How would you fix sports?

[JeetKuneDo]

So how would you fix sports if you were king of the world?

That’s obviously going to be something different for everyone. Here’s what I would do:

First of all, free agency has to go. It’s great for the players, but doesn’t do anything for fans. Fans grow emotionally attached to a player, and then suddenly he comes to town playing for the enemy and you have to root against the guy? I’m a fan, so it’s gone if I’m king.

But I do think players should get paid for entertaining the masses just like movie stars do. They are providing a service to a lot of people and that’s worth money. They should still be making millions. In my world the football players get paid the most though...they pull in the biggest ratings by a mile and certainly put their bodies at risk. From there the pay scale drops to basketball and baseball players. It makes no sense for NBA and MLB players to make more than NFL players when their sports are far behind the NFL in popularity. Hockey is least popular so they get paid the least. Sorry guys.

I would also decree that national sports media leave New York City occasionally so they can figure out that the rest of the country isn’t that interested in the Jets, Knicks, Giants, Islanders, and Mets. There is no need to shove those teams down everyone’s throat. The Knicks aren't a "legendary franchise" as was recently suggested by one writer from the northeast. Baseball fans definitely care about the Yankees though. Similar to the coverage the Lakers and Cowboys get. Fans are actually interested in those teams even/especially if they root against them.

I’ll start with the least broken major sport in my mind.

NFL​

The NFL is the most popular for a reason. The season is not too long and each event means something. One thing I would lose is bye weeks. Not a fan of that. I already took care of free agency. From now on, fans don’t have to worry so much about tossing out those expensive jerseys they bought when the player leaves to play somewhere else. Other than that, carry on NFL...you got it right.

NBA​

82 games? Really? I love basketball and that’s too much. You know what the best indication is that your season is too long? This phrase: “Playoff basketball”. What does that really mean? It means there is no possible way the players can give their best effort during the insanely long regular season and have to save it for the playoffs. Fans actually pay to watch players giving less than their best effort during the regular season. Does that sound like a good thing? The players and coaches don’t/can’t care but the fans should? A win or a loss means almost nothing in the NBA regular season...that’s why it’s not “playoff basketball”. I’m reducing it to 26 games at most....tempted to go lower. Every single game is going to count big in my world. And players will have longer careers too.

A related problem here is “playoff basketball” as determined by officiating. Suddenly, when the playoffs start, players are allowed to be much more physical. This makes zero sense to me. First of all, basketball is not a test of manhood...it’s a test to see who has the most basketball skill. Any “finesse team” that excels during the regular season should be able to succeed just as much in the playoffs. There is no logical reason to change the rules so a less skillful team can bully their way to playoff victory. How the term “finesse” got to be an insult is a mystery to me. Sounds like a bunch of macho BS. We've got football to prove manhood.

The idea that players would foul out left and right makes no sense either. Players can play by the rules...it’s not that hard to do. If a coach thinks he can push it by having his players get more physical than the rules allow....and assumes the refs will just give up? ...don’t fall for that crap. Call the game by the rules...that coach will get the point when his players are getting the whistles.

Another problem is the perception that the NBA is dirty. This perception is far more prevalent toward the NBA than any other sport for a reason. Fans actually notice that the star players play by a different rule book than non-star players. Fans aren’t that dense. I think the league actually believes “star treatment” is a good thing. Their reasoning is apparently a fear that the fans would revolt if the stars fouled out of games or had to sit long stretches with foul trouble. The first problem with this thinking is the idea that stars would be somehow unable to play the game by the rules like the non-star players do. If they can’t figure that out, they aren’t that great.
The second problem is assuming fans want star treatment or don't notice it. It makes no sense to give an already superior player yet another advantage. What the heck kind of logic is that? Any stat line from a Hall of Famer since the 80s is inflated by this. We’ll never know what their careers would really have been like. Let’s call “star treatment” what it really is...fixing games. In my world, all players play by the same rule book.

Oh...and there will be no more obviously biased officiated playoff series like Lakers/Kings or Heat/Mavs either. ....fans saw through that stuff very quickly and it made the NBA the butt of many jokes. That’s why so many people think the NBA is fixed and don’t bother with it. Far from being something that grows the league, the NBA can’t seem to climb out of that long shadow of the NFL. David Stern got a lot of credit for “bringing the NBA to prominence”. I have to giggle anytime anyone suggests that. Yeah right....Magic and Bird did that.
All the Stern reign was able to do was maintain a small segment of the sporting audience who are willing to ignore the suspicious officiating practices.

