Scheduling a 32 team NBA

Alright, so I laid out a proposal of a 32-team NBA.  In my previous post I split it up into four 8-team divisions.  There is an alternate system that might work just as well, so to all three of my readers, let me know if you like it or not.

Northwest-
Seattle Supersonics
Portland Trailblazers
Utah Jazz
Denver Nuggets

West-
Sacramento Kings
Golden State Warriors
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers

Southwest-
Phoenix Suns
San Antonio Spurs
Dallas Mavericks
Houston Rockets

South-
Oklahoma City Thunder
Kansas City expansion
New Orleans Hornets
Memphis Grizzlies
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Southeast-
Miami Heat
Orlando Magic
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Bobcats

Northeast-
Boston Celtics
New York Knicks
Philadelphia 76ers
Washington Wizards

East-
Brooklyn Nets
Toronto Raptors
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons

North-
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
Chicago Bulls
Indiana Pacers

Personally, I think the league should avoid expanding the season beyond 82 games.  I would hate to see the NBA become MLB where you have too many (162) games in a season.  If you wanted to add a few you could, but here is my schedule which would keep the season at exactly 82 games:

Each team in the league will play a home and away game with everyone else in the league.  Not including your franchise, there are 31 other teams * 2 games = 62 games

How to get the other 20 games becomes a little bit more interesting...for starters lets add another home and away with the teams in your division.  3 teams in your division * 2 additional games = 6 more games.  We are now up to 68 games of the 82.

Next I would add one more game against each team in your conference (western or eastern) That would be 12 more games leading to an 80 game season.

For the final two games, I would add one more home and away series between the doublets.  If you notice how the league is set up, the majority of teams have a natural rivalry pair associated.  Above I listed the natural rivals as right underneath each other (Ex for NW division, natural rivals=Seattle and Portland; Denver and Utah)

Would love some feedback on this expansion of my previous idea.  Alternatively, if you wanted to retain the four 8-team conferences, I would probably cut the season to 76 games (62 against everyone + 14 for an additional home and away series against the other 7 teams in the division) or expand to 84 games ( same as above but add one more game against the other 8 teams in your conference).

The point was brought up that bringing in two expansion teams might cause considerable talent dilution.  I think this is a very real concern that people have, and think it might be wise to introduce the two expansion franchises over a time period of 5-10 years to help ease this process.  Let me know what you all think!

Gary Bettman for a day: How to fix the NHL alignment issues

After examining what I would do if I were David Stern for a day, I thought it would be fun to follow that up with what I would do if I were Gary Bettman for a day.  The NHL is an interesting situation that wasn't as easily fixable as the NBA, due to the heavy Canadian presence.  Nevertheless, I found an option I personally like that would provide for the needs of our neighbors up north.  Once again I want to disclose my bias for the PNW as an Oregonian.

As commissioner of the NHL, I would start by increasing the league to 32 teams.  I would add an expansion team in Quebec and Milwaukee and move the Phoenix Coyotes to Seattle.  Aftewards, a little bit of re-arrangement would be necessary.  Here's how I would organize it-

Division 1: The West:

Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers

Vancouver Canucks

Seattle Expansion or relocation

San Jose Sharks

Los Angeles Kings

Anaheim Ducks

Colorado Avalanche

Division 2: The Midwest

Winnipeg Jets

Minnesota Wild

Chicago Blackhawks

Detroit Red Wings

Milwaukee Expansion or relocation

Pittsburgh Penguins

Toronto Maple Leafs

Buffalo Sabres

Division 3: The Northeast

Quebec Nordiques

Montreal Canadians

Ottawa Senators

Boston Bruins

New York Rangers

New York Islanders

New Jersey Devils

Philadelphia Flyers

Division 4: The Southeast

Florida Panthers

Tampa Bay Lightning

Carolina Hurricanes

Nashville Predators

Washington Capitols

Columbus Blue Jackets

St. Louis Blues

Dallas Stars

This proposal leaves out a number of markets that could have been considered.  Due to the struggles of the southern expansion, I elected to expand to Milwaukee instead of Houston, Phoenix, or Atlanta.  Wisconsin seems like more of a hockey market.

