Poll: Which conference is deeper

[celticsclay]

I think the East is definitely more balanced and competitive than the West at this moment in time.  The West probably has the three best teams, but after that I think I'd take the next 10 teams in the East over the fourth best team in the West.

There were times in the past where the East felt more top heavy, but after the top three or four in the East, it fell off hard and it was basically garbage, and during those times I always heard people say the West was "deeper" so I'm just using the same parameters.

Yes this is literally what the word means. Deeper is derived from the term depth. In the past the East had several truly awful teams making the 7th or 8th spot. Think vucevic led magic, or the nets with dlo. This year the East is so deep a team with considerable talent may not finish in the top 8. I’m scared it could be us. Even the third worst team in the conference pacers have talent in sabonis l, turner, levert, brogdon. That team would be a 7 seed in most of the seasons the last few years when hawks, Knicks, nets, bulls all really sucked. They could be 13th now.

The Nets with DLo won 42 games and were the 6th seed.  They were actually pretty good.  The Vucevic Magic was the bubble season and they had only 2 wins less than Portland which made the playoffs in the west that same season. 

More mediocrity but not as many good teams.  I'd take the conference with more good teams as the conference that is deeper.  Shades of mediocrity doesn't excite me.  The Cavs, Wizards, Hornets, Knicks, Raptors, etc. are mediocre.  They aren't good teams.  If they even make the playoffs, them winning a playoff series would be absolutely astonishing.

I honestly can't tell if you are being serious right now. If you are, do you realize how rare it is to get 90% of the forum to agree on something? I am not sure if I could get 90% if I asked if Dana Barros ever played for the Celtics. This really reminds me of the scene in the titanic where the captain goes down with the ship. Tommy point to anyone that can get the gif.

[Birdman]

Houston, OKC & New Orleans are just plain horrible

[nickagneta]

[celticsclay]

That is the one, and apt. TP.

[Moranis]

Houston, OKC & New Orleans are just plain horrible

so are Orlando and Detroit (they are actually the 2 worst teams) though and Zion is presumably coming back at some point. New Orleans has also been playing better lately winning 3 of 5 and 5 of their last 9.

[celticsclay]

In a bit of funny timing, both nash and billy donavan commented on how deep the east was last night.

"Going into their game, there were 10 teams in the East with winning records and eight with records of .500 or better in the West, although Golden State and the Suns have the two best records in the NBA.

"It’s about as strong as the East has been for a long time," Nash said. "There aren’t any ‘gimmes,’ so to speak. The West is terrific and has some great teams at the top, but the East is deep. Every night, it seems like a battle. I think it’s good for the balance of the league and for this kind of depth and parity."

"Donovan backed Nash up, saying, "Starting out in the NBA, I was in the West for five years and that was every night with what you were playing against. I think the East has turned out the same way [now]. All these teams are really, really good, and everybody is jockeying and fighting for position. The East is really deep."

[Moranis]

Houston has the longest winning streak in the sport.  That is crazy.  And yes I know 5 of 6 were at home and the competition wasn't exactly good as it was the Bulls, Hornets, Thunder, Thunder, Magic, and Pelicans.  But 6 straight is still 6 straight.  The next longest streak is 4.  Should end Wednesday when the Nets visit followed by Bucks on Friday.  They are now above 30% on the win percentage and are just bad instead of terrible.

East also only has 1 more win now with 5 inter-conference match-ups tonight. 

[celticsclay]

Houston has the longest winning streak in the sport.  That is crazy.  And yes I know 5 of 6 were at home and the competition wasn't exactly good as it was the Bulls, Hornets, Thunder, Thunder, Magic, and Pelicans.  But 6 straight is still 6 straight.  The next longest streak is 4.  Should end Wednesday when the Nets visit followed by Bucks on Friday.  They are now above 30% on the win percentage and are just bad instead of terrible.

East also only has 1 more win now with 5 inter-conference match-ups tonight.

Is your opinion at this point that 84% of the forum, coaches like Nash and Donovan, and people that cover the nba at a national level like Lowe are all wrong/or in some sort of conspiracy against you on this topic? The East is not actually deeper this year we are all just idiots?

[Moranis]

Houston has the longest winning streak in the sport.  That is crazy.  And yes I know 5 of 6 were at home and the competition wasn't exactly good as it was the Bulls, Hornets, Thunder, Thunder, Magic, and Pelicans.  But 6 straight is still 6 straight.  The next longest streak is 4.  Should end Wednesday when the Nets visit followed by Bucks on Friday.  They are now above 30% on the win percentage and are just bad instead of terrible.

