A Final Four Isn't in NBA's Future, Would Have Drastically Changed the Past

The NCAA Tournament is unmatched when it comes to drama. It’s an incredibly reliable made-for-television event, carefully crafted to insure tight games and unlikely outcomes. It is, in a word, fantastic.

It is also not a great way to determine a champion.

Despite that, one NBA general manager seems willing to toss aside 60 years of tradition and adopt a single-elimination Final Four instead of seven-game series.

Daryl Morey suggested he’d be down with the NBA getting significantly bracket-ier in a Twitter exchange with ESPN’s Pablo Torre.

It’s odd that Morey, widely considered one of the most vocal supporters of advanced statistics and analytics, would be in favor of reducing the sample size involved in the sport’s biggest games. It would violate both the spirit of the movement and minimize any possible advantage his team would have.

On the bright side, it would take weeks of excitement and cram it into eight total hours of real-time.

Here’s a short list of the groups who would hate such a monumental rule change:

• Fans
• Owners seeking revenue from up to eight additional home playoff games
• Television networks
• Media outlets

The only groups that might be in favor would be the superbusy who only have time to watch a few basketball games in a month and players already worn down from a long season.

So, yeah, this won’t ever happen. For laughs, though, let’s imagine if a Final Four had been in place during past NBA Playoffs. Would any of these 4-1 series have gone another way because one team got hot for 48 minutes?

Eastern Conference

• 2011: Miami Heat over Chicago Bulls
• 1997: Chicago Bulls over Miami Heat
• 1985: Boston Celtics over Philadelphia 76ers
• 1984: Boston Celtics over Milwaukee Bucks
• 1983: Philadelphia 76ers over  Milwaukee Bucks
• 1980: Philadelphia 76ers over Boston Celtics

Western Conference

• 2015: Golden State Warriors over Houston Rockets
• 2011: Dallas Mavericks over Oklahoma City Thunder
• 2008: Los Angeles Lakers over San Antonio Spurs
• 2007: San Antonio Spurs over Utah Jazz
• 2005: San Antonio Spurs over Phoenix Suns
• 1994: Houston Rockets over Utah Jazz
• 1986: Houston Rockets over Los Angeles Lakers
• 1985: Los Angeles Lakers over Denver Nuggets
• 1981: Houston Rockets over Kansas City Kings

What jumps out is how much differently some legacies could look. Fewer Finals appearances for LeBron James, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant. No ring for Dirk Nowitzki. One fewer for Michael Jordan.

Lost taught us the folly of rewriting the past, but it’s worth the mindtrip to wonder how things might have played out of March Madness had a May or June companion. And in minds is the only place we’ll ever know because the probability of a rule change is unlikelier than a No. 16 seed winning six straight games.