NBA Lockout: League Could Benefit from Following NHL's Lead on Realignment

Essentially throughout their respective histories, the NBA and NHL have tended to move in concert with one another in matters relating to divisional alignments and playoff formats.

Why stop now?

If the NBA were to follow the NHL and adopt a four-conference setup—actually a four-division setup without two conferences consisting of two divisions each, in everything but name—its conferences/divisions would break down as follows:

NBA East: Boston, Miami, New Jersey, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington.

NBA North: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota, Toronto.

NBA South: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, San Antonio.

NBA West: Denver, Golden State, L.A. Clippers, L.A. Lakers, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Utah.

One possible variant is to conform to strict geography and have Atlanta and Charlotte compete in the East rather than Miami and Orlando. The latter two are actually closer to the Atlantic coastline than Atlanta and Charlotte, though, so we'll go with the alignment listed above. Having the two Florida teams in the East also recognizes the large number of Northeastern transplants in the Sunshine State.

Also note how the eight Mountain and Pacific time zone teams all neatly fit into one grouping, so that no Central time zone teams have West Coast teams as rivals they have to play most often.

But what about the NBA All-Star Game, you ask? The two squads can continue to consist of two conferences each, with the pairings assigned on a rotating basis: In the first year, it's East and North vs. South and West; in the second year, East and South vs. North and West; and in the third year, East and West vs. North and South.

This alignment also affords flexibility in the event of expansion: With 32 teams, each of the eight-team conferences could then be split into two four-team divisions. In that case, teams in the same division could meet six times, teams in different divisions of the same conference four times, and teams not in the same conference twice, accounting for the 82 games (this applies to the NHL as well).

The NBA has been remiss in recent times by not emphasizing division rivalries, which generate greater fan interest—leading to both higher attendance and TV ratings—and reduce travel costs, thus both increasing the league's income and reducing its outgo.

This would appear to be a sound strategy for the post-lockout NBA.