Author Topic: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?  (Read 6035 times)

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Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #30 on: May 27, 2015, 12:29:47 PM »

Offline D.o.s.

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I sincerely hope you can figure that out without an explanation.

I dunno man. Some of the stuff posted on CB in earnest makes you wonder!

Actually the best team to never make an NBA Finals would be the 1973 Boston Celtics, but I agree about the Bucks.

Maybe I should have been more specific since I was talking about the best team over a series of years to never make it to the NBA finals - not just over one season.

Fair 'nuff.  :)
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Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #31 on: May 27, 2015, 12:32:15 PM »

Offline GC003332

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I know stats aren't the be all and end all,
During the 80's Boston faced thirteen 50 win teams throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs,the Lakers faced seven 50 win teams in the West.
The 87 playoffs the Lakers faced Denver in the first round 37-45, GS Warriors in the Second round 42-40 and Seattle in the Conference finals 39-43, while Boston faced Chicago 40-42 , Milwaukee 50-32 and Detroit 52-30.
Imagine the heat LeBron would get if he had 3 opponents like Magic and the Lakers faced in 87 in this day and age.

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #32 on: May 27, 2015, 01:52:50 PM »

Offline Moranis

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I know stats aren't the be all and end all,
During the 80's Boston faced thirteen 50 win teams throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs,the Lakers faced seven 50 win teams in the West.
The 87 playoffs the Lakers faced Denver in the first round 37-45, GS Warriors in the Second round 42-40 and Seattle in the Conference finals 39-43, while Boston faced Chicago 40-42 , Milwaukee 50-32 and Detroit 52-30.
Imagine the heat LeBron would get if he had 3 opponents like Magic and the Lakers faced in 87 in this day and age.
True, though upsets happen.  It isn't like the Lakers played the 8, the 4, and then the 2 that year.  They played the absolute worst seed possible in each round (i.e. the 8, 5, and 7)
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Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #33 on: May 27, 2015, 01:54:15 PM »

Offline Boris Badenov

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I think the strongest argument for preserving the conference alignments is that it builds rivalries.

When teams are slotted by conference, they are much more likely to match up with each other. This creates great dynamics like the Celtics/Cavs series of the late 2000s, or the Celtics/Pistons series in the late 1980s, or Detroit/Chicago a few years later, or New York/Chicago...or countless others where an up and coming team needs to "get over the hump" by beating the same team it's lost to for the last few years.

I'd argue that over the years, these have been the most compelling playoff series to watch. In fact, I'd say that these repeated matchups are the essence of what makes NBA playoff basketball great.

If you took away the conference/division structure, matchups would be more haphazard and you wouldn't get the same year-to-year persistence that leads to the truly storied pre-Finals series.

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #34 on: May 27, 2015, 01:57:48 PM »

Offline Donoghus

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I think the strongest argument for preserving the conference alignments is that it builds rivalries.

When teams are slotted by conference, they are much more likely to match up with each other. This creates great dynamics like the Celtics/Cavs series of the late 2000s, or the Celtics/Pistons series in the late 1980s, or Detroit/Chicago a few years later, or New York/Chicago...or countless others where an up and coming team needs to "get over the hump" by beating the same team it's lost to for the last few years.

I'd argue that over the years, these have been the most compelling playoff series to watch. In fact, I'd say that these repeated matchups are the essence of what makes NBA playoff basketball great.

If you took away the conference/division structure, matchups would be more haphazard and you wouldn't get the same year-to-year persistence that leads to the truly storied pre-Finals series.

Valid point.

Hockey has brought that back in recent years with its modified playoff structure and its been great to see some of the old rivalries brought back.


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Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #35 on: May 27, 2015, 02:01:50 PM »

Offline D.o.s.

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Yeah that's a great angle to bring up, actually.

