ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski reported last week that the NBA is considering some major changes to its schedule. Namely a Conference Finals re-seeding, an in-season tournament, and postseason play-in games.
I’d like to add one more suggestion to the mix: adopt a “challenge round” from the Southern Professional Hockey League — let the top three seeds in each conference choose their first round opponent.
Seeding battles become more meaningful
The most obvious advantage to this change would be adding some additional meaning to the seeding battles at the top of the playoff hunt.