Bad news for New Orleans

[Mark Piotrowski <markp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

	Wednesday, October 15, 2003
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(10-15) 13:35 PDT NEW YORK (AP) --

The NBA plans to switch to six five-team divisions for the 2004-05 
season, when the Charlotte Bobcats become the league's 30th team.

The proposal, which includes having three divisions per conference 
instead of two, is expected to be approved formally by the board of 
governors, deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Wednesday. A vote could 
come as early as next month.

Eight teams from each conference still would make the playoffs: the 
winner of each division plus the teams with the next five best records 
in each conference.

The NBA will realign along geographic lines. New Orleans will move from 
the East to the West, and Charlotte will be in the East.

Granik said the regular-season schedule would be affected only 
minimally by the realignment.

No names were discussed for the new divisions. Currently, the Eastern 
Conference has the Atlantic and Central, while the West has the Midwest 
and Pacific.

I assume the atlantic would remain:

Boston
Philly
NJ
NY
Wash (maybe cleveland and Wash in South?)

the midwest would be
detroit
indiana (maybe cleveland then indiana in south?)
milwaukee
chicago
Toronto

and they'd add a south:
Orlando
Miami
Charlotte
Atlanta
Cleveland/Washington/Indiana