Some day, the 76ers and the Celtics will be good at the same time and we'll get to see amazing footage of Bird and Dr. J, Wilt and Russell, maybe even Pierce/Walker and AI sprinkled in for those vignettes they use to hype games. I am excited for that.
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Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #36 on: May 27, 2015, 02:07:25 PM »

Offline ConnerHenry

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Bring back David Stern as commissioner?

Oh wait, you mean fixed as in repair, not "fixed" the way Stern did for decades.

My bad.

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #37 on: May 27, 2015, 02:15:35 PM »

Offline D.o.s.

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Bring back David Stern as commissioner?

Oh wait, you mean fixed as in repair, not "fixed" the way Stern did for decades.

My bad.
At least a goldfish with a Lincoln Log on its back goin' across your floor to your sock drawer has a miraculous connotation to it.

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #38 on: May 27, 2015, 02:48:47 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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Bring back David Stern as commissioner?

Oh wait, you mean fixed as in repair, not "fixed" the way Stern did for decades.

My bad.
I was thinking it was already fixed since, you know, Lebron still plays in the East ;)

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #39 on: May 27, 2015, 03:10:38 PM »

Offline MBunge

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I think the strongest argument for preserving the conference alignments is that it builds rivalries.

When teams are slotted by conference, they are much more likely to match up with each other. This creates great dynamics like the Celtics/Cavs series of the late 2000s, or the Celtics/Pistons series in the late 1980s, or Detroit/Chicago a few years later, or New York/Chicago...or countless others where an up and coming team needs to "get over the hump" by beating the same team it's lost to for the last few years.

I'd argue that over the years, these have been the most compelling playoff series to watch. In fact, I'd say that these repeated matchups are the essence of what makes NBA playoff basketball great.

If you took away the conference/division structure, matchups would be more haphazard and you wouldn't get the same year-to-year persistence that leads to the truly storied pre-Finals series.

It's hard to have rivalries, though, when you don't actually play the other team all that much.

I think the way to fix the problems of the 82 game schedule is to play everybody twice, home and home, for 58 games.  Then play the remaining 24 games against the other four teams in your division.  It would drastically cut down on the problems of travel and would really restore rivalries.

Mike

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #40 on: May 27, 2015, 03:19:32 PM »

Offline Kuberski33

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The only way to assure more balance is to generate more player movement among teams.  That way it won't be as easy for the Billy Kings of the world to destroy their franchises to the point where it will take a few years to undo his 'work'. 

In general shorter contracts and allowing teams to hold onto fewer players would promote more movement - and shift the balance of power a bit faster.  But that's not something the players union would really embrace.

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #41 on: May 27, 2015, 03:38:49 PM »

Offline Tr1boy

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As long as the weather is better in the westcoast the west will be a hotter destination for FAs

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #42 on: May 27, 2015, 03:55:32 PM »

Offline knuckleballer

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As long as the weather is better in the westcoast the west will be a hotter destination for FAs

People say that all the time, but is there any evidence of free agents choosing the Western conference more than the East?  All the best players in the Western conference were either drafted by or traded to Western conference teams.

Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #43 on: May 27, 2015, 04:00:49 PM »

Offline Donoghus

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As long as the weather is better in the westcoast the west will be a hotter destination for FAs

People say that all the time, but is there any evidence of free agents choosing the Western conference more than the East?  All the best players in the Western conference were either drafted by or traded to Western conference teams.

ORL & MIA are both in the Eastern Conference & located in a state with no income tax. 

Those cities seem to have nice weather & last I checked, none of the Texas teams were located on the west coast.  ;)

I don't know exactly what the above two parts mean besides showing some fallacies.


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Re: How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?
« Reply #44 on: May 27, 2015, 04:28:58 PM »

Offline GetLucky

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I'm of the opinion that this will corrects itself (it always does), but I would argue that the best team to never make it to the Finals was the early-2000s Kings. They were the league powerhouse, derailed only by Lakers-fixing and Chris Webber's knee injury.