re: the length of the season and playoffs, it was announced during the Finals that the reg. season for next season will be lengthened to 44 games, and that the playoff rounds will also be longer, I think best of 7 for the finals, and best of 5 for the semi's.
Since they don't have an Olympic break to contend with, that's workable, even if the overall calendar length is shortened by a week to avoid contending with football. As far as that issue goes, I don't know why they don't just avoid the weekends late in the season.
Heck, even the NBA itself can't contend with football...