There seems to be a change in the wind. Pistons, Hawks, Cavs, and Bulls are contenders. Washington and Milwaukee are on the rise. Toronto playing well again. Miami has an incredible starting lineup. That's 8 pretty great teams. Then you have Indiana, Orlando, and NY who are improved from last year. Wait and see with Charlotte. Meanwhile in the West- Dallas, Memphis, and New Orleans are worse. OKC and Houston are showing signs of being less than they used to be. Aldridge may not be a fit in San Antonio. I think there's a turnabout now. In past years, there was like 2 good East teams and 10 great teams in West. Not so anymore. Looks like the opposite.
Good post. Heuristically, we've been primed to think the East has sucked since Jordan left. But, I would not be surprised if, within the next 5 years, there's a power shift from West to East. ESPECIALLY if Durant goes from OKC to WAS... Westbrook will take OKC to the ground with his selfish play. LAC is a good regular season team, but not a playoff team. Utah is up and coming.. San Antonio will (finally) falter in the next 2-4 years. (They signed someone and are stuck with that albatross for almost half a decade... can't remember his name... wont do them any good.) Then you have us, who are also up and coming in the next 2-4 years.. Good question.
I'm not so sure... the East has more teams than I expected that are playing potential winning basketball. They might have 8th and 9th seeds with superior records for the first time in forever. But I still seem to think the West has more contending teams. So it depends on how you're rating the conferences. Is it number of team wins or number of contending teams? Obviously the Warriors are playing great. I could see any of the Rockets, Clippers, Spurs or Thunder making a run to the finals. The East has the Cavs which are certainly in the mix with those top 5 West squads; but I wouldn't pick any of the other East teams to have good shot of beating that group in a playoff series. We aren't even 10 games in so its obviously early and much can change but we may have seen a change in the middle of the conferences. I need to see more to change my opinion of the best teams.
Am I mistaken, or would the teams out East have a better record because there are MORE shitty teams out east? And the West has a lot more better teams so they would beat up on each other?
I disagree. Since East is winning head to head matchups it doesn't look that way so far. But its very early. Yes and Yes
No there are 7 winning teams in East. Only 4 winning teams in Wesr. And I think the only contender in the West is Golden State. Houston has zero chance. Clippers are never good enough. OKC left contention when they let Harden go. MAYBE San Antonio has a chance? Doubtful. They didn't even get out of the first round last year. East has MANY teams that could beat Cleveland: Atlanta, Chicago, Miami,Washington, Detroit to name a few. Cleveland is definitely the favorite but they're beatable.
I could argue that there are a few teams at least in the West better than Cleveland. Overall top to bottom the West is superior in my opinion.
There are now 12 teams in the East that are .500 or better and the 13th team Milwaukee is 5-6. Deepest Eastern Conference in decades. There are only 9 teams in the West that are .500 or better. The 12th place team in West is 4-8. Top to bottom, HCP? Nope.
West looks worse because Houston, the Clippers, OKC, Memphis and (of course) the Blazers look worse than last year. At least three of those teams will almost certainly turn it around (arguably OKC and Memphis already have). There are some disappointing teams out East, too, though, notably Washington and Milwaukee. But the obvious explanation for the shifting balance of power: Robin Lopez.
How is OKC worse this year? Yes Clippers and Memphis will turn it around. But Dallas may not keep up their hot start. Could certainly see them finishing with a losing record. Is Utah going to stay at .500? The East is much improved from last season. I hope NY and Boston miss the playoffs with winning records while the West sends a below .500 TWolves or Denver. Might finally get the NBA to change to 1-16 seeding.
