NBA schedule revamping?

[orangemonk]

Was talking with some buddies last night about how pointless the NBA regular season is because 1. it's 82 games, about 30 too long, and 2. 8 teams per conference (over half) make the playoffs but only the top 3 or 4 have any shot at the finals.

well we looked up the #s of wins by seed... and thought this was interesting and even more top heavy than we have thought, so I wanted to share and get some discussion. Does the NBA need a scheduling revamp, whether it be regular season or playoffs? What is your ideal format for the NBA? I know $ makes it so the owners wouldn't ever shorten a season, but man the product is just lame.

No. 1 Seeds
1. 1948 Baltimore Bullets
2. 1950 Minneapolis Lakers
3. 1951 Rochester Royals
4. 1952 Minneapolis Lakers
5. 1953 Minneapolis Lakers
6. 1954 Minneapolis Lakers
7. 1955 Syracuse Nationals
8. 1956 Philadelphia Warriors
9. 1957 Boston Celtics
10. 1958 St. Louis Hawks
11. 1959 Boston Celtics
12. 1960 Boston Celtics
13. 1961 Boston Celtics
14. 1962 Boston Celtics
15. 1963 Boston Celtics
16. 1964 Boston Celtics
17. 1965 Boston Celtics
18. 1967 Philadelphia 76ers
19. 1970 New York Knicks
20. 1971 Milwaukee Bucks
21. 1972 Los Angeles Lakers
22. 1974 Boston Celtics
23. 1975 Golden State Warriors
24. 1976 Boston Celtics
25. 1979 Seattle SuperSonics
26. 1980 Los Angeles Lakers
27. 1981 Boston Celtics
28. 1982 Los Angeles Lakers
29. 1983 Philadelphia 76ers
30. 1984 Boston Celtics
31. 1985 Los Angeles Lakers
32. 1986 Boston Celtics
33. 1987 Los Angeles Lakers
34. 1988 Los Angeles Lakers
35. 1989 Detroit Pistons
36. 1990 Detroit Pistons
37. 1991 Chicago Bulls
38. 1992 Chicago Bulls
39. 1996 Chicago Bulls
40. 1997 Chicago Bulls
41. 1998 Chicago Bulls
42. 1999 San Antonio Spurs
43. 2000 Los Angeles Lakers
44. 2003 San Antonio Spurs
45. 2008 Boston Celtics
46. 2009 Los Angeles Lakers
47. 2010 Los Angeles Lakers
48. 2013 Miami Heat

No. 2 Seeds
1. 1947 Philadelphia Warriors
2. 1949 Minneapolis Lakers
3. 1966 Boston Celtics
4. 1968 Boston Celtics
5. 1993 Chicago Bulls
6. 1994 Houston Rockets
7. 2001 Los Angeles Lakers
8. 2005 San Antonio Spurs
9. 2006 Miami Heat
10. 2012 Miami Heat

No. 3 Seeds
1. 1973 New York Knicks
2. 1977 Portland Trail Blazers
3. 1978 Washington Bullets
4. 2002 Los Angeles Lakers
5. 2004 Detroit Pistons
6. 2007 San Antonio Spurs
7. 2011 Dallas Mavericks
No. 4 Seeds
1. 1969 Boston Celtics
No. 5 Seeds
None
No. 6 Seeds
1. 1995 Houston Rockets
No. 7, 8 Seeds
None

 

[orangemonk]

you can take away pre-merger and make the list look a bit better, but man it's still insane how

A. making the playoffs as a 4 seed or less is essentially pointless
B. the same eight teams have won each of the last 30 NBA titles (since 1984). In the time frame there have been 18 MLB champs, 15 NHL, and 15 NFL. 8 NBA.

 

[nbafan88]

The domination of a select group of teams can be attributed to many factors. I personally think the nba season should be shortened by 20 games but that's never going to happen. If you want to have this many teams you have to somehow force
college athletes to stay in school. There is just not enough good talent to warrant having this many NBA teams. That's basically the bottom line IMO

 

[orangemonk]

is contraction the answer? If there are 24 NBA teams vying for 6 playoff spots in each conference... that's pretty enticing, even over an 82 game season, with limited byes, the potential for any team to make a run (better rosters), and first round byes at stake.

 

[twinkie13]

too many teams, too long a season


The NBA has to "showcase" talent too often.....The sales pitch is too often "Come see Lebron and co. beat the shit out of the Hawks"

it isn't about the game itself

 

[B.A.R.]

is contraction the answer? If there are 24 NBA teams vying for 6 playoff spots in each conference... that's pretty enticing, even over an 82 game season, with limited byes, the potential for any team to make a run (better rosters), and first round byes at stake.

Yes.

It will never happen but the product would be immensely better. The eighties and early-nineties were the golden age of the NBA. What happened late eighties into the early nineties? Expansion.

The league got more and more diluted. Then in the mid-nineties the expansion into Canada happens. That is when the game started really falling off. If you take away the Bulls then and a few aging veteran teams the product was getting really bad. It was really bad in the early 2000's sans a few teams. Now, their has been a great influx of talent the last 8-10 years that has helped the game but after 10-12 teams the product is sketchy at best.

You can equate this to all-four major sports but basketball needs it the most.

 

[emkee]

Product as a whole is at an all-time low. Teams get 'shit-whipped' nightly, coaching is weak.

We need to sign a petition for contraction and send it to Silver on Mars.

 

[nbafan88]

too many teams, too long a season


The NBA has to "showcase" talent too often.....The sales pitch is too often "Come see Lebron and co. beat the shit out of the Hawks"

it isn't about the game itself

what professional sport isnt like that?

 

[orangemonk]

football.

 

[orangemonk]

i think you could make a case for baseball as well, since making the playoffs means you have a legit chance to win the world series

 

[ArizonaKid]

Disagree that expansion is the biggest problem, I believe currently 30 teams vs 23 when the league was in its prime. Well the league now has over 90 international players that it didn't have then so that is 6 full 15 man rosters right there.

Would contraction help ? Sure, but what's really needed is for the NBA to do what MLB does and make players go right out of high school or play 3 years in college.

If Michael Jordan came out after his freshman year, there would never have been an Air Jordan. Player development isn't what NBA teams do, it's what occurs at the college level. Then only the truly gifted would come out of high school such as LeBron or Kobe.

Andrew Wiggens would have been the first pick this past draft ? He has proven he wasn't ready and luckily had this season at Kansas. Anthony Bennett was the first pick after one year in college and clearly wasn't ready for the pros but perhaps if he had played 3 years in college he would have entered the league ready to compete. That is what is killing the league right now, the new talent just isn't prepared for the rigors of the NBA.

 

[orangemonk]

^ agree with almost all of this. Watching glen Robinson at Michigan all year it is incredible heat he was considered a lottery pick. You try to project development on a player but truth is everyone develops differently. The immediate or 3 years rule would benefit both the nba and cbb IMO