Cuban believes move would make the NBA more interesting…
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Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has proposed a new conference realignment in the NBA to make the field competitive in both the East and West.
Cuban has suggested a conference realignment that would result in a total of eight teams, including the Mavs, switching conferences.
As part of his plan, the Mavs, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Pelicans would move to the East, with the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks moving in the opposite direction.
“It’s not like it’d be the first time we’ve ever realigned. It’s happened many times before, so there’s precedent and I just think it shakes things up and makes things interesting.
“It’s not like you’re reducing competition,” said Cuban, who noted that the teams he suggested moving to the West are approximately the same distance from Portland as Dallas and closer than New Orleans, San Antonio and Houston. “You keep Cleveland, Washington and other good teams in the East. It kind of shakes things up in terms of not just interest but also in terms of how people rebuild.
“It just changes things up and it changes the thought process of a lot of teams. It makes both conferences very competitive, at least for the short term and I think, based on the history of the teams, for the long term as well.”
The Mavericks finished with a 49-33 record last season which was enough to sneak into the playoffs with the eighth spot in the West. However, with that same record, they would have been the third seed in the East.
Commissioner Adam Silver has been receptive to new ideas since taking office, and one of the biggest problems with the NBA currently is the lack of competitiveness in the East when compared to the deep West.
Whether or not Cuban’s plan is something he considers remains to be seen, but the trend is continuing early this season too with just six teams in the East having a winning record so far while there are 10 in the West.
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