Has there ever been a division where all teams ended above .500? Or where all divisional teams went to the playoffs?
ESPN magazine did something about this a few weeks ago. I believe the last division to have as high a winning percentage as the Midwest is projected to have in 2004 was the 1982-83 Atlantic Division: Philadelphia 76ers: 65-17 Boston Celtics: 56-26 New Jersey Nets: 49-33 New York Knicks: 44-38 Washington Bullets: 42-40 Of course, two less teams. But that also means the talent was less diluted. ESPN pitted an all-star squad from Midwest 2004 (including Francis and Yao) against one from Atlantic '83 and pondered the results. Ultimately, the starters matched up pretty well (I think it was Francis/Finley/KG/Duncan/Yao vs. Cheeks/King/Bird/McHale/M.Malone), but Atlantic '83 had a deeper bunch. But yeah, Midwest 2004 is definitely one of the better NBA divisions, top-to-bottom, in recent NBA history.
New Orleans will be sub .500 next year in the West, at about Clipper-Sonic Level. Like the Rox without Yao.
Thank You, adeelsiddiqui! Anyone remember the last time we lost Steve for an extended amount of time? We went 1-15 dropping 15 in a row and not winning the 1 until the game right before he came back. Consequently, that is a big part of a why we got Yao, but we suck without Francis - he IS that good. Anyways, I'm gonna like seeing 6 midwest teams make the playoffs and only 2 teams from the Pacific, I find that amusing.
I was about to say that. Man, with out Steve we plain old SUCK! I can barely watch the games with out SF. Our team seems so lost, they can't do nothing.
Even in his reduced, diminished role, he still produces like a top 10 gaurd. Who cares if he doesn't get 25-7-7, if we get close to 50 wins, it will all be worth it. We pay him too much, O well, get over it, people pay a lot more for a lot less. This is why we have such a small market for NBA games, even though we are the fourth largest city in the USA, our attendence is dead smack in the middle. Why?, well partially because of not having big names, and when we do have big names, we complain that they are underperforming for the value. Give em some time, and watch, we will be the envy of the NBA. Yao, Francis, Mobley, JJ, MoT and Cato...
do you have to remember me of that year. damn, it was almost funny if it wasn"t so sad the rockets were terrible we lost to every team. also the worst in the nba
or without JJ and Mobes. Come on, give them some props will ya? That's why it's called TEAM basketball. We wouldn't be making play offs if we didn't have, Yao, Steve, JJ, or Mobes.
