Is OKC possibly missing the PO's an example of parity or an argument for top 16?

[Springsteen]

Honestly this season has been full of parity, with both previous teams in the finals fighting to stay in the playoffs, and OKC falls right in that field? I expect to see some 2012-2013 Lakers late season-esque calls for OKC if that's what it takes to get them into the playoffs. KD and Westbrook missing the playoffs is honestly bad business for the NBA.

But that's beside the point. Is where OKC stands right now the true vision of the NBA, with many more teams having a shot at making the playoffs, or is it just another reason why seeding should be changed when two top 5 players on the same team could miss the playoffs in the West while a team in the East like the Nets could actually make the playoffs?

Discuss.

[Taller than CP3]

They should extend this season to 96 games, then OKC wouldn't have an excuse.

[RoundMoundOfReb]

They should extend this season to 96 games, then OKC wouldn't have an excuse.
:roll: :roll:

#NoExcuses

[R.I.P.]

It

[SillyRabbit]

[QUOTE=R.I.P.]It

[Jakeh008]

[QUOTE=R.I.P.]It

[joe]

The Thunder are stuck in the 90s with two superstars surrounded by ''gritty'' role players, and a coach content to run isolation all day. And owners who traded James Harden to save money for one season. I hope they miss the playoffs and Durant leaves. Garbage franchise.

[DMAVS41]

Yes.

It would be a disgrace to watch the Thunder and Pelicans miss the playoffs while fans have to watch the ****ing Nets and Hornets in series.

That really would probably be the final straw. You'd have 3 of the top 5 or so players in the league missing the playoffs.....

The current system is awful and as fans we deserve much better than to have to suffer through at least 2 terrible first round series in the East. When if they just seeded things fairly....we'd likely see all great series in round 1.

Think about this:

Right now we'd get a ****ing Hawks vs Thunder first round series if they did it right. Instead? We'd get Hawks vs Nets.

How anyone can actually be in favor of the current system just floors me.

[T_L_P]

Last year's Suns.

5th seed out East. Miss the Playoffs out West.

That poverty ass 38 win Hawks made it.

#JustEasternThings

[Real Men Wear Green]

The Thunder right now are an example of what can happen when a talented team misses star players for a lot of games. That's really all there is to explaining what their record is vs. what it should be. If you shift the playoff system so that it's now the top 16 teams regardless of conference the same thing will still happen whenever a good team's top players miss enough games. There will never be a way to correct the unfairness of injuries to key players. Every season there is at least one team that should have been better but got hurt.

[DMAVS41]

The Thunder right now are an example of what can happen when a talented team misses star players for a lot of games. That's really all there is to explaining what their record is vs. what it should be. If you shift the playoff system so that it's now the top 16 teams regardless of conference the same thing will still happen whenever a good team's top players miss enough games. There will never be a way to correct the unfairness of injuries to key players. Every season there is at least one team that should have been better but got hurt.

Except that isn't even accurate.

Right now the Thunder would be in the playoffs if they seeded the top 16 teams.

Of course there is no way to prevent a team from having injuries, but there is a way to prevent terrible and undeserving teams from making the playoffs over teams that are more deserving.

This year has the potential to be a nightmare for the NBA because 3 of the top 5 or so players might miss the playoffs because of the terrible system in place. So instead of seeing an amazing on paper series such as Hawks vs Thunder...we get Hawks vs Nets.

There is simply no fan of fairness or the NBA that honestly would rather have Hawks vs Nets. If you do...you simply don't know what you are talking about honestly.

It's already a big enough of an advantage that the East makes it easier to win games. There shouldn't be the double advantage of needing less wins to make it as well. East teams all play a demonstrably easier schedule. That is where the advantage should end.

Send the top 16 teams into the playoffs and seed accordingly. Would be so smart and my guess is that Silver does it.

You get the top 16 teams in the league in the playoffs and reduce the games to 66 or something and the NBA really could make a run at the NFL over the next 15 years.

And you can combat the lost 16 games by putting ads on jerseys...probably come out way ahead actually because more people would watch the better product on the court.

[Springsteen]

And you can combat the lost 16 games by putting ads on jerseys...probably come out way ahead actually because more people would watch the better product on the court.

:coleman:

[DMAVS41]

:coleman:

Trust me. So many more people would tune into regular season NBA games if they weren't so awful so frequently.

If there were less and no back to backs...the games would be so much more competitive.

The NBA is in real danger of becoming college basketball in a sense. With a regular season nobody but die hard fans care about...and a really enjoyable playoffs.

The problem is that the NBA playoffs doesn't capture the country the way March Madness does.

A few easy fixes include:

-Shorter schedule
-No back to backs
-Seeding 1 through 16 for the playoffs
-Lottery reform that doesn't reward tanking
-Legalizing gambling on NBA games

Silver is about as smart of a guy as it gets...and he's also in tune with public perception and reality. That seems to rarely happen for companies like the NBA. I'm expecting big things from him over the next 5 to 10 years.

This is a pivotal window in NBA history and my guess is that Silver gets a lot of this right and the NBA product will be far better off for it.

[Gotterdammerung]

The Thunder are stuck in the 90s with two superstars surrounded by ''gritty'' role players, and a coach content to run isolation all day. And owners who traded James Harden to save money for one season. I hope they miss the playoffs and Durant leaves. Garbage franchise.
This.

A thousand times, this.

[JellyBean]

I gotta chalk it up to the fact that there is a lot of parity in the Western Conference.

