NBA Playoff seeding to go purely by record for 2015-16 season in each conference

[Scoot26]

 

[Scoot26]

Sean Highkin on Twitter: "Confirmed w/ league spokesperson: No guarantee a division winner makes the playoffs. All five teams in a division could theoretically miss."

 

[clonetrooper264]

Which division will be the first to have all lottery teams...? :elephant:

 

[Scoot26]

Which division will be the first to have all lottery teams...? :elephant:

Atlantic.

 

[Scoot26]

I mean considering they had one team finish above .500 last season, and this season the Heat will be much better. Add in Paul George is back and the Atlantic may only send one team to the playoffs next season. And its of my belief Toronto will falter, and while they'll still be a playoff team, they won't be a Top 4 team next season.

 

[payton 34ever]

Long overdue - now the NFL should follow suit.

 

[FrankieLyrical]

I like this. After watching Futbol for a few years, the idea of no divisions (we still need conferences if we're going to have a playoff) is great.

 

[Crystallas]

Good step 1.

Now to implement my lottery system.

 

[Scoot26]

Good step 1.

Now to implement my lottery system.

Which is?

 

[Crystallas]

Which is?

Using the same odds structure:
Worst 6 teams have a chance for the first pick.
Worst 12 teams are eligible for the third pick.
Lowest 16 records, even if they make the playoffs, are eligible for the lottery.
Conference with the worst total win:loss record will get one ping pong ball added to each team, with only one exception, the worst overall record is still capped at the same number regardless of conference, and retains best overall odds.
Worst teams in consecutive years will have smaller advantages. But repeat lottery teams will improve their advantage by one ball in consecutive years. So max a 16 worst record team can do, is +2 balls.

NBA Champion is automatic for the last pick.
Best record is automatic for the next last.
Finals runner up is next last.
Teams that fail to make the second round and are not lottery eligible are then re-ranked for the next 8 picks from their regular season records, unless they had the best record.
Teams that fail to make the Conference finals are re-ranked for the next 4 picks the same way.



Using this last year as reference, here would be the lottery balls per team. (explanations for first example of each)
Bucks 1 (+1 for conf, +1 for consecutive lottery) For a total of 3 --Best case scenario, winning the 4th overall pick.
Celtics 2 +2
Suns 3 +1 (+1 for consecutive lottery years)
Nets 4 +1 (+1 for conference, not in lottery the year prior).
Pacers 5 +1 --Lowest odds for the 3rd pick
Jazz 6 +1
Heat 8 +1
Hornets 10 +2
Pistons 17 +2
Nuggets 43 +1
Kings 63 +1 --Lowest odds for first or second pick.
Magic 88 +2
Lakers 119 +1
Sixers 156 +2
Knicks 199 +2
Wolves 250 (max possible, if it were their second year at the worst, this would be dropped to 220.)

So big changes that can be seen without having the actual lottery run:
The Bucks, Celtics, and Nets would all pick ahead of the Thunder.
No non-6 or 12 jumped into the top four, so there was no example of it.

Then the fixed order from the remaining teams would have looked like this:
30. Warriors (NBA Champions and best record)
29. Cavaliers (Runner up)
28. Hawks
27. Rockets

26. Clippers
25. Grizzlies
24. Bulls
23. Wizards

22. Spurs
21. Blazers
20. Mavericks
19. Raptors
18. Pelicans

17. Thunder

16 - 1. Lottery

 

[Scoot26]

Using the same odds structure:
Worst 6 teams have a chance for the first pick.
Worst 12 teams are eligible for the third pick.
Lowest 16 records, even if they make the playoffs, are eligible for the lottery.
Conference with the worst total win:loss record will get one ping pong ball added to each team, with only one exception, the worst overall record is still capped at the same number regardless of conference, and retains best overall odds.

Interesting idea... Sadly I there is little realism of this ever happening in the NBA... But sounds like a better way to balance out the conferences maybe.

 

[clonetrooper264]

Using the same odds structure:
Worst 6 teams have a chance for the first pick.
Worst 12 teams are eligible for the third pick.
Lowest 16 records, even if they make the playoffs, are eligible for the lottery.
Conference with the worst total win:loss record will get one ping pong ball added to each team, with only one exception, the worst overall record is still capped at the same number regardless of conference, and retains best overall odds.
Worst teams in consecutive years will have smaller advantages. But repeat lottery teams will improve their advantage by one ball in consecutive years. So max a 16 worst record team can do, is +2 balls.

Somehow I don't think the league will ever come up with such a system...kind of unfortunate, but oh well.

 

[Crystallas]

Somehow I don't think the league will ever come up with such a system...kind of unfortunate, but oh well.

Silver wouldn't. I think Stern might.

Silver hinted at just doing a single bracket system. That is his baby, and IMO would be a problem with travel.

I also updated the post , retrofitting the tweaks to last year.