East also only has 1 more win now with 5 inter-conference match-ups tonight.

Is your opinion at this point that 84% of the forum, coaches like Nash and Donovan, and people that cover the nba at a national level like Lowe are all wrong/or in some sort of conspiracy against you on this topic? The East is not actually deeper this year we are all just idiots?

To be fair, neither Nash nor Donovan said the East was deeper than the West, only that it is deeper than it had been in years past, which I'd agree with.  Again, depth to me has always implied good not mediocre and the East has a lot of mediocrity.  More mediocrity than years past, but mediocre is mediocre and I don't consider that depth.

The West has the 3 best records in the sport (3rd is tied with the best in the East), while the East has the 2 worst records in the sport.  So the best teams are in the West and the worst teams are in the East.  The East does have a slightly better middle, but the West has been closing that gap for weeks because the West has more of the better teams.

The Knicks and Raptors aren't good teams.  They have a better record than the Kings and Spurs (their respective counterparts in the standings), but none of them are good teams.  1 through 10 I'd take the West in the vast majority of the match-ups as having better teams, and that is what it comes down to to me.  The conference with more good teams is the West, so that is the better deeper conference.

[celticsclay]

Houston has the longest winning streak in the sport.  That is crazy.  And yes I know 5 of 6 were at home and the competition wasn't exactly good as it was the Bulls, Hornets, Thunder, Thunder, Magic, and Pelicans.  But 6 straight is still 6 straight.  The next longest streak is 4.  Should end Wednesday when the Nets visit followed by Bucks on Friday.  They are now above 30% on the win percentage and are just bad instead of terrible.

East also only has 1 more win now with 5 inter-conference match-ups tonight.

Is your opinion at this point that 84% of the forum, coaches like Nash and Donovan, and people that cover the nba at a national level like Lowe are all wrong/or in some sort of conspiracy against you on this topic? The East is not actually deeper this year we are all just idiots?

To be fair, neither Nash nor Donovan said the East was deeper than the West, only that it is deeper than it had been in years past, which I'd agree with.  Again, depth to me has always implied good not mediocre and the East has a lot of mediocrity.  More mediocrity than years past, but mediocre is mediocre and I don't consider that depth.

The West has the 3 best records in the sport (3rd is tied with the best in the East), while the East has the 2 worst records in the sport.  So the best teams are in the West and the worst teams are in the East.  The East does have a slightly better middle, but the West has been closing that gap for weeks because the West has more of the better teams.

The Knicks and Raptors aren't good teams.  They have a better record than the Kings and Spurs (their respective counterparts in the standings), but none of them are good teams.  1 through 10 I'd take the West in the vast majority of the match-ups as having better teams, and that is what it comes down to to me.  The conference with more good teams is the West, so that is the better deeper conference.

It seems pretty willfully ignorant to not admit this is Nash calling the east deeper "The West is terrific and has some great teams at the top, BUT the East is deep. Every night, it seems like a battle. I think it’s good for the balance of the league and for this kind of depth and parity"



Beyond that it seems pretty surprising to say the Spurs are in the same ballpark as the Knicks. The spurs are better coached. But I, and most that even casually follow basketball would take Randle, Barrett, Rose, Noel, Mitchell, Fournier over Murray, White, Johnson, Poetl, Vassell and McDermott (and to be honest, it is isn't very close). I also would not agree that the Magic and Detroit are the worst team in the sports. The Pistons have a lot more talent than OKC right now. Unfortunately the Pistons and Magic are playing in the deeper conference so it is harder to pick up some wins. I realize the East could win 20 straight at this point and Steve Kerr and Pops could come out and explicitly say the East is a tougher conference and you wouldn't give an inch. But It was not to see the opinion of the larger board so tps all around. 

[Moranis]

Houston has the longest winning streak in the sport.  That is crazy.  And yes I know 5 of 6 were at home and the competition wasn't exactly good as it was the Bulls, Hornets, Thunder, Thunder, Magic, and Pelicans.  But 6 straight is still 6 straight.  The next longest streak is 4.  Should end Wednesday when the Nets visit followed by Bucks on Friday.  They are now above 30% on the win percentage and are just bad instead of terrible.

East also only has 1 more win now with 5 inter-conference match-ups tonight.

Is your opinion at this point that 84% of the forum, coaches like Nash and Donovan, and people that cover the nba at a national level like Lowe are all wrong/or in some sort of conspiracy against you on this topic? The East is not actually deeper this year we are all just idiots?