Oh...the NBA lottery is gone. Boom! The other sports get by just fine without that. Worst team gets the #1 pick. Simple. Sorry Spurs fans...no more gifts for you.

When the TV ratings go up due to all these changes the players get bigger paychecks too. Everyone wins.

NHL​

Ok...82 games again? Again...that’s far too many. They mean almost nothing. Same problem as with the NBA...you get “playoff hockey” when the games actually mean something. Asking fans to care about almost meaningless games is the worst reasoning ever. 26 games. Each game is now important.

Which of course means the players can stop with those fake fights they put on to entertain the fans during the long regular season. How do I know it’s fake? Well for one thing the refs just stand there and watch. And for another thing that stuff suddenly stops when the playoffs start. Yeah...weird how that works, eh? Hockey fights make my eyes roll...out they go!

My big rule change is the offsides rule. That sucker is GONE. Scoring will go up for one thing...and no more watching a potentially exciting play being blown dead because a player got too far ahead of the puck. If a team wants to let players leak out...that’s their gamble. If the puck doesn’t get to them, they just gave the other team a nice power play advantage at the other end. Teams will figure out how to use it and defend it....they aren’t idiots.

MLB​

Now let’s venture into the real absurdity. 162 freaking games!! If NBA and NHL regular season games mean almost nothing, then MLB regular season games are worth half of that. Winning or losing a baseball game has almost no impact on a season. To illustrate, a team would have to win 10 games in a row to have the same impact as 1 win by an NFL team. The TV ratings show which method is working quite well. It’s so bad that preseason NFL games can get higher TV ratings than World Series games!

This absurd schedule came about during the early years of baseball when it actually made sense to give the public a baseball game every day. Today, it’s just a long endless droning assault of meaningless baseball scores cluttering up sports newscasts for months on end. Enough of that...I’m cutting it to 26 games.

The public might actually start to know the names of baseball players. Each team will have a starting pitcher similar to starting quarterbacks in the NFL since they will be playing about once a week. Maybe baseball players will become less surly with the media too since the drudgery of the regular season will be gone.

Baseball “managers”....stop wearing uniforms. You look ridiculous. (Imagine a football coach wearing a helmet and pads on the sideline!...or a NBA coach in shorts!) Seriously guys, you aren’t going to be needed to play in the game....get over that fantasy. And I’m changing your title to “head coach” too.

I expect the popularity of MLB to increase greatly as the games mean something finally, so of course the players will benefit accordingly. If the ratings do increase, at least baseball fans will have something to base their superiority complex on for a change.

NASCAR​

They are closer than most, but 36 events is still too many. The season starts in February and ends in November. That’s too long. We’re bringing this one down to 25 races. That’s gonna help in an important way when we...

...Get rid of the stupid “Chase”. Dumbest idea ever. NASCAR was in a unique position in team sports. They actually compete against every other team each week. There is no need for a playoff. Playoffs only exist in other sports because they need a way to pit the best teams against each other to find the best team. It’s not perfect since it doesn’t always crown the best team, but it’s the best they can do.

NASCAR used to have the most accurate measurement of its champion in all of team sports. Whichever team performed the best throughout the entire season was the champ. Simple and accurate. No flukes or “hot streaks” giving the trophy to a team that didn’t have the best season.

But NASCAR is actually owned by a family...the France family. I’m getting rid of that. In my world the team owners elect a commissioner to run the sport.

Anyway...this Brian France guy came up with the idea of the “Chase”. Basically adding an unnecessary playoff format to the sport. It is flawed in every way. Since NASCAR made its biggest gains in popularity before the Chase (in the 90s) and has not grown since...it’s pretty obvious it is not effective or needed.

First, it reduces the accuracy of the championship. A team can have the best season but have a couple of bad luck races in the “Chase” and lose the championship. Any “excitement” created by this is artificial....and obviously not growing the sport.

Secondly, it acts to keep the sport from gaining popularity. It first makes all “non Chase” races less important. These races run from February to August....the one time period when NASCAR has Sundays to itself to gain viewers!

Guess which races become more important with the “Chase”? Yep...the races from September through November. Can you guess how many sports fans will be choosing NASCAR over the NFL during that time? Nice logic there Mr France. De-emphasize all the races that can get you new fans and emphasize the races where you have no chance to attract new fans.

So my NASCAR is going to go from February to August at the most and have Sunday afternoons to itself.

