MAKE YOUR OVERREACTIONS NOW
So, traditionally the breakdown has been:
2 vs. Eastern Conf. = 30
4 vs. Pacific Div. = 16
4 vs non-Pac. West (6 teams) = 24
3 vs non-Pac. West (4 teams) = 12
Total = 82
With the two "TBA" games (based on whether we get into the in-season tournament or not), they have changed the last two lines to:
4 vs non-Pac. West (4 teams) = 16
3 vs non-Pac. West (6 teams) = 18
TBA = 2
One would presume that if we do not make the in-season tournament they will try to match us up with non-Pac. West teams on our "3 games vs." list, but I doubt they can guarantee we actually get those.
As it stands, here's the breakdown for the "could be 3, could be 4 games" teams, with their total wins last year:
4 games = Denver (53), NOP (42), OKC (40), Dallas (38).........average = 43.25
3 games = Memphis (51), Minny (42), Utah (37), Portland (33), Houston (22), San Antonio (22)........average = 34.5
So, yeah, that's par for the course. If we make the tournament, that basically seals the deal on our schedule being more difficult than it should have been, on average. If we don't make the tournament, then the only way to "break even" is to get Portland and either Houston or SA. Or, if we got both Houston and SA, that would flip us to a beneficial schedule. Any other setup, we got the short end again (or to get a very weak EC team for a third matchup, I don't think they'll do that).