Most people reading this will wonder why the hell I would put the southeast in its' own division.  All of the struggling markets are in one division.  According to current rankings, the #4 & #5 teams in the west would be in this division.  If the Capitols ever figure out how to utilize Alex Ovechkin, they have a headliner right there.  The #3 team in the East would also be in this division, meaning approximately 3/16 of the playoffs would come from this division.  To expect a perfect 4-4-4-4 would be unrealistic however, so 3/16 isn't too bad.  Additionally, I feel keeping teams geographically close allows these markets to promote rivalries.  No one cares about a Tampa/Toronto rivalry.  But an in-state matchup between the Panthers and Lightning might make for a good turnout.  Maybe Nashville develops a rivalry with Carolina or St. Louis.  Or Both for that matter.  If necessary, the two eastern divisions could rearrange.  But at least this would provide a way to instill geographic rivalries while preserving the legacy of some of the Northeastern rivalries.  

David Stern for a day: Fixing the NBA musical chairs

The NBA is arguably the most frustrating league in the professional sports world.  With recent turmoil, the Kings and Hornets both are in positions of losing their teams.  I want to disclose my bias from the beginning.  I am an Oregonian.  As such, I have a strong bias for the Pacific Northwest.  To see the Sonics leave Seattle, and the heartbreak that ensued was quite perturbing.  To see the league do nothing to remedy the situation?  Even worse.  The Sonics met their demise to greedy and selfish politics of David Stern.  Despite all of these recent rumors and efforts to bring a team to Seattle, whether the Kings will stay or go and ditto for the Hornets, there exists a simple solution that would solve this NBA problem for many years.  It's too simple to work and would eliminate the ability to leverage vulnerable franchises, which is why it would never be approved.  Which leads me to this post of what I would do if I were David Stern for a day.

I would start by adding two teams:  one in Seattle and one in Kansas City.  The NFL has thrived at 32 teams and I believe the NBA has the popularity to do the same.  Why would I do this?  Because Seattle, home to a loyal fan base deserves a team.  Because Kansas City (alternatively, you could put it in St. Louis) makes sense for the big picture of the NBA.

Next I would realign the entire structure of the conferences.  My proposal would involve four 8-team divisions , two in the west and two in the east.  Afterwards, I would keep everything else the same. Each division winner gets an automatic berth to the tournament.  16 playoff teams would make sense in a 32-team league.  As of right now, over half the teams make postseason play.  Allow me to lay out the divisions (names to be determined):

Division 1: The Most-West:

Seattle Supersonics

Portland Trailblazers

Sacramento Kings

Golden State Warriors

Los Angeles Lakers

Los Angeles Clippers

Utah Jazz

Denver Nuggets

Division 2: The Southwest:

Phoenix Suns

San Antonio Spurs

Dallas Mavericks

Houston Rockets

Oklahoma City Thunder

Kansas City/St. Louis Expansion team

New Orleans Hornets

Memphis Grizzlies

Division 3: The Midwest:

Minnesota Timberwolves

Chicago Bulls

Indiana Pacers

Detroit Pistons

Milwaukee Bucks

Cleveland Cavaliers

Toronto Raptors

Unfortunately there is no logical 8th team for this division.  For placeholder sake, let's put the Brooklyn Nets here

Division 4: The East:

Boston Celtics

New York Knicks

Philadelphia 76ers

Washington Wizards

Charlotte Bobcats

Atlanta Hawks

Miami Heat

Orlando Magic

You now have at least one team representing the major states or metropolitan areas.  Sure, some small(er) cities like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh would have to commute to Philadelphia and Cleveland, but they at least have one team servicing their state.  And despite what anyone says, Anaheim does NOT deserve an NBA team.  If you want a team in Anaheim, move the Clippers and call it good.  But we do not need a repeat of hockey where 3 teams are concentrated and service one market.  Especially not when that market already has 2 hockey teams, 2 baseball teams, 2 soccer teams, 2 high profile colleges and 2 basketball teams.  The LA area needs NFL, not a 3rd basketball team.

Still, I find the Kings an interesting dilemma.  I ponder why nobody has considered moving them to the Bay Area (San Jose or San Fran) to serve as a 2nd team there.  That market is close to saturation, but could handle one more team if in the right season (with NBA primarily winter and only 1 NHL team, it would work).  Personally, I would like to see the Kings stay in Sacramento.  If you move them to SJ or SF however, you might be able to retain part of your fan base, without having to compete against 6 other teams in your season.  But then money will always overpower logic.  If it didn't this mess would have been fixed a long time ago.

*as a side note, I put the Brooklyn Nets in with the Midwestern teams because I wanted to preserve the natural rivalries associated with the cities of Boston, NY, Philadelphia and Washington DC.  These 4 cities all have similar heritage and I would hate to see any of them moved, even if it makes more geographical sense.