When NBA commissioner David Stern steps down and Adam Silver takes over the role, a lot of changes might be coming to the game of basketball. Like how Stern revolutionized the game over the course of his time running the NBA, CBSSports insider Ken Berger reports that many NBA executives believe that Silver could bring some pretty aggressive yet intelligent changes to the way the game is played over the course of a season.
The most realistic idea that Silver may install is a new playoff system that rewards the best teams int he NBA as opposed to the eight best teams from each conference. The unconferenced playoff system would seed the teams in one large 16-team bracket that sends the 16 best teams to the post season, regardless of division or conference.
Not only is this a realistic idea to consider, it also makes a lot of sense and could get Silver on a lot of people’s good side right off the bat.
It’s not a perfect system, but no playoff system outside of the NFL’s seems to be anywhere near perfection. A con of this unconferenced playoff system would be that you could get 11 teams out of the Western Conference and just five out of the Eastern Conference. Then again, a system like this would prevent a situation where a team with a good record in a certain conference doesn’t make the playoffs while a team with a bad record in the other conference makes to postseason.
This isn’t something that will happen immediately, but it’s just one of the numerous ideas that an open-minded Adam Silver could bring to the game. As much as people hate Stern, Silver has a lot to live up to in terms of revolutionizing the game of basketball, but it’s clear he seems up to the task.