Recently, the NBA has announced the All-Star Game formatting would change. This year will be the first time the teams are not divided into East and West players. Instead, two captains will be selected and they will pick their team from the pool of players available for the game. The All-Star game has changed into the greatest pick-up game on the planet.
This change was implemented due to the overwhelming strength of the Western Conference.The West has won eight times since 2007 and the general consensus among fans is they have been the dominant conference ever since Michael Jordan retired. This year's offseason just further proves the West is superior. Four Eastern All-Stars in last year's game will now play in the Western Conference this year. Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, and Paul Millsap are among the superstars that are no longer a part of the Eastern Conference
This is a welcoming change for the game and for those who hope it will be more competitive. This change may also be a preemptive move to changing the playoff seeding.
The NBA Finals has become "LeBron James vs. the best team in the West." LeBron James has represented the East. James has been to seven straight finals. The last three have been against the Golden State Warriors and this upcoming season appears to be part four of this matchup. Fans want to see something new and more competitive playoffs.
A potential solution does exist. In order to achieve a more competitive and interesting postseason, the two conferences must be disbanded.
The way the playoff seeding works now is each conference sends their eight best teams to the playoffs. Teams play other teams within their conferences until the NBA Finals, where the best team in the East plays the best team in the West. The problem with this system is that the playoffs don't have much to offer until the Finals. No team in the East has even been able to beat LeBron James for seven years. Playoff teams in the East have been generally weaker than the West ever since 2000. In the past 18 seasons, the number eight seed in the East has averaged a record of 39-43. The West's eighth seed has averaged a record of 44-38. Teams with losing records in the East are consistently making the playoffs and getting steamrolled by the higher seeded teams. This isn't fun for fans to watch.
Getting rid of conferences would mean that the 16 best teams in the NBA make it to the playoffs. This would make teams play cross-conference in each round of the playoffs. No longer would teams sneak their way into the bracket even though they have no business of being in the playoffs.
If this change was implemented in last year's playoffs, then the Cavaliers would've had the fifth seed. Assuming that all the higher ranked seeds would win their matchups, the Cavaliers would've met with the San Antonio Spurs before the Finals. The Spurs have somewhat of a rivalry with LeBron James and have beat him twice in the Finals. The Spurs also finished the year with a 61-21 record which was ten more wins than the Cavaliers got. It would have been a much more interesting matchup than the Cavaliers beating the Celtics in five games.
While the element of conferences is no longer a factor in the All-Star game, the system is still set up for the playoffs. The NBA does seem to recognize this issue. Hopefully, this leads to a change for the playoffs. While the Warriors and Cavaliers have been a great matchup for the past three years, there is no denying the predictability of the playoffs has taken away the value of the long regular season. Disbanding conferences would make the regular season more important for teams with playoff hopes and add some excitement to the game.
