<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Let Em Hear This @ Jun 7 2007, 04:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The East in general are weaker than the West. But it's not by a large margin. Teams like Detroit and Cleveland would fare just as well playing in the Western Conference as they do in the East. This past regular season, the Cavs were 31-21 against the East and 19-11 against the West. Pretty similar records. I do think, however, that the bottom-feeders of the West are better than the bottom-feeders of the East. But teams like the Bulls, Cavs, and Pistons would all be playoff teams in the West.</div>Yes, but they would all be seeded below 4 or lower, and that is one way you can look at the West being better. Also, how many players from the East were named to the All-NBA 1st Team?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (GrizzFanTaylor @ Jun 8 2007, 01:21 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yes, but they would all be seeded below 4 or lower, and that is one way you can look at the West being better. Also, how many players from the East were named to the All-NBA 1st Team?</div>I don't put much stock in that award. If LeBron were listed at SG, he would've been on the 1st team instead of Kobe. But anyway, the West just had a great year. And I just stated that the West was better. Did you get the impression that I didn't think so? Because my first line was "The East in general is weaker". But you're wrong about them being seeded under 4. I think Detroit or Cleveland could have been seeded AT LEAST 4. Remember, the bottom-feeders of the East are so bad that they don't really have to make runs in the regular season to make the playoffs. Hence, the bad records.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Let Em Hear This @ Jun 8 2007, 06:32 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't put much stock in that award. If LeBron were listed at SG, he would've been on the 1st team instead of Kobe. But anyway, the West just had a great year. And I just stated that the West was better. Did you get the impression that I didn't think so? Because my first line was "The East in general is weaker". But you're wrong about them being seeded under 4. I think Detroit or Cleveland could have been seeded AT LEAST 4. Remember, the bottom-feeders of the East are so bad that they don't really have to make runs in the regular season to make the playoffs. Hence, the bad records.</div>I know you were saying the West was better. My 1st sentence was stated to your quote but the rest was just a general statement I was making to everyone.
I liberated this article off of another message board as my own<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Spurs of the momentSAN ANTONIO - It was a scene you don't see in many NBA towns. Late Thursday night, San Antonio Spurs fans jumped in their cars and pick-up trucks and took to the streets of downtown, tying up traffic for blocks, blaring their car horns and proudly displaying their black and silver flags that read, "Go Spurs Go."And that was after just one game in the NBA Finals, when the Spurs took a 1-0 lead.Perhaps their premature celebration, a ritual around these parts, is warranted. It took only one game for the Western Conference champs to show that they probably have too much championship experience and too much talent up front (Tim Duncan) and at point guard (Tony Parker) for LeBron James and Co.The Cavs aren't conceding anything, of course, with Game 2 tonight."I can do anything I want out on the basketball court," a defiant James said after his forgettable Finals debut.But it certainly appears that the Cavs, who deserve to be here by ousting the Pistons, are also a product of the weak Eastern Conference, which could be getting weaker.True, the East has produced two of the last three champs, although it took a Lakers implosion and a Dallas collapse for the ages to help secure the titles for the Pistons in 2004 and Heat last season. If not for those two freak situations, the West might be working on an eight-year string of championships.But the way things are going, the East just isn't going to be matching the West anytime soon, especially in the regular season. The imbalance of power continues to be striking when one considers that for the ninth straight season, the majority of the 15 players selected to the three All-NBA teams came from the West. That includes all five members of the first-team - Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki and Duncan.The last time the East had more All-NBA players than the West, Michael Jordan was playing in his final season in Chicago. That was back in 1998. Despite what's happened in the Finals recently, the West's grip on the league is undeniable. Why? Better bigs. Better wing players. Better overall talent.Top to bottom, the East is inferior. It's even sparked some debate as to whether the playoffs should be seeded one through 16, regardless of conference affiliation. If that system were used this spring, some of the more intriguing first-round matchups would have included Cleveland-Denver, Utah-Miami, Detroit-Golden State and San Antonio-New Jersey."You know, it's not something we're spending a lot of time on," commissioner David Stern said of the West's superiority. "Maybe we should and maybe people will write about it and we'll focus on it."The focus figures to heighten next season. The top two players in this month's draft - both of whom are considered franchise-changing talents - will go to the Pacific Northwest. Portland won the lottery for the right to take Ohio State's center Greg Oden with the No.1 pick. Seattle finished No. 2 for the change to get Kevin Durant, the Texas swingman who reminds some of the Alamo City's legendary scorer George Gervin.The night the draft order was decided, there was plenty of focus on how it would continue to impact the balance of power. As one of Stern's top basketball executives put it, shaking his head, "Wow, look how the West got even stronger."So what's the East to do?"It will take some remarkable work by some GMs to make some big trades and big moves to get the East as good as the West," said the Spurs' Robert Horry. "I don't know if they can. To me, the West will always be dominant. Everyone wants to play out here in the warm weather."Orlando and Charlotte are two of the only teams that will have loads of salary-cap room to entice free agents. But Bobcats' owner Robert Johnson has yet to show he's willing to pay a superstar-level player. The Magic can offer Vince Carter or Rashard Lewis the chance to join forces with Dwight Howard but neither would constitute the kind of dramatic move that will alter the current state of the conferences.Then again, at this time of the year, the disparity sometimes doesn't mean very much."All we have to do is beat one team from the West," said Cavs coach Mike Brown.Unfortunately for them it's the Spurs.</div>http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketba...the_moment.html
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (PrimeTime @ Jun 10 2007, 02:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I didnt say the east was better, I just said it was just as competitive.</div>Of course, all the teams are equally as bad so they compete with each other. It's still far away from the West and their playoffs would be a walk in the park for any top West team compared to what they have to go through now.
via Bob Fitzgeraldhttp://www.nba.com/warriors/interactive/fi...log_june07.html<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>West Record Vs. East 2006-07: 257-193 2005-06: 252-198 2004-05: 256-194 2003-04: 266-154 2002-03: 250-170 2001-02: 232-188 2000-01: 259-161 1999-00: 227-193 That totals for a 1,999-1,451 record for the Western Conference, a .579 winning percentage. This is not a cycle or a trend that is going to change any time soon (particularly with this year?s lottery results). During the 2006-07 regular season, five of the best six records in the NBA belonged to the West. The entire starting five of the First Team All-NBA were all Western Conference players. At the All-Star Break, the five best records in the league were in the West. This had NEVER happened in NBA history. In fact, no conference had ever had the top four records in the league at the All-Star Break. This is all despite the fact that Eastern teams play 52 games against lesser competition and only 30 games against the West. While I don?t advocate relying on computer rankings, the Sagarin rankings (using won-loss record and strength of schedule) essentially show that 10 of the top 16 teams in the NBA are from the Western Conference.</div>If you read the article you will see that he calls for a league re-alignment with adding in a 3rd conference, going to the 16 seed playoff format and changing the schedule formats. While I don't really see the point in the creation of a 3rd conference I have been on the 16 seeds playoff format for some time now to balance out the weakness of the east.
