Fixing the NBA: The League, The Playoffs, The All-Star Game, The Draft, and the Last Minutes of the Game

The NBA has a major problem on its hands. The Eastern Conference is largely comprised of mediocre and downright awful teams. The Western Conference seems to get stronger and more competitive every year. The problem is most glaring when it comes to seeding for the post season. Teams with better records are being left out of the playoffs instead of teams with lousy records simply because they play in a different conference. Additionally, a lousy team can win a division and make the playoffs, and be seeded higher up, whereas a better team in a different division can be seeded lower or miss the playoffs altogether.

Several factors have led to this but the problem can be fixed in a simple manner. The league must remove the conference and division distinctions. Teams would play an even schedule. This gives a true indication of which team is truly the best, not just in the East or West. Analysts could measure them by how they played league-wide without the debate and controversy which accompanies divisions, conference separations, and an uneven schedule.

Instead of the top 8 teams in each conference making the post season, the top 16 teams would make the playoffs. By doing so, the NBA would have 30 teams, all competing against each other for seeding. However, only the best teams would make the playoffs. No team with a worse record will ever make the playoffs over a team with a better record. Teams should also be reseeded after each round. The playoffs would be best of seven games all the way through.

This also removes the need for a draft lottery. Since all teams will be ranked against each other evenly, on a scale of 1 to 30, the worst team will get the number one pick and so on, all the way up to the number one team.

The all-star game would be coached by the two coaches of the past year’s finals teams and the players could be selected by those coaches in a draft consisting of players in a pool created by the fans in a vote.

In addition to the league structure and playoff system I also would like to see the game speed up and stay fast until the end. Too many fouls occur at the end of close games which make the last 2 minutes of a game take more than 10. I propose that these fouls, which occur where a defensive player obviously attacks the offensive player rather than the ball, be treated as technical fouls resulting in 2 shots and possession of the ball.

Another problem facing the league is the NBA draft and the age of players. The NBA should allow players to join the league after high school. I have never heard a job qualification in the business world which read “Must have some college experience.” The NBA seems to be asking that high-school graduates attend a single year of college just so they can be cultivated. Most would agree that one year of college does not add enough of a growth in maturity and in skill level to make a significant or even minimal difference in the level of play at the professional level. Teams should be free to evaluate all the talent and decide for themselves if the high school graduate has the level of skills they desire for their franchise. More likely than not, the player will not be ready. However, allowing high school graduates to directly enter the work force in the NBA would not foreclose the possibility that a phenomena like LeBron James will be made ineligible until after he attends one year at Akron University!