I think you all agree that moving the New Orleans Hornets to the West is a big mistake for the NBA. But what's even worse, is that this move not only makes the West better in the short term, but it will make the West better and more dominant for years to come. How? It's simple, atleast one VERY good team in the West will miss the playoffs next season. It could be New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix, Houston, or whoever. That means a VERY good team will be getting a lottery pick that will make them even BETTER and STRONGER. While in the East, mediocre teams will be able to make the playoffs, and they will have lower picks which will get them less talent so they will stay mediocre. I hate it when I hear David Stern say that it will all balance out, and that the East was dominant back in the 90's. That's total crap. THE BULLS WERE DOMINANT IN THE 90'S, NOT THE ENTIRE EASTERN CONFERENCE. To be more specific, MICHEAL JORDAN WAS DOMINANT IN THE 90'S. There has NEVER been this sort of lopsided balance of power between conferences in NBA history. And it's only going to get worse. There is a simple way of fixing this. If you take a good team from the East, then you should send a good team to the East. I think the NBA should consider sending the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Eastern conference. It works geographically and it would help bring some sort of balance to the conferences. I'm not saying it would solve the problem, but it would definately help.
I have also had the same concern as the Warriors, Jazz, Sonics, and Spurs are currently set to get lottery picks. However, I feel like this is one of those situations that will fix itself. You will end up seeing some Western teams get low draft picks, but right now the eight worst records are in the East and since only seven Eastern teams are excluded from the playoffs that means that you'll likely see the top seven picks all going to Eastern teams and the eigth through thirteenth picks going to Western teams. That is off balance, but not too badly. If Stern really wanted to fix the situation then he would make it so the thirteen worst teams get lottery picks, regaurdless of whether or not they made the playoffs, but like I said earlier I believe this is a situation that will fix itself.
Yeah, the "power" situation will fix itself. However I think the Wolves or the Grizz are teams that could be considered for a move to the East.
Moving New Orleans to the West IS NOT a bad idea. It is a GREAT idea. New Orleans will now have to struggle to make the playoffs, which is what George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge deserve. They are money-groveling bastards, though that will probably be editted. As far as the conferences balancing out, that is actually true. You state that the Bulls, or Jordan at least, were dominant. Though that is true, you're decision to ignore the rest of the Eastern Conference from the decade is a mistake. These same Hornets struggled to make the playoffs in the 90's with GOOD RECORDS, because the east was so strong. In '96, they missed the playoffs despite having a winning record. In '97, six teams had at least 50 wins. Sounds remarkably similar to last year in the west. The only difference now is that, in the 90's when the East dominated, there were more good teams in the west than there are good teams in the east now that the west dominates. But in the long run, it will all even back out.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting starman85:</div><div class="quote_post">Moving New Orleans to the West IS NOT a bad idea. It is a GREAT idea. New Orleans will now have to struggle to make the playoffs, which is what George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge deserve. They are money-groveling bastards, though that will probably be editted. </div> You make a good point- many feel that David Stern and the NBA decided to move the Hornets to the West to pay back George Shinn... they didn't want him to move the Hornets out of Charlotte, but he did anyways. Well he gets what he deserved, but it's unfair to make the whole organization (the players and coaches especially) suffer twice for him- I say twice because they were forced to move from Charlotte, now they're moving to the west.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sandman:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah, the "power" situation will fix itself. However I think the Wolves or the Grizz are teams that could be considered for a move to the East.</div> I always wondered if the Wolves moved to the West... then made it all the way to the finals... would it follow them around that "They could only advance in the East"... even if say they aquired another great player... it would put a damper on Garnett career to some.
I think that KG is young enough and the Wolves are resilient enough that he/they will eventually beat out the teams holding them down. That doesn't mean that he'll eventually win a ring with them. But as the power shifts back east, I think KG will see the beginnings of that, and will be better off for staying in the West.
