I don't like any of the proposed changes other than shortening the season. I never thought the NBA would consider it due to the potential lost revenue.
Re-seeding the semi-finals round would be a strange choice. Woj mentioned the WNBA "seeding teams in the playoffs without regard to conference for several seasons" and that makes more sense. If they're going to do this, it should be for the entire playoffs, not just the semi-finals round.
Conference and division dictate how often teams play against one another during the regular season. According to the internetz, here's how often teams play against each other currently:
- 4 games against the other 4 division opponents (4×4=16 games)
- 4 games* against 6 (out-of-division) conference opponents (4×6=24 games)
- 3 games against the remaining 4 conference teams (3×4=12 games)
- 2 games against teams in the opposing conference (2×15=30 games)
* A five-year rotation determines which out-of-division conference teams are played only 3 times.
That said, if they're going to futz with the playoff seeding, it may be worth reexamining the regular season structure of how often teams play each other. Maybe make it random? For example, the Rockets may play the Knicks four times one year, three times another year etc.
With the proposed changes, sounds like eight teams would be taken from each conference: top six then the two from the tournament. I'm with Shaymin here. I'm not seeing the point of the tournament. It just seems to complicate things. Just take the top 16 teams regardless of conference (i.e. 1 would play 16, 2 would play 15 etc).