Is this the year the East is finally better than the West?

harisahmad · Post #21 » by **harisahmad** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:50 pm

West have better teams but east is more even

Ballerhogger · Post #22 » by **Ballerhogger** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 2:55 pm

Nope. What big player hepled a east team this past off season? Dwight Howard? :lol:

bmurph128 · Post #23 » by **bmurph128** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:00 pm

Depends on how you define better. The East will have a winning record vs the West this year IMO - and that is how this question should be answered.

But the all NBA teams will be mostly players from the West and the staunch Western Conference Superiority complex supporters will rush to realgm to tell fans of the East that even though they had a better record vs the West, the West is still better because "all" the stars play in the West.

pelifan · Post #24 » by **pelifan** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:11 pm

Saw a post like this last offseason. Looking forward to seeing it next offseason too.

Ball4life32 · Post #25 » by **Ball4life32** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:19 pm

Ballerhogger wrote:Nope. What big player hepled a east team this past off season? Dwight Howard?

Yep. Let's see how Howard does with a team that actually moves the ball.

Lord Cuban · Post #26 » by **Lord Cuban** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:28 pm

RCM88x wrote:West will probably have 3 of the 4/5 best teams this year. However IMO the East will have 11-12 of the top 16 teams.

West is top heavy, East is much more balanced and better overall. "Better" is a matter of opinion at this point.

11-12 of the top 16 teams :lol:

Oklahoma City Thunder got worst but can still be a top 7 team in the NBA.
Memphis Grizzlies got wayyyy better...
Blazers got better....
Mavericks got better....
Utah Jazz Will be way better...
Pelicans & Timberwolves are young teams that can surprise....

Why the East would have 11 or 12 of top 16 teams :crazy:

Effigy · Post #27 » by **Effigy** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 3:48 pm

Not even close. The best players are still in the West. First and second all nba team: 9 of the 10 players are in the west. Discussion over.

Vee-Rex · Post #28 » by **Vee-Rex** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:09 pm

If it helps fans of weaker West teams (anyone but the Clips/Dubs/Spurs) sleep at night without crying, then more power to them. Keep screaming about how the wezt iz teh bezt while your team keeps getting rolled by Toronto, Boston, Indiana, etc...

At the end of the day, the best conference is the one that wins the most games against the other. Having 7 of the top 10 players all packed into 3 teams and a **** conference after those 3 teams isn't anything to brag about.

bmurph128 · Post #29 » by **bmurph128** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:18 pm

Lord Cuban wrote:
RCM88x wrote:West will probably have 3 of the 4/5 best teams this year. However IMO the East will have 11-12 of the top 16 teams.

West is top heavy, East is much more balanced and better overall. "Better" is a matter of opinion at this point.

11-12 of the top 16 teams

Oklahoma City Thunder got worst but can still be a top 7 team in the NBA.
Memphis Grizzlies got wayyyy better...
Blazers got better....
Mavericks got better....
Utah Jazz Will be way better...
Pelicans & Timberwolves are young teams that can surprise....

Why the East would have 11 or 12 of top 16 teams

While you might be right, the Celtics, Pistons, Bulls, Bucks, and Pacers will all be better too. Something has to give somewhere.

Edrees · Post #30 » by **Edrees** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:25 pm

LMAO, The Spurs essentially without Duncan won 67 games last year. Let's calm down on under rating the spurs once again. Nobody can be certain if the spurs made it out of the west that they couldn't have beaten cleveland.

There are still two power houses out west and only one in the east. The west also had a substantially winning record over the east last year. That will continue this year.

Vee-Rex wrote:If it helps fans of weaker West teams (anyone but the Clips/Dubs/Spurs) sleep at night without crying, then more power to them. Keep screaming about how the wezt iz teh bezt while your team keeps getting rolled by Toronto, Boston, Indiana, etc...

At the end of the day, the best conference is the one that wins the most games against the other. Having 7 of the top 10 players all packed into 3 teams and a **** conference after those 3 teams isn't anything to brag about.

I completely agree, and that was the west by a substantial margin last year.

bmurph128 · Post #31 » by **bmurph128** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:26 pm

Effigy wrote:Not even close. The best players are still in the West. First and second all nba team: 9 of the 10 players are in the west. Discussion over.

