NBA leaning toward top-8 record for playoffs

Discussion in 'NBA General' started by truebluefan, Jul 24, 2015.

  1. truebluefan

    truebluefan Administrator Staff Member Administrator

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    A division title might soon mean a banner but no assurance of a playoff spot in the NBA.

    Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday the league is leaning toward not guaranteeing a postseason berth to a team that wins its division, forcing clubs to finish in the top eight of their conference if they want a shot at the title.

    Silver had already said he expected a change from the current format that guarantees division winners no worse than the No. 4 seed. But after discussions with both the competition committee and board of governors, he believes the change will go further than that.

    "First of all, it's never happened before that a division winner did not finish within the top eight, and our basketball analytics folks calculate that there's less than a 5 percent chance that it would happen," he said before taking part in a panel discussion at the Beyond Sport United program.

    "Where we are leaning right now is that we would not guarantee a spot for a division winner in part because it's so unlikely to happen, and No. 2 if it does happen it would be potentially confusing to fans. No. 3, you would be displacing a team that did have a top-eight record."

    - See more at: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...f-guarantee-division-winners-adam-silver-says
     

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