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http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime ... -080112-13

Marc Stein thinks so: "All summer we heard the preachings: The East is closing the gap! Guess again. The gulf between the conferences looks wider than ever as we approach the 41-game marker, with nine teams that can claim to be 20-game winners in the West -- NINE -- compared to just three teams in the Leastern.

And if the east is so bad, does that mean the Raps have regressed this year relative to the NBA as a whole?

The worst thing is that what moves were made this offseason would seem to be of the NOW variety for the East (KG/Allen, etc.) and long-term for the West (Oden, Durant, etc.)

The West doesn't seem to be slowing down with the additions of Oden and Durant. The very fact Calderon is getting all-star consideration is an indication of the play in the East.

The east is currently 94-108 vs. the West. That gives them a win percentage of 46.5%. I'm not sure what it was lat year, but that percentage would be a good indicator of whether the conference improved or not.

the nba is absolutely atrocious. it's borderline unwatchable.

Harry Palmer wrote:The worst thing is that what moves were made this offseason would seem to be of the NOW variety for the East (KG/Allen, etc.) and long-term for the West (Oden, Durant, etc.)

Yeah. I'd include Roy and Paul among the young stars in the west. And it's not just boston that's old. Detroit has at best one or two more years before its starters collect pensions.

djsunyc wrote:the nba is absolutely atrocious. it's borderline unwatchable.

I think that's really pushing it.

On some nights, its pretty terrible, but that is true of most sports.



As for the overall subject, the real problem has been 3 teams: Chicago, Miami, Cleveland.

Compare to last year

Cleveland .605 vs. .500
Miami .537 vs. .222
Chicago .598 vs. .394

Those were three of the top teams in the East - now only one looks like they will make the playoffs - and only barely at that.

Now Miami doesn't hurt so much - though it does mean that Dwayne Wade's talents are mostly being wasted.

But Cleveland and Chicago were considered to be teams on the rise - along with the Raptors. So far, all three teams have disappointed to one degree or another.

[quote="Hank_Scorpio"][/quote]

If you're right, two of those three (cleveland and chicago) could finish well.

I wouldn't say its gotten worse given the fact that the east has the top 2 teams in the league.

The problem is that because of this, the balance of high end talent keeps going to the West. The best teams are all in the West, and so the worst teams in the West get trounced on a nightly basis while the East is considerably watered down in comparison and thus the worst teams are capable of beating nearly anyone on any given night. The get a slightly better record and thus the best draft talent goes to the West. This won't be changing any time soon unfortunately. I'm sure IT will find a way to trade away a few more Knicks 1st rounders before all is said and done.