The East closing the gap on the West?

[Shock Defeat]

Not even close. It's the Cavs and that's it. Raptors won't last but are looking like the only othe 50 win team. The Bulls are overrated, the Hawks are too small, Bucks are too young, Wizards don't have the depth, Celtics have no go to guy, Knicks need more athletism, Pistons I think are going to be the team of the future in the east but right now don't have it, also the Pacers have no depth and no bigs.

The east is just as bad as it was last year.

Bulls aren't overrated by any means. Your only argument for the hawks not winning 50 games is because they are small? Hawks, Raps and Bulls all can win 50 games this season, to go along with the cavs ofcourse.

To go along with what you said, Cleveland and GS are a wash as two best teams in respective Conferences. Clippers look good but wont last in the playoffs. Spurs still look a bit disoriented. Rockets are overrated. OKC doesnt have depth. Jazz could be the team of the future but still too young. Dallas is is washed up. Minnesota still inexperienced. Lakers are trash.

We can find something for every team tbh

Except teams in the West actually have on paper talented rosters which destroy the East. This early in the season, on paper rosters + last year's quality are probably better judges of how good a team is than how they have looked so far.

[joedumars1]

Probably due to the fact that they're in the West.

Kinda, but OKC just lost to two East teams Toronto and Chicago. I think Houston may have lost to two East teams too, not sure. San Antonio just lost to Washington too

Last year SA lost to Washington and Brooklyn. GSW lost to Los Angeles. What's it matter? We're 5 games in.

I said, the West has started off shaky. You said, because they're in the West. I figured you meant they have started off shaky because they're playing other West teams and losing. They've only played 5 games, OKC has already lost to the East twice, Houston may have too, San Antonio has lost once maybe twice too. When I said West getting off to a shaky start I was referring to against East teams, but that will change as the season goes on. Might be difficult to understand what i'm saying.

[HotTubMike]

It is incredibly early, but the East actually holds a lead against the West head to head this season, with the top 7 seeds in the East currently a combined perfect 8-0 against the Western conference. In the past two days we have seen Toronto and Chicago hand losses to OKC. Washington beat the Spurs. Charlotte roll at Dallas.

Emerging studs like Drummond in Detroit. Miami and Indiana presumably banking on better health as Western playoff staples like Dallas and Portland appear to take steps back in the personnel department. Are we looking at more balance between the conferences today than we have seen in quite a while? It's still tough to make any argument that the East is the better conference, but I think we are creeping up on some balance....

Thoughts?

there is literally no good argument for this and if anyone suggested it they should be laughed off the forums.

We're 5 games in... form is temporary... class is permanent.

GSW
Cleveland
SAS
LAC
OKC
HOU

5 of the 6 best teams are in the west.... when it comes to play-off teams it isn't even close.

No eastern conference team besides Cleveland would be favored against any of the top 5 seeds in the west.

GS, SAS, LAC and OKC i agree with.

But houston shouldnt be put in the group. I think Chicago, Atlanta, Washington or Toronto can take houston in a 7 game series. I know you're gonna get butthurt over this so flame away.

Na, I'm chill brah, this place is full of delusion when it comes to the Rockets... you're no different.. it's ok.

The Rockets were the 2nd seed in one of the deepest conferences ever last year riddled with injuries and made it to the WCF... pretty absurd to think ATL, CHI, WASH, or especially Tor could beat them in 7 game series.... as far as I can tell Toronto can't beat anyone in a 7 game series with HC in the east.

[TKainZero]

No


It's that when a west team plays against a east team, they think, oh sweet! Basically a off day...

[ken6199]

GS, SAS, LAC and OKC i agree with.

But houston shouldnt be put in the group. I think Chicago, Atlanta, Washington or Toronto can take houston in a 7 game series. I know you're gonna get butthurt over this so flame away.

Nobody's gonna get butt hurt. Glad you being frank not holding back.

HOU power ranked at 21st right now by nba.com, rightfully so. Three blowout losses, two messy wins, ugly defense throughout. It could've easily been a 0-5 start, and that's a lottery team. CHI ATL TOR WAS all looking better. Way better.

I assume OP is laying out his opinion ONLY from the first two weeks, so we will just talk about two weeks. Not about potential, not about 'figuring it out', it's about now,

Spoiler:

which I have to say is too early to be anything useful, although fun to discuss.

[Asif16]

there is literally no good argument for this and if anyone suggested it they should be laughed off the forums.

We're 5 games in... form is temporary... class is permanent.

