I think these are somewhat good ideas. However, remember that the dominance of a conference goes in waves. There was a time that the Eastern conference was dominant. There have been many times that it was better to have East vs. West - see the LA vs. Boston Finals. No need to do anything drastic because currently the strength is in the West.
I don't think teams would even want to compete for that last playoff spot. It's not like the NCAA tourney where everyone has a chance at a big upset. You're probably not going to the upset the top team in a series. And there's no cinderella story in the NBA either.
I do agree with 5 game first round series. At least you have the chance for a 7 or 8 to upset a 1 or 2 seed there. And it doesn't drag out nearly as long.
You kind of contradict yourself on those last two paragraphs when you say that there's no cinderella story in the NBA, but then say that there could be 7-8 seed upsets.
I'm not saying that these are completely viable changes at face value, but I think the piece is a pretty compelling argument that the changes have the potential to do big things for the league.