Tim Cottrell

Sports Writer/Designer

NBA thoughts

The game may or may not be over (I’m watching on about a 20-minute delay) but it’s been over for a while.

In a performance that brings to mind Footsteps Falco’s disastrous 1996 Sugar Bowl (yes I stole this joke from Bill Simmons), the Hawks simply fell apart early and allowed the Celtics to crush them like bugs.

So what did we learn from the Hawks over the last two weeks?

We learned that they are unbelievably gifted athletically (which any of the eight or nine Hawks fans prior to the playoffs would’ve been able to tell you beforehand), we learned that the Celtics may need to work on their mental toughness and we saw definitive proof that the Hawks are just a piece or two from becoming contenders again.

But the Hawks really shouldn’t have even been there.

A 37-45 team should never be rewarded with a playoff berth, especially when a team as good as the Warriors in the Western Conference gets left out.

There’s been a lot of discussion in recent years about the playoffs being all screwed up, and there have been plenty of examples in recent years of the two best teams meeting before the finals.

So, I present to you my system for making the playoffs better. (This is a post I’ve been meaning to make since they first gave me a blog, so I apologize that it’s not particularly timely. I just now have the time to do it.)

First of all, just take the top 16 teams in the league, no dividing things up by conference.

Obviously, this presents some problems in making sure divisions and conferences still matter, so my solution is to make the top six seeds the division winners, and give them homecourt advantage regardless of whether the team they’re playing has a better record or not.

So once you’ve played out the first round, then you can reseed. The NFL and NHL do it, why can’t the NBA?

So this is what the playoffs might look like under my system.

No. 1 Boston vs. No. 16 Portland
No. 8 Houston vs. No. 9 Phoenix
No. 5 Utah vs. No. 12 Golden State
No. 4 New Orleans vs. No. 13 Cleveland
No. 6 Orlando vs. No. 11 Denver
No. 3 L.A. Lakers vs. No. 14 Washington
No. 7 San Antonio vs. No. 10 Dallas
No. 2 Detroit vs. No. 15 Toronto

I’d say in many ways that’s a lot better than what we wound up with. The top three seeds’ series would be a little bland, but the last five would all be highly entertaining (especially Utah vs. Golden State). Why wouldn’t this be a good thing?

And then if we’re just spit-balling how the first round would go, here’s what the second round might look like:
No. 1 Boston vs. No. 11 Denver
No. 2 Detroit vs. No. 9 Phoenix
No. 3 L.A. Lakers vs. No. 7 San Antonio
No. 4 New Orleans vs. No. 5 Utah

If you’ve followed the NBA at all this year, all four of these series make your mouth water. I’m excited just thinking about it.

I won’t try to project all those series, but doesn’t this sound exciting? Maybe David Stern will take some time out of screwing over Seattle to read this blog.