GSW
Cleveland
SAS
LAC
OKC
HOU

5 of the 6 best teams are in the west.... when it comes to play-off teams it isn't even close.

No eastern conference team besides Cleveland would be favored against any of the top 5 seeds in the west.

GS, SAS, LAC and OKC i agree with.

But houston shouldnt be put in the group. I think Chicago, Atlanta, Washington or Toronto can take houston in a 7 game series. I know you're gonna get butthurt over this so flame away.

Na, I'm chill brah, this place is full of delusion when it comes to the Rockets... you're no different.. it's ok.

The Rockets were the 2nd seed in one of the deepest conferences ever last year riddled with injuries and made it to the WCF... pretty absurd to think ATL, CHI, WASH, or especially Tor could beat them in 7 game series.... as far as I can tell Toronto can't beat anyone in a 7 game series with HC in the east.

Oh dang bruh i had no idea this thread was referring to the past. Im basing my opinion off what i see so far this year and what this thread is referring too. Its way too early but still the Rockets dont scare me as much imo. Spurs/Thunder/Clips/Warriors are the top dogs in the west. Rockets a playoff team for sure but thats about it. Spurs are a different animal this year. OKC didnt even make the playoffs last season due to injuries. If you think houston is gonna be the 2nd seed again and make it back to the WCF you got another thing coming.

Playoffs aside, You're basically saying if you move the rockets to the east, that they're automatically 2nd in the east after the cavs in the regular season. That could very well be true, but all im saying is that you can make a case for either ATL, WASH, TOR, CHI, or even the Heat to be better and that its not gonna be the usual "OH HOUSTON TAKES A DUMP ON ANY EASTERN CONFERENCE TEAM CUZ THEY ALL TRASH".

[HotTubMike]

GS, SAS, LAC and OKC i agree with.

But houston shouldnt be put in the group. I think Chicago, Atlanta, Washington or Toronto can take houston in a 7 game series. I know you're gonna get butthurt over this so flame away.

Na, I'm chill brah, this place is full of delusion when it comes to the Rockets... you're no different.. it's ok.

The Rockets were the 2nd seed in one of the deepest conferences ever last year riddled with injuries and made it to the WCF... pretty absurd to think ATL, CHI, WASH, or especially Tor could beat them in 7 game series.... as far as I can tell Toronto can't beat anyone in a 7 game series with HC in the east.

Oh dang bruh i had no idea this thread was referring to the past. Im basing my opinion off what i see so far this year and what this thread is referring too. Its way too early but still the Rockets dont scare me as much imo. Spurs/Thunder/Clips/Warriors are the top dogs in the west. Rockets a playoff team for sure but thats about it. Spurs are a different animal this year. OKC didnt even make the playoffs last season due to injuries. If you think houston is gonna be the 2nd seed again and make it back to the WCF you got another thing coming.

Playoffs aside, You're basically saying if you move the rockets to the east, that they're automatically 2nd in the east after the cavs in the regular season. That could very well be true, but all im saying is that you can make a case for either ATL, WASH, TOR, CHI, or even the Heat to be better and that its not gonna be the usual "OH HOUSTON TAKES A DUMP ON ANY EASTERN CONFERENCE TEAM CUZ THEY ALL TRASH".

The Rockets were 2nd in the West 5 months ago with worst injuries problems than any other playoff team in the WEST.... they would without a doubt be the 2nd seed in the east if not the 1st.

they aren't playing well at this very moment but so what? it's ridiculous to look at a 5 game sample size.... why not just look at a one game sample size... Wizards > Spurs then

to claim that Toronto could beat the Rockets in a 7 games series? It's absurd. Toronto got SWEPT out of the first round of the EC playoffs... 5 months ago... the team is essentially the same and the Rockets are likely even better in the long run with the addition of Lawson.

[zeebneeb]

Yeah we should probably look at contracting some of the teams out west if they continue to do so poorly. *This was said 20+ years ago.

People have no sense of history whatsoever. Thus is why we don't make snap judgments like "top 16 teams in playoffs" crap. It's cyclical as are all things. The west has maybe a few more years before the majority of contenders are in the east.

Things change who would have thunk?

[HotTubMike]

Yeah we should probably look at contracting some of the teams out west if they continue to do so poorly. *This was said 20+ years ago.

People have no sense of history whatsoever. Thus is why we don't make snap judgments like "top 16 teams in playoffs" crap. It's cyclical as are all things. The west has maybe a few more years before the majority of contenders are in the east.

