Since I've been following the NBA, this is the weakest the Western Conference has ever been. I don't mean the strength of the conference overall but rather the strength of the elite teams at the very top. I don't know why this isn't mentioned more because it is glaringly apparent and is one of the biggest themes of the season right now, IMHO. It goes in trends, and the stretch of dominance of DAL/PHO/SA as an elite trio ended last year. I think most people would put LA/NO/HOU at the head of the class now, and I feel that this is the weakest trio we've seen in 20 years. What stands out to me the most is the inexperience. You almost always have veteran, battle tested teams at the top that have made numerous deep runs through the playoffs. The Rockets, the latter version of the Malone/Stockton Jazz, Barkley's suns, the Shaq/Kobe Lakers, the Spurs... You also had a stretch where you almost always had a former champion at near full strength that everyone 'had to go through.' This is simply due to the fact that the Lakers and Spurs' dominance spanned for so long. I'm not sleeping on the current Spurs, but anyone would agree that the championship doesn't 'run through them', as would be consistent with my argument. Except for the Lakers' backcourt, the 3 teams at the top are all greatly inexperienced and have some major flaw. The Hornets and Lakers simply do not impress me at all. Not nearly to the level I felt about certain teams in previous years. In essence, I am arguing that while the Rockets still may not look too convincing yet, it doesn't really matter. This thing is wide open and you couldn't pick a better year to contend for the Finals. Most important, is that our greatest concerns are from within. Can we stay healthy? Can the offense stay consistent? Will Yao disappear? Unlike previous years, there's no force standing in the path that can't be overcome. No Seattle Sonics, no MVP Shaq, no MVP Duncan. An older Kobe and Chris Paul are the best players in the conference and we have contained both of them on separate occasions. We just need to fix our own problems and we have a chance we might not have been good enough to have in some years.
Injuries have really kept the West from performing at it's normal ways. New Orleans - Tyson Chandler, Mo Peterson, some key bench players have been out from time to time (still with a pretty good record though) Houston - We all know all the nagging injuries our team has had San Antonio - Parker and Ginobili out for a while Dallas - Josh Howard out early in the season; New coach Denver - New Trade (actually fared well for Denver, nobody expected them to be this good this early after the trade) Portland - Nobody really expected them to be near the top, they have settled down a little Phoenix - Trades, and some injuries as well as a new coach has limited them from winning some games that they normally would win but still have a pretty decent record. Utah - This is probably the biggest one. They have had by far the most injuries out of any team, they still have a pretty good record with all the injuries and Deron Williams playing at 60% with that ankle. They are managing to win some games even without Boozer and some key bench players.
I think the West is definitely more open...BUT, when you consider that 8 of these 9 teams will make the playoffs: Lakers, Hornets, Rockets, Nuggets, Spurs, Blazers, Suns, Jazz and Mavericks well, if you make it to the western conference finals it might not be as hard as in years past, but that is still a very deep set of solid teams. you could potentially see a lot of first round series going 6 or 7 games. I wouldn't even know who I'd want to face. Assuming healthy, I guess the Jazz wouldn't be a bad first round opponent again. We'd clearly be better than the prior two years, they wouldn't be any better, we'd likely have home court advantage again, and I can't see them beating us 3 times in a row. I guess Portland and the Suns wouldn't be that bad, either...don't know. It's definitely western conference finals or bust with this group, this year, when healthy...but I'm still nervous about the first round.
Weaker or just more even? In the past there were a few teams that were just miles better as you said Cab, this year, there are a lot of teams that are good. Only 3 IMO can win the West....the Lakers, the Spurs and the Rockets the rest are just too flawed. And I know New Orleans wins, but they just do not impress me as far as the playoffs go, they are easily defended over a series IMO. DD
I'm not sure about that, I didn't think SA/Dal/Pho were all that great and dominate. SA might be an all time great or a team for the ages, but Dal and Pho never won anything, had great defense, or had any threatening big men. Even with all of the high-scoring, flashy offenses and great battles in playoffs, they have nothing to show for it. Dallas - was beating several times by Sacramento, up ending by Phoenix, embarrased in Finals, embarrased in 1st Round of the playoffs with 65+ win team, and blew themselves up last year. Phoenix - Lose with the league's best records and almost swept by the Spurs, almost knocked about the lowly Lakers after being down 3-1 (but they had a great run that year), knocked out by SA, and somewhat shoots themselves in the foot by getting older (and still losing to SA).
No way. The west may not have the top bunch, but there's a glut of very good teams - 9 in fact, compare to only four in the east: the C's, Orlando, Pistons, and Cavs (sorry Atlanta). The West still is much deeper and scarier than the east, but I bet the champion comes out from the east.