Oh...since most of the drivers aren’t even from the South any more (the last champ from the south was in 2000), there is no reason to emphasis the “redneck” in the sport. They actually named the huge TV screen at Texas Motor Speedway “Big Hoss”. Really? That image no longer fits drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, etc.

And stop catering to the Dale Earnhardt fans....it makes fans of other drivers feel excluded. The “Saint Dale” vibe is nauseating. He wasn’t a god, Jeff Gordon used to run circles around him.

NCAA football​

They are getting a playoff format so that fixed their biggest problem. I still laugh at the idea that they used to vote for their champ.

I would endeavor to stop college football fans from claiming that any college team could ever defeat a NFL team though. That’s silly. Oh...and college players aren’t playing “for the love of the game” any more than pro players do. Most of them are only there to try and make the pros!

Golf​

Ummm...I got nothing. I know almost nothing about the sport.

Tennis​

No complaints. I love it just the way it is.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

NFL
The NFL is fine the way it is. I don't think any major changes need to come.



NBA

Competition. This is one thing the NBA needs to fix. I think it's the most important too. 9 teams have won the NBA Championship since 1980. You might as well have a 10 team league in this case.


NHL


Marketing. Hockey over the past 10 years has slowly faded into the background. It's definitely not what it used to be. ESPN hardly covers it anymore. They need to find something for everyone to fall in love with the sport again.


MLB

Speeding up games. MLB announced a few days ago a plan to do this. I've gotten bored sitting there watching a 3 hour game. Hopefully they can speed it up a bit.

NASCAR

The new chase format for NASCAR is a complete joke. Win and your in? That's just idiotic. They were more worried about their "postseason" than they were the regular season. They wanted to put an emphasis on winning, yet last year if this format was in, Dale Jr. would have won the championship with 0 wins. This year, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle can do the same. This is a dying sport. Hopefully they come to their senses and get the old point system back. Just award more points for winning, and spread apart the points so each position means more. Pretty simple if you ask me.

 

[Anubis]

So basically you want them to have contracts with the team that drafted them for the entirety of their career? That's boos**t and not really fare to the players. That means great players forced to spend their entire pointless career playing for the effin' Browns. You have any idea how many suicides that would cause?


Oh, I guess I should say something about the topic.

NBA: 52 games season. Top 16 teams go to the playoffs. Eliminate the East/West Conference. Go the NFL route ABA/NBA conferences to balance out the talent.

Hockey: More fighting....in fact, forget the goals. Just fighting. With weapons. On Ice.

NFL: Change the name to National American Rules Rugby League (NARRL) or Armored Catch Association. (ACA) Cuz it ain't f**kin' Football.

Boxing: If you have the belt, you have to fight the top contender. No exceptions.

I don't care about any other sports so.....eliminate Baseball and in the place of the wasted hours spent on MLB broadcasts, play reruns of Friends and Night Court.

 

[spiderman2]

There is not much I would really do. The only thing they really need to change in sports is get better refs and stop trying to make sports more soft. Other then that not much.

NBA I would make the schedule more balance. I hate that ever sport has some what of a unbalance schedule so more then others. So instead of play some teams 2 times and most teams 3 times and a few teams 4 times you would play ever team 2 or 3 times. 82 games 30 teams and you cant play your self so you would play 24 teams 3 times each so that would be 72 games and then the other 5 teams 2 times so that would be 10 games to make the 82 games. I would try to find a way to make the refs better. Refs are not that good but NBA refs and hockey refs are by far the worse. Nba guy hardly gets touched and a foul then a guy gets tackled and no foul lol. Then the last thing would be I would bring back hand checking like they used to have. I know people love scoring and I do to but I don't like that they have made rule changes to make scoring better. I would get ride of the clear path foul I hate hate the rule has you already cant foul guys to take way dunks has they call faguent fouls to much. So yeah I would make it where you can foul a guy harder kind of like the old days. It is stupid that if a guy has a layup or dunk that you cant foul a guy and just have to watch it has any even simi hard foul is a faguet foul now.

NFL I would again make the schedule has balance has you can. So instead of playing all 3 teams in your devison twice so 6 games and then play 10 other teams to make your 16 games so playing 13 different teams you would play 16 different teams. I would bring back being able to put your hands on WR down the field like you used to beable to do. I would losing up the roughing the passing calls and hits to the head has it is to soft and inconsitet with what they call. I would get ride of interinal grounding. I think it is a stupid rule and they don't even call it like 95% of the time they should call it. Get ride of roughing the kick because basicly any contanct is a roughing the kick penertie so it like you cant even try to block a kick if you don't want to get called such a stupid rule. I would added 4 more teams to the playoffs to make it 16 teams has I don't really like that 4 teams get to the second round with out having to play with the bye week thing.

