Could it get much worse for the East - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

grbh · 11-24-2003, 06:18 PM

The disparity between the two conferences has been evident over the psat few years, but this year the East really is begininng to look like the CBA. Here are a few interesting stats.

2002-2003 winning percentage west vs East: 59%. It was fairly similar to this in 01-02
2003-2004 winning percentage west vs East: 70%.

The Clippers currently have the worst record in the Western conference good enough for the 6th playoff slot in the East though.

kg_veteran · 11-24-2003, 06:29 PM

Actually, I think it can get worse for the East. One of the best Eastern teams, the New Orleans Hornets, is being moved to the West next season, while the Charlotte Bobcats (sure to be a terrible team, at least for a while), join the East.

Dirkenstien · 11-24-2003, 09:00 PM

How long do you feel it will be before a legitimate team emerges from the east? The cavs look to be pretty good in a couple years, but NBA final contenders?

bogey · 11-24-2003, 10:46 PM

This year, the Hornets and Pacers look pretty legit.

Nash13 · 11-24-2003, 10:59 PM

The Pacers had a similar start last year, including being the first to beat Dallas. They also had a similar finish to their season like the previous 2 years. They had a second half collapse, and were bounced out of the first round by Boston.

The Hornets are the other way around. Normally, they have bad starts and good finishes. But the results in the playoffs are the same.

When people say Dallas is only a regular season team, they just overlook Indiana and New Orleans. Dallas has gotten farther in the playoffs in a harder conference than these two teams over the past two years. So i'm not going to jump to conclusion about those two.

dirno2000 · 11-25-2003, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Dirkenstien
How long do you feel it will be before a legitimate team emerges from the east? The cavs look to be pretty good in a couple years, but NBA final contenders?

It could be while. If Darko doesn't become great, I see the West dominating for at least 5 or 6 more years. The two most promising young big men in the game (Yao and Amare) are in the West. I just don't see the young player in the East who is going to raise his team to title contender status. Maybe Labron , but he and his GM have a long way to go.

Of cours if Kobe says screw it, and takes the MLE to go to Det. or Indy then all bets are off.

LRB · 11-25-2003, 02:21 AM

Quote:

The Pacers had a similar start last year, including being the first to beat Dallas. They also had a similar finish to their season like the previous 2 years. They had a second half collapse, and were bounced out of the first round by Boston.

Yeah but we gave them a major assist by stealing Boston's 2nd best player for our unwanted trash.

bingocasino · 11-25-2003, 02:40 AM

i doubt it that walker was only their second best.
pierce is hardly strugglin without his buddy.

Shaq Attack2 · 11-25-2003, 07:04 AM

Obviously I'd like Kobe to stay in L.A., but man would it be fun to see him play for a current Eastern elite like the Pistons, Pacers or Nets. At least the Finals would actually be worth watching, and that's never a bad thing.

bogey · 11-25-2003, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Shaq Attack2
Obviously I'd like Kobe to stay in L.A., but man would it be fun to see him play for a current Eastern elite like the Pistons, Pacers or Nets. At least the Finals would actually be worth watching, and that's never a bad thing.

Placing showbe in the east hardly guarantees a spot in the playoffs, much less the finals. Besides, it's still not clear that he won't be playing for the Colorado Penal League or the NBA.

kg_veteran · 11-25-2003, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Dirkenstien
How long do you feel it will be before a legitimate team emerges from the east? The cavs look to be pretty good in a couple years, but NBA final contenders?

If by legitimate team you mean a team that can realistically win it all, the Nets got fairly close last year but were clearly the inferior team in the Finals. They wouldn't have won 2 games, IMO, against the Lakers or Mavs.

I think it will be a couple of years. The biggest problem, as dirno mentioned, is that the talent is migrating even further and further to the West.

The only really good player from last year's draft in the East is Caron Butler, and he's another wing player. The two best big men, Ming and Stoudemire, are in the West.

Each Western "power" except San Antonio that improved in the offseason improved at the expense of the East:

Dallas - Walker, Delk (Boston)
LA Lakers - Payton (Milwaukee)
Sacramento - Miller (Indiana)
Minnesota - Cassell (Milwaukee), Sprewell (New York)

The media was heavily overselling LeBron's ability to even the balance of the scales. I personally think after watching LeBron that he's going to be a phenomenal player, but he will need some help and a retooled team if he's to make the playoffs any time soon, much less do any damage in the playoffs.

sike · 11-26-2003, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Of cours if Kobe says screw it, and takes the MLE

I just that I should share my laughter with the whole group![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]....Kobe may indead tell LA to "screw it", but just the thought of him even considering the MLE just has to bring a smile to your face!

senorfrog · 11-27-2003, 01:07 AM

Consider this:

Even if Philadelphia had not won tonight, they would still have been leading the Atlantic Division at 7-9. The East has only three teams above .500 (all in the central division) compared to the West with nine teams above .500.

That is some piss poor conference right there. They need to send in the pasty Washington Generals real soon.