Nothing But Net is a weekly look at issues across the NBA, posted every Thursday by noon

-

There is no denying the NBA’s Eastern Conference is far inferior to the West right now. Just three East teams are at .500 or better as of Thursday, while 11 are at that level in the West.

And when incoming commissioner Adam Silver said this week it might be time to re-examine the current divisional setup around the league, it created some kind of buzz.

Everything was thrown out there for discussion:

Eliminating the divisions all together;

Shifting some teams around so that it makes at least a little bit of geographical sense (Oklahoma City in the Northwest? Toronto in one division and Detroit and Cleveland in another?);

Leaving it as is (understanding there might be a cyclical nature to the ebb and flow of power across the league);

Doing away with conferences and putting the 16 teams with the best records in the playoffs regardless.

All have merit at some level but the issue — when it comes right down to it, we would suggest — is giving division winners a guaranteed top-four seed in the playoffs.

I don’t think there’s a huge problem with the current six divisions; they were established to provide a chance at rivalries developing between teams that play each other four times a year. Not entirely sure that works anymore and there could be a way to balance out the schedule in any incarnation of the structure of the league.

So how about this:

Instead of three divisions per conference, why not go to two? Why not give the top team in each of those two divisions the top two seeds in the playoffs and then let the other six teams be seeded by record?

It would eliminate the mess that is the third division champion creeping into a top four spot they may not deserve and would balance things out nicely.

There has been no indication what the board of governors thinks about the current alignment — and it is that group that would have to ultimately approve any change — but that the commissioner has suggest the topic at least be discussed has to be a step forward.

And while they’re at it, it might be time to think about re-seeding the teams at the conference final level, perhaps based on regular season records. That’s been an issue in past and it might be time to address that if sweeping change is in anyone’s mind.

What do you think?

-

Who’s hot?

The Phoenix Suns

Remember when they were supposed to be one of the teams giving up on this season and stockpiling picks for next June? Well, how about three wins in a row, seven victories in their last 10 games and a 12-9 record that has them in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.

Who’s not?

The Orlando Magic

A win Wednesday night over the Charlotte Bobcats was nice but given that it halted an NBA-worst six-game losing streak at the time, it’d probably be of little consolation.

-

A quarter of the way in

(No, it’s not the quarter pole, that’s at the end of a race)

Every team in the league is at least 20 games into its 82-game season which means it’s time for first quarter surprises and disappointments.

SURPRISES

Portland: A revamped bench — it was the worst in the league last season — and a well-balanced roster has the Blazers fighting for first overall in the West and no one saw that coming.

Houston: It hasn’t taken Dwight Howard nearly as long as some thought to mesh with James Harden and if the Rockets can turn soon-to-be-traded back Omer Asik into something, they could be a force.

Charlotte: All kinds of things are going right for the Bobcats, who can play stifling wing defence when they’re healthy and even if it is in the East, they are in a playoff hunt.

DISAPPOINTMENTS

Brooklyn: They’ve been hurt, Kevin Garnett’s shooting about 38 per cent, Paul Pierce is coming off the bench, Jason Kidd demoted his top assistant coach and if there’s a bigger mess in the NBA, not sure what it is.

New York: Oh yeah, you could argue this is a bigger mess than Brooklyn, for sure.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

They’ve suffered some horrific blowouts, centre Tyson Chandler hasn’t played in weeks, the angst level is off the charts and, even in the East, they have some work to do just to climb into the playoff race.

Memphis: Conference finalists a year ago to a game under .500 at the moment and with Marc Gasol still likely to be sidelined for weeks? Has to be the biggest disappointment in the West.

-

The Raptors week ahead

Friday vs. Philadelphia

Saturday at Chicago

Wednesday vs. Charlotte

Since there is no idea how quickly they will integrate four new players into the lineup — and there is only a Thursday practice and a Friday shootaround to do it, it’s hard to figure out how the week will unfold.

That being said, there will be no one connected with the team even remotely happy unless they win two of these three.

If they want to be even partially legitimate, they cannot lose home games to either Philadelphia or Charlotte.

Stealing a back-to-back on the road in Chicago would be nice and an added bonus before a pre-Christmas road trip.

-

Around the league

It will be of no solace around here at all but the Golden State Warriors were up to their old hijinks again Wednesday night. They got down 18 to Dallas before rallying late to win on a Stephen Curry jump shot. It wasn’t 27 points but imagine the Mavericks and their fans didn’t feel too good . . . Much high praise from Chicago for D.J. Augustin, the point guard cut adrift by the Raptors as it looks like he’ll catch on with the Bulls. “He’s a phenomenal, phenomenal guard,” was how Taj Gibson put it to reporters in Chicago. “He’s a good scorer; he just needs the opportunity.” Like the one he frittered away in Toronto? . . . Things seem to be shaking out perfectly for the Philadelphia 76ers in their pursuit of a top draft pick. They dealt away a star guard (Jrue Holiday) for a draft pick with a bum knee who may not play at all this season (Nerlens Noel) and now rookie Michael Carter-Williams has missed four games with an infected knee. That’s how a team plummets through the standings, even in the awful NBA Eastern Conference . . . Doc Rivers teared up in his return to Boston with the Clippers on Wednesday and for a crowd that can give returning ex-players a bit of a hard time (see Ray Allen), Rivers got a long and heartfelt ovation and then his team beat the Celtics and no one seemed to mind . . . Those who had New York’s Mike Woodson as the first coach to be fired this season might end up being prescient. With each passing day, he sounds a bit more defensive and worried about his employment future with the struggling Knicks.

-

CanCon

The early struggles of No. 1 draft pick Anthony Bennett have been well chronicled; he’s shooting about 23 per cent from the field and having an impossible time finding any kind of consistency.

The answer? The Cleveland Cavaliers are moving the Brampton native from power forward to small forward and see if that can’t jump start his season.

It’s an adjustment (“It’s the first time playing the ‘3’ in my life. It’s a huge adjustment for me,” he said this week) but when you’ve got such a high draft pick unable to find a comfort level, something needs to be done.

-

Wiggins watch

It is far too early in the presumed one-year college career of Andrew Wiggins for trends to emerge. Still, it has to be a bit troubling that ESPN stats and info show that the phenom is shooting just 31 per cent on jump shots through games of Tuesday.

According to the website, that ranked him 387th of 500 college players with at least 40 field goal attempts.