Last 26 years West nearly doubles East in championships

[Zerostatic]

Addressing disparity is what caused them to minimize the relevance of divisions and that is another reason why the regular season doesn't feel like it matters (no one talks about this reason). I vividly remember when the division winners in each conference would get the top 3 seeds regardless of records. Then there was a vocal minority who whined about it not being fair and they got rid of the top 3 autobid seeds and the result was that those division games meant less. I remember when I first became a fan in the 90's. Diehard fans knew who was in their division and you would root against those teams and when you played a division rival it meant more because a top 3 seed was on the line.

Now they're trying BS in season tournaments to make the games more meaninful.

Anyways, Disparity is not a bad thing. There is way more disparity in the NFL among divisions and conferences and their regular season is much better than the NBA. Heck MLB has over 160 games and those games feel more important than NBA regular season games and there is way more disparity there as well.

[Quattro]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

What about New York, don’t they have a market advantage?

Yes but they counterbalance that with a huge ownership disadvantage.

[Effigy]

However, the East was the stronger conference back in the '80s and '90s.

Its Cyclical.

OP makes a great point tho.

Minus the ring chasers coalition (Lakers/GSW) you still had a bunch of good ones come through in the West in the past 2 decades (Mavs, Spurs, Nuggets, soon to be Thunder etc).

80's for sure, I think the 90's were pretty even TBH. And everyone keeps saying it's cyclical. I guess, but the 80's were 35 years ago! When's it going to cycle the other way?

[jkvonny]

However, the East was the stronger conference back in the '80s and '90s.

Its Cyclical.

OP makes a great point tho.

Minus the ring chasers coalition (Lakers/GSW) you still had a bunch of good ones come through in the West in the past 2 decades (Mavs, Spurs, Nuggets, soon to be Thunder etc).

80's for sure, I think the 90's were pretty even TBH. And everyone keeps saying it's cyclical. I guess, but the 80's were 35 years ago! When's it going to cycle the other way?

Probably in the 2030s lol.

As for the 90s. Similar to the '80s. Yes the West tend to be top heavy back then with more fluff at the bottom.

The East was competitive , strong from top to near bottom.

The 2000s was when the shift really happened in favor of the West and the separation became apparent.

[jkvonny]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

What about New York, don’t they have a market advantage?

Yes but they counterbalance that with a huge ownership disadvantage.

Yup. This.

Hell, they (Knicks) just fired their coach after the ECFs!

Nets are rebuilding.

[Ssj16]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

I will say, we should give credit to GS for building that team up to put themselves in a position to get KD.

They weren't viewed as a "glamour team" before Jerry West, Bob Myers and the new ownership really built a foundation there.

Lakers however, I agree that they've had a market advantage for awhile. Of course the original Buss owner should be given credit because he did somethings as am owner that was revolutionary if I recall but post 2010s, I definitely felt they lived off their branding to attract Lebron and crew.

Lastly, when you exclude these glamour markets the other teams on average just seem to be ran way more efficient than their Eastern counterparts on aggregate.

[FrodoFraggins]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

The only solution I see for this is to uncap, or drastically raise, max salaries. Superteams won't really work in a system like that unless some star players are willing to leave a lot of money on the table. Or you are lucky enough to have a young star om their first contract.

This will never happen because I don't see the players union transferring so much money to the 10%. And I don't see owners wanting that risk.

[Effigy]

However, the East was the stronger conference back in the '80s and '90s.

Its Cyclical.

OP makes a great point tho.

Minus the ring chasers coalition (Lakers/GSW) you still had a bunch of good ones come through in the West in the past 2 decades (Mavs, Spurs, Nuggets, soon to be Thunder etc).

80's for sure, I think the 90's were pretty even TBH. And everyone keeps saying it's cyclical. I guess, but the 80's were 35 years ago! When's it going to cycle the other way?

Probably in the 2030s lol.

As for the 90s. Similar to the '80s. Yes the West tend to be top heavy back then with more fluff at the bottom.

The East was competitive , strong from top to near bottom.

The 2000s was when the shift really happened in favor of the West and the separation became apparent.

