NBA’s new proposition a wrong step in right direction
By Ethan Becker
Why it won’t work, Part 2
The in-season tournament probably won’t affect the problem too much either way, though the pressure of a tournament could potentially lead to more injuries.
As for the reseeding idea, this could actually hurt the problem more than help it. If one of the issues is a lack of competition from the Eastern Conference, then a playoff that potentially ends with two Western Conference teams in the NBA Finals could aggravate the problem.
On top of that, it could be a problem with the broadcast partners, who could become upset at the thought of having a stronger and a weaker team going against each other rather than having two strong teams.
If the NBA really wants to fix its rating problems, there are a couple of ideas to do that. First, running games not just on cable, but also on broadcast TV, could increase the number of eyes on the product . Another idea could be a reseeding of conferences, in order to even things out.
Obviously, these come with their own problems, but if ratings are the issue the NBA wants gone, those are just a couple ideas it could use.