EASTERN CONFERENCE Northeast Division Boston New York New Jersey Philly Toronto Southeast Division Atlanta Charlotte Miami Orlando Washington Midwest Division Chicago Cleveland Detroit Indiana Milwaukee WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division Dallas Houston San Antonio New Orleans Memphis Northwest Division Denver Minnesota Utah Seattle Portland Southwest Division Lakers Clippers Golden State Sacramento Phoenix Of course, that's just the whole "put Charlotte in the East and move the Hornets west" idea that Stern said he didn't want and that he'd really like to turn it "upside-down" so how about something slightly wackier: NORTHERN CONFERENCE Northeast Division Boston New York New Jersey Philly Toronto Midwest Division Chicago Cleveland Detroit Indiana Milwaukee Northwest Division Denver Minnesota Utah Seattle Portland SOUTHERN CONFERENCE Southeast Division Atlanta Charlotte Miami Orlando Washington Central Division Dallas Houston San Antonio New Orleans Memphis Southwest Division Lakers Clippers Golden State Sacramento Phoenix But that's really just shuffling the six divisions that I named above into "north" and "south." Wackier still: OLD SCHOOL Eastern Division New York Boston Philly Washington Atlanta Central Division Houston Chicago Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee Western Division Lakers Golden St. Phoenix Seattle Portland NEW SCHOOL Eastern Division Charlotte Miami New Jersey Orlando Toronto Central Division Dallas New Orleans Memphis San Antonio Indiana Western Division Denver Utah Sacramento Clippers Minnesota Basically, the premise here is this: Teams that have moved into an area or been founded the most recently are in the New School. The Rockets, who moved from San Diego to Houston in 1971 are the newest Old School team. And even though the New Jersey Nets and Indiana Pacers have been in roughly the same metro areas since 1967, they were both ABA refugees that were absorbed into the NBA in 1976 along with San Antonio and Denver. Besides, as former ABA teams, they're by definition NOT "old school." And if a team moves into a new area, they get bumped into the New School by default, and the oldest team in the New School gets moved into the Old School.
El Jefe makes for some good reading, as usual. But, who can deny the age old, basketball debate of west Vs east coast flava? Most interesting will be the idea of keeping it polarized by the coasts and the gaps to be filled in by middle America. The only reason to do this you ask? Well, just like in baseball, major cities with major money and quite possibly, major influence, ie: Chicago, has to keep their interests first. Remember when Chicago Cubs would have to play in the west? Well, start times for most away games would not fit into natural sleep paterns for their fans, the major newspaper owner and the media market caused MLB to change and focus into three divisions. The NBA will follow that example. They will try to make new rivalries. I really enjoy the old/new school idea, but that is not really a way to best showcase the teams. Also, it would be short sighted to cry over or try to artificially balance the powers in the NBA. The west is strong today, but for the previous two decades the east was stronger, with the Lakers being the exception. That said, no wonder the Lakers had a good run in the 80's, no competition until the finals. They have also learned from the D league that regional rivals seem to grow if you force the teams, cities, to not only play against each other, but fight each other in the standings and playoff spots. With only the top in each division assured making the playoffs, weaker divisions would only get one team, while others will make up the at large spots. Nothing new expect it would give a weak division winner a chance for palyoff ball who otherwise would be at home. I don't really think NBA fans travel like soccer fans, so these changes will make for some geographic logic, more regional fan interest and the mighty TV viewer.
That article says Minnesota and Memphis want to go into the east I don't see how any plan would have them in the east. I hope they don't put up a big resistance because their might not be a change if they do.