Is the NBA thinking of changing the current playoff structure given the vast difference in talent between the Eastern and Western conference?
As reported by SI.com, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was interviewed by broadcasters Bill Land and Sean Elliot during Fox Sports Southwest's coverage of the Sun-Spurs game on Friday night. During the interview, Silver said the league will study its options but did not commit any changes to the current playoff format.
"I don't know if there will be movement," Silver said. "My initial thought is we should take a fresh look at it. When these conferences were designed it was in the day of commercial travel. ... It was very different when we moved teams around the country. In this day and age, where every team in the league is flying charter, it changes everything."
Silver has already instituted one change in the playoff format, moving back the Finals to a 2-2-1-1-1 structure instead of the 2-3-3 format in years past. He said that charter flights made the league change that format. "It was moved to 2-3-2 at the beginning of the David Stern's commissionership because a lot of the media weren't willing to follow us because of the back-and-forth travel. But in this day and age of charter planes, it makes sense to keep a consistent format throughout the playoffs."
While the West has traditionally been considered the stronger conference, the huge disparity between the two conferences has been very noticeable this year. In fact, the ninth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies could have been the No.3 seed in the East. Meanwhile, the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks won't make it to the playoffs had it been in the West.
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