By Jeje Gomez, Marilyn Dubinski, Mark Barrington, Bill Huan, Devon Birdsong | Pounding The Rock (PtR), 2024-11-20 08:04:01
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
如果马刺队在较弱的东部联盟，他们将有很大机会进入季后赛，但西部联盟的竞争可能过于激烈，圣安东尼奥难以获得季后赛席位。
马刺队目前的战绩如果在东部可以让他们参与季后赛的争夺。你认为如果他们在较弱的赛区，他们会进入季后赛吗？
玛丽莲·杜宾斯基(Marilyn Dubinski): 他们在东部肯定会有更好的机会，但话说回来，这几乎每年都可以这么说。不知何故，尽管东部拥有更多“自由球员目的地”球队，但它从未像西部那样兑现其潜力。你可能会认为像西部这样深度如此之强的赛区会是那种内耗严重、降低整体胜率的赛区，但相反，他们只是依靠战胜东部球队来垫底，而我猜东部下游的2/3的球队才是相互竞争的群体，这使得东部头部球队实力强劲，但深度不足。任何处于西部边缘的球队都可能希望在东部待上一个赛季。
马克·巴灵顿(Mark Barrington): 在赛季开始前，我观察了整个联盟，我认为西部今年会走下坡路，而东部会复苏。哎，我大错特错了。马刺队的战绩接近五成胜率，而且他们到目前为止只和一支东部球队交手过，所以他们对东部球队的比赛取得胜率过半的战绩并非不可能。这样的战绩会让银黑军团处于季后赛争夺的中心位置。
杰西·戈麦斯(Jesus Gomez): 看起来是这样。至少健康的马刺队可以做到。即使在输掉一场本可以赢下与爵士队的比赛后，圣安东尼奥的胜率仍然徘徊在五成左右。目前东部只有四支球队的胜率达到或超过五成。即使76人队和雄鹿队在排名上攀升，马刺队肯定也能参与附加赛的竞争。现在赛季还早，其他东部球队可能会迎来一波连胜或者通过交易来提升实力，而且马刺队也有可能出现退步，但就目前的情况来看，圣安东尼奥在较弱的赛区将是一个强有力的季后赛竞争者。
比尔·黄(Bill Huan): 马刺队肯定不会比凯尔特人、骑士、魔术或尼克斯的战绩更好。在那之后，76人队和雄鹿队能否解决他们众所周知的问题还有待观察，但我相信他们至少能进入附加赛。考虑到热火队和步行者队仍然存在，而且活塞队和老鹰队的表现比预期要好，我认为圣安东尼奥在东部最有可能获得一个附加赛席位。
德文·伯德桑(Devon Birdsong): 我只想说，勒布朗在东部9次进入总决赛，而在西部只有1次，这是有原因的，这不仅仅是因为时间老人。在目前的赛制下，我相信马刺队会在东部获得第7或第8号种子，主要是因为我认为如果他们能保持健康，他们很有可能在西部获得第9或第10名。西部的第10号种子几乎等同于东部的第8号种子。
西部有11支球队的胜率达到或超过五成，而东部只有四支。NBA是否应该重新考虑取消赛区，让战绩最好的球队进入季后赛？
杜宾斯基: 他们早就应该取消赛区了，因为这整个世纪以来一直是一个持续存在的问题。问题是他们可能永远无法获得足够的投票来做到这一点，尤其是那些长期战绩不佳的东部球队，否则他们将永远没有机会。还有一个问题是制定一个合理的赛程，不会因为他们需要完成的电视转播协议而过多地减少比赛数量，并保持合理的旅行。（可以理解的是，东海岸的球队可能不想比现在打更多晚上10点在西海岸的比赛。）话虽如此，我不反对保留赛区以安排赛程，但将它们从排名中移除，因为正如我们已经指出的，尽管西部实力更强，但这并没有阻止这些球队获得更好的战绩。
巴灵顿: 我不这么认为，因为竞争在体育运动中很重要。球迷们期待着与对手的比赛，即使对手正处于低谷期。也许在低谷期更是如此，因为生活中最美好的事情是“……[粉碎你的敌人，看着他们在你面前逃窜，聆听他们女人们的哀嚎。]”[根据《野蛮人柯南》] 这并不意味着不应该偶尔进行重新调整，比如1980年马刺队被调到西部联盟。NBA最终应该扩充到32支球队，在扩充之后，联盟应该重新配置分区。
戈麦斯: 这是值得考虑的，但仅仅因为这个赛季的形势就取消赛区有些反应过度。在最近的过去，东部有几次在好球队数量上与西部相当，至少在战绩方面是这样。我认为让季中锦标赛拥有混合小组，包含来自两个赛区的球队会很有趣。在赛程安排上可能比较棘手，但这将是一个有趣的尝试。
黄: 有趣的是，扎克·洛维(Zach Lowe)刚刚在推特上谈到了这一点，并指出由于联盟扩张，一些西部球队将迁往东部。如果发生这种情况，西部实力自然会被削弱，尤其是因为新扩张的球队可能会相当弱。
话虽如此，这个问题引出了一个我更想争论的点，那就是每个赛季的长度。我一直认为NBA应该考虑将赛季缩短到58场，这样每支球队都能与其他球队交手两次，这自然会消除对赛区的需求，并允许联盟采用1-16的排名模式。
伯德桑: 除了84年到98年之间的一段时间（凯尔特人、活塞、公牛），自从NBA-ABA合并以来，东部一直是较弱的赛区，所以看到这种情况在这个赛季再次发生并不令人惊讶。就我个人而言，我认为NBA季后赛将受益于更小的球队池，每个赛区减少到6支球队，这几乎肯定会淘汰那些胜率低于五成的球队，并防止球队为了低位种子而放水（说的就是你，迈阿密热火/洛杉矶湖人）。然而，这两个问题都将由老板决定，东部联盟的老板们几乎不可能投票支持增加他们失去季后赛门票收入的机会。我也看不出这会在东部联盟的球员中受欢迎。和马克一样，我认为唯一可能的情况是随着扩张（即将到来）而重新调整，但我不会介意只有最好的球队才能进入季后赛。
马刺队在NBA杯小组赛的首场比赛中输给了湖人队。考虑到他们所在小组其他球队的实力，你认为他们有晋级淘汰赛的现实机会吗？
杜宾斯基: 考虑到球队的伤病情况，他们并没有太大的机会。他们在对阵雷霆队的第二场杯赛中人手不足（没有杰里米·索汉(Jeremy Sochan)，可能也没有维克多·文班亚马(Victor Wembanyama)），很有可能在杯赛中以0-2的战绩出局。这将是一个几乎不可能翻盘并赢得小组第一的局面。他们肯定比上赛季更强，并且有机会进入杯赛，只是文班在关键比赛前膝盖受伤的时机很糟糕。（当然，如果首战战胜湖人队会对他们有所帮助。）
巴灵顿: 他们没有任何机会。他们在一个艰难的小组中，而且他们已经输掉了一场比赛。雷霆队应该会赢得小组第一，如果第二支球队作为外卡从西部B组晋级淘汰赛，那将是湖人队。我只希望马刺队本赛季至少能赢下一场NBA杯的比赛，因为到目前为止，他们在杯赛短暂的历史上战绩是0胜5负。
戈麦斯: 小组赛分组一公布，他们晋级小组赛的希望就显得渺茫。正如我们一直在说的，西部实力很强，圣安东尼奥的对手并不仅仅是几支强队。他们小组中的三支球队都对今年的总冠军抱有期待。马刺队的表现一直不错，像这样的短期锦标赛也允许一些意外情况发生，但银黑军团晋级淘汰赛的可能性似乎很小。
