Adam Silver’s Playoff Fix And The Oklahoma City Thunder

Adam Silver, in his second year as NBA commissioner, is just starting to leave his mark on the NBA. Everyone remembers how forcefully he handled the despicable Donald Sterling after his racist audio tape surfaced.

While different people had different takes on the appropriate punishment for racist conversations, Silver took advantage of the media attention and with the backing of the other owners and the NBA Players Assocation, kicking Sterling out of the NBA. It was a move long overdue.

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Now, Silver has his sights set on something else many think is long overdue. Fixing the imbalance between the two conferences.

“Ultimately, we want to see your best teams in the playoffs,” Silver said during Wednesday’s game. “And there is an imbalance and a certain unfairness.”

Silver said that on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area’s broadcast of the Golden State Warriors-Dallas Mavericks game. And he was not through.

He explained that the playoffs should be the six division winners and then the next 10 best teams.

“I think that’s the kind of proposal we need to look at. There are travel issues, of course, but in this day and age every team, of course, has their own plane, travels charter,” Silver said. “… It’s something I’m going to look at closely with the competition committee. A lot of owners have strong feelings on it, but I think it is an area where we need to make a change.”

More than that, though, is that Silver told ESPN that he is seriously looking into re-alignment, getting past the east-west divide to determine and NBA champion.

"In the December interview with Katz, Silver also said the league is “looking at” conference realignment amid concerns that the current structure of two geographically based conferences might not be the best way to determine an NBA champion anymore."

If true, and Silver can finally push through needed changes, it could have a dramatic affect on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It would be nice if there was a way to change the playoff format this season, giving the Thunder a better chance at snagging one of those last few playoff spots and taking another crack at a championship.

However, that is not going to happen, and for good reason, with the season past the halfway point. The Thunder will have to beat out the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans for the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

Looking forward, though, this could mean big things for Oklahoma City. The Thunder are one of a handful of Western teams that are far enough East that they could, in theory, be part of the Eastern Conference.

Oklahoma City, Minnesota, Memphis, Houston, and New Orleans are all prospective movers if realignment happens. Silver is thinking bigger than just switching out a few teams.

The NBA commissioner sounds more like he could be pushing for something closer to what the NFL has in four geographic divisions and two rather arbitrary conferences.

With 30 NBA teams, that could mean something like six divisions of five teams each, with three in each conference. However, the divisions would be different.

Taking the four closest geographical rivals for the Thunder, and you would get Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and New Orleans.

That would instantly become the toughest division in any U.S. sport. On the other hand, the Thunder would no longer have to worry about needing 50 wins just to make the playoffs.

Better playoff seeding and easier matchups might give Oklahoma City a better chance in the playoffs, not to mention saving long hours of travel time.

So any reformation of the playoff structure would be a mixed bag in the short term, but in the long term it would unquestionably benefit the organization, and the NBA as a whole

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