OT: How the East became so devoid of star players

[Jamaaliver]

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From a scathing, eye-opening piece over at SI.com:

Eastern Conference incompetence has been a joke for the better part of 20 years, but it's official as of this weekend. Of the 20 best players in the NBA, there are four who play in the East: LeBron, Giannis, Wall, Kyrie...roughly 75% of the league's superstars will be in the West next season. It's a bloodbath out there, and the East looks like Division 1-AA by comparison.

To understand we got here, the George trade itself is telling. The Pacers could not have handled that situation worse over the past five months. They fumbled it first by refusing to acknowledge George's discontent in February, then by apparently panicking and grabbing an underwhelming OKC offer. In the end they came away looking hamfisted and clueless, and it would have been baffling if it weren't a note-for-note sequel to what the Bulls did with Jimmy Butler a week earlier.

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[Jamaaliver]

How this relates to Atlanta specifically:

Teams in the East have suffered from consistently, amazingly mediocre management during an NBA era where smart management has become more important than ever. That's how 75% of the league's superstars end up in one conference.

If there's a baseline among teams in the East, it's a lack of self-awareness that manifests as impatience. Maybe it's because the conference is always mediocre enough for decent teams to trick themselves into thinking they're closer to contending than they really are.

The Hawks refused to trade Al Horford, waffled on paying him when he hit free agency, then lost him for nothing. Then they lived the exact same timeline with Millsap.

Running an NBA team isn't easy. It's also not as hard as teams in the East have made it look. So many of these franchises are making the exact same mistakes and selling fans on hope that isn't rooted in any kind of reality. When almost every team in one conference settles for half-baked solutions, it's only a matter of time before they all look depressing.

[Jamaaliver]

^The three highlighted statements above are the mistakes our leadership made following the 60 win season of 2015.

1) They tricked themselves into believing they were really contenders. Then, immediately returned to the pack with a 48 win season and second straight playoff sweep.

2) They were indecisive on Horford. Dangling him in trade talks months before his free agency, then arguing over a middling amount in contract negotiations.

3) They were also indecisive on Millsap, turning down a trade package with Denver in 2016, Toronto in 2017 and then watched him walk away in free agency.

Indy waited too long to move P George. Waiting until the final year was stubborn and short sighted.

I have no idea what CHI was thinking. Tossing Butler and the #16 pick for Lavine and the #7 pick does seem...lopsided.

Now the East is one season from being truly wide open. But our franchise has no legit avenue to benefit or capitalize. We needed to clean house. But waiting so long definitely has left us behind the curve for the next couple of seasons.

[Jamaaliver]

A couple of related articles:

West has two NBA All-Star teams better than the East's best

...the rich got richer. The Western Conference already was stacked, going 246-204 (.547) against the East last season. Of the 15 All-NBA members last season, nine hailed from the Western Conference, and Butler makes 10.

Have you seen the All-Defensive teams? The Western Conference claimed every member of the two teams except for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who found himself on the second team.

We can be pretty sure that the West All-Stars are better than the East All-Stars. Is it possible that the West's B-team of All-Stars is also better than the East's top 12?

ESPN

[Jamaaliver]

Open Letter: Go East, Free Agents

If you’re still unsigned, consider the teams that could inadvertently land you an All-Star spot and the conference where the Finals are within reach

Dear NBA free agents,

...I’m here to tell you why you should pick a team from the Eastern Conference.

As you know, the Eastern Conference is trash. It has been for many years — the only time this millennium the East went over .500 head-to-head with the West was in 2008–09. The top seed in the East hasn’t had a better record than the West’s top seed since the year before LeBron left the Heat; the worst team in the league has been in the East five of the past seven years. The West hasn’t had a sub-.500 playoff team since the 1997 Clippers snuck in at 36–46, while the East has had 12 sub-.500 playoff teams since then.

And this year, the East was as bad as it’s ever been. The opening salvos of the NBA offseason have made it even weaker. Indiana and Chicago traded away their All-Stars, Paul George and Jimmy Butler, to Western Conference teams for pennies on the dollar.

You can make the playoffs in the East!
You can be an All-Star in the East!
Life is easier in the East.

The Ringer

[Jamaaliver]

Mark Cuban chimes in on the topic:

Eastern Teams Know They Can Get By Doing Less

Robert Sarver proposed seeding teams 1-16 for the playoffs by record regardless of conference three seasons ago.

"It needs to be addressed," Cuban emailed ESPN on Thursday. "Seven of the 10 smallest markets are in the West. I really believe Eastern teams know they can get by doing less, and [in some cases] make the playoffs. Because they are larger markets, they will sell tickets and advertising, and get viewers. They get the best of both worlds."

ESPN via Real GM

[tbhawksfan1]

Cuban has a point, but at the end of the day there are only two teams left. East vs West. Clev (Lebron) has been a worthy representative even if the argument is true.

Wht if they took 1-16 regardless of Conference but, then created PO brakets on record instead of Conference? 1 vs 16, 2 vs 15... The artificial line East-West disapears and best teams play a PO. Regular season would also need to be less East West dominated with a balanced schedule.

No more East / West, just 30 teams playing head to head

[dms269]

The NBA is gonna have a huge issue and the issue is going to be salaries. The cap means nothing and neither does the tax if you are raking in the money. Good teams get better, mediocre get worse. The CBA is good through at least 2022 so we are stuck for a while with this.

Will we ever get a hard cap? I think that might be a true solution to some of the issue about star power balance.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using RealGM mobile app

[tbhawksfan1]

The NBA is gonna have a huge issue and the issue is going to be salaries. The cap means nothing and neither does the tax if you are raking in the money. Good teams get better, mediocre get worse. The CBA is good through at least 2022 so we are stuck for a while with this.

Will we ever get a hard cap? I think that might be a true solution to some of the issue about star power balance.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using RealGM mobile app

Parity is un American

[dms269]

The NBA is gonna have a huge issue and the issue is going to be salaries. The cap means nothing and neither does the tax if you are raking in the money. Good teams get better, mediocre get worse. The CBA is good through at least 2022 so we are stuck for a while with this.

Will we ever get a hard cap? I think that might be a true solution to some of the issue about star power balance.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using RealGM mobile app

Parity is un American

I'd prefer the league to be similar to the NFL or MLB where you have teams that are usually good, but also different teams each year that make that push.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using RealGM mobile app