Adam Silver Hints at a Possible New Playoff Format: The Pros and Cons

The lack of balance in each conference has been a major flaw in the playoffs and a new format MIGHT just fix it. 

BUT...

Whether you admit it or not, the current format of the NBA playoffs where the top 8 teams of both conferences battle it out until the last team standing from each conference remains will meet in the NBA Finals, hasn't been as exciting as it used to be in the past.

This can be associated with the fact that each conference has been dominated by one team during the course of the last 3 seasons. While this fault doesn't belong to any of the team as their main goal is to dominate as much as they can, this one flaw has been causing boredom to the fans as they would have to wait until the conference finals or even the NBA Finals just to see some intense hardcourt action.

Well, that may not be the case anytime soon as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said that he's looking at the possibilities of changing the current playoff format that the NBA has been implementing. To begin with, this isn't the first time Adam Silver is implementing big changes in the NBA as he led the change in the format for the All-Star Game which put two captains who gathered the most votes and allowed these captains to draft their respective players. That change is amazing as we've seen many players from both conferences in one team. Exciting, isn't it?

Now, according to Commissioner Silver, one of the possibilities in which the NBA could change its playoff format is by ending the current conference system which means by nature, there'll be no Western Conference or Eastern Conference. Instead, the top 16 teams with the best records will go into the playoffs. Is this going to benefit the teams and the fans?

Yes

Imagine. If this playoff format is to happen next season, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (assuming he stays in Cleveland) might face the Golden State Warriors earlier in the playoffs depending on the rankings of each team.

But one benefit that this change will bring about is the level of talent will balance out because there will be more teams that are going to be involved. Of course, the number 1 team will still get the homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs but at the very least, the playoffs will last longer because of the 16 teams that are playing to get to the NBA Finals.

No. Travel and other issues will come out

Assuming that the 16-team playoff format will have a 7-game series in each of the rounds, travel and scheduling the games will be a headache. This will mean that to give the teams enough rest for the playoffs, the number of back-to-back games will have to decrease but that's not the bad part.

The bad part is, can you imagine 8 teams who are traveling across the United States for the first two games of the first round? In addition to this, this will also mean that the NBA Awards Night and succeeding events will be moved ahead to accommodate the longer schedules of the playoffs. It will also mean adjusting the NBA calendar overall.

Conclusion

As many pundits have said it, Adam Silver's idea is good on paper but can they actually execute it? Well, the NBA was able to go through the change in the format for the All-Star Game. Why stop there? It is a big gamble but who knows, the NBA will eventually benefit from this possible change. After all, the current format of the playoffs is obviously flawed. And boring.