Mlb Again I would make it a balance schedule so you would play ever team. So you would play each team 5 or 6 times. So you would play 12 teams 5 times each for 60 games and the other 17 teams 6 times each for another 102 games to make the 162 games. Another then that I cant really think of any thing. The umbles are pretty good but do miss balls and strikes a lot of times. I know so people talk about trying to speed the game up but I don't really now how you would do that. Part of what makes games take a long time are there are a lot of pitchers that will come in and leve the game after just facing 1 batter.

NHL go back to the old playoff formate that they had before last season when it was west and east 1-8 like NBA dose. The new format is just stupid and was unnesscer to change. Other then that just try to improve the refs. The are really bad not has bad has NBA who have the worse but still much worse then NFL or MLB. Again balance schedule so the schedule would be like the NBA one has they play the same amont of games has the NBA and there are the same amont of teams.

 

[Lantern Venom]

The NFL: a complete and utter mess right now. First and foremost, the rules need to be simplified. Holding, roughing, and pass interference penalties, which are enforced with no consistency at all, have made the game a circus. Defensive players can no longer be aggressive. The owners should stop pushing for more games, the NFLPA needs to let players with behavior problems take their medicine, the refs should be full time and held accountable when they fail (which is often), and Roger Goodell should be given a one-way ticket to Canada or Mexico.

MLB: Much like the NBA, public perception is that only a few teams matter. The league needs a hard cap to change the minds of casual observers who think that teams buy championships in baseball. There has been a new focus on revenue sharing (or so I've read, I don't know details) so that's a step in the right direction. Lastly, the league needs far fewer games. With 162, even dedicated fans can lose track of when the team plays and where the team is in the standings.

NBA: Also needs a hard cap and fewer games. I've often heard that the NBA is a "big city" game where most of the league is fodder for the big market teams. Even NBA players have commented that the season is too long. The playoffs should be best-of-3 until the Finals, then best-of-5. The playoffs, while very exciting, are like a 2nd entire season. Also, the refs call far too many ticky-tack fouls--let the players play.

NHL: Like the NBA and MLB, the regular season gets lost. The league is enjoying a slow increase in fandom, but they should still step up the marketing.

 

[runawayboulder]

MLB

1) Get rid of the AL/NL for East/West
2) Make the DH position permanent and protect pitching investments
3) Realign the divisions so #1 works
4) Cut a month (or more) out of the season and add more playoff teams. I'm thinking 8 in each conference for 16 total. Do series of 5/5/7/7. Make all of September and October owned by playoff baseball and take those months back from the NFL.

And last but not least #5) Stop allowing pitchers to step off the mound and hitters to step out of the box. THAT is what is slowing the game down to a crawl. Only let them do it after foul balls. It will knock an hour off of game times guaranteed.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Tennis- Make the women play 5 sets seeing as they want equal prize money. I've seen finals last no longer than 40 minutes while mens finals could go on for 6 hours +.

 

[zeroapoc]

NFL: Change the name to National American Rules Rugby League (NARRL) or Armored Catch Association. (ACA) Cuz it ain't f**kin' Football.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Boxing

One governing body or organization
Go back to the 8 division weight classes, no more junior this or super that
One belt per division
60/40 split, winner takes the larger purse
Fighter MUST defend his championship against the top contender
The state commission makes the rules about ring size, gloves, etc. not the fighter

 

[HaplessHenchman]

Tennis- Make the women play 5 sets seeing as they want equal prize money. I've seen finals last no longer than 40 minutes while mens finals could go on for 6 hours +.

Yeah, I never understood why the men play 5 sets but the women only play 3.

Isn't that a bit insulting to the women? It's like tennis is saying to the women "We know you are too delicate and weak to ever play as long as the men do, even if you are playing each other. Besides, we have to have a reason to pay you less than the men."

I don't watch or play golf but I remember hearing that the tees for women are closer to the hole than the tees for men. Is that still true? If so, why?

 

[zeroapoc]

Yeah, I never understood why the men play 5 sets but the women only play 3.

Isn't that a bit insulting to the women? It's like tennis is saying to the women "We know you are too delicate and weak to ever play as long as the men do, even if you are playing each other. Besides, we have to have a reason to pay you less than the men."

