Same LEASTern conference during the "Lebron" era. The peak Eastern conference was from 89 to 99, where East teams have winning records against West teams. Their play styles also differ, East being recognized for defense, and West for fire power. The East started getting old and from 2001 to current is just terrible. Although they have a short run Pistons and Boston but they are too old even before they can dominate
4:22 Sorry, but it just makes so much more sense to move Minnesota to the Central division. I'm not even a T-Wolves fan, but I'm willing to die on this hill. Minnesota is closer to every team in the Central Division than they are OKC the closest team in their current division.
I agree. They need to give Seattle, Vegas, and Mexico City a team, and move the Grizzlies and Pelicans to the east. Another thing that can be considered is adding a North and South conference so that there can be 4 divisions and split up the teams that way, This would also be in line with the association's plans to add more teams. And also with more divisions, they can change the allstar game into a tournament format.
The east became weak because Jordan was dominating it in the 90s thats why the east superstars went to the west. Unlike lebron who dominated a weak east in the 2010s and still changed conference
east vs west play in, and then eventually u will have a eastern or western team winning the others conference and it would be hillarious and fun to watch(wouldnt solve the balance problem tho)
It’s pretty obvious. Most of the best players in the east went to the west and the 2 best players are having issues. Embiid has been injured, and Giannis team got gutted.
The East just doesn’t draft well, imagine if the East got Joker, Luka, Ja, and Wemby. The West would STILL be slightly better overall even with the players I just named
This is the eastern conference that LeBalco James dominated for most of his career and people think he's the goat. If I was tatum I would start calling myself goat as well.
I like moving Memphis and New Orleans to the East, and adding Seattle/Las Vegas, making them choose from a team's 3rd best player down to make decent, not dynastic teams. It helps in 2K until the retirements come, then it's all East for a while lol. Bron/Steph/KD all go well before the next East titan does.
Since 99-00, the east has won the head to head against the west a total of 3 times. Admittedly, the east won the head to head in 21-22 and 22-23, but it appears as though the balance of power is shifting back to the west this year. This definitely at least was a real issue in the 20 years since Jordan's retirement and it looks as though it may continue.
i think honestly, the easiest and best way to help out the lower tier teams is the draft. So in this draft or next, all lottery teams will have 2 1st round picks, all playoff teams wont have any, unless from previous trades done. So Detroit should have a top 3 pick right, and the would also get a 2nd 1st round pick, around pick #16. getting 2 quality draft picks should help them get better faster.
GET RID OF CONFERENCES!!!!! No this season isn't unique. The west has been stronger than the east pretty much the entirety of time since the late 90s. Keep divisions, but get rid of conferences! It is the only actual way to balance the playoffs.
The LEastern Conference overall has been weak for the past 2 decades essentially, this is nothing new. That's why LeBron made the Finals all those consecutive seasons, lack of competition, he walked into the Finals every year.
I think this is a problem that’s often blown out of proportion.
Yes, generally the west has been better than the east since 2000. But only three times has the West won >60% of their match ups (01, 04(the largest disparity), and 2014) but also 2022 and 2023 both actually had the East win more of the head to head games. In the last 10 seasons we were within 5% of 500 of between the east and west as well.
The reason why the West is better than the East is because those teams are just better managed
This isn’t new, the West has always been better than the East and for a long time and it comes down to ownership. Very rarely does ownership in the NBA change, hence why the teams that are good typically stay good and the teams that are bad typically stay bad.
Your idea of moving teams during expansion is honestly the only move the NBA can make to try to balance the conferences
The East has been weaker than the West for a very long time. Looking at from 2008 – 2023, excluding the 2012, 2020 and 2021 seasons due to those season not having full 82 game seasons, this is the average number of wins per seed for each conference over 13 seasons –
During the 13 full 82 game seasons between 2008 – 2023, the East had 8 teams during that time make the playoffs with losing records, whereas in the West, every team had at least 41 wins to make the 8th seed.
In the 13 full seasons between 2008 – 2023, the West also had 2 seasons (2008 & 2010) in which all 8 teams in the playoffs won at least 50 games, whereas the East haven't had that during the same time frame.
I'd love to see just the top 16 teams with the best records go into the playoffs, but the travel would be wild and I can imagine Eastern Conference owners wouldn't be too happy with it! 😂
28 Comments
The west has been better for the majority of the last 30 years
This hasn't been the case for 10 years, but for 26.
Since Jordan's retirement in 1998:
Eastern victory: 8
Western victory : 17
Same LEASTern conference during the "Lebron" era. The peak Eastern conference was from 89 to 99, where East teams have winning records against West teams. Their play styles also differ, East being recognized for defense, and West for fire power. The East started getting old and from 2001 to current is just terrible. Although they have a short run Pistons and Boston but they are too old even before they can dominate
4:22 Sorry, but it just makes so much more sense to move Minnesota to the Central division. I'm not even a T-Wolves fan, but I'm willing to die on this hill. Minnesota is closer to every team in the Central Division than they are OKC the closest team in their current division.
