power shifting east?

[Amphatoast]

few years ago east was a joke.
Since shaq's arrival to the East, the West has dropped down and the East is on the move up.
looking at the top teams in both conferences the east might have the better conference at the moment

1. San Antinio
2. Phoenix
3. Dallas
4. Houston
5. Denver/Minny/Seattle/Sacramento

EAST
1. Miami
2. Detriot
3. Indiana
4. New Jersey
5. Cleveland/Chicago

Isn't it becoming more balanced now? Some teams in the east still have something to prove ( philly for example) so things could really change up. What you guys think? West is still the big power house or is it about even now?

[kevC]

No power shift. Period.

[Kemp]

East and West are equal.

[Impose]

hmmmm, Only time will tell, on paper the East looks much better than last year, if the Joe Johnson deal goes through things will be tough for Pheonix, but i dont think the Miami trade will work as well as everyones saying, it wont be a dream team, itll be a bitch session IMO. New Jersey dont get that much toughness with Abdur Rahim, hes a nice scorer, but there still pussies in the paint. I think Houston could be the team to watch this season for the West, and im fairly sure Indiana will rule the East.

[MaD_hAND1e]

hmmmm, Only time will tell, on paper the East looks much better than last year, if the Joe Johnson deal goes through things will be tough for Pheonix, but i dont think the Miami trade will work as well as everyones saying, it wont be a dream team, itll be a bitch session IMO. New Jersey dont get that much toughness with Abdur Rahim, hes a nice scorer, but there still pussies in the paint. I think Houston could be the team to watch this season for the West, and im fairly sure Indiana will rule the East.

Miami trade 2005 = Los Angeles FA signings 2003

[cyanide]

About time the power balance shifted equally. I was getting sick of the west being the super power for this long, but it's now great seeing that the free agents are flocking east again.

[streakshooter]

Shaq's move to the East prompted this balancing of power......

the current champs, Spurs, look very vulnerable and is not in the mold of the dominating Lakers or Bulls squads of recent years......esp. with their main man TD doing a Malone act every now and then......

Hence the title is up for grabs......

[kevC]

They're "equal" if you consider just the good teams ie (Spurs, Rockets, Mavs, Heat, Pacers, Nets) but if you seeded the entire league you'll have around 11 teams from the West and 5 from the East.

West: Spurs, Rockets, Mavs, Suns, Nuggets, Kings, Sonics, Wolves, Grizzlies, Warriors, Jazz (Yes necessarily in that order)

East: Heat, Pacers, Nets, Pistons, Cavs (again, in that order)

[Metsis]

It is intresting to see what will happen next season...

In the East you have consider Cleveland and Milwaukee to maybe break into that group as well... Cleveland has taken Hughes and Marshall in the off-season and they got Z back in uniform so I expect them to be better this season... LeBron ain't getting any worse either, they just missed out on outside threat players and they really could have used one. Milwaukee on the other hand kept Redd and got big man Bogut to man the middle. Bogut is going to have a great year as Redd will occupy opponents defenses with the constant three point threat and that should enable Bogut to have some room in the paint. They also got Simmons who can hit the occational three too...

New York has lots of talent on their roster... If Larry Brown can get them to work together, they might make splash too... But I'm still waiting on their off-season movement, cause Larry can't be happy with what he's got at the moment...

Indiana will be good, but I'm questioning how much better are they actually... They did lose Reggie to retirement and he was the man last season cause everyone else was involved in the brawl... Artest is good, but he can't compensate for Reggies three point threat. Stephen Jackson is good, but he isn't Miller time and O'Neal has had some health issues in the last couple of seasons... Let's just say that O'Neal going down will bring down the team with him. They've got no one else to man the middle.

