Idiots think the West got better, but it only got more top-heavy

[lilteapot]

Overall it's a less balanced conference.
Other than the top 5 teams, you have a couple of teams that could potentially fall out of the playoffs, or will be contending for an 8th spot at the most:

Mavs
Portland

The only teams now that have a shot at coming out of the West are:

Thunder
Spurs
Warriors
Rockets
Clippers(long shot as long as those 4 other teams are healthy)

So you have the top 5 teams which are realistically the only teams that have a shot, but the Warriors, Spurs and Thunder (in that order) are on a higher tier than the rest of the teams in the west. The grizzlies will be a pain in the ass to play against as always, but they just aren't winning. no other team is a threat.

Jazz- will still be bad
Suns- Anyone who thinks Chandler is any good anymore is fooling themselves. It appeared as if they were on the brink of being a playoff team, but then Dragic wanted out and all of a sudden that place became a mess.
Lakers - lol
Kings - If this wild mess of a roster and personalities is somehow able to be successful I will eat my hat
Wolves - fun to watch, but still terrible.

Of those 5 teams, if Portland somehow makes it, the Kings might have the best chance to grab that 7th/8th spot. But if you look at it objectively, the only teams that have a shot in Hell are GS, HOU, SA, OKC, LAC.

Compare this to the Eastern conference, where you have:
Cavs (have one year together, will definitely be better)
Heat (got better)
Bulls (not sold on them as contenders anymore, but still good)
Wizards (older, more experienced, hopefully more healthy, and still talented)
Bucks (got better, and Giannis can apparently shoot 3's now)
Raptors (got better)
Hawks (lost Carroll but will still be good)


It's still an overall better conference than the East, but the gap has grown narrower.

EDIT: Pelicans will probably make the playoffs, and win a couple of games, but they won't get much further than that.

[Lebronxrings]

the west has like 3-4 great teams that will compete with one another while the rest are non factors. East is a 8-10 team race. Wizards,heat,raps,cavs,hawks,bulls,bucks,magic,kni cks,nets all have a good shot.

[Dr Seuss]

Wizards,heat,raps,cavs,hawks,bulls,bucks,magic,kni cks,nets all have a good shot.

but how many of those teams are actually Championship contenders? 1? 2?

[lilteapot]

the west has like 3-4 great teams that will compete with one another while the rest are non factors. East is a 8-10 team race. Wizards,heat,raps,cavs,hawks,bulls,bucks,magic,kni cks,nets all have a good shot.

Nah, the only great team in the East for sure is the Cavs. If the Heat are healthy, then them too. Overall the West is still better than the East, but there's no way the West got better this offseason; it got much less competitive.

[toxicxr6]

Yes the west is now top heavy.. But they are incredibly top heavy

The top teir of contending teams are
Spurs
Warriors
Cavs
Rockets
Thunder
Clippers

That's 5/6 from the west...

Then the next best team is probably Memphis who could join this contending group as well

So 6/7 of the top teams are in the west..

And let's be honest everyone else is just making up the numbers.. The west will still kill the east W/L ratio next season..

You still have other good teams in the west who may go close to winning 50 games as well.. And I wouldn't be suprised to see a .500+ team from the west miss the playoffs again...
And let's face it in the east going .400+ is probably going to be good enough for 7/8 seed
And I'm sorry but the heat are not going to contend.. They will be fighting for 4/5 seed at best.

Take the cavs out of the East and the East would be a complete joke

[Legends66NBA7]

The Jazz will definitely be better than last year if they stay healthy. They had the dwelt point per game allowed last year with Gobert as a starter, they will be even better defensively this year.

The teams competing in the West are still more or less the same. The East is crap shoot to predict for the rest because there will be only 1 legit threat. The argument has alwaysbeen what the 2nd or 3rd tier teams would do in the East if they were in that conference.

[GIF REACTION]

KINGS, though.

[RidonKs]

grizzlies are in the third tier with bulls and heat
cavs warriors spurs occupy first tier
rockets clippers thunder third tier

but as for op, it counts for the same thing. at least by the second round, you have eliminated all but the top heavy teams anyway. nobody thought the mavs or blazers had a chance in hell the past few years anyway. they were generic 50 win teams, probably like the third tier above will be this season.

the best teams in the conference got waaaaaay better. so we might not get spurs/clippers in the first round, but the rest of the playoffs will be incredible. regardless of how tipped the scales are, i'm think its for the best.

lebron in the finals every season

:lebronamazed:

lebron loses 2/3 every time

:lebroncry:

[qrich]

Yes, the top teams in the West got better, namely the Spurs, Thunder and Clippers. Dallas & Portland took a step back, while Memphis will be healthier, Warriors added talent, as did Houston.

But to act as if the fringe teams didn't improve is idiotic. Utah was on a tear late last year and, despite the Exum loss, they have Alec Burks healthy and Rudy improvements, while the Pelicans get a competent offensive coach and will get improvements from Davis and EJ, plus, a healthy Holiday. Lakers get Kobe back, who will win them some games, and the Kings are no slouches either. Same with Minnesota and even Denver.

