When was each conference at its height in terms of level of talent across the board?

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Not just specific teams.

[SHAQisGOAT]

East - 80's

West - Hmm... You can make a great case for recent times...

[NBAplayoffs2001]

East - 80's

West - Hmm... You can make a great case for recent times...

Totally agreed. 80s East was crazy.

[ClipperRevival]

East 80's without a doubt. 76ers, Celtics, Pistons and a bit later the Bulls. 4 of the best teams ever competing in the same conference.

West? 99-02ish? Or now?

[masonanddixon]

2010-2011 is as good as we can get

East had Boston, Miami, Chicago and Miami actually had to beat two elite teams to make the Finals.

The West was brutal too.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

East 80's without a doubt. 76ers, Celtics, Pistons and a bit later the Bulls. 4 of the best teams ever competing in the same conference.

West? 99-02ish? Or now?

See in terms of top heavy talent, I think 99-02 was better. Those Portland teams and Kings teams were stacked but not nearly efficient as the Warriors.

[ClipperRevival]

2010-2011 is as good as we can get

East had Boston, Miami, Chicago and Miami actually had to beat two elite teams to make the Finals.

The West was brutal too.

Lol. Freaken newbie. Need to learn some history young buck. Recognize the East 80's. If you don't know, do some research.

[ClipperRevival]

See in terms of top heavy talent, I think 99-02 was better. Those Portland teams and Kings teams were stacked but not nearly efficient as the Warriors.

Agreed. Those Portland and Kings team were incredibly stacked. Can't forget the Spurs.

[masonanddixon]

Lol. Freaken newbie. Need to learn some history young buck. Recognize the East 80's. If you don't know, do some research.

I'm saying in the post-free agent era, SON.

Obviously shit was more balanced in the 80s.

[ClipperRevival]

I'm saying in the post-free agent era, SON.

Obviously shit was more balanced in the 80s.

The 80's was the most competitive era ever in terms of top tier teams. You had all time great teams competing every year for rings. It was THE golden age of the NBA. Nothing in history matches up to that era.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

The 80's was the most competitive era ever in terms of top tier teams. You had all time great teams competing every year for rings. It was THE golden age of the NBA. Nothing in history matches up to that era.

Knicks weren't that bad too in the late 80s :applause:

[PsychoBe]

for the west it's the early 2000's. lakers, spurs, kings, garnett's wolves, vintage jazz still together, portland, jason kidd and penny suns, nash and dirk mavs, etc, etc

the west was by far and away the best conference during those times

[ClipperRevival]

I'm saying in the post-free agent era, SON.

Obviously shit was more balanced in the 80s.

I meant no disrespect. Just got a little offended when I saw you mention 2010-2011 when I know what happened in the 80's.

[JellyBean]

East - 80's

West - Hmm... You can make a great case for recent times...

:applause: The East in the 80s was stacked with talent.

The West, to me, was always full of talent. No matter what decade.

[masonanddixon]

I meant no disrespect. Just got a little offended when I saw you mention 2010-2011 when I know what happened in the 80's.

Yeah I know man, it's cool. Everything in life was better back then. I just meant in this most recent decade.

It's horrible now. We have Obama, Lebron, and twitter.

[ClipperRevival]

Yeah I know man, it's cool. Everything in life was better back then. I just meant in this most recent decade.

It's horrible now. We have Obama, Lebron, and twitter.

All good sir. We all got something in common. We all love the game of basketball. That's all that matters on this site.

[ArbitraryWater]

West: 2014, could have been 2015, believe it will be 2016
East: 1980's easy.. probably the only decade the East was stronger.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

West: 2014, could have been 2015, believe it will be 2016
East: 1980's easy.. probably the only decade the East was stronger.

Even all of 1990s? I think its' arguable that 1980-1993 is when the East was dominant.

[Droid101]

West: 2014, could have been 2015, believe it will be 2016
East: 1980's easy.. probably the only decade the East was stronger.
The LeBron excuse train never ends.

[sd3035]

East 80s

West now

[Thorn]

East: early 80s with Bucks, Celts and Sixers or late 80s with better Celts, Bucks and Pistons.

West: one of three eras

mid 90s (93-96) with Portland (before Clyde trade), Stockton Malone Jazz, Barkley/KJ Suns, Sonics, Spurs, then Hakeem's Rockets.

Early 00s (think 00-04): Jail Blazers, Dirk/Nash Mavs, Kings, Duncan/D-Rob Spurs, Suns before Kidd trade, then Shaq/Kobe Lakers. KG Wolves were good for 03 and 04, too thin before due to bad FO.

present day (13-now): Curry Warriors, Paul/Griffin Clippers, Spurs, Grindhouse Grizzlies, Harden/Dwight Rockets, KD/Russ Thunder, Portland.

Seems like the first 2 eras had the better top-end talent -Hakeem/Shaq/Duncan probably better than anyone in the West today, Robinson/Kobe/Malone arguable especially with Durant's health in question.

There's more teams in 50+ win range today though. For example, in the West this year we had 7 teams win 50, but in like 1995, 4 teams won 57+ and 8th seed won 41. So better teams at the top in the past, but better across the board now. Warriors this year and Spurs last year are all-time teams, though.

Also the Spurs managed to be contenders in three of the strongest eras with three distinctly different teams.