黄: 现实地说？没有。但请记住，这不是一个完整的82场常规赛，所以一个意想不到的结果可能会改变一切。然而，随着文班将缺席周二晚比赛的消息传出，马刺队的前景并不乐观。
伯德桑: 他们有机会吗？绝对有。他们和劳埃德·克里斯马斯都是希望锦标赛中的真正竞争者。如果我们谈论的是NBA杯（真的需要一个更好的名字），我会说他们的机会和亚伯拉罕·林肯连任第二个完整任期一样渺茫。
点击查看原文：The Spurs would be a playoff contender in the weaker East
The Spurs would be a playoff contender in the weaker East
The Spurs would have a legitimate chance of making the postseason in the weaker conference, but the West might be too stacked for San Antonio to get to the playoffs.
The Spurs’ current record would have them in the playoff hunt in the East. Do you think they would make the postseason if they were in the weaker conference?
Marilyn Dubinski: They certainly would have a much better chance in the East, but then again, that could be said almost every year. For whatever reason, despite having more “free agent destination” teams, the East just never lives up to its billing like the West does. You’d think that a conference as deep as the West would be the one that beats up on itself and lowers the overall win totals, but instead they just feast on the East to bring up the rear, while I guess the bottom 2⁄3 of the East is the group eating itself, making it top-heavy but weak in depth. Any fringe West team would probably love to spend just one season East.
Mark Barrington: When I looked at the league before the season started I thought it would be a down year for the west and that the east would be resurgent. Boy, was I ever wrong. The Spurs are near a .500 record and they’ve only played one team from the Eastern Conference so far, so it’s not implausible that they’d have a winning record against competition from the east. That kind of record would put the Silver and Black right in the middle of the playoff hunt.
Jesus Gomez: It looks that way. At least the healthy version of them could. San Antonio has hovered around .500 even after dropping a very winnable game against the Jazz. There are only four teams in the East at or above .500 right now. Even if the 76ers and Bucks climb up the standings, the Spurs could definitely be in the play-in race. It’s still early in the season and other East teams could go on a run or make trades to improve, plus there’s always the chance that the Spurs take a step back, but as things stand now, San Antonio would be a strong playoffs contender in the weaker conference.
Bill Huan: The Spurs definitely wouldn’t have a better record than the Celtics, Cavs, Magic or Knicks. After that, it remains to be seen if the Sixers and Bucks can get their you-know-what together, but I’m sure that they’ll make the play-in at the very least. Given that the Heat and Pacers are still around and with the Pistons and Hawks being friskier than expected, I think San Antonio’s likeliest placement in the East would be a play-in berth.
