5 of the last 10 champions have come from the East 8 of the last 20 15 of the last 30 20 of the last 40 Greater depth in the West should not be taken to mean that the teams at the top of each conference are not comparable. History shows us that they are.
You can't deny that they have an easier road to the finals as well. They can coast during the season playing easier teams and only putting real effort in for stronger teams. And they're pretty much guaranteed through first two rounds of the playoffs. I'm not sure if that has any effect by the Western teams get down to the 7th game of the finals but it could. Plus, there have been some years where the East haven't been competitive at all. I remember in '02 the WCF were considered the real finals by many.
The Heat have faced 3 teams over .500 (all against west teams) while the Rockets have faced 7 teams over .500. Overrated.
The top three or so is pretty even as far as East-West parity. There's no doubt about that. The problem is that the West has about 7 really solid teams after the top 3. Whereas the East is mostly bottom dwellers. A team like the Mavs, Lakers. Blazers may not make the playoffs in the West. But they probably would in the East. And this year we'll probably see piss-poor teams as high as the 4th seed in the East. Which sucks for everyone. It produces crappy basketball in the first round for the fans. It sucks for front offices who are trying to tank and rebuild. And it's unfair to the 9th and 10th seed in the West. The problem is that the East has some of the biggest media markets. So it's in the tv network/league's bottom line short term best interest to continue having conferences. Although the best case scenario would be to have the top 16 teams battle it out. Or at least remove divisions. Check out this piece in grantland today, it talks about this: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...seless-nba-divisions-step-1-of-a-radical-plan
Maybe it's the fact that the West is more wide open so players go here. In the East you know you can't beat LeBron and the Heat so why even play for another Eastern team?
I remember possibly starting a thread about the crappy East 10 years ago. There are a handful of reasons that can be argued, and that is one legit possibility. It has happened in waves, but there were a lot of things that just went the West's ways in my memory: Shaq going from Orlando to LA as a FA. Kobe being traded from Charlotte to LA for Vlade Divac. Chris Webber being traded to Sac from Was for Mitch Richmond (at the time, everyone thought Was got the better end of that). Milwaukee selecting Tractor Traylor before Dallas taking Dirk. Boston getting Paul Pierce and San Antonio getting Duncan. Spurs smart moves: Parker, Ginobili, etc. Historically, it has been a combination of luck and better management in trades, FA acquisitions, and drafts. A few things salvaged the East and won them titles: Boston getting an old Ray Allen and KG for Jeff Green and Al Jefferson. Cavs getting the #1 pick, Miami drafting Wade, and those two combining. For every well managed team in the East (Miami, Indiana, Boston), there are just as many perennial losers that kept making wrong or unlucky moves (Washington, Milwaukee, New York, Philly, Tor, Cha, Orl-bad luck imo, NJ).
LOLOLOL, History Search (I think there were a couple of years over the last 15, since Jordan left, where the competitive balance was equal or arguably better in the East, but for the most part, like over 80% of the time, the East just sucked overall.) 2013 Why is the West consistently stronger than the East? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=232780&highlight=East 2012 The Eastern conference is still not as competitive as the West http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=216405&highlight=Eastern 2011 The (L)Eastern Conference standings at midseason http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=199697&highlight=Eastern 2010 Lebron says competition is not as hard in the East http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=196449&highlight=East [the East sucks] What's the worst 8th seed in history? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=179656&highlight=East 2009 [the East sucks] What's the worst 8th seed in history? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=179656&highlight=East 2008 The Disparity Continues: East vs West http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=159520&highlight=East East vs. West- JVG Said it Best http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=149986&highlight=East Why the Disparity Between East and West? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=145528&highlight=East 2007 The East had its chances http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=130040&highlight=East Who Would You Like to Play Out of the EAST http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=124544&highlight=East 2006 NBA needs to adjust the conferences! http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=122036&highlight=East Only 3 teams in the Eastern Conference have winning records... http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=120739&highlight=East why its good to be in the east http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=120814&highlight=East Western Conference is stacked! http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=120158&highlight=East 2005 West #8 > East #3 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=93502&highlight=East 2004 Why are East GM's so dumb? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=80483&highlight=East 2003 When will the East catch up? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=57551&highlight=East 2002 The East teams aren't tanking, they just suck http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=31118&highlight=East Can you believe how BAD the East is? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=33019&highlight=East 2001 How bad does the East suck? (stats) http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=21786&highlight=East 2000 When will the East be able to compete with the West again? http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=358&highlight=East This is hardly a new topic of discussion, and the NBA has cared nothing at all about this issue.
At the end of the day, the west is better because more of the cities top players want to play in are in the west.
I think that's an oversimplification of the what has happened over the last 15 years. Drafting well/poorly has had a big effect. Trades have had a big effect. You're basically saying the disparity is all due to FA movement / forced trades. Well, there's: LeBron - Cle to Mia Melo - Den to NYC Dwight - Orl to LA to Hou Harden - OKC to Hou Historically, I'll say the Shaq from Orl to Hou played the biggest role, but overall, there's just not enough data to support your claim that "at the end of the day, top players want to play in the West."
