A proposal to rethink NBA playoff seeding. Plus, remembering the ...
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox.
I don’t tend to get jealous of anybody’s success or the things they have, but that changes when I see Jimmy Butler’s wine cellar.
We Need Balance! A WNBA-inspired NBA playoff fix?What happens if Victor Wembanyama, Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes and the rest of the Spurs’ young guys are a .500 or better team this season? Assuming relative health in the Western Conference, we’re looking at 13 teams competing for 10 spots. That’s wild! We have the 10 teams from last season plus a Houston team that is looking to take a massive step forward, Memphis is healthy and a problem for anyone, and maybe this Spurs team.
When you look over at the East, there are eight teams you know will belong. It’s the exact eight teams we saw in the postseason last year. Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Brooklyn and Toronto will still be bad. Chicago is heading toward youth rather than substance at the moment. And we’re still waiting for Atlanta to take things more seriously. But alas, someone will have to fill out last two Play-In spots in the East.
As I watch the WNBA playoffs, which don’t follow conference seedings (the league only has 12 teams currently), it makes me a little wistful for the idea of the NBA following something similar. As the league has revamped things with the NBA Cup and the Play-In Tournament, maybe this is something for Adam Silver and company to explore again.
The East is rarely as good as the West when it comes to depth of great teams, and the imbalance is becoming more pronounced this season. Here is my half-baked idea of how to fix the playoff format:
If you finish in the top six of your conference, you’re in. The eight teams with the best records outside of those top six in each conference would be relegated to Play-In Tournament status to participate in a more robust Play-In format. The team with the best record of the eight would face the one with worst record, and so forth, in a single-elimination format.So using last season as an example, your Play-In squads and brackets would be:
First round of (1) New Orleans against (8) Chicago, (2) Philly against (7) Houston, (3) Lakers against (6) Sacramento and (4) Miami against (5) Golden State. Let’s just say the higher seed won each game. New Orleans then plays Miami. Philadelphia plays Los Angeles. Winners get the No. 7 seed. Better regular-season record gets to stay in their conference with tiebreakers in case of the same record. Losers get the No. 8 seed with better record staying in their conference.Ultimately, is this the best idea for how this thing should play out? Maybe not! Let me predict some gripes:
It could be spun as an overreaction to a strong West year. I’d argue it’s closer to this imbalance more often than not, though. You could argue this extends the Play-In Tournament longer than it needs to be. Maybe we just put the dang thing in Vegas or at a neutral site so we can make it quicker? You could argue it ruins the East-West format the league loves. Only a little! Maybe not at all? We’ll see.This won’t happen. But we can dream, can’t we?
Scott Wachter / Imagn Images
They say that three is a lucky number, and that so many things in the balance of life happen in threes. Mind, body and soul. Big three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Death, taxes and the Amazing Sladek making me super nervous during a halftime show. I also love the idea of checking in on things in threes. This year, we’ll be doing quite a bit of top three, middle three, bottom three when we discuss the NBA. What better way to kick that off than looking at three sophomores we love, three sophomores we’re watching intently and three sophomores we’re a little worried about?
Three to love ❤️Victor Wembanyama, Spurs: We’re obsessed. Maybe you’re already sick of the Wemby hype and consider it hyperbole. Get over it. He’s real and he’s spectacular. I will believe any scenario you throw at me. Wemby took the Spurs to the playoffs in Year 2 and made the conference finals? Sure. Wemby averaged a quadruple-double? I buy it. He defeated an alien invasion by himself? Write the script!
Chet Holmgren, Thunder: Holmgren was overshadowed by Wemby quite a bit last season, which is crazy considering how good Holmgren was. He averaged 16.5 points per game with a 63.2 true shooting percentage, 7.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 blocks? GTFOH. Those are absurd numbers. He and Wemby are the only rookies to record 100 blocks and 100 3-pointers.
Jaime Jaquez Jr., Heat: #HeatCulture was a little shaky last season, but Jaquez gives it a lot of hope. I think he’s already the third-best player on the team at 23, and I’d expect his outside shot to come around. The Heat need his best all season long, which is a lot to put on a young player.
Three to watch ????Dereck Lively II, Mavs: He’s going to compete for a starting spot. Whether he gets it or not, Lively has already shown he can have a massive impact on the court. What else can he do? Will he be more of an offensive threat? Can he be reliable at the line? Can he play-make more as the roll man?
Brandon Miller, Hornets: I’m trying to be open-minded about the short-term future of the Hornets because there’s a whole new regime. The No. 2 pick in 2023 was awesome as a rookie, overshadowed by the bigs. It’s not solely on him, but how can he lead to more wins?
Brandin Podziemski, Warriors: Is Podz going to start at the shooting guard this season? Buddy Hield and De’Anthony Melton make this a crowded backcourt. How does Podz continue to carve out his role?
Three to worry about ????Scoot Henderson, Blazers: An extremely disappointing rookie season should either fuel him to make great strides this year or hurt his confidence tremendously. I’m hoping for the former because he is a fun prospect.
Jarace Walker, Pacers: He barely played as a rookie and the Pacers could really use his defense next to Myles Turner. If the 21-year-old can’t carve out minutes against Obi Toppin, or play on the wing, then what?
Gradey Dick, Raptors: When the Raptors tanked the final quarter of the season, Gradey scored OK (12.1), shot OK (41.5/35.1/80.8) and played significant minutes (29.9). How much will he be on the court if Toronto is healthy?
Flashback Friday: The 1994 Nuggets made everybody believe in miraclesThe passing of Dikembe Mutombo this week brought back a ton of nostalgia for his impressive and eventful career. I think most people’s introduction to him in the NBA was during the 1994 playoffs. Denver had rebuilt for three years and was back in the playoffs as a 42-40 eighth-seed. It was a fun, lively squad. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was a bucket. Robert Pack was a point guard with a flat top regularly dunking on big men. LaPhonso Ellis, Bryant Stith, Reggie Williams, Bison Dele (then known as Brian Williams) and Rodney Rogers rounded out that rotation as they all surrounded Mt. Mutombo.
Despite how fun they were, they were going up against the impossible — the 63-19 top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics. Second-best offense in the league. Third-best defense. Looking to win the West and stamp themselves as contenders and champions. They were supposed to make quick work of the Nuggets in Round 1 before facing Utah in the second round. And they took the first two games of the best-of-five series. Done deal? Not so fast.
The Nuggets dominated Game 3 at home behind 31 points from Reggie Williams and a 19-point, 13-rebound, six-block performance from Mutombo. They went to overtime in Game 4 and won again behind 27 and 17 from Ellis with Mutombo getting 10 points, 16 boards and eight blocks. But going back to Seattle for the decisive Game 5 was supposed to end Denver’s season.
Denver did the unimaginable. They took the series behind another eight-block performance and overtime victory to pull off the first eight over one upset in NBA history. Seattle was shocked. The NBA was dumbfounded. And Mutombo set the record for most blocks in a five-game series (31) while giving us this iconic moment as the game ended.
Rest in Power, Dikembe.
Bounce PassesDan Brown went behind the scenes of Steph Curry’s “marathon” media day.
James L. Edwards III and Jon Krawczynski have an early look at the second chance between the Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns and Tom Thibodeau.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: John Hollinger’s look at five teams he thinks will fall short of expectations.
???? Love The Bounce? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.
(Top photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
Zach Harper is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering the NBA. Zach joined The Athletic after covering the NBA for ESPN.com, CBS Sports and FRS Sports since 2009. He also hosts radio for SiriusXM NBA and SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. Follow Zach on Twitter @talkhoops
