Small steps in the right direction. To which Mavs fans should say, thank you Adam Silver.
The new(ish) NBA commissioner got another one right this offseason, tweaking an NBA playoff format that now needs less of an overhaul. In short – as they should – divisions have been further diluted.
Because starting with this 2016 season the eight playoff teams in each conference will be seeded according to record, regardless of division standing. (Being a division champ is still a playoff-seeding tiebreaker, but only after record and head-to-head meetings.) In other words, the days are over of the 51-win Blazers getting home-court advantage over the 55-win Grizzlies just because Portland won its Northwest Division and Memphis finished only second in the much tougher Southwest.
NBA divisions are about as relevant as umbrellas in the middle of a Texas August.
And this smart seeding shuffling can only help the Mavs.
No doubt the Southwest Division is the toughest in basketball. Last season all five teams made the playoffs and won at least 45 games. Dallas finished fourth in the division at 50-32. That record would have won the Mavs the Atlantic Division and put them second in the Central, Southeast and Northwest.
I know – like droughts and gas prices and everything else – it’s all cyclical. But from a selfish standpoint, at the moment it just ain’t fair. The Mavs are just “lucky” enough to play in the same division as Tim Duncan, James Harden, Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol. Winning 50 games in that group is an accomplishment that should be rewarded on its merit, not penalized by some archaic, geographic nonsense.
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But if Silver really wants to get it right, he should think like soccer. Rarely, if ever, have I typed that sentence.
But the English Premier League does standings right. Every team plays a balanced schedule and the teams are then ranked by record. No conferences. No divisions. No bull.
For at least a decade I’ve become nauseated constantly crowing “The West is loaded!” To the point where it’s an undeniable competitive advantage to not be in the West. Since Michael Jordan retired, 12 of the 17 NBA champs have come out of the West including five of the last seven. In the last 11 years only one East team (’08 Celtics) won a title without LeBron James on its roster.
The point is, teams should get rewarded for playing better against the best. Right?
Last year the 38-win Nets made the playoffs in the East and the 45-win Thunder got left out in the West. A travesty.
Soon Silver will advance the ball and have the NBA Playoffs made up of the top 16 records. The end.
If that would have been the case in 2015 the 50-win Mavs would have been seeded 10th and started the playoffs on the road against LeBron and the 7th-seeded Cavaliers
Or maybe be careful what you wish for?
A native Texan who was born in Duncanville and graduated from UT-Arlington, Richie Whitt has been a mainstay in the Metroplex media since 1986. He’s held prominent roles on all media platforms including newspaper (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Observer), radio (105.3 The Fan) and TV (co-host on TXA 21 and numerous guest appearances, including NBC 5). He lives in McKinney with his wife, Sybil, and two very spoiled dogs.
