Man, I watched a lot of the games last night impacting the Rockets draft positioning on the multiple fronts (it really turned out well for us). I just have to say, the East trully is pathetic. The second best team in the East (Detriot) couldn't make the Western playoffs. Ben Wallace is a great effort player, and Stack is a decent scorer, and that is it. One more thing I can assure you no one is tanking. NY, Detriot, Phily, NJ, Mia, and Toronta were all trying hard to win last night. The bad shooting is because there are very few offensively giften players in the East (granted the 1 game I didn't see any of was the Hornets-Magic) so everybody puts all their effort into defense. Postel and Mo were the big heros last night for Pete's sake--that should tell you the level of the guys making the key plays. The effort is there--way there, the skills are not, there is no tanking going on from what I can see.
Scar, What do you mean by tanking? Players always try -- if they don't, it doesn't have anything to do with trying to get the organization a good draft choice, it has to do with them being lazy or not caring. Why should they care about the draft? Why would they suck it up, look bad, just so the organization can get a better player through the draft, that could potentially come in and take some of their playing time, or even replace them? It just doesn't make sense. I don't even think most of the coaches in the league are interested in trying to get a better draft pick -- unless you've got the kind of job security that only a few coaches in the league have, your future depends on wins and losses.
I don't really have any input. I just agree with Desert Scar's assessment. I thought it was amusing the way you put it too, kind of like "the east sucks, yes, they really do suck".