Sweet 16 is the best way to go. It is the future right now.
I agree. They need to give Seattle, Vegas, and Mexico City a team, and move the Grizzlies and Pelicans to the east. Another thing that can be considered is adding a North and South conference so that there can be 4 divisions and split up the teams that way, This would also be in line with the association's plans to add more teams. And also with more divisions, they can change the allstar game into a tournament format.
The NBA gotta get rid of the conferences
The league should put minnesota and memphis in the east and put the expansion team seattle and las vegas in the west
The east became weak because Jordan was dominating it in the 90s thats why the east superstars went to the west. Unlike lebron who dominated a weak east in the 2010s and still changed conference
This has always existed.
When Bron left the eastern conference the whole conference shoken up
east vs west play in, and then eventually u will have a eastern or western team winning the others conference and it would be hillarious and fun to watch(wouldnt solve the balance problem tho)
You can also play Minnesota in the East
It’s pretty obvious. Most of the best players in the east went to the west and the 2 best players are having issues. Embiid has been injured, and Giannis team got gutted.
The East just doesn’t draft well, imagine if the East got Joker, Luka, Ja, and Wemby. The West would STILL be slightly better overall even with the players I just named
This is the eastern conference that LeBalco James dominated for most of his career and people think he's the goat. If I was tatum I would start calling myself goat as well.
I like moving Memphis and New Orleans to the East, and adding Seattle/Las Vegas, making them choose from a team's 3rd best player down to make decent, not dynastic teams. It helps in 2K until the retirements come, then it's all East for a while lol. Bron/Steph/KD all go well before the next East titan does.
Since 99-00, the east has won the head to head against the west a total of 3 times. Admittedly, the east won the head to head in 21-22 and 22-23, but it appears as though the balance of power is shifting back to the west this year. This definitely at least was a real issue in the 20 years since Jordan's retirement and it looks as though it may continue.
i think honestly, the easiest and best way to help out the lower tier teams is the draft. So in this draft or next, all lottery teams will have 2 1st round picks, all playoff teams wont have any, unless from previous trades done. So Detroit should have a top 3 pick right, and the would also get a 2nd 1st round pick, around pick #16. getting 2 quality draft picks should help them get better faster.
Easy solution … playin format determined by league record after the top 6 …. not conference …
Love to see a straight up 18 best records, 15-18 have a play in.
I don't think travel is that big a deal, most the teams will be in the West anyway. Lol
ja was NOT good in the west 😂😂😂
GET RID OF CONFERENCES!!!!! No this season isn't unique. The west has been stronger than the east pretty much the entirety of time since the late 90s. Keep divisions, but get rid of conferences! It is the only actual way to balance the playoffs.
The LEastern Conference overall has been weak for the past 2 decades essentially, this is nothing new. That's why LeBron made the Finals all those consecutive seasons, lack of competition, he walked into the Finals every year.
I think this is a problem that’s often blown out of proportion.
Yes, generally the west has been better than the east since 2000. But only three times has the West won >60% of their match ups (01, 04(the largest disparity), and 2014) but also 2022 and 2023 both actually had the East win more of the head to head games. In the last 10 seasons we were within 5% of 500 of between the east and west as well.
The reason why the West is better than the East is because those teams are just better managed
This isn’t new, the West has always been better than the East and for a long time and it comes down to ownership. Very rarely does ownership in the NBA change, hence why the teams that are good typically stay good and the teams that are bad typically stay bad.
Your idea of moving teams during expansion is honestly the only move the NBA can make to try to balance the conferences
The East has been weaker than the West for a very long time. Looking at from 2008 – 2023, excluding the 2012, 2020 and 2021 seasons due to those season not having full 82 game seasons, this is the average number of wins per seed for each conference over 13 seasons –
East:
1 – 59
2 – 56
3 – 52
4 – 49
5 – 45
6 – 43
7 – 42
8 – 40 (a losing record)
West:
1 – 62
2 – 57
3 – 54
4 – 52
5 – 51
6 – 48
7 – 47
8 – 45
During the 13 full 82 game seasons between 2008 – 2023, the East had 8 teams during that time make the playoffs with losing records, whereas in the West, every team had at least 41 wins to make the 8th seed.
In the 13 full seasons between 2008 – 2023, the West also had 2 seasons (2008 & 2010) in which all 8 teams in the playoffs won at least 50 games, whereas the East haven't had that during the same time frame.
I'd love to see just the top 16 teams with the best records go into the playoffs, but the travel would be wild and I can imagine Eastern Conference owners wouldn't be too happy with it! 😂
Move Memphis, and Minnesota to the East add two new teams to the Western Conference and it’s well balanced