HOME | FUNNY ARTICLES | TOP NEWS REPORTS | SUBMIT
|
Feb. 7, 2010 Several weeks ago, NBA legend Jerry West stated in an interview that the NBA should contract. That is, reduce the number of teams. West recalls days when NBA teams were stronger and some teams boasted starting line-ups that resembled All-Star game rosters. To go back to such a time, West contends, would improve the quality of the games. Of course, economic factors would have to be weighed, but as the saying goes, “the bottom line is the bottom line.” Several teams are having difficulty selling out their arenas, and that’s where the cutting would begin. Other factors would be geograp[hic locale (two-teams in the same metro area), and history. Second, displaced owners could be given buy-outs, or the option to invest in other teams. Each surviving franchise would kick in some cash to sweeten the pot. I agree. Hence, I offer this proposal to shrink the NBA by six teams. In the interest of fairness and geographic logic, that could be done by eliminating one team from each division. In the NBA Western Conference, this would mean expelling the Clippers ( L.A. does not need two teams). Minnesota and Memphis . The latter two are perennial losers and having difficulty drawing fans. In the east you could trash can Indiana, Orlando and New Jersey. Now while Orlando was in the finals last year and Miami is having trouble drawing fans, Miami already has a championship banner. The fans of Orlando would still have a team in the region, that being the Heat. This would leave each division with four teams. For the record, the playoff format would still be the same, except for the first round, which would be cut back to a pressure-packed best-of-five series. I’d also shorten the season to 74 games. A team would play four games against teams in their conference but not in their division—32 games. They would play 2 games against each team in the opposing conference—24 games; and they would play six games against each division foe—18 games. This would cut 8 games from the schedule, and couple that with the revised first round playoff format and you shave three to four weeks off the season, meaning the finals would end in Mid-May at the latest. It also means players wouldn’t be as tired, and that would improve the quality of the games. Now, what would happen to the displaced players? They would go into a draft, and they would be drafted by conference, meaning teams in the west would draft solely from the defunct western conference teams, and the same for the east. If such a draft were to take place, the Western Conference draft order would be as follows: Golden State , Sacramento , New Orleans, Houston, Utah, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, Denver, Dallas, L.A. Lakers. In the east the draft would go: Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit, Milwaukee, New York, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, Toronto, Atlanta, Cleveland, Boston. Now imagine who would be in this draft. For starters, the west would have Baron Davis, Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby, Randy Foy, etc. None of these players would make a lower echelon team a contender, but it would eliminate roster spots of marginal players and give every team in the division a deeper bench and a better quality of basketball. The power in the east could change significantly because some of the marquee players in the draft would be Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, Vince Carter, Danny Granger, Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol, etc. This could make a team on the periphery of the playoffs— Chicago , New York and Detroit , could become a lot better quicker. Imagine Rashard Lewis going to the Knicks. Even the Heat would get a solid player, say a player like Gay, who could strengthen the team by coming off the bench. Adopting these measures would mean a minimal drop-off in play. And while New Jersey is wretched, with Dwight Howard in the middle, the players around him would become better and their second round pick would in theory be the thirteenth best player (fifth best player from one of the abandoned franchises). The playoffs would be more exciting, and as for the fiscal effect, each team would get a larger chunk of the TV money pie. 2/3 pf the teams in the league would make the playoffs, meaning every division race would go down to the wire. David Stern, ya listening? ------------ About the author: Timothy N. Stelly is a poet, essayist, novelist and screenwriter from northern California. His novel, HUMAN TRIAL, is the first part of a sci-fi trilogy and is available from Amazon.com, allthingsthatmatterpress.com and in e-book format at mobipocket.com. HUMAN TRIAL II: ADAM’S WAR is pending review and editing. Stelly also has a short story included in the AIDS-themed anthology, THE SHATTERED GLASS EFFECT, due out in February 2010. His story, SNAKES IN THE GRASS, Is a tale of love, betrayal and its deadly consequences. Reviews of HUMAN TRIAL can be read at amazon.com Visit me at: http://www.myspace.com/pittwit website: http://www.stellyhumantrial.com Email: stellbread@yahoo.com 
Tell a friend about this site!------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