Things change who would have thunk?

there is nothing to say things have changed... it's a total knee jerk reaction

"guys, guys... the East has a better record against the west 5 games into the season lets make a thread"

EC fans are just tired of hearing how bad their conference sucks so they jump on any little bit of support to say its not true.. it is true.. the west is far superior and has been for 20 years (at least)

[Ponchos]

Kinda, but OKC just lost to two East teams Toronto and Chicago. I think Houston may have lost to two East teams too, not sure. San Antonio just lost to Washington too

Last year SA lost to Washington and Brooklyn. GSW lost to Los Angeles. What's it matter? We're 5 games in.

I said, the West has started off shaky. You said, because they're in the West. I figured you meant they have started off shaky because they're playing other West teams and losing. They've only played 5 games, OKC has already lost to the East twice, Houston may have too, San Antonio has lost once maybe twice too. When I said West getting off to a shaky start I was referring to against East teams, but that will change as the season goes on. Might be difficult to understand what i'm saying.

I get it, but this isn't really anything out of the ordinary with extremely small sample sizes.

[sca]

Not even close. It's the Cavs and that's it. Raptors won't last but are looking like the only othe 50 win team. The Bulls are overrated, the Hawks are too small, Bucks are too young, Wizards don't have the depth, Celtics have no go to guy, Knicks need more athletism, Pistons I think are going to be the team of the future in the east but right now don't have it, also the Pacers have no depth and no bigs.

The east is just as bad as it was last year.

The Hawks won 60 games last year, added Spliiter to their frontcourt, and then started the year 5-1, but they won't even win 50 games this year because they are too small? What kind of logic is that?

[Ponchos]

Yeah we should probably look at contracting some of the teams out west if they continue to do so poorly. *This was said 20+ years ago.

People have no sense of history whatsoever. Thus is why we don't make snap judgments like "top 16 teams in playoffs" crap. It's cyclical as are all things. The west has maybe a few more years before the majority of contenders are in the east.

Things change who would have thunk?

there is nothing to say things have changed... it's a total knee jerk reaction

"guys, guys... the East has a better record against the west 5 games into the season lets make a thread"

EC fans are just tired of hearing how bad their conference sucks so they jump on any little bit of support to say its not true.. it is true.. the west is far superior and has been for 20 years (at least)

Fans of teams aren't fans of the conference. I think your reasoning is dubious. People will jump at this stuff on these boards because they like talking about inane and sometimes imagined details about basketball.

[tmorgan]

Closing, but still not that close, I'd say. The one guy from this draft that looks like a future All-NBA guy went to the West.

In terms of young teams that seem to have a lot of talent, there's more of them in the East, but that doesn't mean they'll develop, stay together, and eventually dominate.

[Plutonashfan]

Hell No! Its my Cavs then canon fodder the rest of the way down. Its not even close

[steamed hams]

I wish they would trade Dirk to a contender so he doesn't have to wither away in Dallas, but he would never want that.

[kangarooaus]

Sure, why not. Then again I've always thought that the West is 'super-amazing' and the East 'sucks' narrative to be completely overrated.

[Kabookalu]

Yeah we should probably look at contracting some of the teams out west if they continue to do so poorly. *This was said 20+ years ago.

People have no sense of history whatsoever. Thus is why we don't make snap judgments like "top 16 teams in playoffs" crap. It's cyclical as are all things. The west has maybe a few more years before the majority of contenders are in the east.

Things change who would have thunk?

there is nothing to say things have changed... it's a total knee jerk reaction

"guys, guys... the East has a better record against the west 5 games into the season lets make a thread"

EC fans are just tired of hearing how bad their conference sucks so they jump on any little bit of support to say its not true.. it is true.. the west is far superior and has been for 20 years (at least)

I don't know why you're being so insecure right now. The question isn't if the east is better than the west, it's has the east finally started closing the gap with the west after sucking so hard for a decade and a half? And the answer is yes. Yet despite the answer being yes, the gap between the two conferences is still huge. The fact that the east is catching up, and is still so far behind the west, speaks more about how awful the conference has been.

[Jakay]

To answer the original question, yes the East is slowly closing the gap but as of right now the west is still far superior no doubt.

Well it's about time. The east has been crap every since Lebron pretty much joined the league haha

I think you can take that even further back and say the East has sucked this millennium.

[The Realist]

How to spot a West bandwagoner: Constant whining about the East, and then denying the results if the East happens to improve so he can get back to whining.

[Teen Girl Squad]

I hope that the East is finally gaining traction but right now this is likely nothing more than a fluke/random streak.