I don't watch or play golf but I remember hearing that the tees for women are closer to the hole than the tees for men. Is that still true? If so, why?

The golf question is an easy one. They simply don't drive the ball as far off the tee. It would change what the par for each hole should be if they used the men's tee.

I agree about tennis though.

 

[Anubis]

Don't you condescending Willy Wonka me!

The only people that actually put foot to ball is the kickers! Ether stop calling it football or pay the kickers the most cuz that's the only way the name makes any sense!!!

 

[HaplessHenchman]

The golf question is an easy one. They simply don't drive the ball as far off the tee. It would change what the par for each hole should be if they used the men's tee.

I agree about tennis though.

That makes sense then. Like I said, I don't play or watch golf so I honestly didn't know.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

NBA

Competition. This is one thing the NBA needs to fix. I think it's the most important too. 9 teams have won the NBA Championship since 1980. You might as well have a 10 team league in this case.

Good point. Why should fans in the "irrelevant" cities support the sport? It actually seems like some of the teams only exist to give the "teams that matter" someone to beat.

Cleaning up the officiating and getting rid of "star treatment" would probably help. Hard to win when you gotta beat the other team and the refs. The Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavs know all about that.

So basically you want them to have contracts with the team that drafted them for the entirety of their career? That's boos**t and not really fare to the players. That means great players forced to spend their entire pointless career playing for the effin' Browns. You have any idea how many suicides that would cause?

Well I did point out this was for the fans....not the players. Free agency doesn't help the fan experience. At the same time I definitely believe the players deserve to be paid. I'm not "anti-owner" or anything, but they seem to get a bigger piece of the pie than they deserve.

The players used to operate without free agency just fine....I would go back to that but still get them the money they deserve.

Salary caps...nope...not in my league. (I'm so friggin' tired of constantly hearing about how teams are "up against the cap" and can't afford to pay the players) There wouldn't be any situations like the NY Yankees who get a bigger piece of the pie either. You are in a league....the other teams aren't there to be fodder for more championship trophies. If you want to brag about beating the other teams, that means they have to have an equal chance to win or your bragging means nothing. Revenue sharing...that's how it works in a league.

And part of the problem is the perception that the Browns will always suck because no one wants to play there. Why have a team there at all? How is that remotely fair to Cleveland fans? Being "forced to play for the Browns" is not a bad thing at all. Is it unfair that an executive for a big company has to live in Cleveland? He can always quit if he doesn't like it...but you don't get to pack your bags and move to another office in a different city. Why should it work different in sports? You are working for the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB....that means you play where they tell you to play. You can always quit if you don't like that arrangement....just like any other job. The paycheck should quell any doubts you have about it.

Hockey: More fighting....in fact, forget the goals. Just fighting. With weapons. On Ice.

t:

The NFL: The owners should stop pushing for more games

I agree with that. The owners are letting dollar signs override logic. The short season is one of the reasons why the NFL dominates all the other sports. Every single game is an event. It is like life and death for the fans. Not sure how they aren't seeing that.

Tennis- Make the women play 5 sets seeing as they want equal prize money. I've seen finals last no longer than 40 minutes while mens finals could go on for 6 hours +.

I didn't think about that...good point.

 

[zeroapoc]

Don't you condescending Willy Wonka me!

The only people that actually put foot to ball is the kickers! Ether stop calling it football or pay the kickers the most cuz that's the only way the name makes any sense!!!

No.

 

[zeroapoc]

Boxing would be awesome if they incorporated Triple Threat and Fatal 4-Way matches like in pro wrestling.

 

[SV Fan]

Boxing would be awesome if they incorporated Triple Threat and Fatal 4-Way matches like in pro wrestling.

How about a Boxing Battle Royal

 

[zeroapoc]

I'm sold.

 

[runawayboulder]

How about a Boxing Battle Royal

They have that already, it's called the parking lot at a Giants/Dodgers game.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

NHL go back to the old playoff formate that they had before last season when it was west and east 1-8 like NBA dose. The new format is just stupid and was unnesscer to change. Other then that just try to improve the refs. The are really bad not has bad has NBA who have the worse but still much worse then NFL or MLB. Again balance schedule so the schedule would be like the NBA one has they play the same amont of games has the NBA and there are the same amont of teams.