Regarding the BIG Miami deal... J-Will and Toine are great players, but both are accustomed to having the ball in their hands... Toine really took being a bench guy in Dallas the wrong way and he clearly isn't up for it. Wade will be handling the ball and I wonder wheter J-Will will be happy about that. Miami really needed a shooter to pair up with Wade... And the most DOMINANT force in the game needs his touches and should probably get more than he wants of them. Let's just say that Stan Van Gundy is in the hot water, neck deep... Wheter he can swim or not, we'll see and Miami will raise or fall due to it. Both Wade and Shaq were injured during the play-offs and with a healthy Shaq they would have won the whole she-bang... Getting Wade hurt just was putting the last nail on the coffin. Wade is great, but without Shaq the team will fall... The big man has to carry it all on his shoulders.

New Jersey will gain two players going into the next season... They have gained them already and their names are Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Richard Jefferson... Carter and Kidd duo act got them as far as they went last season, but to add RJ and Shareef on top of that and you have legitimate play-off contender... Sure they can't keep Shaq in check with their inside defense, but who can? If Shaq is healthy, no man on earth can guard him under the hoop... It's just a brutal fact. Shareef isn't a power player, but he's still a good offensive inside scorer and now New Jersey has someone who can put the ball through the whole to man the paint. This will open up room for Carter, Jefferson and Kidd to slash, penetrate, kick out and shoot more... And if you can handle these three, then Shareef will have his way with you on the inside. And Kristic isn't getting any worse too... I'm seeing Kristic emerging this season... He should have it easy as the other four guys will demand all the defense enemies will be able to throw at them. Kristic will most probably be mismatched through the season and when that happens, Kidd will get the kid the ball. I'm talking about Phoenix-type running game and inside-outside plays for this team and they will simply overwhelm their opponents. That is if Carter can stay happy with not getting the ball as often as he did last season.

There's a little something I have to say about the eastern conference setting... It's open court and there are no big favorites... Detroit would be, but with Saunders on the helm, I don't know what will happen... Not much movement in motor city... Things are looking good there, but with the coaching change, the change could be even more dramatic than with a couple of new players coming on the team.

[beau_boy04]

If Bogut becomes the great player he claims to be oh my gosh so lucky the Milwaukee for landing the 1st pick. Mark my down Cleveland in the next 2 years with their recent roster are gonna be top 3 team in the EAST. Lebron will take over in this league.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

About time the power balance shifted equally.

It hasn't yet. On paper, it might have. Consider that most of the Western powerhouses have been in their current form and shape for at least one or two years, and are therefore more cohesive than their Eastern chemistry experiments counterparts.

[Metsis]

Sacramento losing steam, Minnesota losing steam, Lakers lost the diesel... The old big ones are going down...

I don't see any reason why Dallas would be any better than they were last season. Houston got Stromile Swift, but it remains to be seen how he plays behind Yao and T-Mac... When teams like Memphis and Seattle and Phoenix are gunning for the play-offs there is simply something very wrong in the west.

The only powerhouse of the "ancients" that is still standing is San Antonio... Not much movement there and why should they change it up???

The east is far more exciting to follow than west in the upcoming season... And that alone tells the tale of a power switch between the conferences.

Alas, the signing period is still too fresh... Lots of moves to be made, so don't count anyone out just yet.

[Andrew]

It's evening up. The West has a couple more strong teams, but the East have the advantage in decent to good teams. Both conferences boasted at least one team above .500 that didn't make the playoffs. Last year an Eastern team won the Final and came close to repeating this year. There's about the same number of legitimate contenders for the championship in each conference. A lot of key free agents and players have been moving East, or remaining there.

[kinokong]

lets just make it simple... its panning out but not its not there just yet.. wait a couple of years for the talent to develop and then the east will be the beast once more

[Indy]

Indiana will be good, but I'm questioning how much better are they actually... They did lose Reggie to retirement and he was the man last season cause everyone else was involved in the brawl... Artest is good, but he can't compensate for Reggies three point threat. Stephen Jackson is good, but he isn't Miller time and O'Neal has had some health issues in the last couple of seasons... Let's just say that O'Neal going down will bring down the team with him. They've got no one else to man the middle.

