I'm just wondering, because I don't watch a lot of Western Conference basketball, how strong is the West? You hear all the time that they're the superior conference, BUT
1) 3 of the last 5 finals winners are from the East
2) How in the world could L.A. have won the West with such atrocious defense? Both Detroit and Cleveland had stronger defenses than L.A.
3) I'm thinking at the end of this series, "L.A. had nothing, I mean nothing"
Is the West overrated?
I remember in football that the NFC was dominant for so many years, before things turned around completely. Is something like that happening in basketball?
How strong is the West?
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How strong is the West?
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Rondo_Fan
- Sixth Man
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How strong is the West?
Yabba-dabba-doo!
Re: How strong is the West?
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spf211
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Re: How strong is the West?
They are strong -- but I agree with the comments on ESPN last night -- the two best teams in the NBA this year were in the Eastern Conference (Boston, Detroit).
What was wrong with the West this year?
1) San Antonio on a title defense. It's hard to repeat in the NBA and the Spurs have a lot of old legs on their team -- so deep into the playoffs they weren't as competitive as their talent would normally dictate. Their window could be closing if they don't get to the Finals next year.
2) Dallas moved in the wrong direction. The trade for Jason Kidd was a mistake. Kidd was a great talent -- he took marginal Net teams with guys like Keith Van Horn, Todd MacCulloch, and Kerry Kittles to the NBA Finals. But that was five years ago. His shot is as unreliable as ever and just wasn't what the Mavericks needed. As a consequence, the Mavs traded away a key part of their future backcourt. Long gone are the days of Nash-Finely-Nowitzki; just like a team with marginal talents around Paul Pierce would never win anything, the same is true for Dallas with Nowitzki -- Terry, Stackhouse, Kidd, Howard are not the level of running mate needed for Dirk to be competitive.
3) Yao Ming's injury. McGrady gets a lot of flack (KG level flack) for not getting out of the first round -- but the Rockets have a very scrappy, almost Celtic like team, outside of the big tandem of Yao/McGrady. Without Yao, obviously things aren't quite the same. The biggest problem in Houston is, in my opinion, neither Yao or McGrady are capable of effectively closing games out (like Pierce) as both can be gun-shy in those big moments. If they got someone like, say Ray Allen, I would favor them to come out of the West (when healthy -- a big factor).
4) Shaq in Phoenix. Another desparate move to get value in Shawn Marion entirely changed the style of play of the Suns. Defense is always going to be a problemw it them, but now they've saddled their future to two players on the decline (Shaq much more so than Nash, obviously) and are torn between open-court and half-court basketball. I don't see them being competitive in the playoffs again next year -- I'd even wager the Suns, if serious about reloading, trade Nash for serious value (they could get it) and start building a halfcourt team around Amare Stoudemire.
5) Byron Scott. Chris Paul might overcome Byron's ineptitude through a few rounds, even to the Finals like Jason Kidd, but Byron is always going to hold that team back as long as he's around. How he keeps on finding the best point guard in the game to give him accolades, I'll never know.
6) The Jazz. A team without a closer. A great team, without a closer, IMO. This is a championship team with Ray Allen or Paul Pierce on it. Hard to tell if Daron Williams will develop to this next level as far as he has dominated thus far.
7) The Nuggets. Carmello and A.I. on the same team. George Karl. Enough said.
In the end -- there wasn't a large gap between the top and bottom of the Western Conference, and it's true -- but those teams were just competitive with each other and none, at least this year, were near the cohesion or level of team play that the Celtics and Pistons were.
What was wrong with the West this year?
1) San Antonio on a title defense. It's hard to repeat in the NBA and the Spurs have a lot of old legs on their team -- so deep into the playoffs they weren't as competitive as their talent would normally dictate. Their window could be closing if they don't get to the Finals next year.
2) Dallas moved in the wrong direction. The trade for Jason Kidd was a mistake. Kidd was a great talent -- he took marginal Net teams with guys like Keith Van Horn, Todd MacCulloch, and Kerry Kittles to the NBA Finals. But that was five years ago. His shot is as unreliable as ever and just wasn't what the Mavericks needed. As a consequence, the Mavs traded away a key part of their future backcourt. Long gone are the days of Nash-Finely-Nowitzki; just like a team with marginal talents around Paul Pierce would never win anything, the same is true for Dallas with Nowitzki -- Terry, Stackhouse, Kidd, Howard are not the level of running mate needed for Dirk to be competitive.
3) Yao Ming's injury. McGrady gets a lot of flack (KG level flack) for not getting out of the first round -- but the Rockets have a very scrappy, almost Celtic like team, outside of the big tandem of Yao/McGrady. Without Yao, obviously things aren't quite the same. The biggest problem in Houston is, in my opinion, neither Yao or McGrady are capable of effectively closing games out (like Pierce) as both can be gun-shy in those big moments. If they got someone like, say Ray Allen, I would favor them to come out of the West (when healthy -- a big factor).
4) Shaq in Phoenix. Another desparate move to get value in Shawn Marion entirely changed the style of play of the Suns. Defense is always going to be a problemw it them, but now they've saddled their future to two players on the decline (Shaq much more so than Nash, obviously) and are torn between open-court and half-court basketball. I don't see them being competitive in the playoffs again next year -- I'd even wager the Suns, if serious about reloading, trade Nash for serious value (they could get it) and start building a halfcourt team around Amare Stoudemire.
5) Byron Scott. Chris Paul might overcome Byron's ineptitude through a few rounds, even to the Finals like Jason Kidd, but Byron is always going to hold that team back as long as he's around. How he keeps on finding the best point guard in the game to give him accolades, I'll never know.
6) The Jazz. A team without a closer. A great team, without a closer, IMO. This is a championship team with Ray Allen or Paul Pierce on it. Hard to tell if Daron Williams will develop to this next level as far as he has dominated thus far.
7) The Nuggets. Carmello and A.I. on the same team. George Karl. Enough said.
In the end -- there wasn't a large gap between the top and bottom of the Western Conference, and it's true -- but those teams were just competitive with each other and none, at least this year, were near the cohesion or level of team play that the Celtics and Pistons were.
