Playoff seeding idea

[Uncle Mxy]

I don't like the "reseeding at every step" business the NHL. But, I would like to see the regular season record somehow mean something.

My idea here: Why not have the teams with the top three records in each conference simply pick who their playoff opponent will be in the first round? Top seed picks first. Let the best teams figure out the road they want to start down to get to the Finals. Applied to this year:

In the East, the Pistons would've undoubtedly picked the injured Wizards over any other team. The Cavs might've taken the Nets, because they have bigs and the Nets don't. The Bulls would've likely taken anyone but the Heat, and would determine who the Heat would play by who they selected.

In the West, the Mavs would've stayed away from Nellie's Golden State, picked the Lakers, and Dirk doesn't get exposed so soon. The Suns might've picked the Nuggets over Golden State. The Spurs would've been left with some interesting choices.

If you want to extend it further (perhaps at the risk of screwing up playoff scheduling even more), permit the highest-record team that advances to the 2nd round to select their opponent.

[CindyKate]

Great idea. One potential risk, though, would be an epidemic of the Foot (in the) Mouth Desease.