16 Team Seeding vs Eastern and Western Conference Seedings

An interesting question was raised to David Stern by someone interviewing him a few weeks ago. They asked him if he thought that the league would consider a 16 team seeding for the playoffs regardless of the conference they came from. This stemmed from the huge disparity the last few years in the NBA Finals between the Eastern "champs" and the West champs. He didn't think it would be a good idea, but I wonder what you guys think.

Personally, I think this would provide a good Finals matchup of the two REAL strongest teams in the league..eg. Sac VS San Antonio..that would be a lot more interesting than whoever comes out of the Leastern conference this year.

I dont really like this idea, though the best 16 teams would make the playoffs..but would there be conferences during the year? And if not, there would be no way to fairly choose which teams you would match up with the most or least during the year. And if conferences remain during the season, then there would be little parity among the conferences, and one being easier than another would only cause perhaps a better team to be shut out of the playoffs

And if conferences remain during the season, then there would be little parity among the conferences, and one being easier than another would only cause perhaps a better team to be shut out of the playoffs

It could also cause a team to be let into the playoffs even though their conference is better, for example, if it were this way Houston would make the playoffs.

I still don't agree with this idea as then the all-star game should be changed so it's not using the East vs. West concept. East vs. West is classic and it should stay like that. I do however think the division leaders should not get the 1 and 2 spot regardless.

Colin, I think they get that just in term of who they are facing, still those teams with better record get the home court advantage if they ever face.

I don't like the idea either but strange that Stern didn't like it, usually he has foolish & idiotic ideas in his head.

Colin, I think they get that just in term of who they are facing, still those teams with better record get the home court advantage if they ever face.

I know about the whole homecourt thing, I remember being confused when Portland got homecourt against the Jazz or somebody 2-3 years ago, but found out it was because of that rule. Still the second best team regardless of division, should play the seventh in my mind.

I don't think it's a good idea. There has to be a definite method of seeding teams for the playoffs, and East vs West is, in my opinion, the best method. There's no need to keep changing everything, just because the location of good times is unbalanced at the moment.

I don't like the idea either but strange that Stern didn't like it, usually he has foolish & idiotic ideas in his head.

Well put.

i personally like this idea...it will show us who truly are the strongest teams in the league...the last couple (3) finals were terribly boring...i don't want to see another LA-NJ type final...,,plus like ya'll said...it will allow good teams that should be in the playoffs like huston to actually be there...

the All Star game should be left like it is...it doesn't affect team records or performance...it's just for fun and money...

hell no!

coz then the good teams of the west/east wont have chance to win at least one thing, a conference championship.
thats sorta like a consolation prize for losing the Finals IMO lol

In the case of the highest ranked 16 teams going to the playoffs, teams would have to play every other team the same amount of times, no more 4 game series against teams from the same conference and only 2 games against teams from the other. And I don't think teams and players would like that, as they already find the travel a very exhausting habit.

That's a good point Dan. Then we will possibly have 12 teams out of the "now" West and just 4 teams out of the East, that wouldn't work for those teams from the East who are now in the Playoffs. I would easily put Golden State getting to the Playoffs over Boston in a case like this. Even Memphis would love to face the Cavs & Heat 4 times a year.

The conference system in american sports is out of date and doesn't reflect the real diference between teams.

Is stupid we'll never see a Lakers-Spurs, Rockets-Blazers or Bulls-Celtics series to decide who is the best team in the NBA because of this silly way to divide teams.

i think the system is fine, imo the east is full of young inexperienced players who are still learning the game,in a few years it will balance it self out. with the like's of Eddy Curry , Tyson Chandler, Jay Williams, Darius Miles, Dajuan Wagner, Kwame Brown and Caron Butler all showing a lot of potential the teams from the east are bound to get better and will then give the west a run for there money

The conference system in american sports is out of date and doesn't reflect the real diference between teams.

Is stupid we'll never see a Lakers-Spurs, Rockets-Blazers or Bulls-Celtics series to decide who is the best team in the NBA because of this silly way to divide teams.

But the U.S. is so big that they need conferences to divide the teams. Like someone above said, the travel is already exhausting. If teams like the Heat would be playing the Kings over and over again in one huge conference it would kill players from the travel.

As for the system I voted Hell no. It's fine the way it is and some years the East will be more powerful than the West.

I voted HELL NO.
The unbalanced forces on the Conferences are temporary.
In a few years it's possible that the East would be the strongest Conference. Who knows?
A playoff of the 16 best seedings will make the existence of conferences and divisions meaningless because everyone should play the same number of games against any opponent. There will be no more reasons to lift a banner unless from a NBA championship or a retired number...

I needed to post this to see if you guys like the idea.

What about if the League instead of having 2 conferences is divided in two leagues?, then the champion of each league face each other, just like in the MLB.

In that case we would have 2 MVPs one from each league, 1 real Champion & players competing more aggressive to get awards & get into the Playoffs, the Playoffs can stay the same, 8 for each league, I don't like the MLB playoffs system. The good thing about this would be that the league won't be divided into west & east, it would have mixed teams from both sides just like in Baseball.