Devon Birdsong: All I’ll say is there’s a reason LeBron made the Finals 9 times in the East versus 1 in the West, and it’s not just Father Time. In the current format I’m confident the Spurs would land a 7th or 8th seed in the East, mostly because I think there’s a pretty good chance they end up 9th or 10th in the West if they can get healthy. A 10 seed in the West is pretty much the equivalent of an 8th seed in the East.
The West has 11 teams at or above .500 and the East only has four. Should the NBA reconsider doing away with conferences and having the teams with the best record make the postseason?
Dubinski: They should have done away with conferences a long time ago since this has been a running theme this entire century. The problem is they’ll probably never get the votes to do it, especially from perennially bad East teams that would otherwise never stand a chance. There’s also the whole issue of figuring out a schedule that makes sense, doesn’t cut back on the number of games by too much since they have TV deal obligations to fill, and maintains reasonable travel. (Understandably, East coast teams probably don’t want to be playing more 10 PM games on the West coast than they already do.) That being said, I wouldn’t be against keeping conferences for scheduling purposes but removing them from the standings, because as we already pointed out, despite the West being deeper, it’s not stopping those teams from having the better records.
Barrington: I don’t think so, because rivalries are important in sports. Fans look forward to games against their rivals, even when the opponent is having a down year. Maybe even more in a down year, since what is best in life is “… [t]o crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.” [according to Conan the Barbarian] That doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t occasionally be realignments, like when the Spurs were moved into the Western Conference in 1980. The NBA should eventually expand to 32 teams and after that expansion the league should reconfigure the divisions.
Gomez: It’s something to consider, but doing it because of how this season is going would be an overreaction. In the recent past, the East has had as many good teams as the West, at least in terms of record, a few times. I do think it would be interesting to have the in-season tournament have mixed groups, with teams from both conferences. It might be tricky to make it work schedule-wise but it would be a fun experiment.
Huan: Funny enough, Zach Lowe just tweeted about this and pointed out that some West team will be moving East due to expansion. If that happens, the West will naturally get watered down, especially since the expansion franchises are likely going to be quite weak.
With that said, this question brings up a larger point of contention for me, which is the length of each season. I’ve long thought that the NBA should consider shortening the season to 58 games so each team plays everyone else twice, and that would naturally take away the need for conferences and allow the league to go with a 1-16 format.
Birdsong: With the exception of a stretch between ‘84 and ‘98 (Celtics, Pistons, Bulls), the East has been the weaker conference since the NBA-ABA merger, so it’s not all that surprising to see it happening again this season. Personally, I think the NBA postseason would benefit more from a smaller pool of teams, by going down to 6 teams per conference, which would almost certainly eliminate teams with losing records from qualifying, and keep teams from coasting into a low seed (looking at you, Miami Heat/Los Angeles Lakers). However, both of these issues are going to be determined by ownership, and there’s about a boulder’s fart of a chance that Eastern Conference Governors are going to vote for an increased chance of them losing playoff game revenue. Can’t see it being popular with Eastern Conference players either. Like Mark, I think the only likely scenario is realignment with expansion (which is coming), but I wouldn’t be mad if only the best of the best made the postseason.
The Spurs lost their first game of the NBA Cup group game against the Lakers. Considering the quality of the other teams in their group, do you think they have a realistic chance of advancing to the knockout stage?
Dubinski: They don’t have much of a chance when also factoring in the state of the team injury-wise. They’re entering their second Cup game against OKC shorthanded (no Jeremy Sochan, likely no Victor Wembanyama) with pretty decent odds of coming out of it 0-2 in Cup play. That would be a nearly impossible hole to come back out of and win their group. They’re definitely a better team than last season and came into Cup play with a chance, it’s just bad timing that Wemby banged knees when he did and will miss a key game. (Of course, starting off with a win against the Lakers would have helped.)
Barrington: They don’t have any chance. They’re in a tough group and they’ve already lost a game. The Thunder should win the group, and if a second team advances to the knockout rounds as a wild card from West Group B, it’ll be the Lakers. I just hope the Spurs can win at least one NBA Cup game this season, as they’re 0-5 so far in the short history of the tournament.
Gomez: As soon as the group was announced it seemed like a long shot for them to make it past the group stage. As we’ve been saying, the West is deep and San Antonio didn’t just get some strong teams. Three of their groupmates have championship expectations this year. The Spurs have been decent and short tournaments like this one allow for some flukes but it doesn’t seem likely at all for the Silver and Black to make it to the knockout games.
Huan: Realistically? No. But remember, this isn’t a full 82-game slate, so one unexpected result could change anything. However, with the news that Wemby will miss Tuesday night’s game, things aren’t looking too hot for the Spurs.
Birdsong: Do they have a chance? Absolutely. They and Lloyd Christmas are real contenders in the tournament of hope. If we’re talking about the NBA Cup (which really needs a better name), I’d say their chances are about the same as a full second term for Abraham Lincoln.
By Jeje Gomez, Marilyn Dubinski, Mark Barrington, Bill Huan, Devon Birdsong, via Pounding The Rock