Is the West weaker than anticipated?

[Jameerthefear]

Rockets are are under .500
Clips are only .500
Grizz look like shit
So far the East looks better than anticipated.
Knicks are a little better than most expected.
The Magic are .500 and now going into an easier spot in their schedule
Detroit and Drummond are killing it.

[ScarSymmetry]

InsideHoops.

Where 2 weeks = 82 games.

[coin24]

The west will pick it up, but they're pretty slow out of the gate right now..

The East will turn into the usual crap fest of 6th - 10th seeds fighting for the last 3 spots with a losing record:lol

[imdaman99]

You think the Grizz and Rockets and Clips will continue looking like shit? I have a hard time believing they will miss the playoffs, although the Grizz have sometimes looked turribly mismatched (losing by 50???), they still are good enough to be a playoff team.

Pistons, Knicks and Magic are much improved though I agree.

[ArbitraryWater]

So far definitely.. not too many good teams outside the top 5. And the Rockets/Clippers look worse than expected, so far.

East has improved greatly.

Poor teams have to battle it up in that powerhouse, where as the Lest stinks it up right now.

[westsideozzie]

The teams that were supposed to contend at the bottom of the playoff watch have regressed and the OKC's and Clip show have looked rather pedestrian.

[DMAVS41]

For sure. The Grizzlies, Rockets, Pelicans, Kings, and Clippers all look much worse than anticipated.

Now, it's still very early, but clearly those teams look worse than expected

[I<3NBA]

Warriors just took their souls and they have yet to recover :lol

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

And don't forget the Pelicans, who was supposed to be a fringe playoff team. Anthony Davis is already having his injury woes. I don't think he will ever play 80 games in the regular season....

Besides GS/SA, there really isn't a "good" team from the rest of the bunch. OKC has injury and defensive problems. The Clipps have bench and lack of testicular fortitude to close out games, Houston has problems with injuries/coaching and style of play in playoffs... Memphis is not a modern NBA team (like a a fat kid running against track stars)....

[Gus Hemmingway]

Yes OP, Yes, they have

[DaSeba5]

It's still early, but definitely.

[STATUTORY]

it's just Steph and the boys making other teams look bad. East lucky they dont need to play GSW 4 games

[Mr. Jabbar]

We will know its weaker than the east when lebron lands here.

[Naero]

A few of the Western Conference Playoffs teams of last season have been sluggish out of the gates this year, and there is definitely a bit more parity in the Eastern Conference this year due to more than a few All-Stars returning from injuries and because some of the recent-years draftees are fastly realizing their potential, but a discrepant chasm still exists between both conferences. Some Western Conference teams are simply underachieving while they continue to acclimate to systemically drastic changes--new coaches, new Point Guards to orchestrate the offense, and so on.

The best illustration of the disparity would be the qualitative quantity more so than peak quality; the Western Conference wins that by a landslide, and the inter-conference metrics will prove it once it protracts over the full-seasonal course. Only two Eastern Conference teams--the Cavaliers and Bulls--could even compete in the same league as the top-six Western Conference teams; even then, they're inevitably doomed against the Warriors and Spurs, who comprise their own stratospheric tier.

We only have a sample size to assess so far, which only those with pro-LeBron agendas will take seriously as they try to embellish his teams' success in that cakewalk conference; it's either that, or they're just being apologistic in advance to be excusatory of him potentially not even making the finals. Their agendas become glaringly obvious as well, considering how contextlessly and selectively their arguments are presented whenever they try to diminish the Western Conference's superiority.

[Gus Hemmingway]

Yeah the Cavs are so out of the Spurs and Warriors stratosphere when they were 1 shot away from a 3-0 lead last finals, DESPITE missing 2 all-stars :facepalm

[Naero]

Yeah the Cavs are so out of the Spurs and Warriors stratosphere when they were 1 shot away from a 3-0 lead last finals, DESPITE missing 2 all-stars :facepalm

:rolleyes:

I like it how many vaunt about the Cavaliers' two finals wins as if they beat the Warriors at their best, when that couldn't be much further from the truth. The Warriors had some of their most offensively woeful games in the finals, and their All-Stars underperformed dramatically due to first-time woes; the fact that they had their only losses wherein their opponent was held to under 100 points is a testament to that offensive stagnance.

Despite those setbacks, all the Warriors had to do was bench the plodding Andrew Bogut to stabilize their offense with a small-ball lineup; from that juncture onwards, they ran away with the series with three-consecutive blowouts (not counting the last game, which was a blowout for most of the fourth quarter until JR Smith caught fire--after the game was virtually decided, that is).

The Warriors still only have themselves to blame for coming out of the gates sluggishly in that series, as first-time jitters isn't excusatory; however, it is explanatory for the fact that the Cavaliers didn't beat the league-best Warriors. They beat a self-defeated, underachieving Warriors team, and it does not reflect how well they would have played against the Warriors at their peak.

