The Gap Between East and West

Published by danishz on February 20, 2008

The Denver Nuggets are on pace to win 50 games this year and they are 1.5 games behind the Utah Jazz for first place in the Northwest division. Pretty successful season, right? One would assume so but as of All-Star weekend this put them at ninth place in the Western Conference, one spot out of the playoffs.

No NBA team has ever won 50 games and failed to make the playoffs and if the Nuggets were in the Eastern Conference, they would be the third seed behind Boston and Detroit. The eighth seed in the East is currently the Philadelphia 76ers, who are on pace to finish 36-46.

There have been calls to abolish the conference-based structure of the NBA playoffs. If this happened, the top 16 teams would be seeded regardless of conference. This way Boston would play a team like the Wizards that might be able to put up a fight, instead of crushing the 76ers while the number one seed in the West fought for their playoff lives against, say, the Houston Rockets.

Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen.The only real solution seems to be the most obvious one: the East has to get better.

The East has consistently been the weaker conference since Michael Jordan retired from the Bulls. Take a look at the outlook of the teams in the West. Nine teams are playoff caliber and expect to be for at least the next couple of seasons (New Orleans, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, the Lakers, Utah, Houston, Golden State and Portland). The Clippers get Elton Brand back plus a lottery pick for next season. Seattle and Minnesota have Kevin Durant and Al Jefferson to build around. That leaves just the Grizzlies, who are terrible but have young guys and cap room to rebuild without Pau Gasol, and the Kings, who would make the playoffs in the East.

Now, look at the East. The conference can be broken down into three tiers. In tier one we have Boston and Detroit, legit contenders for at least a couple more seasons. No worries there.

In tier two, we have the not-quite-contenders: Orlando, Cleveland, Toronto and Washington. These teams all feature young stars with bright futures, but need to fill holes in their rosters before they can be serious contenders. Orlando doesn’t have a big man outside of Howard or a point guard that coach Stan Van Gundy can trust and may regret paying Rashard Lewis so much when they need free-agent help down the road. Cleveland needs shooters and Larry Hughes is killing their cap. Toronto gets pounded on the glass and torched by every athletic perimeter player in the league. Washington needs to get healthy, solidify their two-guard situation and play defense.

Whichever team fills their holes could become the elite team in the East in a year or two when the top dogs begin their decline. I realize Cleveland was in the Finals last year, but that took a superhuman effort by Lebron and they were easily swept by the Spurs. Maybe I’m underestimating them by not calling them contenders, but I don’t think so.

The rest of the conference is under .500 and generally a mess. The Hawks have the best outlook going forward with a ton of young talent and the arrival of a real point guard in Mike Bibby. The Sixers are still recovering from trading Allen Iverson, and the Nets join them after trading Jason Kidd.

After that it gets really ugly.

The Bulls looked to have a promising future, but trade and contract talks have torn the team apart. The Pacers need to trade Jermaine O’Neal and get on with their lives. The Bucks have no chemistry, and the Yi Jianlian/Charlie Villanueva minutes situation has been the elephant in the room all season. The Bobcats are finally spending some money but are plagued by injuries, while the Knicks gambled their franchise’s fortunes on Eddy Curry and lost.

Then there’s the 2006 NBA Champions, the Miami Heat. The supporting cast around Dwyane Wade got old, out of shape and injured. They’ve added Shawn Marion and have a high draft pick coming this summer thanks to a league-worst 9-42 record thus far. With a free agent acquisition or two, they could be back in the playoffs next year.

Such is life in the East.

Our condolences go to the team that finishes ninth in the West.

Allen Iverson Photo Credit: Icon SMI