About a week ago, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and owners met at the Board of Governors meeting to discuss potential rule changes heading into the 2015-16 season. While most of the major potential rule changes don't appear to be happening, there were a couple of changes that Silver said were likely. None of the rule changes are official yet, as they have not been properly voted on, but Silver said he doesn't expect much push back. On Wednesday, it was reported that Silver said the NBA is leaning toward not guaranteeing a playoff spot at all for a team that wins its division, according to Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press.
This comes after Silver had previously stated that winning the division would likely not guarantee you a top four seed in your conference like it has in the past. Since the moratorium and the "Hack-A-Shaq" rule are unlikely to change, this seeding change is likely the biggest rule change we will see before next season.
It is highly unlikely that a team that wins its division would not have one of the best eight records in the conference, but it is possible, so Silver and the NBA have to address it. There are only three divisions in each conference, with five teams in each division, so the likelihood is extremely low. This potential ruling now makes divisions virtually irrelevant as winning the division means basically nothing.
This reported declaration by the commissioner will lead to more questions, though, like: Will this lead to getting rid of divisions as a whole? At this point, they might as well be gone, but they might stay just so that the rivalries look better, even though everyone will know that in-division games won't mean much more than conference games.
Another question this potentially raises: Are we headed for conference-less basketball? With the Eastern Conference being as woeful as it has been over the past few years, many people aren't happy that a team with a winning percentage under .500 makes the playoffs, while a Western Conference team well over .500 misses out on the playoffs.
Silver has reportedly said that this isn't in the plans for the near future, as it might cause traveling concerns, but the idea would be to seed the best 16 teams in the league from one to 16 regardless of conference. The idea of going to conference-less playoffs is a good idea in theory, but may not be practical, so the idea Silver brought up of going with division-less basketball might be as far as we get, and it will make the playoffs a bit fairer.
None of this is official yet, but Silver reportedly seemed to think this isn't going to have any trouble getting voted through. Likely starting next year, winning your division will mean nothing but bragging rights, and won't guarantee you a spot in the playoffs.
