There are only four teams in the Western Conference playing sub .500 basketball. Those teams being the Memphis Grizzlies, Portland Trailblazers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Seattle Supersonics. The Pacific Division comprised of the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, and the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers does not have a team below .500.

The Eastern Conference by contrast is sporting twelve NBA teams with sub .500 records. The Atlantic division does not have one team with a record greater than .500, allowing the New Jersey Nets at 7-9 to claim 1st place.

Does anyone else see the absurdity of seeding the playoffs as "Eastern" and "Western" any longer?

The Western Conference has become too dominant and if the NBA wants to get a true NBA champion than it's time to restructure how they schedule the regular season in order to produce the best possible playoff format.

The NBA needs to have each team play one another an equal amount of times during the regular season, regardless of time constraints and scheduling conflicts. This could result in the regular season taking longer to be completed but it's time for the change.

Restructuring the regular season schedule will allow the playoffs to be seeded 1-16, without respect to Eastern or Western conference. There are bound to be at least 2-3 teams (probably more) in the Western Conference this season who would easily have made the playoffs in the East. It's unfair for a mediocre team in the National Basketball Association to be granted a playoff birth just because they reside on the East coast. It's also unfair for a high seed or any seed in the Western Conference to have a much more difficult path to the NBA Finals than their eventual opponent from the Eastern Conference.

David Stern has instituted many ridiculous rule changes recently, it's time to make a change that will effect the most important thing in the game, determining the NBA Champion.