As we get ready for the All Star game, I thought I would answer the repetitive questions I get in email, that all end with “Can you do something about it”, with a blogof my suggestions of what I would do about “it”
1. If the Mavs finish second in their division, but have more wins than another division winner, we are seeded 4th, and that isnt fair. Can you do something about it ?
Of course its not fair. The best reason I can ascertain is that its there because its cuts down on the amount of travel that would have to take place if there were interdivision matchups. Remember when the Mavs had to play back to back playoff games in the first round ?
But thats not a good enough reason. The playoff schedule makers can take that into account. Just as they do TV matchups.
Here is the solution. First, any division winner qualifies for the playoffs. Its possible for a division record to not even have the 10th best record, let alone the eighth, so winning your division rewards you with a playoff spot.
Then there would be a seeding tie-breaker system. First Tie Breaker is 55 wins. Any teams that win 55 games are seeded in order of number of wins. If there are no teams that finished 2nd or lower in their division, then this tie-breaker does not apply and teams are seeded as they are now.
There are quite a few benefits. First, since the conferences play mostly a balanced schedule (all teams play each other the same number of times with only a couple exceptions), when there is at least onevery weak division with multiple teams struggling to win games, the other divisions feast on that division, creating a greater disparity in number of wins between conference leaders and increasing the likelihood that a 2nd and/or 3rd place team will have more wins than a division winner. When there is parity in the number of wins, this doesnt occur and the system can operate as is.
Of course, this approach also increases the intensity of games for contending teams. Trying to get that 2nd place by winning 55 or more games gives meaning to many more late season games. As does winning enough games as a division winner.
2. The All Star Voting is ridiculous. Its a world wide popularity contest with voters who never even see the players play voting.
Its not ridiculous, its the exact right idea, just not quite the right implementation. The NBA should and does want its fans to get involved. Voting for the all star team is a great way to do it. But as you might expect there is a better way. Here it is
Votes basically come in two forms, physical ballots which are handed out at the arenas and at partner locations and internet votes. Without question, we should reward the ballots more than the internet voter. These are the people who come to our games and support our partners. Who should get more cred than them ? No one.
Then we get to the internet voters. I think the internet voters should be seperated into domestic and international. Each is equal, but just as fans vote for their local players more often, international fans vote for their favorite countrymen more often.
So here is my suggestion just to make it work.
Seperate the 3.
Ballot voting
Domestic Internet Voting
International Internet Voting. (its not hard to seperate the two. Not perfect, but close enough)
Then take the average final voting position of each and select your all star team that way.
So if a player comes in 1st on ballot, 6th on domestic internet, 20th on international internet, they have a finishing total of 9. If 9 is the lowest for his position he starts. If not, who ever does have the lowest number starts.
Personally, i would prefer to multiply the ballot times two, but hey, change in the NBA is hard enough.
This would give our fans more power in their voting and reward those who come to the arena and watch on TV
3. This is in response to a future question i will get and really is the most shocking of all. Our eqiupment managers just told me that the NBA has ordered our suppliers to stop making the high tube socks that some of our players wear.
The NBA gets props for doing it now, rather than after the start of next season and fining players for wearing them, but my goodness. What is the point ? I dont get it.
Can we leave some harmless individuality in the game ?