I think it would be really fun if inter-conference play was locked to a certain month. Maybe East teams only visit the West in January and Western teams only visit the East in March. I feel like it would be a lot of fun.
Another cool way to do this would be to have the East and West seeds all face each other in reverse order from 15-1
The only way to make conferences matter again is going back to the ol’ East/West All-Star game setup vs the draft
The All-Star game matters even less than the conferences do, no matter the format.
What exactly does this incentivize?
I think all the inter conference games happening all at once would create some fun road trips and home stands specifically tailored around east vs west
Other than “I feel like it would be a lot of fun”, what’s your argument for fewer inter-conference games.
Conferences don’t exist
McMa!
I do agree with your underlying sentiment that conferences and even divisions should matter more. This fosters both rivalry and greater fandom. Reverting back to the East vs. West all-star format is a start. I feel as tho the root of the issue (as is a lot of nba’s problems) is the amount of games. If you reduce the amount of games and proportionally increase the the number of conference and divisional games this would achieve the desired result I feel.
Just eliminate conferences. Each team plays every other team 3 times for an 87 game season, and the playoffs are seeded 1-16.
Logistically it isn’t possible.