Is the Eastern Conference really weaker than the West?

Is the east really inferior to the west, Yes maybe in the fact that the west goes deeper, But what about the fact of detroit dominating the Lakers or Indiana having the leagues best record? It has some to do with media bias and alot to do with nobody from the east winning since Jordan was at the helm.

But look at supposed great west players who went to the east and never produced much such as: Antonio Mcdyss, Gilbert Arenas,Shawn Kemp, rasheed wallace (sorry 5 ppg in the finals is not good) Darius Miles,Dikembe Mutombo, Shareff Abdul-Raheem(when he played for the hawks) Lamar Odom, Eddie Jones, Etc



And players from the east who came out west and became stars: Chris webber,Elton Brand,Brad miller (ok he was an all-star last year in indiana but the critics said he was the worst all-star center of all-time, then he makes the west all-star team)Sam cassel(was labeled a has-been)Mike miller(ok not star but a better player)Ray Allen, Theo Ratcliff,Matt Harpring(not a star but damn good)

I know it can go both ways but it tells you the east is more defensive and the west is more offensive. Look at the underrated stars who play in the east and if they played in the west would get more noticed, Micheal redd, Ben wallace, Rip Hamilton, Dwayne wade,Zydrunas Illgauskas,Ron Artest,Baron Davis(the leagues best pg),Jason Terry, Richard Jefferson,Kurt Thomas,Carron Butler, Ok tell me what you think

 

Yes, the East is an inferior league. The last time an Eastern conference team won the championship was in '98. The whole level of play is far below the West.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Is the east really inferior to the west, Yes maybe in the fact that the west goes deeper, But what about the fact of detroit dominating the Lakers or Indiana having the leagues best record?</div>

Lets wait for this series to finish.

You could also make the point that Indiana plays the majority of its games against the East, so they would have a better record.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Antonio Mcdyss, Gilbert Arenas,Shawn Kemp, rasheed wallace (sorry 5 ppg in the finals is not good) Darius Miles,Dikembe Mutombo, Shareff Abdul-Raheem(when he played for the hawks) Lamar Odom, Eddie Jones, Etc
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Lamar Odom had his best season in the East.

Eddie Jones got old.

'Dice was injured.

Mutombo got older, and had good days with the Hawks.

DMiles? He was bad with the Clippers, he was bad with the Cavs.

Gilbert Arenas? He didn't produce?

Kemp had alot of trouble.

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Look at the underrated stars who play in the east and if they played in the west would get more noticed, Micheal redd, Ben wallace, Rip Hamilton, Dwayne wade,Zydrunas Illgauskas,Ron Artest,Baron Davis(the leagues best pg),Jason Terry, Richard Jefferson,Kurt Thomas,Carron Butler, Ok tell me what you think</div>

Dwyane Wade gets a ton of attention. He is one of the league's brighest players.

Jason Terry isn't that good.

Jason Kidd is the league's best PG.

Caron Butler was injured most of this season. His rookie season the Heat were awful, but he got attention. He was a first team All Rookie member.

Ben Wallace was the league's defensive player of the year.

Ron Artest was the league's defensive player of the year this season.

 

No the East was just dumb the past couple of years, they drafted guards, offence etc, while the West drafted Big Men and defensive stoppers. Just remember it was just 10 years ago when the East was dominant, 10 more years the people will be like "wow the West was dominant" just like they are now talking about the east.

 

1) Yes the East is weaker considering that Boston made the playoffs despite being 10 games under .500

2) I believe the East was weaker even during the 90s. It just didn't appear that way because the Bulls were consistently the best team. But look what happened when Mike wasn't around. Jordan retires for the first time, Houston wins 2 straight, Jordan retires again, San Antonio wins.

 

The Eastern conference is far behind the West in terms of depth. 12 of the 14 Western teams would make the playoffs in the East. A lot of the West's best players have played for at least one Eastern team and are far more productive in the West. If the West keeps getting stronger, Eastern conference guys will go out there in search of a ring. However if Detroit wins the finals, that could help stop the flow of Eastern conference stars to the West in search of a better team or a ring. But when some of the West's best retire or their production drops off with age and the East is loaded with superstars from the draft, the East should be the dominant conference again.

