Does the league need a fresh look at divisions and conferences?

Let's compare two teams. The first team have played out of their skin this season, to earn an unexpected 48-34 record. The other team won 1 game in 15 attempts in February, and went on to finish with a sub .500 record.

So, who deserves the play-off place? Well, most people would go with the team with the better record. However, due to the current conference and division set-up in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks (the second team mentioned above) will make the trip to the post-season, whereas the Phoenix Suns (the team mentioned first) will have to watch the play-offs on TV.

Many fans, usually the ones who support teams who don't make it to the post-season with a good record, wonder how this system can be fair. There have been plenty of protests against the current divisions and conferences that are in place, and now it looks like the NBA board could be paying attention.

Adam Silver said in December that the NBA committee will be "taking a fresh look" at the structure of the league. He also went on to say "Historically, based on geography in terms of ways to schedule and convenience of travel, the goal was to enhance rivalries and I'm not sure if that's still what's happening."

Adam Silver said the NBA board will take another look at the divisions

Silver makes a valid point. Local rivalries are, of course, a big part of the game, I mean look at the Clippers and the Lakers or the Knicks and the Nets. But the eradication of divisions isn't going to halt these clashes. Fans of each side will still hate each other, and fixtures between the teams will still be of paramount importance. Mark Cuban made another case for keeping divisions when he said that he "actually like divisions because it helps sell tickets". Although this argument might not be popular with fans, you can never underestimate the power that NBA franchise owners have.

However, other authority figures are less keen on the idea. When asked about his feelings Mike D'Antoni, Los Angeles Lakers head coach (for now anyway), replied "Who cares? It really doesn't matter. I just check conferences." Indeed, his thoughts may be shared with fans across the globe, who would rather see their team make the playoffs than do well in their division.

Of course, there are other limiting factors to getting rid of divisions, and indeed conferences. One of which is the audience side of the debate. Although unlikely, what if all 15 teams in the West qualified. Would this rule out half of the NBA viewers from watching the playoffs?

Of course it wouldn't.

The NBA playoffs are one of the biggest sporting events in the world, drawing millions of viewers from around the world, no matter the teams participating. Fans just want to see good teams play good basketball, and there are worries that the current system is limiting that potential.

And it's not like the NBA board are afraid of changing the playoff structure.  In 2003, the board changed the first round to a best-of-seven series, rather than a best-of-five. Other changes include changing divisions around in order to fit the Charlotte Bobcats in, and guaranteeing a top 4 seed for division winners, rather than a top 3 seed that was previously up for grabs. But these changes happened during the Stern era, so it's hard to predict how Silver, a relatively new commissioner, will react to change.

David Stern wasn't afraid to make changes in his leadership

But isn't it fair to reward the teams with the best record, regardless of their location on the map? To use the example mentioned earlier, the Phoenix Suns were written off at the beginning of the season, with many "experts" predicting them to be propping up the Western conference at the end of the season (and all the way through it). The Phoenix Suns franchise was commonly mentioned in the same sentence as "tanking". But instead they have come out, played good basketball and defied their critics, fighting their way to a brilliant 48-34 record in the process. The Hawks, on the other hand, haven't been very good this season, mainly due to injuries to big men Paul Millsap and Al Horford, but have come through an appalling Eastern conference to fall into the 8th spot. If the two teams swapped their conferences, Atlanta wouldn't finish in the top ten, whereas Phoenix would be gaining home-court advantage, after qualifying joint third.

This isn't a short-term issue either. The last time the 8th placed team in the East had a better record than the 8th placed team in the West was in the 1998-99 season (which, incidentally, was a lockout season, allowing only 50 games to be played). This season, only 4 Eastern teams have had a winning record against the Western conference (Indiana, Miami, Toronto and Brooklyn). In the West, there are only 4 teams that don't have winning records against their Eastern competitors.

Goran Dragic and the Phoenix Suns have been sublime this year, yet they still missed out on a play-off spot

During David Stern's 30 year tenure as the NBA Commissioner, he made plenty of changes, such as relocating 6 teams, and creating 7 new franchises. This has allowed him to become one of the most respected men in basketball (as well as a lot of fans angry with him, obviously). Silver is yet to make any big changes to the league, with a few changes to the All-Star Weekend being the only accomplishment on his list of achievements. This could be his first real chance to get the fans on his side.

So, will anything get done about it? It would be surprising if this issue got resolved by the start of the new season. Silver himself has said that the top priority for the NBA board is to try and raise the draft age to 20 (but there will be more on that later in the season), so the board will be concentrating on that issue instead. Also, he came out and last week and told the press that he was "still in the studying stage" about the division and conference split, so he's not ready to "state it's a concern". Looks like this one could rumble on for a while.