76ers Remain in Atlantic Division

With the announcement on Monday, Nov. 17 that the NBA Board of Governors has approved a realignment plan for the League, the 76ers will still find themselves surrounded by familiar foes when the plan becomes active for the 2004-05 season. The Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, and Toronto Raptors will join the Sixers in the Atlantic Division.

Realignment was brought about by the addition of the newest NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, helping to balance the league so that each conference now has 15 teams with three divisions of five teams.

“With the addition of Charlotte next year this new alignment is the fairest way for everyone,” Sixers President and General Manager Billy King said. “They kept us with some of our natural rivalries and travel wise it makes sense for everyone.”

The Bobcats, will tip off its inaugural season as part of the Eastern Conference while the New Orleans Hornets will move from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference.

The newly approved divisions are:
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors

Central Division: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast Division: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards

Western Conference
Southwest Division: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs

Northwest Division: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle SuperSonics, Utah Jazz

Pacific Division: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings

Under the new plan, teams will play divisional opponents four times each (two home games/two road games), conference opponents outside the division three or four times each and opponents outside the conference two times each (one home game/one road game).

The three regular season divisional winners in each conference will earn a playoff berth and one of the conference's top three playoff seeds based on regular season record. The remaining five playoff berths for each conference will be based on regular season records with no regard to divisional alignment.

Home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs will be based solely on regular season record, not playoff seeding, thus a divisional winner that has a higher playoff seed than an opponent will not necessarily have home-court advantage in the playoff series.