I would honestly like to see the NBA tournament be inter conference instead.Base seeding off who finished higher and randomize the draw. There would be 6 pots of 5 with seeding determined based on last season's regular season standing. There are 6 groups of 5
Pot 1
Bucks
Boston
Philly
Denver
Memphis
Pot 2
Cleveland
Sacramento
Knicks
Suns
Nets
Pot 3:
Miami
Clippers
GSW
Lakers
Minnesota
Pot 4:
Pelicans
Atlanta
Toronto
Chicago
OKC
Pot 5:
Dallas
Utah
Indiana
Washington
Orlando
Pot 6:
Detroit
Spurs
Houston
Charlotte
Portland
Ok soo making a random group
Denver
Nets
Lakers
Toronto
Washington
Spurs
Each team plays each other home and away a regulation win is 3 pts an OT win is 2pts and any loss is 0pts. Top 2 teams in each group and the best 4 3rd place teams qualify for the knockout round.
Knockout rounds are a home and away with higher aggregate score(no away points )to determine the winner with the final 4 being a tournament weekend like Euroleague. Teams who faced each other won't play each other in the knockout round until the final 4 and all matchups are randomized with the higher seed playing home first.Last season's playoff champions will host the final 4 meaning Denver will host the finals. The champ is also guaranteed the 10th overall pick in addition to their current pick which cannot be traded at all
The bottom 14 teams play a single knockout round and the winner of the bottom path is guaranteed a top 3 pick. Knockout rounds are the This incentives the bottom path teams to take this seriously. Teams who trade their picks still have a shot at a top 3 pick which cannot be traded. This means that a team could in theory have a shot at 2 top 3 picks.
What do you think? And how do you think that group would end up.