Disagree. The "new" playoff format is basically what they had before the one you're advocating bringing back (except the one wild card tweak). It's there to bring back the epic playoff rivals that you had within the Divisions that sort of got lost using the NBAish format. No one in Boston or Philly was getting excited about playing Carolina or Tampa in a playoff round. But you put those teams up against the Habs/Wings or the Rangers/Pens, and you've got something there. The NBA Playoffs are probably the least interesting of the four major sports, why would you want to replicate that?

 

[spiderman2]

Disagree. The "new" playoff format is basically what they had before the one you're advocating bringing back (except the one wild card tweak). It's there to bring back the epic playoff rivals that you had within the Divisions that sort of got lost using the NBAish format. No one in Boston or Philly was getting excited about playing Carolina or Tampa in a playoff round. But you put those teams up against the Habs/Wings or the Rangers/Pens, and you've got something there. The NBA Playoffs are probably the least interesting of the four major sports, why would you want to replicate that?

I disagree with you and agree with the other person. I hate the new NHL playoff format it is unesser change and more confusing. The old format was perfect and so is the NBA format. I think the NBA playoffs are just fine. The thing with hockey that makes it interesting is that goliens are so important even more then having a good QB in football. In hockey if you have a hot golien you can get completely outplayed but still win. I know some people have said the NBA should just have the top 16 teams in the playoffs instead of 1-8 in the west and east but that would be stupid. Yes the west is a lot better then the east but it has not alrease been. At some point the east will catch the west and if you just had like 1vs16 2vs15 then you could more traveling form east to west. What happens if say lakers play the heat and the winner of the sieras then plays a spurs mavarkics winner? Then you would have a team who had to travel a lot playing a team that didn't have to hardly travel at all in the next round witch would mean that one of those teams would be a lot more fresh so that would be unfair.

 

[Warhammer]

Boxing

One governing body or organization
Go back to the 8 division weight classes, no more junior this or super that
One belt per division
60/40 split, winner takes the larger purse
Fighter MUST defend his championship against the top contender
The state commission makes the rules about ring size, gloves, etc. not the fighter

Bob Arum will kill himself.

 

[Fallen Angel]

Bob Arum will kill himself.

add Oscar De la Hoya, Al Haymon, Don King, Lou de Bella and any other global promoters.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

I disagree with you and agree with the other person. I hate the new NHL playoff format it is unesser change and more confusing. The old format was perfect and so is the NBA format. I think the NBA playoffs are just fine. The thing with hockey that makes it interesting is that goliens are so important even more then having a good QB in football. In hockey if you have a hot golien you can get completely outplayed but still win. I know some people have said the NBA should just have the top 16 teams in the playoffs instead of 1-8 in the west and east but that would be stupid. Yes the west is a lot better then the east but it has not alrease been. At some point the east will catch the west and if you just had like 1vs16 2vs15 then you could more traveling form east to west. What happens if say lakers play the heat and the winner of the sieras then plays a spurs mavarkics winner? Then you would have a team who had to travel a lot playing a team that didn't have to hardly travel at all in the next round witch would mean that one of those teams would be a lot more fresh so that would be unfair.

What's confusing about it? The Top 4 in each division make the playoffs (unless the #5 team in one division has a better record than the #4 in the other in which case they make it) and 1 plays 4/5 and 2 plays 3. Win your division in the playoffs and then play the other division winner in your conference for a spot in the Finals.

This is how it worked for decades and was great before Gary Bettman stepped in and tried to make the NHL into the NBA. You don't get killed with travel in the first two rounds and you're guaranteed playoff games against division/geographic rivals.

The NBA playoffs are typically terrible until you get to the Conference Finals because the inevitable Memphis/Phoenix or Boston/Orlando series in the early rounds have absolutely no juice to them.

 

[Doc Samson]

The NBA playoffs are typically terrible until you get to the Conference Finals because the inevitable Memphis/Phoenix or Boston/Orlando series in the early rounds have absolutely no juice to them.

Completely disagree with that. The First round of last year's Playoffs were the best round of the whole Playoffs, and possibly one of the best rounds in the league's history. In years past I might agree, but recently there have been plenty of great match-ups and it seems to get better with each subsequent year.

Now what they need to fix is how the lottery is structured, this is the main culprit in why the East remains fairly weak, although this season should be a bit more competitive. But a strong team out West can have 45+ wins, miss the Playoffs, and still land a decent spot in the lottery, whereas a garbage East team that makes the Playoffs (by default basically) doesn't get that same opportunity to draft because technically they're still a "Playoff" team. That needs to be rectified, but it's also good to remember the East was pretty bad during the 90's too, at least by comparison. So it's been an ongoing problem...