Rockets news: Daryl Morey reveals playoff scenario that would be 'HUGE' advantage for Houston

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is a fan of seeding the playoff teams 1-16 and not bothering with conferences.

With the NBA seemingly on the brink of announcing a plan on how it intends to resume the current season, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey has signed off on his preferred playoff format.

According to Morey, his Rockets would have a considerable advantage if the league opts to adapt a “conference-less” playoff bracket, which would feature the top 16 teams in the NBA seeded based on their current win-loss record.

I am in favor of a “Conference-less” bracket for the #NBA postseason.

This would be a HUGE advantage for the @HoustonRockets

Via @KevinOConnorNBA:https://t.co/5zssFkjbsc pic.twitter.com/MszaDb32B3

— Daryl MorΞy 🗽🏀 (@dmorey) May 27, 2020

In this proposed scenario, the Rockets would be seeded 10th overall with their 40-24 record. As you can see in the above bracket, they would be matched up against the Utah Jazz (they just lost Bojan Bogdanovic for the season) in the first round. On paper, this would be an easier matchup for Houston, as opposed to the Denver Nuggets (third in the West), who the Rockets (sixth) would face if the season goes straight to its usual playoff format.

Another big difference comes in the second round. In the conference-less format, the Rockets would potentially face the Los Angeles Lakers (assuming they get through the 15th-seeded Brooklyn Nets). This is contrary to the regular playoff format in which Rockets would match up against the winner of the first-round series between the Los Angeles Clippers (second in the West) and Dallas Mavericks (seventh).

It's unclear if Morey thinks facing the Lakers would be better than facing the Clippers, though either matchup would be extremely difficult to get through. Of course, it's worth pointing out that in a normal playoff scenario, the Rockets would likely have to beat the Clippers and Lakers just to get to the NBA Finals. In this conference-less scenario, Houston only has one of them in its path to the Finals.

It will be a tough road for the Rockets to a championship no matter what, but Morey knows which path he wants to travel.