This summer, after KG and Allen came to Boston, after Dwight Howard officially became a beast, after the Cavs impressed everyone with their run to the Finals, people started to actually believe that the Eastern Conference has finally caught up with the Western Conference. Heck, even affter the East won the All-Star game, there was talk of the fact that maybe the East may finally be able to put an end to the West's reign. But I just checked out the league standings and saw something interesting. The Orlando Magic, who are at a very respectable 34-22 and currently occupy the 3rd place in the East behind Boston (41-11) and Detroit (39-15), would currently be in 10TH PLACE if you put them in the West (Golden State, who are currently 9th in the West, are at 33-21. That's a 7 spot drop. Amazing. The East may have, record-wise, the two top teams in the league, but after that the next 9 teams are from the West. Philadelphia, who have a 24-31 record which is good enough for the 8th and final playoff seed in the East right now, would be ranked 12th in the West. Denver, who have 33-20 which is good enough for 8th in the West, would be 3rd in the East. The West has 10 teams at .500+, while the East have just 5. Even Minnesota, the West's worst team, has a better record than the East's worst (Miami). How did this happen? WHEN did this happen? I don't remember the differences between the two conferences ever being this big. Just goes to show you that despite the fact that the East has so much individual talent (from LeBron to Dwight to Kg and even Marion now), individual talent doesn't get you the wins if you don't have a good TEAM. I can say that in the East, just Boston, Detroit, Orlando, Toronto, Chicago (who despite the fact are very dissapoiting) and maybe, just maybe, Cleveland and Washington are good all-around teams. I won't even say how many in the West (there are a lot).
We've been waiting for almost a decade now, for the gap to close up and it never seems to. I blame the disparity in talented front offices. There's a dearth of smart, competent general managers in the Eastern Conference. Why else do you have so many teams that seem to be perpetually rebuilding (New York. Charlotte, Indiana, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philadelphia)? All of those teams have weak GM's (the Sixers just recently got rid of their's) that for years have been given the benefit of the doubt by their owners. For the most part, they overpay/misspend on the free agency and their draft strategies don't make sense from year to year. Other teams in the East, such as the Bulls, Nets, and Cavs, are kind of stuck at that "pretty good" stage and their GM's never seem to make that big move to push them over the top. Instead, they just wait it out until major changes need to be made. Honestly, I only think that Detroit, Washington, Toronto, and Miami have very good general managers (I'm being hesitant with Orlando and Boston, since they've only done it for one season). Contrast that with the West, where a crappy GM can't even crack the top 10. Not only does the Western Conference have some of the best GM's in the league that consistently make smart draft choices and sensible free agent acquisitions/trades, but they also have two of the better young GM's in the league (Kevin Pritchard and Sam Presti). This all goes back to what I've been saying for years: I'd start a team with a high-level GM over a high-level player anytime. Give me RC Buford over Lebron and the chances are my team would be much better over the next 10 years.
And teams in the West must compete with each other season-by-season, so GM's are more focused on making moves that will improve their team, since the conference is so difficult to begin with. Why do you think PHX traded for Shaq after Gasol become a Laker? Same goes with the Dallas Mavericks and Kidd. In the East, there isn't much pressure. You can be a pretty good team, and still have a good chance of making it to the finals. GMs don't have to make high risk moves, because their team is already in high contention. My point is, the West teams always look to get better, while the East teams mostly stay the same. That's why theirs a huge gap between the two conferences.
I thought this might actually be the year where the East caught up to the West, at least a little. Boy was I wrong. They've actually lost ground. The East, in comparison to the West, is pitiful. And honestly, I don't even think they have the best team anymore. The Lakers have to be the team to beat now. They're deeper than Boston and they're big three might be just as good. Did I mention they have the best player in the league on their team, who just dropped 41 with a dislocated pinkie that has ligament damage? The East had it's chance early on. The West took advantage of every opportunity during the deadline though. The West was already better, but they got even better because of the deadline.
