As expected, the NBA is doing away with division winners receiving playoff-seeding precedence over teams with better records.
The league will begin seeding playoff teams solely upon win-loss records this 2015-16 season, essentially killing the significance of a division winner. This should be a welcome change, considering the NBA's playoff picture has been tainted with division winners getting precedence... especially last season.
The Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs each finished with a 55-27 record, but were seeded fifth and sixth, respectively, despite finishing with better records than the No. 4 Portland Trail Blazers (51-31). The only reason the Trail Blazers were seeded better was because they won the Northwest division title.
Because of that, the 2014 NBA champion Spurs wound up facing the third-seeded Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs and wound up losing to them in a grueling seven-game series.
Had the playoffs been constructed purely on win-loss records, the Grizzlies and Spurs would have faced each other in the first round.
If the Spurs had defeated the Grizzlies, they would have faced the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors in a more intriguing second-round matchup than seen with the Grizzlies and Warriors because of the correct playoff structure.
With the format modified, fans will get closer to seeing the playoff matchups they should. Good move on the NBA's part. This was something that needed to happen.
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