The top playoff seeds should be rewarded with the ability to choose their 1st round opponent. Intentional losing to drop a spot for a matchup isn’t as exciting as teams competing to win for homecourt AND their choice of an opponent. It should matter the Knicks just beat the Bulls while the Bucks lost and the Cavs had no interest in winning to get the 2nd seed. Instead many Knicks fans are disappointed they will end up with the Heat or Sixers from the play-in. This makes no sense. It doesn’t have to be this way. Winning should be all that matters. The NBA used to allow G League teams to choose their playoff opponent. Clearly, there’s interest. Here’s how this could work using the East as an example with the Sixers and Heat advancing from the play-in: 1. Celtics choose Magic 2. Knicks choose Pacers 3. Bucks choose Heat 4. Cavs end up with Sixers The NBA could make an event out of this. Imagine the debates over who the Celtics should pick. There’d be surprise choices every year. Would the Bucks pick the team that beat them last year or Doc’s old team? It’d be incredible. Same for the West. The race for the #1 seed would matter so much more with the bottom of the playoff bracket so loaded. But instead we’ll see teams intentionally losing those games again for seeding. Because incentives matter. Homecourt has proven to be not enough for teams to value winning from October through April. Under this proposed system: - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd seeds get to choose their opponent in order, plus get homecourt for one or more rounds - 4th seed gets homecourt in at least the first round - 5th and 6th seeds get a guaranteed playoff spot - 7th and 8th seeds have to win only one play-in game - 9th and 10th seeds get a chance but must win two play-in games This is a no-brainer. Rivalries would form because of teams choosing an opponent. The league could make an event of that process. It makes the regular season matter far more since seeding would have such significant implications compared to now. Fans are the big winners here with a more entertaining league to follow. The NBA needs to make this change.
@KevinOConnorNBA But then teams on the bottom half aren't playing for anything because their seed is picked by the top teams
@KevinOConnorNBA @SammyG_14 Then the #1 seed loses to the team they picked, and then what? This constant maneuvering is ridiculous, just play ball. The strive for perfection is pointless There is no way around playing games with the system to try to get what you want
@KevinOConnorNBA I thought @NBA had a hard line against tanking? What should the penalties be for the blatant tanking by Cavs and Bucks?
@KevinOConnorNBA Get an editor for the love of god
@KevinOConnorNBA @NateSilver538 The added element of 8th seed resentment of being picked would be nice also. The downside would be decreased incentives below the 4 seed (since perceptions would then matter more than standings), but the tradeoff seems worth it.
@KevinOConnorNBA It would be wild if the NBA allowed teams to choose match ups but would be so cool for narrative building for teams to admit they want one team over another.
Heres why your system won't work: • Top seeds could intentionally pick weaker teams, leading to an unbalanced series that disinterests fans. • Your same arguement for “intentional losing” could be used to pick a specific opponent, especially if your gonna pick a weak opponent.
@KevinOConnorNBA How much of this passion boils down to Embiid selfishly pushing for MVP & tanking Philly’s seed this year? No doubt sucks for the Knicks but the seeds feel accurate otherwise honestly — so unsure it’s a system shortcoming? Thanks for writing/thinking so much on this Kev.