The East is now the better conference

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KG4Ever
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The East is now the better conference

Post by KG4Ever »

Congrats to the Bucks. They deserve it and after Giannis's coming out party, I 'll say that drafting Bazz ahead of Giannis is now arguably the worst draft flub this franchise has ever made, though Flynn over Curry might be equally as bad.

But getting back to the East, the Bucks, Nets and Sixers are in my opinion the best three teams in the NBA and all of them should be as good if not better next year. Atlanta is on the rise. Knicks have capspace to improve. Miami and Celtics are typically free agent destinations and each team needs one star to contend. Meanwhile LeBron isn't getting any younger. Lillard is also older and Portland isn't far from dismantling. Warriors are aging and Draymond is no longer a difference maker and until Klay manages to stay healthy for a whole season (I'll believe it when I see it). Clippers are the only team I see able to hang with the top East teams and that's only if Kawhi and George are healthy, big ifs. I don't see the Suns as likely to repeat anytime soon as CP is aging and the additional playoff games should take a toll on the team next year.

Sadly, the days of West dominance are over. If the Wolves can find a two-way star to add to KAT and Ant, things may get interesting for the Wolves as the road to the top of the West is about to become wide open.
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Phenom
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by Phenom »

I wouldn't be sad at all about the west dominance ending. This should be better for the league and the Wolves. The west dominance since 1999 has really undermined some pretty good Wolves teams and suffocated them otherwise.
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kekgeek
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by kekgeek »

Wouldn't go that far. According to BetMGM. 7 of the top 10 NBA Finals favorites are on the West. 2 of the top 3 are in the East though.
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KG4Ever
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by KG4Ever »

kekgeek1 wrote:Wouldn't go that far. According to BetMGM. 7 of the top 10 NBA Finals favorites are on the West. 2 of the top 3 are in the East though.


That's because the top of the East (Brooklyn and Milwaukee) severely reduces the other East Teams from even having a chance to be in the finals. Put the Sixers and Atlanta in the West and their odds go up. I'd certainly wager money that in the next 5 years, the Eastern Conference will win the majority of titles.
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kekgeek
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by kekgeek »

KG4Ever wrote:
kekgeek1 wrote:Wouldn't go that far. According to BetMGM. 7 of the top 10 NBA Finals favorites are on the West. 2 of the top 3 are in the East though.


That's because the top of the East (Brooklyn and Milwaukee) severely reduces the other East Teams from even having a chance to be in the finals. Put the Sixers and Atlanta in the West and their odds go up. I'd certainly wager money that in the next 5 years, the Eastern Conference will win the majority of titles.


Completely fair rebuttal. I do think the EAST has probably the best 2 teams in the Nets and the Bucks next year. I still think the West is significantly deeper. But let's hope Kawhi goes to the Heat and Dame to the Knicks and weaken the West even more
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KG4Ever
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by KG4Ever »

kekgeek1 wrote:
KG4Ever wrote:
kekgeek1 wrote:Wouldn't go that far. According to BetMGM. 7 of the top 10 NBA Finals favorites are on the West. 2 of the top 3 are in the East though.


That's because the top of the East (Brooklyn and Milwaukee) severely reduces the other East Teams from even having a chance to be in the finals. Put the Sixers and Atlanta in the West and their odds go up. I'd certainly wager money that in the next 5 years, the Eastern Conference will win the majority of titles.


Completely fair rebuttal. I do think the EAST has probably the best 2 teams in the Nets and the Bucks next year. I still think the West is significantly deeper. But let's hope Kawhi goes to the Heat and Dame to the Knicks and weaken the West even more


Ha! I know I'm in the minority but I actually like the West being tough.
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FNG
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by FNG »

I agree that the gap has narrowed, but the West is still far and away the better and deeper conference. They were 20 games better than the East in head to head games last season. 9 Western Conference teams finished the season with winning records compared to only 6 in the East.
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Monster
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by Monster »

The league in general had a number of young teams and players step forward this season and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. This was a weird season with various injuries etc. idk if the east really has become the better conference especially since I continue to have skepticism about the Nets staying healthy when it matters. I'm excited to see where the league goes from here and in a few more days another injection of talent will be coming in through this year's draft. Sometimes trades (including vet players) around the draft can have ramifications for some teams quite quickly.
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AbeVigodaLive
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by AbeVigodaLive »

KG4Ever wrote:Congrats to the Bucks. They deserve it and after Giannis's coming out party, I 'll say that drafting Bazz ahead of Giannis is now arguably the worst draft flub this franchise has ever made, though Flynn over Curry might be equally as bad.

But getting back to the East, the Bucks, Nets and Sixers are in my opinion the best three teams in the NBA and all of them should be as good if not better next year. Atlanta is on the rise. Knicks have capspace to improve. Miami and Celtics are typically free agent destinations and each team needs one star to contend. Meanwhile LeBron isn't getting any younger. Lillard is also older and Portland isn't far from dismantling. Warriors are aging and Draymond is no longer a difference maker and until Klay manages to stay healthy for a whole season (I'll believe it when I see it). Clippers are the only team I see able to hang with the top East teams and that's only if Kawhi and George are healthy, big ifs. I don't see the Suns as likely to repeat anytime soon as CP is aging and the additional playoff games should take a toll on the team next year.

Sadly, the days of West dominance are over. If the Wolves can find a two-way star to add to KAT and Ant, things may get interesting for the Wolves as the road to the top of the West is about to become wide open.



You casually dismissed the Lakers who won last season and would have arguably been the favorites to represent the West if it's 2nd best player didn't go down in Round 1.

And completely omit Denver... who also lost its 2nd best player to injury and has the current league MVP.

And Utah... who might be considered a level below those two teams, but who did have the league's best record this season.
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thedoper
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Re: The East is now the better conference

Post by thedoper »

I think it depends whether you define better as a sum of the parts or the quality of those parts. The bottom teams and lower seeds of eastern conference playoff teams are extra brutal. 4-15 in the west is stronger than the east. 1-3 the east has certainly taken the edge. But you know both LA teams are going to do something to beef up this summer.
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