Well, the Cavs have won 9 in a row. LeBron's return is working out nicely. Tonight is the game in Minnesota, K-Love's first since the trade.
Under my proposed "crossover" playoff format, right now New Orleans and Oklahoma City, ranked 9 and 10 in the West, would cross over to the Eastern Conference playoffs, displacing Miami and Brooklyn as the Pelicans and Thunder have better records than those two teams. The East would look like this for the playoffs:
Seeds:
1. Atlanta (39-8)
2. Toronto (32-15)
3. Washington (31-16)
4. Chicago (30-19)
5. Cleveland (28-20)
6. New Orleans (25-22)*
7. Milwaukee (24-22)
8. Oklahoma City (23-23)*
* - crossover team
Out under my format:
Miami (20-26)
Charlotte (19-27)
So yeah, this format would, currently, keep the four-time defending Eastern Conference champs, who are not the same now that LeBron's back home, out of the playoffs.
Here are what would be the matchups:
Atlanta-Oklahoma City
Toronto-Milwaukee
Washington-New Orleans
Chicago-Cleveland
So, this format is intended to address the biggest criticism of the current playoff format - strong teams in the West get locked out while weaker teams can get in in the East. This format would no longer reward a team just by finishing in the top 8 in their conference. To get in the playoffs, you have to be be in the top 16 in the league. Whether you play in your conference's playoffs would depend on if you finish below 8th in your conference under the current system or not (for example, right now as mentioned above, Western teams New Orleans and Oklahoma City would be playing in the Eastern Conference playoffs). As well, not only would division winners no longer automatically get a top 4 seed, but also, teams would be re-seeded after each round like in the NFL (and formerly the NHL) - such that the highest-remaining seed in each conference plays the lowest-remaining seed in each conference, and the two in the middle also meet in the conference semi-finals.
These changes intend to make the NBA playoffs more competitive.