of evenly-matched lineups. Usually the 3-6 seeds in both conferences are about even in quality—in this league you usually have 2-4 awesome championship-caliber teams, and then a slew of decent squads that are just a few pieces short from being a true threat. These second-tier teams should be eliminated as quickly as possible. Imagine being able to jam along two rounds of playoff basketball in a mere three weeks. Look at the Cavs’ run: they played their first game in April 19th and lost Game 6 in the Finals on June 16th. Way too much time.
Two rounds of Best-of-5 before hitting the Conference Finals would increase the pressure, would increase the panic, and would increase the stakes. It would give us more surprises, it would give us more insane storylines. The 2015 Brooklyn Nets needed a few surprise wins in order to get New York excited because of the extremely long road ahead and long odds. The NBA is a league far removed from the more competitive 90s, there are only a few franchises nowadays that we all truly know has a shot at the Finals. Even for the 2016 season, we can only really see the Cavs rise up from the Eastern Conference (and maybe, maybe the Atlanta Hawks). Requiring 6 wins instead of 8 wins would make a world of a difference, give more leeway for a shock or two.
The NBA would never drop the amount of games because of potential money lost, but it would increase the quality of the product. The 82-game season debate is for another day, today we should focus on cutting the first two rounds of the playoffs and arriving at the NBA Finals sooner. Three months of playoffs is ridiculous, no matter how much you might argue for its relevance. Chop off a few weeks, and allow for some insanity and panic. Reseeding helps, but more is needed. Reseeding makes the NBA playoffs fair, shortening it makes it crazy.
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