It's a catch-22 though. Would they be the best team if they were in the West? Would the East be horrible if they didn't have the best team?
The East has 4 teams that are strong. Those teams would be in the top 8 of the west easily. After that, the drop off is significant. When you say a conference is tough, you talk about the top 12 teams are only a few games apart. That isn't the case in the East.