Your top heavy comment was correct in the 80's but not the 90's. Comparing the records of the 7th and 8th seed teams and it's pretty even with the WC teams having slightly better records from 91-95 and the EC 7-8 seeds being slightly better from 96-98 (99 being the weird outlier lockout year) The two conferences over all seemed pretty even in the 90's and in the begining of the 2000's is when the WC domination happened.

[Kalela]

The Western Conference has seen three dynasties, while the East hasn’t had one since the Bulls era. The East has quite a few terrible owners, like the guy who owns the Kings.

[jkvonny]

80's for sure, I think the 90's were pretty even TBH. And everyone keeps saying it's cyclical. I guess, but the 80's were 35 years ago! When's it going to cycle the other way?

Probably in the 2030s lol.

As for the 90s. Similar to the '80s. Yes the West tend to be top heavy back then with more fluff at the bottom.

The East was competitive , strong from top to near bottom.

The 2000s was when the shift really happened in favor of the West and the separation became apparent.

Your top heavy comment was correct in the 80's but not the 90's. Comparing the records of the 7th and 8th seed teams and it's pretty even with the WC teams having slightly better records from 91-95 and the EC 7-8 seeds being slightly better from 96-98 (99 being the weird outlier lockout year) The two conferences over all seemed pretty even in the 90's and in the begining of the 2000's is when the WC domination happened.

I guess we agree to disagree on that.
'90s was the last time when the roles were reversed. When 8th seeds in the West would be under .500 at times while a few teams in the East left out of the playoffs despite a winning record, over .500.
East was slightly better, as you mentioned. So we agree on that.
And def agree about the '00s .
'80s too

[vxmike]

The West is, in general, better than the East because the East has a few owners (Charlotte, Washington to name the most prominent) who are just happy to have a team in the NBA rather than deliver a winning product. The West has comparatively fewer teams that are going through the motions rather than investing in both on-court and off-court expenses.

But let's examine how picking endpoints matters. The East has won 3 out of the last 6 titles and 6 of the last 13 titles in the sample. Yes, the West is generally slightly better, but not nearly to the degree conveyed in the media.

Plus the two biggest markets in the East (CHI/NY) have had terrible ownership and management for most (NY) and all (CHI) of the past 25 years.

[GeorgeSears]

The West has largely been been Spurs, Lakers, and Warriors: California and Texas.

The East - Heat and Celtics: Massachusetts and Florida.

Big states and big markets.

[durden_tyler]

No surprise here, we know the East sucks through a couple or more decades already.

[G35]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

The Spurs also drafted Tony Parker at the very end of round 1 and Ginobli at the end of round 2

The Lakers also traded Shaq for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant. The Lakers missed the playoffs for the next three years before rebuilding.

The Warriors were a miserable franchise for nearly 20 years, making the playoffs once from 1994 to 2013. Warriors management drafted Curry, Thompson, Green, Harrison Barnes, Kevin Looney, Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga. The only franchise that comes close to having homegrown talent on their roster during their championships is the Spurs.

OKC just winning the championship has the potential to be the next Warriors as they are the favorites to win next years championship.


Also how many times have teams repeated since 2000:
- Lakers 2000-02 threepeat
- Lakers 2009-10
- Heat 2012-13
- Warriors 2017-18

The West has better teams because they have to be better. They are competing vs each other and it forces them to raise their level. While in the East, Lebron set the standard that they didn't even have to really try during the regular season......

[Michael Lucky]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

Yet the Knicks have zero championships during that time.

[f4p]

Meh, kind of an arbitrary cutoff though.

I mean every thing other than the big bang is an arbitrary cut off. Starting with 27 years since Jordan retired is long enough.

[Raps in 4]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

Yet the Knicks have zero championships during that time.

New York also has zero nice beaches and cold winters.

[prophet_of_rage]

6 of those titles were the result of guys signing with the Lakers or Warriors to make movies or ring chase.

Shaq signed with the Lakers.
Kobe demanded that the Lakers draft him.
KD signed with the Warriors.
LeBron signed with the Lakers.
AD demanded a trade to the Lakers.

That isn't shrewd management. It's having a market advantage over other cities.

What about New York, don’t they have a market advantage?

No. High taxes and cold weatjer
Crazy fans.

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

[Tha Cynic]

Warmer climate so all the stars end up going there

[Rust_Cohle]

It’s been the leastern conference for quite a while now