Think The NBA Playoffs Match-Ups Are Boring? NBA Playoffs Lottery Is The Answer!

We have a guest blogger writing for us today! His name is Dylan Murphy and he’s a full-time writer for Pardon The Opinion. He wrote a killer article for us last week.

I am a man of change. Just as I would like to institute changes to the MLB playoff system, I believe a few tweaks to the NBA playoffs would do the trick.

I am not looking for any major overhauls. I simply seek intensity.

That is not to say that the playoffs lack intensity already. But after watching a few first-round games, the fire that will exist between a Cleveland/Orlando series has not yet reared its ugly head.

Maybe I’m alone, but I’d love to watch another Robert Horry on Steve Nash shove. Just a little something to get the juices flowing.

Only one solution comes to mind. If the NBA is willing to showcase the worst teams in the draft lottery, is it too much to ask the same for playoff teams?

My solution works as follows: each team must choose its opponent.

Essentially, this would force the top three seeds in each conference to decide which team is the worst. In its current state, the Chicago/Cleveland series is an unfair series.

While Chicago players can feign their playoff excitement, they know they’re in the process of getting crushed. But imagine if Cleveland had chosen to play them.

Not only would this motivate LeBron and company to lay the smack down even harder,but would this not light an even greater fire in Chicago as the underdog?

There is one unintended yet essential consequence of the “Call ‘Em Out” playoff system: seeding becomes fair.

With all of their injuries, the Blazers in no way deserve a #6 seed. With the first choice of opponent, the Lakers most likely would have chosen the Blazers.

Oklahoma City, the obviously superior team (and frankly more enjoyable to watch) would then have a greater chance of making it out of the first round by avoiding the Lakers.

Directly after the draft lottery ends, you would kick back on your couch, grab a beer and some wings, and enjoy the show. Except this show would involve three times more excitement.

Similar to the draft lottery, all GMs would be lined up in order. Then to make a selection, the GM of the #1 seed would walk over to the team he wants to play, points, and says “We want you (although he might as well say, “you guys barely even deserve to be in the playoffs, so we want to play you. Oh and you suck.”)

Is this idea unreasonable and unrealistic? Absolutely.

But I’d at least like to add two rounds of basketball that feel like playoff basketball as opposed to a friendly, nursing home style game of backgammon.