How does that end the discussion? Those 9 players played for the Spurs, Clippers, Warriors, Thunder, Kings, Blazers - that's only 6 teams represented. Three of those teams aren't contenders (Thunder, Kings, Blazers) and will be worse than multiple teams from the East this year.

The Spurs will most likely be worse than last year despite having Kawhi.

The Clippers will be better.

The Warriors will probably be better but they will lose more games.

Even then that doesn't end the discussion because a conference is more than just 6 teams - 3 of which are not going to be very good. Last year the East narrowed the gap and this year it will be closed.

bulliedog8 · Post #32 » by **bulliedog8** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:32 pm

It was already better last year, and will easily be better this year.

Vee-Rex · Post #33 » by **Vee-Rex** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:34 pm

Lord Cuban wrote:
RCM88x wrote:West will probably have 3 of the 4/5 best teams this year. However IMO the East will have 11-12 of the top 16 teams.

West is top heavy, East is much more balanced and better overall. "Better" is a matter of opinion at this point.

11-12 of the top 16 teams

Oklahoma City Thunder got worst but can still be a top 7 team in the NBA.
Memphis Grizzlies got wayyyy better...
Blazers got better....
Mavericks got better....
Utah Jazz Will be way better...
Pelicans & Timberwolves are young teams that can surprise....

Why the East would have 11 or 12 of top 16 teams

OKC can be a top 7 team? :lol:

I'd love to hear you explain how OKC could be a top 7 team in the NBA.

Post #34 » by **JDR720** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:36 pm

the west has better top teams, but the east has more depth.

Chuck Everett · Post #35 » by **Chuck Everett** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:36 pm

I'd caution that the West is still better. Last year, Portland, Memphis (injuries) and Utah (injuries) had a tremendous amount of upheaval. Those three teams could be fifty win teams this year and they are money at home. So I'd just wait and see. It was close last year, but the West still had the better record and don't give me that Sixers crap, they were still part of the conference last I checked.

DellyOwnsRose · Post #36 » by **DellyOwnsRose** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 4:46 pm

How many 2nd round exits is it going to take for people to finally realize that the Clippers are not contenders?

jswede · Post #37 » by **jswede** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:18 pm

pelifan wrote:Saw a post like this last offseason. Looking forward to seeing it next offseason too.

Overall, the West was 118 games better than East in 13-14.

76 better in 14-15.

14 better last season.

giberish · Post #38 » by **giberish** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:19 pm

The middle of both conferences look about the same, with really most of the league pretty close in preseason expectations.

The WC has an edge at the top (a 2-1 edge in elite teams) and the bottom (the Nets and 76ers look to be the two worst teams).

Post #39 » by **jazzfan1971** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:34 pm

jswede wrote:
pelifan wrote:Saw a post like this last offseason. Looking forward to seeing it next offseason too.

Overall, the West was 118 games better than East in 13-14.

76 better in 14-15.

14 better last season.

Thanks so much for posting this! It certainly shows that the trend is for the East catching up. We will see if they can get over the hump this year. I think it's true than the middle of the West got a little weaker. But, it seems to me that the bottom of the West improved. And that improvement might really help that win total vs. the East.

Look at the lotto teams from last year compared to this year.

9 - Utah - Vastly improved depth and some injured guys returning. Should be significantly improved
10 - Sacramento - I don't know. Let's assume they stay even with last year.
11 - Denver - Was young last year, should see some internal improvment, I expect them better this year.
12 - New Orleans - Hammered with injuries last year, with health they are significantly improved.
13 - Minnesota - Set for huge improvements with their young talented squad and new coach.
14 - Phoenix - Had a nice offseason. Should see internal improvments from youth and if team gels quickly could get better fast.
15 - Lakers - They just tanked last year. This year they added vets indicating a desire to win some games. Should be better.

predators · Post #40 » by **predators** » Tue Jul 26, 2016 6:13 pm

Probably. Spurs are really the only other team in the West I think would roll through the not Cleveland east teams, and they have a lot of guys that are injury prone on their roster. The clippers might have the talent if Chris Paul\Griffin stay healthy, but that hasn't really happened since they got together. A lot of the depth that made the West so great took a hit this off season OKC, and Houston are significantly worse on paper, and the Mavs\Memphis have aging cores that aren't really better than the churn in the east.