Actually once Stephen got back from his suspension last year, he was definitley the man. Yes, Reggie was the heart and soul, but Jax was the number one option. No debating that.

You're right, Artest can't compensate for Reggie's threes, who the hell could, he's the greatest three-point shooter of all time? We aren't looking for Ron to replace him, we're looking for Ron to do what he's capable of. Put up 16-20 points, and shut down the other teams best player every night.

O'Neal is healthy. There is no doubt about it. He is finally at 100%. People have forgotten how good he is because he was playing on one arm for all of the playoffs. They will remember the guy who finished 3rd place in the MVP voting 2 years ago this year.

[J@3]

If Bogut becomes the great player he claims to be oh my gosh so lucky the Milwaukee for landing the 1st pick. Mark my down Cleveland in the next 2 years with their recent roster are gonna be top 3 team in the EAST. Lebron will take over in this league.

Well, the "great player" Bogut's claimed he's better than is Luc Longley so we're not really aiming for the stars here.

[Riot]

Indiana will be good, but I'm questioning how much better are they actually... They did lose Reggie to retirement and he was the man last season cause everyone else was involved in the brawl... Artest is good, but he can't compensate for Reggies three point threat. Stephen Jackson is good, but he isn't Miller time and O'Neal has had some health issues in the last couple of seasons... Let's just say that O'Neal going down will bring down the team with him. They've got no one else to man the middle.

Actually once Stephen got back from his suspension last year, he was definitley the man. Yes, Reggie was the heart and soul, but Jax was the number one option. No debating that.

You're right, Artest can't compensate for Reggie's threes, who the hell could, he's the greatest three-point shooter of all time? We aren't looking for Ron to replace him, we're looking for Ron to do what he's capable of. Put up 16-20 points, and shut down the other teams best player every night.

O'Neal is healthy. There is no doubt about it. He is finally at 100%. People have forgotten how good he is because he was playing on one arm for all of the playoffs. They will remember the guy who finished 3rd place in the MVP voting 2 years ago this year.

I actually with you, Indy. JO is a very, very good player and many don't really think of him when they rank the top 10 players in the league but he certainly is deserving to be on that list.

As for the loss of Reggie, I think they will do fine. Nobody will replace Reggie's threes but I think they will have a more complete squad. They almost made it to the ECF without Artest and with an injuried JO.

[maes]

It's a huge shift to the East.

Shaq is only 1 small part of it. There's also LeBron, Wade, Marbury, Kidd, Arenas, and the young guns down in Chicago and Boston and (now) Milwaukee.

At the same time the West has really been declining with only a few exceptions like Phoenix and Houston. Seattle's unbelievable record last year was only partly due to them coming together (no major player changes), it was also due to the conference weakening.

There were also some small rule changes last few years that might have helped. Traditionally the East has better guards and the West better big men, that's always been the running joke at All-Star games as the West coach would field a team that looked like Shaq, Duncan, KG, Nowitzki and Kobe at point. The recent rule changes make it much easier for guards to penetrate, as they call certain kinds of contact automatic fouls. This has really made penetrating guards absolutely deadly, as we've seen with Ginobli and Wade.

[NNpF]

The Eastern Conference has those few teams that are really good like Detroit, Indiana and Miami and then there are a few good teams like New Jersey and Chicago and Boston. But after those teams there is a pretty big gap between some of the Eastern Conference teams, although I have no idea how some of next year's Eastern Conference teams will perform (Detroit: Lost Larry Brown, Miami: Possible problems with team chemistry, Cleveland, Miluakee: Had some nice pick ups during the offseason).

On the other hand, the Western Conference always has some solid teams from spots 1-8 when playoffs come and even some teams that don't make the playoffs are pretty solid.

But again, a couple of teams changed their make-up (Phoenix losing Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson, Houston adding Stromile Swift, Memphis trading Jason Williams and James Posey).

So, to me the Eastern Conference has strengthened but The Western Conference is still the stronger conference, just because of the smaller gap between the 1st seed and the 8th seed.