[Gus Hemmingway]

:rolleyes:

I like it how many vaunt about the Cavaliers' two finals wins as if they beat the Warriors at their best, when that couldn't be much further from the truth. The Warriors had some of their most offensively woeful games in the finals, and their All-Stars underperformed dramatically due to first-time woes; the fact that they had their only losses wherein their opponent was held to under 100 points is a testament to that offensive stagnance.

Despite those setbacks, all the Warriors had to do was bench the plodding Andrew Bogut to stabilize their offense with a small-ball lineup; from that juncture onwards, they ran away with the series with three-consecutive blowouts (not counting the last game, which was a blowout for most of the fourth quarter until JR Smith caught fire--after the game was virtually decided, that is).

The Warriors still only have themselves to blame for coming out of the gates sluggishly in that series, as first-time jitters isn't excusatory; however, it is explanatory for the fact that the Cavaliers didn't beat the league-best Warriors. They beat a self-defeated, underachieving Warriors team, and it does not reflect how well they would have played against the Warriors at their peak.


No that's called good defense

And by your mythodical definition I could say "Cavs lost the series due to first time woes and lack of under achieving"

Doesn't hold any weight, by weight I mean facts, like how the Cavs shit on the Western conf last season and by current status, will this year also.

[DoctorP]

Rockets are are under .500
Clips are only .500
Grizz look like shit
So far the East looks better than anticipated.
Knicks are a little better than most expected.
The Magic are .500 and now going into an easier spot in their schedule
Detroit and Drummond are killing it.

All 3 of those teams should rise in the standings in a month or two.

[El Gato Negro]

The starting line up of kyrie, bran, moz, JR and love never lost to the west last year and ran threw every playoff team including the warriors and spurs.

[Naero]

No that's called good defense

And by your mythodical definition I could say "Cavs lost the series due to first time woes and lack of under achieving"

Doesn't hold any weight, by weight I mean facts, like how the Cavs shit on the Western conf last season and by current status, will this year also.

Maybe if it wasn't for the fact that the Warriors played offensively worst against the 20th-ranked defense of 2014-15 in the Cavaliers than the 4th-ranked defense in the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs, I would ascribe it more to the Cavaliers' defensive workmanship than the first-time jitters on the Warriors' part; however, those comparative facts and the eye test (which showed that the Warriors had many uncharacteristic misses--especially by Stephen Curry) attest to me that the Warriors defeated themselves much more than the Cavaliers did.

As we can see in this season, the Cavaliera aren't even close to the 10-0 Warriors. The records may suggest so, but context shows that the Cavaliers are just coasting through one of the easiest season-starting schedules in NBA history; in fact, had a few possessions gone differently in some of their games, they would have had at least 3 more losses against the lowly Jazz, Knicks, and Pacers. :lol

The Cavaliers have yet to notch a truly statement-making win, aside from possibly their 30-point win against the now-lowly Grizzlies--the same team that the Warriors trounced over by 50 points.

[Gus Hemmingway]

Maybe if it wasn't for the fact that the Warriors played offensively worst against the 20th-ranked defense of 2014-15 in the Cavaliers than the 4th-ranked defense in the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs, I would ascribe it more to the Cavaliers' defensive workmanship than the first-time jitters on the Warriors' part; however, those comparative facts and the eye test (which showed that the Warriors had many uncharacteristic misses--especially by Stephen Curry) attest to me that the Warriors defeated themselves much more than the Cavaliers did.

As we can see in this season, the Cavaliera aren't even close to the 10-0 Warriors. The records may suggest so, but context shows that the Cavaliers are just coasting through one of the easiest season-starting schedules in NBA history; in fact, had a few possessions gone differently in some of their games, they would have had at least 3 more losses against the lowly Jazz, Knicks, and Pacers. :lol

The Cavaliers have yet to notch a truly statement-making win, aside from possibly their 30-point win against the now-lowly Grizzlies--the same team that the Warriors trounced over by 50 points.

easiest schedule in NBA history? Nice try. Like I said, post facts, not mythology

Oh look actual facts:
http://espn.go.com/nba/stats/rpi/_/sort/SOS

18. Golden State
20. Cleveland

[BasedTom]

Rockets are are under .500
Clips are only .500
Grizz look like shit
So far the East looks better than anticipated.
Knicks are a little better than most expected.
The Magic are .500 and now going into an easier spot in their schedule
Detroit and Drummond are killing it.
Thee Magic are the 3rd, arguably 4th most relevant team in the division right now :lol

[knicksman]

its the curry alphaness effect. Most of the western teams lost motivation once they realized they have no chance against this team.

[AnaheimLakers24]

Its a bloodbath