Thomsen's arbitrary opinions are null and void, and fail to count on upstarts - like Philadelphia and Atlanta - putting up a legitimate fight.

Thomsen: 3. The NBA playoffs need to be quirky.

They still would be. No one likes predictability in sports. Fans, sports writers, and Pete Rose, er, I mean, gamblers would all desert the realm of sports if Goliath always stomped on David. Fortunately, the games' intangible and capricious nature means that no one, besides the 1919 Black Sox, knows what the coda of the show will entail.

Thomsen is right in saying that "the NBA puts on the purest tournament of the four major leagues," but only in the sense that 11 of the last 12 NBA champions have been one of the top two of their conference. However, as we saw last year with the Baron's-beard-led Warriors, anything can happen come postseason. The "quirky" factor of the NBA will remain if the most deserving teams are let into the playoffs (although an Atlanta upset would certainly make more noise than a Toronto one), but when a team has put for the will, fortitude, and desire through 82 grueling games, only to see its championship hopes go up in flames due to a line-in-the-sand skewed setup, something does not sit well. Since "the most qualified teams usually advance through the playoffs because that's how the best-of-seven series format works in the NBA," why would it be so terrible to actually give everyone a fair shot?

Thomsen: 2. The lottery is a consolation prize.

Okay, Thomsen may be correct on this one. At the end of the rainbow lies a nice little lottery pick for those unfortunate team whose bubbles burst after 82 games. But, beyond the benefits for those one or two teams, how does this make the league better in its current format?

When I was but a middle-schooler, a mid-NBA-season Sports Illustrated article ran chronicling the rise of the West (for some reason they decided to include a piece on Bonzi Wells, but that's beside the point). It's not that hard to imagine a lazy SI editor recycling the story, replacing a couple names here and there, and not worrying that the fans would bat an eye.

Why? Because the West is more dominant than its ever been, with nearly nine 50-plus win teams. And who knows how many the Blazers would have gotten with Greg Oden holding down the post?

The NFL and MLB have it right in this department, rewarding the worst teams with the best picks. But karma had its way with both Memphis and Boston last year - teams that obviously tanked as the season would down - and gave Portland and Seattle/Oklahoma City the top picks. Who is to say that the teams that came within a whisper of the playoffs won't land the No. 1 pick once again? With Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, and Michael Beasley on the team, the Warriors would undoubtedly jettison into the playoffs, leaving yet another worthy West squad at home during May. As the lottery nears, it's safe to say that, with Golden State and Portland in the running for a top pick, it can only get better.