NBA Commissioner Adam Silver held a press conference at NBA All-Star weekend in Los Angeles and touched on the possibility of a new playoff format.
“We are just concerned about the overall travel that we would have in the top 16 teams.” Silver said. “Having said that, you also would like to have a format where your two best teams are ultimately going to meet in the Finals, and obviously, if it’s the top team in the East and the top team in the West, I’m not saying this is the case this year, but you could have a situation where the top two teams in the league are meeting in the conference finals or somewhere else. So we’re going to continue to look at that. It’s still my hope that we’re going to figure out ways.”
There has been speculation around the NBA of a new best-16 team playoff format and if they decided to do away with East/West playoff structure, these would be the rankings at the halfway point of the 2018 season:
- Houston
- Golden State
- Toronto
- Boston
- Cleveland
- San Antonio
- Minnesota
- Washington
- Indiana
- Milwaukee
- Oklahoma City
- Denver
- Portland
- Philadelphia
- New Orleans
- Miami
There it is, the top 8 teams from both leagues, all mashed up into a 1-16 format based on overall record, not conference. The Detroit Pistons would be 1.5 games out of that final playoff spot and would have a lot of work to do not just this season, but upcoming years to avoid being a team fighting for a 16-seed. Sliding into an 8 spot is not ideal, but it sounds a lot more appealing than a 16 spot. The Pistons would not only have to pay attention to the East, but also the West to avoid facing, say, the Golden State Warriors in the first round.
If this new system ever sees the light of day, the Pistons, and every other team in the league, would want to be in the top-4 as home court advantage would be even more important, especially if you’re playing a team from California (Red Wings fans know all about traveling to Los Angeles or San Jose).
The Detroit Pistons last made the playoffs in the 2015-2016 campaign with a 44-38 record, and that would probably be around the record you would need if you wanted to slide into that 16-team format.