Regardless, of the league's top 7 teams, six reside in the West (Clippers, Warriors, Thunder, Spurs, Grizzlies, Rockets) with Cleveland making the lone Eastern appearance. After that, sure, Atlanta might get the nod at the 8 slot, but after that is? The Bulls? Raptors? Pacers? Wiz? They aren't much better than the Jazz and Pels are expected to be.

Face it, the West is the NBA while the East is EuroLeague.

[AnaheimLakers24]

East is still garbage and LeLittle will go 2/7

[Nastradamus]

I like what the Jazz, Wolves and Pelicans are doing but its definitely top heavy. Only the top 4, maybe 5(Grizz) have a shot.

Trailblazers did a great job bouncing back, but they won't be ready this year. Still, guys like Leonard,Plumlee,Vonleh and Mccollum, plus Lillard of course make for an intriguing future. Aminu is a very strong defender at the 3 as well who can bang with SFs like Lebron, Durant, Melo etc.

[lilteapot]

Yes, the top teams in the West got better, namely the Spurs, Thunder and Clippers. Dallas & Portland took a step back, while Memphis will be healthier, Warriors added talent, as did Houston.

But to act as if the fringe teams didn't improve is idiotic. Utah was on a tear late last year and, despite the Exum loss, they have Alec Burks healthy and Rudy improvements, while the Pelicans get a competent offensive coach and will get improvements from Davis and EJ, plus, a healthy Holiday. Lakers get Kobe back, who will win them some games, and the Kings are no slouches either. Same with Minnesota and even Denver.

Regardless, of the league's top 7 teams, six reside in the West (Clippers, Warriors, Thunder, Spurs, Grizzlies, Rockets) with Cleveland making the lone Eastern appearance. After that, sure, Atlanta might get the nod at the 8 slot, but after that is? The Bulls? Raptors? Pacers? Wiz? They aren't much better than the Jazz and Pels are expected to be.

Face it, the West is the NBA while the East is EuroLeague.

It's like you didn't get the point of the thread.

There are multiple teams who were playoff locks last year that are in serious conversations to miss the playoffs next year. The bad teams are still bad. The Lakers will have Kobe for less than half the season. You can't seriously be banking on him being healthy. Even if he plays 82 games, he's not good enough anymore to lead a shit team like this to the playoffs.

The Kings are a mess, chemistry-wise and fit-wise. Rondo is not any good any more, and isn't any good since his ACL injury. This team was literally thrown together with no rhyme or reason.

You just said Minnesota and Denver aren't slouches. They absolutely are slouches since they will be lucky to win 30 games.

[Droid101]

the west has like 3-4 great teams that will compete with one another while the rest are non factors. East is a 8-10 team race. Wizards,heat,raps,cavs,hawks,bulls,bucks,magic,kni cks,nets all have a good shot.
:roll: holy ****ing shit.



http://web.archive.org/web/20140713010430/http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=342014

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-9jTYuKvZ-as/U9k1RWev3OI/AAAAAAAAqqc/jeUfCDOkXbw/w938-h302-no/lebronxringsMeltdown.PNG

Stop posting on this website.

[Legends66NBA7]

For real, Raptors are probably going down this year.

[Kobe_6/8]

Warriors are getting way too much respect for this upcoming season...they beat LeBron + scrubs in 6 games. They had a great season but they're not clearly above the Spurs or Thunder.

[Lebronxrings]

Yes the west is now top heavy.. But they are incredibly top heavy

The top teir of contending teams are
Spurs
Warriors
Cavs
Rockets
Thunder
Clippers

That's 5/6 from the west...

Then the next best team is probably Memphis who could join this contending group as well

So 6/7 of the top teams are in the west..

And let's be honest everyone else is just making up the numbers.. The west will still kill the east W/L ratio next season..

You still have other good teams in the west who may go close to winning 50 games as well.. And I wouldn't be suprised to see a .500+ team from the west miss the playoffs again...
And let's face it in the east going .400+ is probably going to be good enough for 7/8 seed
And I'm sorry but the heat are not going to contend.. They will be fighting for 4/5 seed at best.

Take the cavs out of the East and the East would be a complete joke
ummmm clippers, rockets aren't contenders. Nobody knows how well the spurs could do so they could be potentially be mid tier also. East has some top heavy teams with atlanta (60+ win team last season), bulls (multiple all stars, great defense), heat (ultra stacked) and cavs (lebron). Lets not get ahead of ourselves and act like the west owns the east or some bull crap like that.

[Legends66NBA7]

Warriors are getting way too much respect for this upcoming season...they beat LeBron + scrubs in 6 games. They had a great season but they're not clearly above the Spurs or Thunder.

Spurs might not even be the same going forward. They are an old squad and the Warriors will build off what they had last season.

Thunder, it all depends on health.