East is full of tankers. Pretty much the whole conference has been tanking for 20 years. Further proof that tanking doesn't do jack ****. Tankers are the worst. I'm so glad that we don't have to discuss this in the GARM anymore.
What I said was was the west had MORE of the cities top players want to play in. Never said they are all there. Miami and NYC are two eastern cities that attract stars. No argument. A player cant control who drafts them. Same for traded players. Might be interesting to see how many stars stayed in non-want cities once they were eligible to do so. My point is best illustrated when you look at top players who entered unrestricted free agency, and look at where they ended up. The lions share ended up in the warmer, bigger, and fanfare places is my contention, and the east has fewer of such cities than the west does. I don't claim there are not exceptions, but I stand by my point in broad general terms.
I don't think it has anything to do with the cities themselves. It is team management that deals with personnel, and therefore management that makes or breaks the team. The East has big market cities. Philly, Boston, New York/Brooklyn, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Washington, Chicago... all of these are big exciting cities with good sports markets. There's no good reason that a professional athlete would not want to play in any of those cities. Except if the team is trash. And most are. Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, I can imagine players wanting to stay from these depressing cities. But the west has some not-so-great cities as well - memphis, okc, utah, new orleans, minnesota, and lets be honest, DALLAS is a piece of trash. Yet despite the actual cities themselves, the west still puts out a far superior product.
I agree with this statement. The management is usually what makes a team better or not, take Detroit for an example. Even though the team does not play there, it is still one of those cities that you know players might second guess, but with good drafting and trading they won 3 chips, much more than several teams in the West. San Antonio is another smaller market that with good drafting won 4 chips. So yeah
I'll bite. I don't know the answer yet, but I do know you're making a generalization w/o focusing on the evidence. Perhaps you've been following NBA Free Agent news well over the last few years...maybe you're right. The following evaluation will be subjective based on who I consider is a good nba player. This list is free to be amended by anyone. A lot of unobserved variables will come into play here: cap space, family obligations, title contention, playing time...but city preference should have some explanatory power here. Good FA who changed teams http://www.nba.com/freeagents/2013/ Bynum - Phi to Cle Monta - Mil to Dal Dwight - LAL to Hou Iggy - Den to GS Jack - GSW to Cle Al Jefferson - Uta to Cha Jennings - Mil to Det Kirilenko - Min to Bkn Martin - OKC to Minn Mayo - Dal to Mil Millsap - Uta to Atl Reddick - Mil to LAC J.Smith - Atl to Det Okay, this is taking too long, and I'm losing interest. But I think you're making an overreaching unfair statement based on your perception and I hope I'm able to change your mind with the evidence thus far. Look, I have no problem if you are right, I just get annoyed when people make these statements that are hard to prove and I'm left wondering "where is this thought coming from?" There are also so many factors other than being top city...mainly $$$. That said, there are some true major shifts than can occur imo when marquee FA's bolt from one place to the next. Shaq went to LA and I think this is a great example of effecting the balance of power in the NBA and going West as a preference. Shaq had money from many places, he wanted LA bc of LA. T-Mac came to Houston from Orl, but that was a lot to do with Yao. Orlando did a good job of recruiting T-Mac in the first place. I just want like 10 strong examples of FA's who clearly went West from the East bc of wanting to be in a top city. I'm not denying that it can be a factor, but I think other factors have had bigger roles. Washington, Philly, Boston, NY, NJ, ATL...these are cities where professional athletes from all sports live in normally. Is there really a distinct advantage to the number of better cities to live in in the West? What are the truly crap cities in both conferences? Toronto (only bc of the Canada stigma) Charlotte Milwaukee Cleveland vs Memphis Minn Utah (SLC) OKC I mean, this is just all so damn subjective.
whats absurd is that pacers up until yesterday hadn't played a team above .500 -- even then they beat the clippers without one of their starters (Redick) and a key bench player (Barnes) -- but any road win against a western playoff team is still impressive. But it still makes their overall - best record in the NBA - a bit less impressive than what it actually is.
Ownership and GMs have a lot of influence, too. San Antonio is not a destination city. Dallas won its championship on the back of Dirk who thru got in a weird trade. Houston has been better than most East teams by having a good GM. NYC, Chicago, Boston, and Miami are all attractive locations. Lakers, until recently, have had excellent management that gave them the edge over the Knicks.
I agree there are other factors such as those you state. But where unrestricted free agents want to go plays a part. A larger part than it ever has in the NBA. 30 years ago, my argument would have little merit. A thought experiment: If you had had Wade in Cleveland and Lebron in Miami, does anyone think Lebron would have left Miami and made super friends in Cleveland?
Minneapolis is actually a pretty good market. They have money to spend up there. The West haw big markets: LA, Bay Area, Houston, DFW. You have Chicago and NYC in the East. boston too. The biggest problem with the east is management. They should eliminate conferences but keep divisions.
I really don't know Lebron that well. I think he wanted Superfriends more than the city. FA matters, but I think Miami, NYC, and Chicago account for a good chunk of desirable locations and are in the East. LA is really the only city in the West that has the glamour of these cities in NBA circles. Philadelphia has been poorly run, but should be an attractive location. Washington, too.