 

I said that the west is deeper but I don't think that includes the pistons,pacers, and nets.

 

Look at overall records. When did the Pacers take the EASTERN CONFERENCE? About a month before the season ended? Going by records, the 8th seeded Denver Nuggets would've been in the 4 spot in the East. The reason that the West seems to be better (which is being shown during the finals) is because the East seems to be primarily a jump-shooting conference overall and most of the "bigs" are in the West. Do you believe the Pistons would be where they are if not for Sheedy Wallace? He added a great post player with defensive skills who's not selfish. So he and Benny can clog the lane and force the opposition to the jumpshot. Indiana and Detroit are the best teams in the East (Nets are close, but their kryptonite has been found in my mind) and they play a more "Western-type style of game" with superior 4's.

But watch out for the Heat.

 

To answer the original question on this thread: Yes it is. They're not even close.

And Sabretooth, the Heat is not even close to contending the West for a championship ring. Maybe in the East, but that's not saying much. They still lack depth and true big men to compete with the West.

 

I don't think its because the East is a jumpshooting conference though as many have mentioned, its just because they don't have the bigs.

Dallas, Sacramento, Seattle, are jumpshooting teams, the East doesn't have strictly jumpshooting teams like that, New York was till Starbury came.
But really name a jumpshooting East team in comparison to the West?

Even Milwaukee isn't a jumpshooting team.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting ANiMuS:</div><div class="quote_post">1) Yes the East is weaker considering that Boston made the playoffs despite being 10 games under .500

2) I believe the East was weaker even during the 90s. It just didn't appear that way because the Bulls were consistently the best team. But look what happened when Mike wasn't around. Jordan retires for the first time, Houston wins 2 straight, Jordan retires again, San Antonio wins.</div>

That's what I saying after he retired the first time. I think that is a big reason why he is considered the greatest of all-time. One man made a conference stronger. When the Bulls won their last championship, the Pacers had won, they had a chance to be champions as well. I think they could've beat the Jazz as well.

 

No theyre not, it's just that west got more dominant players

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BronxTeeRex:</div><div class="quote_post">No theyre not, it's just that west got more dominant players</div>

Is that not whats makes the conference stronger. The East has 3 great teams that have consistency in winning records.

 

Well the east is inferior in records to the west the past couple of years you can be under .500 in the east and make the playoffs but the top half of the east teams like the pacers, pistons, and possible the nets can compete with the west in the finals and the east all stars can compete with the west in the all star games its just that naturally some how the western teams have more depth in there team rosters and also have the big men of the nba while the east have the guards and future stars of the nba in the late 80's and through most of the 90's during the jordan era the east was much more dominate then the west it seems like the balance shifts every decade or so but the east has alot of exciting players like tmac, AI, VC, kidd, marbury, paul pierce, and others so I wouldnt call it a j.v league at all

 

No question about it, the West is deeper and stronger. The East has the best team but the West have 4, 5 or 6 teams capable of beating that team IMO.

 

Right now it's still very clear which conference is better. The Pistons are the best in the east (and the entire league) but thats about it. The Pacers and Nets were the only other teams I considered against the teams out west. However, the Nets are on a slide and the Pacers are dealing with injuries.

But, the Eastern Conference could become something special within a couple of years. The east has a couple of teams on the rise - Lebron James and his Cavs along with Wade & co. down in Miami.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">And Sabretooth, the Heat is not even close to contending the West for a championship ring. </div>

Did I say something about the Heat in this thread

 

The East and West are at a balence

 

i think the same is in balance

 

Is the Earth round? Is grass green? Does everything that go up come down? Are the new J's hot? Of course it's still weaker, however they do have a player that could one day rule the league...

 

I'd like to see The NBA East & West evened out,as far as comparison on which conference is tougher.at this point the West is still strong(in my opinion anyways)but with Detroit's NBA Title victory,it could go the other way next year if the East tries to copy whatever the Pistons do