Should the NBA lock the top 2 draft spots for both an East and West team?

No thanks. There is no need to penalize the western conference just because the east has so many teams with piss poor management. You said yourself the east has had 12 of the last 20 picks and 7 of the last 8. Seriously, all of these proposed changes are getting out of hand. None of them will happen. If Stern really wanted to balance the power this year, he could have rigged the lottery for the Knicks and Celtics, two teams that are in desperate need of a big name talent.

Just because this year we have two overwhelmingly favored picks does not mean there won't be two eventual studs in the draft. Look in previous years. Yao-Amare, Deron Williams-Chris Paul, Dwight Howard-Igoudala, etc etc. Look at some of the trades the Celtics have made during the past couple years. Look how NYK has managed their cap situation. The East is in complete shambles right now compared to the West. I hope it eventually balances out.

You know there is something wrong when possibly all the western playoff teams could knock out the cavs in a 7 game series.

 

No!!!! Seriously the East's funk is just temporary. Breath a little. Things will be upside down in less than 6 years.

 

Those are pretty bad examples. Howard and Okafor weren't considered the clear cut best 2. Brand and Francis weren't considered the clear cut best 2 - Lamar Odom was in the mix most of the way until questions about his character made him drop. Robinson and Kidd weren't the clear cut best 2 - Grant Hill was in the mix.

This year was just a unique situation where you had a clear cut top 2 and it sucks that it turned out the way it did, but you don't go changing rules because of what happened. These things work in trends, and maybe it will take 10-15 years, but things will even themselves out eventually, they always do.

 

werent we saying this like 6 years ago?

it did look like things were on the up and up the last couple years, but really, has the conference improved that much?

ideally, this idea is not a bad one. but ideally, neither is communism. i dont think that one conference should be punished b/c the other one is crappy. it is a lottery and if you want true random-ness, you cant have rules like the one suggested.

 

I actually don't think it is a terrible idea, but just think that the east has gotten Lebron, DWade, Bosh, DHoward, Bargnani, and Bogut the last few years. Yao was the last number 1 pick for the west. In fact the East has had the top two picks in the draft for the last 4 years. Things will even out in the end. Keep in mind, despite the West being so much better than the East, the east won 2 of the last 3 titles and went to a game 7 in the other.

 

the east has the cavs and bulls who may rise to championship level in that time.

the west has the mavs, rockets, jazz, lakers.

the west will also have the sonics, blazers, and hornets on the rise. the east has the magic.

if the east would have won oden AND durrant then i would say in 6 years things would be a bit balanced, but even in the future the west apears to be stronger.

 

I doubt that would be the case, because the way things have been going for the last ten years or so, a whole lot of your young players do their time on a bad team and then as they approach free agent status they head off to a better situation - either through forced trade or through actual free agency. It's just not working. Look at the player migrations over the last few years. There are just a whole lot more stars heading West than there are heading out East.

 

Welcome to the Western Conference, Morey.

 

The West has been the superior conference for the last 15 years. There have been superior players, like Jordan, and superior teams, like Detroit, who earned championships, but that doesn't mean that their conference from top to bottom was equal to the west. The western conference consistantly has more quality teams in the bottom rung of the playoff bracket, and more championship caliber contenders at the top. This is more than a temporary trend.

 

true but if you have more franchise players like oden and durrant drafted by teams in the east then they will be locked there for at least 4 seasons.

in that time, they should attract FA's to join them.

dwayne wade had shaq moving east. dwight howard may have rashard lewis heading east. melo had iverson moved west. yao had tmac moved west. the cavs spent thier money on houghs, snow, jones, etc... instead of giving boozer what he was worth, but they could've easily added a mador piece instead of role players.

the point is that up and coming superstars attract big name teammates. oden and durrant will one day do the same for thier teams, and thus make the east weaker.

it's actually a 2-fold process. the west gets 2 more all-star calibur players... and those players attract equally talented players from the east.

 

The dropoff from Brand to Steve was apparent before the draft and is monumental now. That is like saying look at the Yao-Williams draft, or the Duncan-Pierce draft.