Why the West is so much better?

[OrlandoMagic]

I know this might sound really weird, but has anyone thought of the reason why the west is so much stronger is due to the time zones? I mean when you look at it here if the Magic fly to Sac to play a game the Magic are playing at what 10 or 11pm at night our time? As opposed to when Sac would come to Orlando it would be really 2 or 3 in the afternoon their time?

IMO almost all the teams in west look fresh every game, where as teams in the East look lazy and tired at times. I know it IS NOT the main reason why the west is stronger, but does anyone think it could be an effect?


Also I think the same would go for Football playing up North and playing down South. I would think teams of North would have an advantage as well.

[mhectorgato]

Because Stern wants the West to win it all!!!!

That's right, I'm going all conspiracy theorist.

[theTHIEF]

too many east teams trading their "disgruntled talent", "head cases", "salary dumps", "scrubs" and other unwanted pieces away from the conference, and the majority of them fit their new schemes better, and work well with other misfits...not to mention FAR better drafting, and the payrolls seem to be deeper out there...

[craig01]

More talent.

[507]

legacy.. more experienced coaches.. systems.. organizations.. and accumulation of talent in certain teams over time.

during Bird or Jordan times, there was just Lakers.. other West teams were just rubbish.

these things are handed over to the other side every 10-15 years imho.

[KingRobb02]

In short, they have better general managers.

We have both Paxsons which the Bulls should have made a move a long time ago, and the Cavs are loaded with terrible deals that can't be moved.

We had Billy King which means the Sixers are loaded with bad contracts to "good guys" like Willie Green and Sam Dalambert but AI doesn't get an extension.

The Bobcats can't pull any free agents, and their biggest deal was taking on Jason Richardson's huge contract even though he isn't a #1 type of guy.

The Hawks took advantage of drafting in the top 7 for so many years, but forgot to get a decent point guard. I hope they aren't counting on Billy Knight to swing a deal.

The Heat set themselves up for a 1 year run 2 years ago and we are seeing thte effects of that now.

The Knicks have had great drafts (Lee, Robinson, Balkman, Frye) and have made some good trades, but Isaiah has not paid one bit of attention to chemistry. It's as if he was building a fantasy team or something.

Last but not least, Orlando has a guy who gives max money to a second option and drafts horribly. He seems to have no plan for this team. Two years ago, our most active trade deadline in years, we bring in two youngsters and look like we are building towards something. Now they're are both gone. I'm betting Otis sees this team on paper and doesn't think we need any more moves. Can we fire him please?

[The Letter J]

Because they sucked for a while like the East has been. Meaning they got high draft picks.

San Antonio, Denver, Dallas, and Golden State put some really bad teams on the court when I was a kid. They served their time in purgatory and now they are reaping the benefits of the NBA's drafting system.

A lot of the bad teams in the East are awful at drafting as well. We have some truly terrible GMs in our conference.

edit: I forgot to add that a lot of GMs in the east seem to waste cap space on overpaid players. Instead of trying to get more good players for their money, they go for the homerun swing and sign a pretty good guy to a huge deal.

[KingRobb02]

Because they sucked for a while like the East has been. Meaning they got high draft picks.

San Antonio, Denver, Dallas, and Golden State put some really bad teams on the court when I was a kid. They served their time in purgatory and now they are reaping the benefits of the NBA's drafting system.

A lot of the bad teams in the East are awful at drafting as well. We have some truly terrible GMs in our conference.

edit: I forgot to add that a lot of GMs in the east seem to waste cap space on overpaid players. Instead of trying to get more good players for their money, they go for the homerun swing and sign a pretty good guy to a huge deal.

How old are you? San Antonio has been pretty good year in and year out since 1987 when they got both Robinson and Elliot. The reason they landed Duncan was because Robinson was hurt that year and the team had to rely on Dominique Wilkins 18 PPG to save them.

The Warriors were pretty good in the early 90s as well. The had Mullin, Richmond, Robinson, Hardaway, Sprewell, Owens, Webber, Googs, and some other decent players at some point during the late 80s and early 90s. After Sprewell choked PJ it all went out the window. But they were respectable before that.