why has the eastern conference been hot garbage for the last 15 years?

[STATUTORY]

there's no institutional disadvantage for the east. major markets, historical franchises, yet the east has won 5 times in last 15 years. what gives.

[Im so nba'd out]

no 1 wants to compete with lebron they all go to the west

[Nowitness]

Wat you smokin' san? The East was dominant in the 2000s, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, MJ returning, LBJ, D Grade, Carter. How can the West match up outside of LA/SA?

[Finger Roll]

my guess



Tim Duncan
:coleman:

[MMM]

East was terrible from 99-2003 but from 04-10 or 11 was solid. Those years consisted of Multiple title contenders in the east while the west was filled with more above average, good, fringe Contending teams. Since 11 the Celtics rebuilding, Roses injury, and Howard going west has hurt the conference.

[Hey Yo]

Wat you smokin' san? The East was dominant in the 2000s, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, MJ returning, LBJ, D Grade, Carter. How can the West match up outside of LA/SA?
:lol :lol

[NugzFan]

Because all the best front offices are in the west. Half the teams in the east are terribly ran.

[AnaheimLakers24]

east is trash
always will be

[MMM]

there's no institutional disadvantage for the east. major markets, historical franchises, yet the east has won 5 times in last 15 years. what gives.

I think there is a FA disadvantage for East teams especially in the North East and Mid North. Cities like Boston, Chicago, Philly, etc aren't the FA spots that western conference has out in Texas and California.

[stephanieg]

Why was the West so crappy during the '80s? Just historical happenstance.

[STATUTORY]

Why was the West so crappy during the '80s? Just historical happenstance.
west won 5 times that decade :coleman:

[knicksman]

because theres no alpha in the east

[MMM]

west won 5 times that decade :coleman:

And the East won 5 times from 2004 - 2014

[DonDadda59]

Bulls Dynasty breaking up, Shaq moving out West, injuries, collusion, incompetent management.

[hawksdogsbraves]

Because all the best front offices are in the west. Half the teams in the east are terribly ran.

Yep, it's this. It has nothing to do with markets, it's all FO's.

The Knicks have a horrible FO and have for a decade, the Bulls haven't put it all together, Boston was good for all of 3 years. Miami has been good and Detroit had a good run. That's it though.

The West has had Dallas, Phoenix, LA, San Antonio, all truly elite franchises in terms of front offices. And now the Clippers, Blazers, and Rockets have aquired really good teams.

[bdreason]

Shaq and Duncan.

[KG215]

Yep, it's this. It has nothing to do with markets, it's all FO's.

The Knicks have a horrible FO and have for a decade, the Bulls haven't put it all together, Boston was good for all of 3 years. Miami has been good and Detroit had a good run. That's it though.

The West has had Dallas, Phoenix, LA, San Antonio, all truly elite franchises in terms of front offices. And now the Clippers, Blazers, and Rockets have aquired really good teams.
:wtf:

Sorry, as a Thunder fan, this sort of bothers me. Maybe it was just an accident, but how you gonna mention all that about the West and not include the Thunder? Even if you think they're cheap, they've still acquired the cornerstone pieces of a contending team through the draft which still says something about the FO's competence. And not just KD and Russ, either. Guys like Ibaka, Reggie, and now Adams.

[TheMilkyBarKid]

:wtf:

Sorry, as a Thunder fan, this sort of bothers me. Maybe it was just an accident, but how you gonna mention all that about the West and not include the Thunder? Even if you think they're cheap, they've still acquired the cornerstone pieces of a contending team through the draft which still says something about the FO's competence. And not just KD and Russ, either. Guys like Ibaka, Reggie, and now Adams.
If you mention these guys, why not Harden?

[hawksdogsbraves]

:wtf:

Sorry, as a Thunder fan, this sort of bothers me. Maybe it was just an accident, but how you gonna mention all that about the West and not include the Thunder? Even if you think they're cheap, they've still acquired the cornerstone pieces of a contending team through the draft which still says something about the FO's competence. And not just KD and Russ, either. Guys like Ibaka, Reggie, and now Adams.

Ok yeah you're right, the Thunder def deserved a mention. I'm kinda drunk and figured I'd left out somebody.

I wouldn't say they have a great FO, but they certainly drafted well to get this team.

It really is mostly all KD though. That's an all-time great right there and they got him with a no-brainer pick. It would be hard to have a player that great and not be a contender.

That being said though Harden, Ibaka, Jackson, and Adams were all phenomenal picks. Westbrook was more of an easy one like Durant since it was probably between him and Love.

[KBaller33]

It was good from 2004-2011. Pistons, Wade's Heat, LeBron's Cavs, Celtics, Dwight's Magic, the Bulls in 2011. The East went down once Rose got hurt IMO.

[KG215]

If you mention these guys, why not Harden?
Because he's not part of the team anymore. But, still, I guess they deserve credit for him, too, since he was a key piece on a team that made the Finals.

[KG215]

Ok yeah you're right, the Thunder def deserved a mention. I'm kinda drunk and figured I'd left out somebody.

