First of all, who gets the new teams.
Although the NBA has sent mixed signals on how soon it will expand, most believe that a round of expansion to add 2 teams to the league will happen while Adam Silver is the NBA commissioner. There are, however, other issues to be addressed first, such as developing a better development system now that most experts wish to see the end of the one and done system in college basketball. After this is addressed, it appears that the NBA will add 2 franchises to bring the size of the league to 32 teams.
There are many cities in North America that could host modern NBA teams. Many have drawbacks. The two most likely are Seattle and Vancouver. These are the largest cities in the US and Canada that are absent from the NBA. Beyond these two, I think that the NBA would consider a 2nd franchise for Chicago or the San Francisco Bay area or even third franchises for Los Angeles and New York before exploring cities like Las Vegas, Austin or Virginia Beach. There is also one other glaring omission from the NBA map. Currently, there is no NBA team in Missouri. Therefore, I would put the NBA's expansion priorities as follows:
1. Seattle
2. Vancouver
3. St. Louis or Kansas City
4. San Jose
5. Chicago
6. New York
7. Los Angeles
8. Virginia Beach/Hampton Roads
9. Louisville
10. Las Vegas
11. Austin
12. Pittsburgh
Expansion could also mean playoff changes as well. Currently, the NBA's 2nd biggest problem is that issue of tanking. Teams not only tank to get better odds in the NBA's draft lottery, but also to get better playoff positions and match-ups. For example, in this year's playoffs, some think that the Houston Rockets tanked to get a playoff match-up against the Utah Jazz instead of the Oklahoma City Thunder. I'd take those odds myself, taking on a youthful and inexperienced Jazz vs. the veteran Thunder. With 32 teams, you could put the entire league in the playoffs and structure it to avoid jockeying for a better match-up in the end.
My thought is that you break the NBA up into 8 four-team divisions. The first round of the playoffs is a best of three against other teams in your division, which is re-seeded after this first round. Getting that home game in game 3 of the first round then becomes the most important thing to accomplish. But again, I will address this more in a later post.
I would also eliminate conferences as there tends to be one conference stronger or weaker than another.
The schedule would still be 82 games, but this is how it would break down.
6 games against the 3 other teams in your division.
18 games down on the schedule
Play a home and home against everyone else in the league.
56 more games on the schedule. 8 games left.
Play an additional game against a team that finished in the same place in another division last year that you did. A computer will figure out who is the home team and who is the road team.
1 game against another team that you have only played twice. The computer will figure it out to ensure that each team has 42 home games and 42 road games.
Finally, I have one more piece of the puzzle to add. Teams can voluntarily give up one home game for a neutral site game and increase their odds in the lottery by one position. This game can be played either overseas or at any neutral site. With high school players entering the draft out of high school, there will need to be something done to help fill college arenas. How about the Celtics and Nicks playing at the UConn arena.
That is your 82 game schedule.
Assuming that Seattle and Vancouver are the expansion teams...
Remember, there are no conferences...
Northwest Division:
Portland
Sacrament
Seattle
Vancouver
Pacific Division
LA Clippers
LA Lakers
Phoenix
San Francisco (Or Golden State)
Mountain Division
Denver
Memphis
Oklahoma City
Utah
Gulf Coast Division
Dallas
Houston
New Orleans
San Antonio
Central Division
Chicago
Indiana
Milwaukee
Minnesota
Great Lakes Division
Cleveland
Detroit
Toronto
Washington
Atlantic Division
Boston
Brooklyn
New York
Philadelphia
Southern Division
Atlanta
Charlotte
Miami
Orlando
