The NBA: Where Reseeding Can’t Happen
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For a small fee, I can do other tricks as well
The NBA will not look at reseeding the playoffs to include the best 16 teams regardless of which conference they’re in. I know it seems like the logical thing to do considering a 48 win team might be in the draft lottery, but trust me it isn’t going to happen. You know why? Money.
The NBA is all about money. Every move they make is about money. Every rule they change is about money. When they thought they were losing money from advertisers because of the image of the players, they implemented a dress code. If T-Mobile and other corporate sponsors don’t want A I looking like a “thug”, then A I won’t look like a “thug”.
Does this image offend you?
When they thought they were losing fans because of all the bitching and whining by players, they implemented the no tolerance rules. They can’t have fans refusing to buy tickets or simply turning the television because they are annoyed by the players.
Is this better?
Those are just petty examples of how money driven the league is. Let’s just look at some of the obvious things like the 82 game regular season. You can’t even call it a season because it literally runs through all of the damn seasons! The only reason the regular season is 82 games long is because of money. Could they shorten the season by about 30 games and accomplish the same thing? Yes, but they won’t because the owners will lose money. Just think about how much it costs to attend an NBA game. You have to buy the tickets, pay for parking and perhaps buy yourself something to eat and drink. Have you seen the price of a hot dog in an NBA arena? They ought to be ashamed!
How much did you pay for this?
Why is the first round of the playoffs a best of 7 format? Money. If the league cared anything about the product they are putting on the floor then they’d shorten the series so that just maybe they’d be more competitive. The WNBA first round playoff format is a best of 3. Those women are stressed as hell when they lose that first game, because the next game really is a win or go home situation for them. The WNBA playoffs are not always pretty, but at least they play hard every night. The NBA players and coaches are so nonchalant when they lose a game because they know they have several games to get it right. So what if the adjustments they made at halftime didn’t work, no need to fret because the opposing team still has to beat them 3 more times before they’re eliminated.
Why is the NBA hell bent on going global? Money. China for example has over 1 billion people. I don’t even need to tell you how much money you stand to make marketing a product to over 1 billion people.
Is it really worth it?
Why is there talk of putting NBA teams in Europe? Money. Sure it will just water down an already watered down league even more, but if it generates money then so be it.
What does all this have to do with the playoff seeding? Everything. The owners (especially those in the Eastern Conference) stand to lose too much money if the playoff seeding changes. Do you think the Atlanta Spirit L.L.C., Jerry Reinsdorf, Irene and Abe Pollin, Bruce Ratner or Ed Snider give a damn that the masses don’t think they deserve to be in the playoffs? Hell no! A few extra games mean a few extra dollars. They aren’t going to give that up just to appease sports writers.
The West from top to bottom is way better than the East from top to bottom, but that’s no reason to start alienating fans in the East. As a Hawks fan I’d be very happy if they made the playoffs. I don’t give a damn that Denver may have 15 more wins than them at the end of the season but won’t make the playoffs. That’s a Denver problem, not an Atlanta problem.
David Stern can’t risk having a postseason with only 4 or 5 Eastern Conference teams. Not when the “Media Capital of the World” is on the east coast. It would be one of his worst moves yet. They’d have to either change the start times to accommodate east coast viewers which would inconvenience west coast viewers, or they’d have to compete against themselves by running games simultaneously. Neither of these options makes sense. If they change the times out west the arenas could be half empty when the games start because people would just be getting off work. Would you spend your money on a playoff ticket knowing you might miss the first half? Probably not. They can’t have playoff games going on simultaneously night after night because they don’t want the fans to have to choose between Kobe and LeBron. That would just give the sports writers and fans something else to bitch about.
Who would you pick?
What about the advertisers and sponsors? Are they going to want to pay to run ads on ESPN and TNT at the same time and with the same fervor? T-Mobile could go bankrupt doing something like that. Okay, not really, but the last thing they need to do is run more D wade commercials.
If they did decide to reseed based on league wide standings, then they’d have to eliminate the whole Eastern Conference/Western Conference setup. What good would that do? All of the major sports have two separate divisions, or in the case of MLB two separate leagues.
Every once in a while a team from the supposed inferior conference ends up winning the championship. The St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Heat and New York Giants are the most recent victors that come to mind. They may have played inferior competition more often than their opponents, but in the end it didn’t matter. When the trophy is on the line it comes down to matchups and sometimes just sheer will.
The Boston Celtics could very well win the title this season and we know without a doubt the Eastern Conference is inferior to the Western Conference. The 11th ranked team in the West would be ranked 8th in the East. That little fact won’t matter at the end of the season. If the Eastern Conference champion gets the right matchup they could still win the Larry O’brien trophy.
Who wants it the most?
Just take this season for what it is. An anomaly.
