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.