Once again, the Eastern Conference is actually the Leastern Conference. They currently only have 3 teams over .500; 2 of which are 4-3. The Western Conference has 9 teams over .500! The 4th seed in the east wouldn't even make the playoffs if they were in the west! Why does it feel like the Eastern Conference as a whole has been weaker than the Western Conference in the last few years? Why do you think this is?
You do realize we're only 2 weeks into the season right? The Nets are 2-4, the Bulls are 3-3, and the Heat are 4-3. I don't think that continues. I still think the west is stronger, but you're overreacting to a small sample size.
It's too early to base it off those records But regardless, the west is way better like always. The east is at best, 4 teams deep
it's terrible and the NBA either needs to consider a 1-16 format for playoffs or at the very least, make it a rule that any sub 500 team gets replaced in the playoffs by an above 500 team in the other conference. The bucks at 6 games below 500 should never make the playoffs like they did last year
Didn't see this thread when I changed my sig this morning. Of the East teams, if the season ended today, only two (Atlanta loses tie breaker) would make the playoffs if they were in the West. The East appears to have two great teams, Indiana and Miami. West appears to have 3, SAS, OKC, and LAC. Chicago and Houston are trying to become great teams. I like Atlanta as a good team in the East. NYK lost their best player. Their best choice for center appears to be Metta World Peace, but I don't even think they'll consider it.
This. But honestly I would contribute it more to the fact that the WC GMs are just straight up better than the Eastern ones, so the West always seems more competitive while the East is always top heavy. The West teams have average to great GMs in general, while the East has horrible mgt starting from the Cavs, Knicks, Bobcats etc.
Bro they are most definitely stronger this year. The Heat, Pacers, Bulls, and nets are all a better top 4 than the Clippers, Thunder, Spurs, Rockets. I think this is the year Indiana comes out of the East
The East has been weaker than the West for a long time. Its always been harder for a team to win the West. Hence, you see a team like Miami get an easy road to the finals to play a team that had to claw tooth and nail to get to the finals.
The top 11 teams in the East, currently, have a record of 10-11 in games against the West. about as even as you get The bottom 4 eastern teams, Detroit, Washington, Brooklyn, and New York are a combined 1-6 and thus are responsible for all of the interleague disparity (with Brooklyn being 1-0, so it's just the other three loser teams, so far). granted, you could also carve out Utah and improve the West The disparity claimed by the OP is oversold based on the small sample size and the suckiness of just a few teams.
Top 11 teams in West are 15-6 against the East with half those losses against Indiana and Miami. Basically through 18 games, a team in the East besides Miami and Indiana has less than a 17% chance of beating a top 11 West team. Basically, the best team in East and worst team in east have better records than the corresponding rankled team in the West. The West wins spots 2-11. They are tied for 12th and 13th. While the sample size is still very small for individual teams, there are enough games played between conferences to show West is still significantly stronger than the East.
