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NBA Offseason Wrap Up, Part 2: A Wild LeBron-less Eastern Conference

By Daniel Schmahl

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 3: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celtics look on during the second half at TD Garden on January 3, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 3: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Kyrie Irving #11 of the Boston Celtics look on during the second half at TD Garden on January 3, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA -JANUARY 20: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers dribbles the ball against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first half at Wells Fargo Center on January 20, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA -JANUARY 20: Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers dribbles the ball against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first half at Wells Fargo Center on January 20, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) / 
TIER 1: WE THOUGHT DIVISIONS DIDN'T MATTER

Celtics, Raptors, 76ers

Okay, so divisions don’t actually matter. We should absolutely do away with divisions, in fact, it’s time we do away with Conferences altogether (I touched on this a little in my last piece) and go to 1-16 playoff seeding.

If divisions did matter, the Atlantic would take the crown as the NBA’s best for ’19. Boston, Toronto, and Philadelphia are all viable contenders and each have arguments for basketball’s second best team (depending about how you feel about Houston). While the bottom of the East is nauseating, there’s a chance that three of the four best teams in the NBA reside in the (East’s) Atlantic division.

Let’s play a quick game of make divisions matter again: in the NBA Finals, to the East representative, Adam Silver spots (assuming Golden State wins the West):

  • a 1-0 lead if the team comes from the Atlantic division
  • a 2-0 lead and homecourt if the team comes from the Central division
  • a 3-0 lead, homecourt, and a one-of-Curry/Durant-sits-every-game rule if the team comes from the Southeast division

All this would take is for Silver to sit down in a room and logically rank the strength of each division. It would make the Finals a hundred times more entertaining and keep fringe teams from tanking for a (long) shot at breaking through.

Crazy? It’s probably not as crazy as the odds of a healthy Warriors team being able to dig out of a 3-0 hole without one of their top two players against any of the 2019 Wizards, Heat, Hornets, Magic, or Hawks. They might even be favoured in Vegas against Atlanta.

Either way, this would be better than having the ability to win your division and not be guaranteed a playoff spot (looking at you, Southeast).

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