I don't think the parity is as obvious as it used to be, but has anyone noticed that the Western Conference has 11 out of 15 teams above .500, and the Eastern Conference has 7 out of 15? Interesting notes too: The WC has 1 whole division where every team is above .500. The division the Cavs are in has as many teams sub .500 as the whole WC does. They're (EC) catching up though. I think it used to be a much wider gap between the conferences.
I actually think the league should think about revamping the system. Maybe go to a playoff system where there is a #1 through #16 tournament. The only reason it is set up the way it is now, is because of TV ratings.
Worse, actually. The 7th team in the east is currently at .500, not above. And so was #6 before today's Toronto win, which I believe came after your post time, so it was only 5 teams above .500 at the time. (And #5 is only one game over!)
The east was so bad in those years that Philly and NJ made it to the Finals. It's much better now. The top teams are all on par with each other, the west is just much deeper.
At the same time, the Raptors are one of the best offensive teams in the league, and if you let them play their game, they can beat anybody. I think my main concern is, when a team out east has a horrible losing record and gets into the playoffs, and teams with an easily above .500 record in the west are not. That is just bullshit.
Teams should not be allowed into the playoffs with a losing record if there are other teams with winning records. If a team has a losing record, they should be forced to forfeit their spot to a team with a winning record from the opposing conference. Like that, if the playoffs started now, it would break down this way: West 1) Lakers 2) Dallas 3) Denver 4) San Antonio 5) Portland 6) Phoenix 7) Utah 8) OK or Houston East 1) Cleveland 2) Boston 3) Atlanta 4) Orlando 5) Miami (.513) 6) Toronto (.512) 7) Charlotte (.500) 8) OK or Houston (.550) Still other winning teams in the West (Memphis, NO)would lose out to lesser eastern teams but at least all the teams that would make the playoffs would have winning records.
They should send OKC, Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans to the East and bring Chicago, Milwaukee, Indiana, and Cleveland out west. It probably makes more sense Geographically, and then maybe have a west coast division, central division, northeast, and southeast.
The East is still the JV league. If the playoffs started today with the 16 best teams, only 5 teams in the East would make it in. But its not just the playoffs that are the problem. The regular season needs to be reworked too. If the Celtics, Cavs, Magic, and Hawks were in any one of the western conference divisions they would not have as many wins as they have, thus making them look much better.
I would think geography is a factor too. A straight 1-16 tourney (based on current records) would include first round matchups of LA-Miami, Orlando-Utah and Boston-Memphis, and we wouldn't have any the driving-distance series like Cleveland-Chicago or Orlando-Miami that the current system provides for. I think the league likes to keep cross-continental travel to a minimum during the playoffs.
