NBA commissioner Adam Silver has contemplated changing the playoff format to seed the Top 16 teams. The WNBA and NCAA implement similar versions, and they are doing just fine. There is no better spectacle and advantage for the fan than watching the best and only the best teams go at it. This would also have an impact on the regular season and the number of times teams play each other. A shorter calendar might be a solution, and many NBA players and coaches have certainly asked for more rest during the regular season. So how would this playoff format look like?

These were the top 16 teams that would have made the playoffs during the 2016-17 NBA season (Warriors, Bulls, Clippers, Wizards, Celtics, Bucks, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Spurs, Trail Blazers, Raptors, Thunder, Rockets, Pacers, Jazz, and Hawks).

Fans deserve to see the best teams in the playoffs

How much more exciting would the NBA playoffs be? How much more exciting would it be to witness an upset by the 16th best team in the league for example. Other than the Warriors, who deserved the first spot and therefore the easiest matchup, the rest of the 2017 playoff series would have been very interesting. Who would have won in the Clippers vs Wizards series? Who knows? It would have been a very evenly balanced series.

The Clippers' playoff curse would have definitely been even harder to overcome. We could have had a second-round super matchup between Stephen Curry and John Wall. There is no one who would not have wanted to see that.

It would have been nice to see Giannis Antetokounmpo show all his potential against a top team like the Celtics.

Boston would have had serious difficulties to find answers on the defensive end for the Greek Freak. On the other hand, LeBron James has historically had more problems with teams that had strong rim protectors, whether that was Kevin Garnett and his Celtics, Dwight Howard and his Magic, or Roy Hibbert when he was a defensive beast with the Pacers.

Had the Cavs faced the rugged Grizzlies, they would have had difficulties to reach the rim with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph or JaMychal Green there. Of course, there was also no reason to believe that the Cavs would have not advanced. But then, the Cavs would have probably met the Celtics in the second round already. Thus, the playoffs would have no longer been an easy ride for the Cavaliers because of the deplorable Eastern Conference.

And then the best series could come in the semifinals - Warriors vs Cavaliers. I am not sure how happy fans would have been to see them this early and not in the NBA Finals. Then again, it would have been a great lesson for the Cavaliers, who were accustomed to cruising through the regular season and not pushing hard to attain the best record possible.

And a fresher Warriors team is even more dangerous and difficult to stop by the Cavs.

The Spurs would have beat the Blazers in their usual fashion. And Kawhi Leonard would have been healthy, right Spurs fans? The Raptors vs Thunder series would have been more difficult to decipher. Both teams did not move the ball much, MVP Russell Westbrook was almost uncontainable, and the Raptors are known to face their playoff demons year after year. Thus, the upset could have happened. However, there was no way that the Thunder would have been able to challenge the Spurs in the second round. Still, it would have been fun to watch arguably the league's best defender, Leonard, try to stop the beast that is Westbrook.

The Rockets would have comfortably defeated the Pacers. Houston took the NBA by surprise last season. And the Jazz would have used their outstanding defense to leave the Hawks without answers. The Rockets' flashy offense versus Utah's tough defense, who would have won? We will never know. And probably the winner of this series would have met the Spurs in the semifinals. It could have been three western teams and one eastern team in the semi-finals. That is a better reflection of the difference in level between the two conferences. Two Western Conference teams would have probably met in the Finals, and there should be nothing wrong with that. It's a testament to the West's dominance.

The 2017-18 season and predictions

In terms of this season, who wouldn't want to see more Western teams in the playoffs? Under the current format, teams like the Nuggets, Blazers, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Jazz, or Lakers will not be able to make it into the playoffs, and these are all solid or exciting teams that would fare very well if they were in the Eastern Conference. Other than the Cavs, Celtics, Wizards, and maybe the Raptors, no other Eastern team would have a chance against the top 12 Western teams. Another NBA season begins, and, yet again, the Eastern Conference is weaker than ever.

Who wouldn't be curious to see whether the Cavaliers would be able to beat a top western team other than the Warriors in the playoffs?

LeBron will continue to be reminded that a big reason behind his seven straight Finals appearances is the fact that the East has been a joke for many years in this last decade. Surely, LeBron's talent and influence on his teams are unquestionable, but that number of trips to the NBA Finals would have surely been much lower if he had been playing in the West and facing teams like the Spurs, Rockets, Thunder, and Warriors in the first rounds of the playoffs. It does not seem like an easy or immediate fix, but it seems a good idea to merge the two conferences in order to save the NBA Playoffs, we all know it and Adam Silver does too.