Post by Mighty Mouse on Jun 7, 2016 20:46:25 GMT -5
Jun 7, 2016 13:55:08 GMT -5 @mikecoppedge said:
I love the idea of top 16 as well. As a Knicks fan, Phil Jackson made a statement of how the east is weak. Which I agree with to an extent. I certainly don't think NYK is making the playoffs next season. (Even if we upgrade at SG with Evan Turner it still won't be enough) Though I'm curious if we have the top 16 what would be the point of conferences? East and West match ups happen twice a season. I wonder if they'll condense the season in correlation with this. Also would divisions and division winners still be a thing?
I doubt the league would ever cut games from the regular season schedule, that would cost them too much money. Conferences would likely still exist, just to cut down on travel. Cross country road trips are tough for teams, and it wouldn't make sense for the Lakers to play the Knicks as often as they play Sacramento. I don't know what the point of Divisions would be, unless division winners got an automatic playoff spot or something.
Out of curiosity I tried to see what the playoff picture would look like with top 16 this season.
I weighted winning percentage against each conference evenly and averaged out the percentages, and then seeded the teams accordingly.
For example: Cleveland was 35-17 against the East (.673) and 22-8 against the West (.733) (.673 + .733)/2 = .703 This isn't
Here it goes:
1) Golden State vs. 16) Chicago
2) San Antonio vs. 15) Dallas
3) Cleveland vs. 14) Memphis
4) Toronto vs. 13) Portland
5) Oklahoma City vs. 12) Detroit
6) LA Clippers vs. 11) Indiana
7) Atlanta vs. 10) Charlotte
8) Miami vs. 9) Boston
Interesting observations:
- West gets the top 2 seeds and 4 of the top 6. East gets 7-12. Reinforces the notion that the West is top heavy and the east is a deep pool of mediocrity.
- Houston doesn't make the top-16 because of their terrible record against the Eastern Conference. They were the only team with a sub-.500 out of conference record. Chicago sneaks into the 16 slot, despite being the only team with a sub-.500 in conference record (this is a direct result of the way I calculated the winning percentages).
- Cleveland, Atlanta, and Chicago all fared better against the West than the East.
- Golden State, LAC, and Memphis all fared better against the East than the West.
- Portland and Detroit tied. Exact same overall record, exact same conference records. Detroit won the season series, so I gave them the tie breaker.
- All in all, the Western playoff teams were a combined 151-89 against the East, while the Eastern playoff teams were a combined 137-103 against the West.
- 10/16 teams had better records against their own conferences.
- I honestly don't have any idea what this data shows. Interesting to look at though.
Anyone to take a shot at how that bracket would shake out? Predictions?