[gts]

It's a sign KD has missed half the games played, Westbrook has missed at least 15 and a host of other players have missed a fair amount of games


this team has been riddled with injuries, when your two best players combine to miss over 40 games 50 games into the season to suggest it's the coach or parity is ignoring the facts

[buddha]

why do people think OKC will miss the playoffs? they're gonna treat every game after the break like a playoff game, having Westbrook and KD playing 40 minutes. They'll be burned out by the time the playoffs come but they wont miss out.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Except that isn't even accurate.How is it inaccurate? You never backed up that accusation. What I wrote was a fact: If a good team has it's star(s) miss enough games it will miss the playoffs in spite of what it would have done if the team remained healthy. If the seeding ignores conference that means it will take more games to knock that team out of the playoffs but it will still happen. What is so hard to understand?

[Hey Yo]

Last year's Suns.

5th seed out East. Miss the Playoffs out West.

That poverty ass 38 win Hawks made it.

#JustEasternThings
Al Horford missed the last 54 games of the season and was playing very well before injury. Pretty sure his presence would have had ATL's record above .500

#CalledAnInjuryThing

[longtime lurker]

Yes.

It would be a disgrace to watch the Thunder and Pelicans miss the playoffs while fans have to watch the ****ing Nets and Hornets in series.

That really would probably be the final straw. You'd have 3 of the top 5 or so players in the league missing the playoffs.....

The current system is awful and as fans we deserve much better than to have to suffer through at least 2 terrible first round series in the East. When if they just seeded things fairly....we'd likely see all great series in round 1.

Think about this:

Right now we'd get a ****ing Hawks vs Thunder first round series if they did it right. Instead? We'd get Hawks vs Nets.

How anyone can actually be in favor of the current system just floors me.

Whoa Dmavs actually reasonable and making sense... What's this world coming to?

[T_L_P]

Al Horford missed the last 54 games of the season and was playing very well before injury. Pretty sure his presence would have had ATL's record above .500

#CalledAnInjuryThing

Yes, and an Atlanta team without Horford were a poverty team.

[fragokota]

Yes.

Think about this:

Right now we'd get a ****ing Hawks vs Thunder first round series if they did it right. Instead? We'd get Hawks vs Nets.

How anyone can actually be in favor of the current system just floors me.

Ahhh, actually we'd get a Hawks vs Suns series...

[Hey Yo]

Yes, and an Atlanta team without Horford were a poverty team.
True, but you had no idea that he missed the last 54 games due to injury before your initial post that ripped the East and Hawks making the playoffs.

[T_L_P]

True, but you had no idea that he missed the last 54 games due to injury before your initial post that ripped the East and Hawks making the playoffs.

I watched loads of Hawks games last year.

Bud is my favourite staffer in the whole NBA. I'll always watch a team he's coaching. :facepalm

My point stands. If a team can get into the Playoffs without their best player, winning 38 games, that is a problem. And last year's Hawks, who won just 38 games, were a poverty team (in Playoff terms, obviously they weren't scraping the barrel).

The 1996-97 Spurs team were a poverty team, were they not?

[Duderonomy]

Last year's Suns.

5th seed out East. Miss the Playoffs out West.

That poverty ass 38 win Hawks made it.

#JustEasternThings
And the Thunder would be the 7th seed in East not that big of a difference. If they are stay healthy they will make it in west, 3 games back with 30 games left in the season is still plenty of time. The Hawks took the Pacers to 7 games last year and are 42-9 this season. Nobody should be crying about not seeing the Suns over them. You might not like it but thats how the games played. Coaches, players, and management know what their competiton is in the division and the conference. The best teams will make it in the end.

[DMAVS41]

Ahhh, actually we'd get a Hawks vs Suns series...

How so?

The Hawks have the best record in the NBA and the Thunder would be the 16th team in.

[DMAVS41]

How is it inaccurate? You never backed up that accusation. What I wrote was a fact: If a good team has it's star(s) miss enough games it will miss the playoffs in spite of what it would have done if the team remained healthy. If the seeding ignores conference that means it will take more games to knock that team out of the playoffs but it will still happen. What is so hard to understand?

Because the Thunder would be in the ****ing playoffs if they seeded 1 through 16.

What is so hard to understand about that?

[Duderonomy]

A loophole like if a team wins 48 or more games they bump the last playoff team from the other conference if they don't qualitify for the playoffs in their conference. I think would be acceptable and it would be amazing come playoff time. Can you imagine JVG never shutting up about it.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Yes.

It would be a disgrace to watch the Thunder and Pelicans miss the playoffs while fans have to watch the ****ing Nets and Hornets in series.

That really would probably be the final straw. You'd have 3 of the top 5 or so players in the league missing the playoffs.....

The current system is awful and as fans we deserve much better than to have to suffer through at least 2 terrible first round series in the East. When if they just seeded things fairly....we'd likely see all great series in round 1.

Think about this:

Right now we'd get a ****ing Hawks vs Thunder first round series if they did it right. Instead? We'd get Hawks vs Nets.

How anyone can actually be in favor of the current system just floors me.

Well said, bro. It makes me sick to my stomach seeing teams like the Nets and Hornets in playoff contention.

Hawks-Thunder would be absolutely ****ing epic. One of the greatest first rounds in history probably.

[I.R.Beast]

Injuries are why they arent top 3 in the west. Brooks is a horrible coach with no offensive system. With that being said If OKC can overcome all the injuries and get into the playoffs as the 8th seed i still pick them to beat whomever they play in the 1st round. 90s ball still gets it done in the playoffs. Where stars need to be stars to get you over the hump.