How good is the West?

[NugzFan]

Assuming all teams are healthy

OKC 65-70 wins
Golden state 60-65 wins
San Antonio 60-65 wins
Houston 55-60 wins
Dallas 50-55 wins
Memphis 50-55 wins
New Orleans 45-50 wins

nice try homer.

[pastis]

lol at dallas winning 50-55 games. right now we wont even sniff the 50 mark.
guys overrating with a DJ, who has to prove that he doesnt rely only on CP3 assists right now. and then we have matthews with the woat injury for an prof. athlet.

i rather see sacramento stealing mavs place for the fight for the 8th place

[DMAVS41]

lol at dallas winning 50-55 games. right now we wont sniff even the 50 mark.
guys overrating with a DJ, who has to prove that he doesnt rely only on CP3 assists right now. and then we have matthews with the woat injury for an prof. athlet.

i rather see sacramento stealing mavs place for the fight for the 8th place

there is a wide range on the Mavs wins this year.

could see as low as 40 if health is a problem and we don't fill out the roster well....and could see as high as 55 if things go well with health

not a contender so it doesn't really matter anyway. hope we find some chemistry and do enough on the court to attract a superstar this summer or become at least desirable enough to attract 2 2nd tier free agents to fill out the roster.

a big key is developing anderson. we need to find out how good he is as quickly as possible. need to play him 20 minutes a game regardless of outcomes. if we can develop him well this year it will pay huge dividends over the next couple.

[pastis]

unfortunatelly i see anderson like Dominique jones. lots of potential, but not enough playing time due to carlise. same with rodrigue beaubois at some point

thing is, that mavs are still focusing on playoffs of course, and with this relative "weak" squad you have to play your veterans for reaching this goal - no time for rookies!

It would be a different story if we would have had a top5 pick, like wall, irving, etc. those rookies play immediatly, no matter if the team is tanking or playing for the playoffs.

but we arent in a "timberwolves-esque"-situation where you can trial by error

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

lol at dallas winning 50-55 games. right now we wont even sniff the 50 mark.
guys overrating with a DJ, who has to prove that he doesnt rely only on CP3 assists right now. and then we have matthews with the woat injury for an prof. athlet.

i rather see sacramento stealing mavs place for the fight for the 8th place

lol Sac aint gon be in the 8th seed hunt unless DMC has an alltime great season. You know they just signed Rondo right..............Rondo/Gay/Cousins no floor spacing AT ALL

Utah is the team to watch. Minny, Phoenix and Denver have a better shot than Sac

[ArbitraryWater]

How long is Cousin's contract?

[And1AllDay]

I don't think anyone had a prayer outside of Cleveland last year. And the results show that.

Yea, the better teams almost always win.

The problem is...upsets are far more likely when good teams are the underdogs.

And it's just way more fun to watch good teams play longer in the playoffs.

And lastly, how tough your road is to the finals matters.

Would the Clippers have lost to the Rockets if they didn't have to play a brutal first round with Paul wearing down/injured? I don't know for sure of course...nobody does...but it certainly would have helped the Clippers if they got to play a joke East team in round 1 in a 4 or 5 game series.

It all matters....

There is no argument for having an unfair and unbalanced system.

The rest is just noise. It's already a big enough advantage to play in the weaker conference to get more wins (if the format was top 16)...but to double the advantage by giving the same teams an easier path...just silly

Why would someone be for an unfair system if they aren't incredibly biased?

Tell me the argument for keeping a system that we know is unfair...

It's going to be some bullshit about tradition and rivalries and "that's how it's always been"....and that's crap

So because the Clippers had to play 2 more games (7 vs 5) you think that's why the lost the next round? I'm not buying that.

As for East vs West, I think traveling has something to do with it. As does rivalries, which you mentioned. I mean, you play your East teams how many times, 4 games a season? That gives you some time to plan for what they're going to throw at you in the playoffs. And yes, having rivalries does add to the reason to keep things the way they are.

If they wanted to do a top 16 vs 8 and 8 then wouldn't they essentially have to play every team the same number of games? I suppose that's possible.

[rmt]

So because the Clippers had to play 2 more games (7 vs 5) you think that's why the lost the next round? I'm not buying that.

As for East vs West, I think traveling has something to do with it. As does rivalries, which you mentioned. I mean, you play your East teams how many times, 4 games a season? That gives you some time to plan for what they're going to throw at you in the playoffs. And yes, having rivalries does add to the reason to keep things the way they are.

If they wanted to do a top 16 vs 8 and 8 then wouldn't they essentially have to play every team the same number of games? I suppose that's possible.

It's even more unfair for the East that they're playing mostly against lesser competition. That record is based on inferior competition unlike say being in the Southwest division where a team is playing 16 division games vs playoff competition. Time to plan is not an excuse/explanation - the Finalists play each other only 2 times a year.

[DMAVS41]

So because the Clippers had to play 2 more games (7 vs 5) you think that's why the lost the next round? I'm not buying that.

As for East vs West, I think traveling has something to do with it. As does rivalries, which you mentioned. I mean, you play your East teams how many times, 4 games a season? That gives you some time to plan for what they're going to throw at you in the playoffs. And yes, having rivalries does add to the reason to keep things the way they are.

If they wanted to do a top 16 vs 8 and 8 then wouldn't they essentially have to play every team the same number of games? I suppose that's possible.

I never claimed it was "the reason" they lost. I said it absolutely was a factor.

Why would you have to change anything in the regular season though? Why wouldn't you just keep everything the same and take the top 16?

Does that not seem more fair given the state of the league the last 15 or so years?

[ninephive]

Think about the Southwest Conference...all 5 teams made the playoffs last year and the Mavs got Jordan, Spurs got Aldridge.

[Heavincent]

who cares, the best team will always win in the end

It's funny how Bran stans like you are the only ones opposed to change. God forbid Lebron doesn't get a cakewalk to the Finals.

[DMAVS41]

It's funny how Bran stans like you are the only ones opposed to change. God forbid Lebron doesn't get a cakewalk to the Finals.

Yep.

Obvious is obvious.

[Kobe_6/8]

I think the only East-West playoff series should be the Finals.

Also the 2-conference system exists because of travel. There's no easy way to keep the integrity of the schedule and change the seeding.

[DMAVS41]

I think the only East-West playoff series should be the Finals.

Also the 2-conference system exists because of travel. There's no easy way to keep the integrity of the schedule and change the seeding.

You keep the regular season as is....

Change the playoffs.

Simple. Easy. Fixes many problems.

It's not perfect, but a whole lot better.