[WayOfWade]

Overall it's a less balanced conference.
Other than the top 5 teams, you have a couple of teams that could potentially fall out of the playoffs, or will be contending for an 8th spot at the most:

Mavs
Portland

The only teams now that have a shot at coming out of the West are:

Thunder
Spurs
Warriors
Rockets
Clippers(long shot as long as those 4 other teams are healthy)

So you have the top 5 teams which are realistically the only teams that have a shot, but the Warriors, Spurs and Thunder (in that order) are on a higher tier than the rest of the teams in the west. The grizzlies will be a pain in the ass to play against as always, but they just aren't winning. no other team is a threat.

Jazz- will still be bad
Suns- Anyone who thinks Chandler is any good anymore is fooling themselves. It appeared as if they were on the brink of being a playoff team, but then Dragic wanted out and all of a sudden that place became a mess.
Lakers - lol
Kings - If this wild mess of a roster and personalities is somehow able to be successful I will eat my hat
Wolves - fun to watch, but still terrible.

Of those 5 teams, if Portland somehow makes it, the Kings might have the best chance to grab that 7th/8th spot. But if you look at it objectively, the only teams that have a shot in Hell are GS, HOU, SA, OKC, LAC.

Compare this to the Eastern conference, where you have:
Cavs (have one year together, will definitely be better)
Heat (got better)
Bulls (not sold on them as contenders anymore, but still good)
Wizards (older, more experienced, hopefully more healthy, and still talented)
Bucks (got better, and Giannis can apparently shoot 3's now)
Raptors (got better)
Hawks (lost Carroll but will still be good)


It's still an overall better conference than the East, but the gap has grown narrower.

EDIT: Pelicans will probably make the playoffs, and win a couple of games, but they won't get much further than that.
What possible evidence do you have for the Jazz being bad? They went 19-10 down the stretch last year with a PG that averaged 5 points and 2 assists a game who is now injured. That kind of 19/10 pace would've knotted the Jazz a playoff spot last year had they started Gobert at the start of the season. Add in Alec Burks, improvement from Gobert, Favors, and Hayward and your dumb assumption that the Jazz "will still be bad" doesn't hold any water. And no way the Blazers will get in over the Jazz, the Jazz rocked the Blazers twice after the allstar break, and the Blazers are even worse now.
Am I wrong?

[toxicxr6]

ummmm clippers, rockets aren't contenders. Nobody knows how well the spurs could do so they could be potentially be mid tier also. East has some top heavy teams with atlanta (60+ win team last season), bulls (multiple all stars, great defense), heat (ultra stacked) and cavs (lebron). Lets not get ahead of ourselves and act like the west owns the east or some bull crap like that.

I'm sorry but you are so full of crap..
Rockets and clippers would of made the NBA finals last year if they played in the east (given the injuries the cavs had).. So would have the Warriors, Spurs and Memphis.. A healthy thunder team would too

The East is not top heavy at all.. The cavs are elite yes.. After them there is no top tier team in the east.. Heck I honestly don't even think there is a second teir team either.. The rest of the best of the East belongs in a group of third teams of the west... The East is a joke... Completely

[Sportal]

I feel sorry for front offices and teams in the West. How can you honestly build to compete with the likes of:

OKC, Spurs, GSW, Rockets, Clippers and Memphis.

I mean, Clippers and Memphis are "outsiders", but these "outsiders" would be ECF contenders every year.. It's crazy.

It's rough on the smaller teams, what are the Pelicans meant to do here? They have what looks to be a talent on the scale of LeBron and Durant, they can't compete, team wise. Who can they recruit...?

[Legends66NBA7]

The East is not top heavy at all.. The cavs are elite yes.. After them there is no top tier team in the east.. Heck I honestly don't even think there is a second teir team either..

This is actually true, unfortunately for other Eastern Conference teams.

[Sportal]

This is actually true, unfortunately for other Eastern Conference teams.

Yeah, I feel that, as a Heat fan. The only way that the Cavs don't come out of the East is if they capitulate... Shit the bed. I mean, the Heat are nice, so are the Bulls and the Hawks lost a key player, but still, they got pounded when the real part of the season come around.. But hey, at least the Cavs might get a bit of a harder time on the way to the finals, maybe two game 7s at the very maximum.

[ShawkFactory]

Yeah, I feel that, as a Heat fan. The only way that the Cavs don't come out of the East is if they capitulate... Shit the bed. I mean, the Heat are nice, so are the Bulls and the Hawks lost a key player, but still, they got pounded when the real part of the season come around.. But hey, at least the Cavs might get a bit of a harder time on the way to the finals, maybe two game 7s at the very maximum.
Nah. Someone will take them to 6 and that's about it.

[Rocketswin2013]

The Grizzlies are not going to just..stop playing NBA basketball. And the Pelicans were pretty good with Davis in the lineup. Also, the Jazz. Who, I think are overrated but I honestly haven't given much attention to them so those who are high on them probably have some reasons for it.

[ShawkFactory]

Speaking of top-heavy mr. lilteapot...

[rmt]

When the Spurs can fall from #2 (home court in 2 rounds) to #6 (no home court in any round) by losing one game, you know that the conference is ultra-competitive. LAC vs SAS is an insane 1st round matchup.

East is a joke. Barring an injury of Lebron's, Cavs will make the Finals. The league really should change the rules to have the top 16 teams play.