I wouldn't say they have a great FO, but they certainly drafted well to get this team.

It really is mostly all KD though. That's an all-time great right there and they got him with a no-brainer pick. It would be hard to have a player that great and not be a contender.

That being said though Harden, Ibaka, Jackson, and Adams were all phenomenal picks. Westbrook was more of an easy one like Durant since it was probably between him and Love.
At the time the Westbrook pick wasn't looked at as a no-brainer. There were still plenty of questions surrounding whether or not he could make the transition to the PG position in the NBA and it was a pick that plenty of people weren't sure about at the time.

And yes, it'd be damn near impossible to not build a contender around a player as great as Durant, who was a no-brainer pick, but even then, given that the Thunder are in a tiny market, the OKC front office has built a team from being garbage into a perennial contender. I know people have soured on Presti lately, but as it stands OKC's front offices is still one of the 3-5 best in the NBA in my opinion.

[ILLsmak]

Bulls Dynasty breaking up, Shaq moving out West, injuries, collusion, incompetent management.

The Cs pulled some West talent. Knicks got Melo and Amare. JJ moved east. A lot more people moved East, I'd say, where as the West kept building. Deron moved East, too.

Somehow, dudes move East and become shat even though they are seemingly grouping up.

I guess injuries also. The Bulls would be a contender if not for Rose getting injured. Everyone else is pretty much either rebuilding or housing players on their last legs.

-Smak

[jzek]

Jordan retired.

[La Frescobaldi]

west won 5 times that decade :coleman:

No. Lakers won. West was substantially weak during that time frame.

[La Frescobaldi]

Wat you smokin' san? The East was dominant in the 2000s, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, MJ returning, LBJ, D Grade, Carter. How can the West match up outside of LA/SA?

:roll: whiz weren't ever nothing

[Roundball_Rock]

The East was bad at the beginning of the 2000's and again in recent years but rebounded for a while. However, while the East was competitive at the top it has consistently lacked the depth of the West in terms of "good' teams, even if the East had as many or more strong title contenders.

2011: Three 55+ win teams in the East, including the teams with the best record and third best record.

2010: The two best records in the league were held by Eastern teams, a 61 win team and a 59 win team. The Celtics were 4th in the regular season with 50 wins but took the Lakers to the limit in the Finals.

2009: Three of the top four records in the league were in the East. The East had a 66 win team, a 62 win team, and a 59 win team while the West's #2 seed was a 54 win team.

2008: The top two records again were in the East, with the 66 win Celtics and 59 win Pistons.

The East would look better if Rose had not gotten hurt. The Bulls had the best record in the league in consecutive years. If Rose played you would have had Miami, Chicago and Indiana competitive at the top of the East. Howard leaving eliminated Orlando as a power center in the East. The tables will turn in time, though. The West was the weak conference in the 80's.

[PsychoBe]

the true measure of a conference isn't at the top, it's at the bottom. and for years now the east has been top heavy. the bottom-feeder west teams last year for instance, like phoenix and minnesota, would had been a perennial championship team had they played in the east, yet they missed the playoffs in the west.

it goes in cycles so maybe within the next 4-5 years the east will rise again.

[Flash31]

Well The East wouldve been good this year if there weren't so many injuries.

Knicks had Amare,Carmelo,Chandler hurt at times.
D Rose was having muscle memory issues,Noah was being run to the ground.
Nets lost Brook Lopez and Deron was suffering from foot problems.

Philly had the uber tank along with Milwaukee going powerdrill tank.
Half the east was drilling holes into the ground and tanking HARD.


Miami,Ind were basically neck and neck with Mia coasting.
Bkn had one of the Best records post all star break.
Tor won near 50 games and that was with Rudy Gay still on the team at the beginning of the season.
Chi would be near the top of rec with D Rose.
Wizards had a very good rec post all star break and with
Cle,Mil,Phi,Orl,Bos going hard in the tank,without all the injuries


Mia,Ind,Bkn,Tor,Was,Chi would all be 50 win teams with NYK making the playoffs an having more than 30 something wins.

So youd have 5-7 50 win teams in the East which is great.

People talk about the west like it's some powerhouse when you got
Sac,LAL,NO,Den,Dal,Min in it

The only tough division is the Southwest there.
The Pacific has Sac,LAL come on.

Just in the West teams compete more in reg season and go for reg season rec like the Bulls do while in the East if a team sucks itll tank hard but go hard against the marquee teams like how everybody went Game 7 Finals in 2013 against the Heat during their streak regardless of their record.

I mean come on,Hou,Pho,Por,GS,Min in what world are those Championship Contenders---If Pho,Min cant make the playoffs in the West then they weren't Championship Contenders to begin with.
It's like saying well if the NYK played in the Pacific division or Northwest and got to go up againt LAL,Sac,Den,Min,Uta 4 Times a Year then theyd make the playoffs.
If Pho can come close and no defense Min can,then the dsyfunctional NYK would be championship contenders.