This season has a mid-90's feel. For example, in 96/97 the Bulls won over 80%, the Heat and Jazz won over 70%, and the Knicks, Hawks, Pistons, Hornets, Rockets and Lakers were all 60% win teams (and the Blazers just missed). But on the other side there were 6 teams below 30% and 3 others below 40%. 3 west teams made the playoffs below .500 and 1 east team missed the playoffs that was above .500. It was basically a foregone conclusion that the Bulls would win the title, but people did hold out some hope for the Heat or Jazz making it a series.
This year, the top end isn't quite there with just the Rockets, Warriors, and Raptors above 70% and only the Celtics above 60%, but there are 3 teams above 58% and 3 more above 57%. On the low end there are just 3 teams below 30%, but 6 other teams below 40%. It doesn't appear anyone will make the playoffs with a below .500 win percentage but it looks like 2 might miss them that are above .500. It also appears that the Warriors winning is a foregone conclusion, but people are hoping that they at least get challenged by Houston so it is more interesting.
Now in 97 the two worst teams (Vancouver and Boston) were a good deal lower than anyone else, so it wasn't quite the race to the bottom that might happen this year, but this year really does seem very similar to those mid to late 90's seasons, when there was an all time team with a lot of good, but not great, teams throughout the playoffs, and also a whole lot of downright awful teams at the bottom of the standings.