NEW YORK, Nov. 17 ? The NBA Board of Governors has approved a realignment plan that will take effect with the start of the 2004-05 season, NBA Commissioner David Stern announced today.

The NBA's newest member, the Charlotte Bobcats, will tip off its inaugural season as part of the Eastern Conference while the New Orleans Hornets will move from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. Each conference will now have a total of 15 teams with three divisions of five teams.

Baron Davis and the Hornets will move to the Western Conference.

The newly approved divisions are:

 

Eastern Conference

 

Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors

Central Division: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast Division: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards

 

Western Conference

 

Southwest Division: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs

Northwest Division: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle SuperSonics, Utah Jazz

Pacific Division: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings

 

Under the new plan, teams will play divisional opponents four times each (two home games/two road games), conference opponents outside the division three or four times each and opponents outside the conference two times each (one home game/one road game).

 

The three regular season divisional winners in each conference will earn a playoff berth and one of the conference's top three playoff seeds based on regular season record. The remaining five playoff berths for each conference will be based on regular season records with no regard to divisional alignment.

 

Home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs will be based solely on regular season record, not playoff seeding, thus a divisional winner that has a higher playoff seed than an opponent will not necessarily have home-court advantage in the playoff series

big break for the Heat....

nooiiice!! with the hawks, bobcats, magic, and wizards in our division, we've easily got the wimpiest division in the NBA.

 

i only wish we got to play division rivals more.

 

the seeding system is excellent, too. i hate how division winners get higher seeding in MLB and NFL

read this last week....

 

 

spurs have a tough time thats for damn sure.

 

 

 

oh well....

 

 

west gets stronger...east gets weaker.

 

 

not shocking.

Read this last week too...but yeah I'm very happy for the Heat as they will play in a much easier division where there is no real competition like the Nets, Celts, or Sixers.

 

But it sucks for the east as they lose one of their best competitors and gain a franchise that's gonna definitely take some time to get competitive.

The Southeast is so weak it isn't even funny

Glad to see the Heat fans are thrilled they will have absolutely no challenge in the regular season.

 

Thus they will just have to possibly wait till the playoffs to discover they suck.

I agree the Eastern Conference is a joke........why dont they switch one team of the west with New Orleans.....sounds better to me.

They could move Memphis over o the East.

Yeah I know...that's why it's so good for the Heat

 

They could actually be first!!

They could move Memphis over o the East.

Sounds goood to me but most likely wont happen next season.

Glad to see the Heat fans are thrilled they will have absolutely no challenge in the regular season.

 

Thus they will just have to possibly wait till the playoffs to discover they suck.

well I mean they still have to play every team in the Western Conf. twice and still have to face all the teams in the East 3-4 times.

 

I'm just saying that they now have an easier chance to make the playoffs :unsure :

Yeah I know...that's why it's so good for the Heat

 

They could actually be first!!

Hey what about my magic?? I kow they suck right now but........the are by far the better team.

ok...

 

 

if you move memphis and/or new orleans to the east.....

 

 

who from the east moves to the west.

 

 

 

 

question

I've always wondered why Memphis wasn't in the east in the first place. I mean Memphis is practically more in the east than Chicago and Detroit. But if you mean it from the perspective of making the east better, Memphis won't help much.

Yeah I know...that's why it's so good for the Heat

 

They could actually be first!!

Hey what about my magic?? I kow they suck right now but........the are by far the better team. I said could

Yeah I know...that's why it's so good for the Heat?

 

They could actually be first!!

Hey what about my magic?? I know they suck right now but........the are by far the better team. I said could I know I was just messing with u

Yeah I know...that's why it's so good for the Heat?

 

They could actually be first!!

Hey what about my magic?? I know they suck right now but........the are by far the better team. I said could I know I was just messing with u

 

Don't know what's up with the Magic right now :mischief2 Just not their year I guess but if Hill does return in February like he hopes, then maybe they can make a run back :plain ...I mean this is the East, and the Atlantic Division where the 1st place team is under .500

Yeah I know...that's why it's so good for the Heat?

 

They could actually be first!!

Hey what about my magic?? I know they suck right now but........the are by far the better team.

I said could

I know I was just messing with u

 

Don't know what's up with the Magic right now :mischief2 Just not their year I guess but if Hill does return in February like he hopes, then maybe they can make a run back :plain ...I mean this is the East, and the Atlantic Division where the 1st place team is under .500

the bucks have plenty of geographical reason to move to the west... moreso than the hornets, for sure

 

i wouldn't mind them tainting the west so we can have new orleans or memphis

I saw an interesting alignment scheme online about a week ago:

 

Atlantic: Knicks, Nets, Celtics, Toronto, 76ers, Washington

Southeast: Miami, Orlando, New Orleans, Atlanta, Charlotte, Memphis

Central: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee, Minnesota

Southwest: Dallas, Denver, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio, Utah

Pacific: Golden State, L.A. Clippers, L.A. Lakers, Portland, Sacramento, Seattle

 

That's five 6-team divisions. 6 games against each team in your division and 2 each against everybody else. That's 78 games so they'd either have to reduce the schedule by 4 games or tweak it a little, maybe play 4 teams in your division 7 times.

 

The big thing with this alignment is ... no conferences. The top 16 teams go to the playoffs (division winners guaranteed and maybe seeded 1-5).

 

It's a radical jump but it eliminates the problem we've had lately where the Western Conference Finals is the real NBA Championship.

 

It would also mess up the All-Star game but they can come up with something for that, maybe International vs. US like they did in Hockey, or split one of the divisions in half for All-Star Game purposes.

except the NBA wont be assured of some of their eastern conference cash cow markets having a better shot at the playoffs.

 

although i do agree with this the most.

 

 

it makes for the best overall basketball. makes too much sense for the NBA.

I hope that T-Mac can straighten the boat..........Last time he got a little frustrated and foul out...........the rest of the team did their best but couldnt win the game........and also I think Hill is the missing piece.............to magic sucess

He is the missing piece. Him and TMac are an unstoppable duo. When Grant played in the beginning of last season, they were playing awesome.

the seeding system is excellent, too. i hate how division winners get higher seeding in MLB and NFL

The three regular season divisional winners in each conference will earn a playoff berth and one of the conference's top three playoff seeds based on regular season record.

Why do they keep making the West stronger and weakning the East. (sigh) Thats why the NBA is struggling like it is.