To be fair, neither Nash nor Donovan said the East was deeper than the West, only that it is deeper than it had been in years past, which I'd agree with.  Again, depth to me has always implied good not mediocre and the East has a lot of mediocrity.  More mediocrity than years past, but mediocre is mediocre and I don't consider that depth.

The West has the 3 best records in the sport (3rd is tied with the best in the East), while the East has the 2 worst records in the sport.  So the best teams are in the West and the worst teams are in the East.  The East does have a slightly better middle, but the West has been closing that gap for weeks because the West has more of the better teams.

The Knicks and Raptors aren't good teams.  They have a better record than the Kings and Spurs (their respective counterparts in the standings), but none of them are good teams.  1 through 10 I'd take the West in the vast majority of the match-ups as having better teams, and that is what it comes down to to me.  The conference with more good teams is the West, so that is the better deeper conference.

It seems pretty willfully ignorant to not admit this is Nash calling the east deeper "The West is terrific and has some great teams at the top, BUT the East is deep. Every night, it seems like a battle. I think it’s good for the balance of the league and for this kind of depth and parity"



Beyond that it seems pretty surprising to say the Spurs are in the same ballpark as the Knicks. The spurs are better coached. But I, and most that even casually follow basketball would take Randle, Barrett, Rose, Noel, Mitchell, Fournier over Murray, White, Johnson, Poetl, Vassell and McDermott (and to be honest, it is isn't very close). I also would not agree that the Magic and Detroit are the worst team in the sports. The Pistons have a lot more talent than OKC right now. Unfortunately the Pistons and Magic are playing in the deeper conference so it is harder to pick up some wins. I realize the East could win 20 straight at this point and Steve Kerr and Pops could come out and explicitly say the East is a tougher conference and you wouldn't give an inch. But It was not to see the opinion of the larger board so tps all around.

Detroit has lost 8 in row.  6 of those games were against the West.  They are 1-7 against the West on the year beating only Houston.  There other 3 wins are the Magic, Raptors, and Pacers.  They play the Thunder tonight, so we will see what happens.

Orlando just lost to Houston, though has found better success overall at 3-3 against the West and beat the Knicks twice for their only 5 wins. 

As for the Spurs, yeah I think they are in the same general range as the Knicks.  The Knicks aren't good.  Randle has reverted back to his normal poor shooting and lack of defense.  I think Murray is a better player than he is.  I think Johnson and Barrett are fairly equal in the potential department at this point (I was wrong about Barrett coming into the league, he isn't anywhere near as good as I thought he'd be), though Johnson is far more consistent.  The rest of the Knicks are fairly flawed one dimensional players that either defend and can't score (Robinson) or can shoot but can't defend (Fournier, Walker, etc.).  They are very similar teams, lots of role players and depth, but lack top end talent.  Neither one is any good

[nickagneta]

Of the top 16 teams in the league:

The West has the following teams:

#1
#2
#3 tie
#9
#14
#15

The East has the following:

#3 tie
#5
#6
#7
#8
#10
#11
#12
#13
#16

The West has 6 of the top 16 teams, the East 10. This shows that not only is the East deep, it clearly is and really can't be refuted, but is deeper than the West....currently. That could change before season's end.

[Moranis]

Of the top 16 teams in the league:

The West has the following teams:

#1
#2
#3 tie
#9
#14
#15

The East has the following:

#3 tie
#5
#6
#7
#8
#10
#11
#12
#13
#16

The West has 6 of the top 16 teams, the East 10. This shows that not only is the East deep, it clearly is and really can't be refuted, but is deeper than the West....currently. That could change before season's end.

Or 7 if you break the tie for the West and because they are so close it could pretty easily be 8 and 8 after tonight and the west theoretically could have 9 after tonight depending on how the games all go.

[nickagneta]

Of the top 16 teams in the league:

The West has the following teams:

#1
#2
#3 tie
#9
#14
#15

The East has the following:

#3 tie
#5
#6
#7
#8
#10
#11
#12
#13
#16

The West has 6 of the top 16 teams, the East 10. This shows that not only is the East deep, it clearly is and really can't be refuted, but is deeper than the West....currently. That could change before season's end.

Or 7 if you break the tie for the West and because they are so close it could pretty easily be 8 and 8 after tonight and the west theoretically could have 9 after tonight depending on how the games all go.

Someone must have missed the word "currently" in my post.

[Moranis]

Of the top 16 teams in the league:

The West has the following teams:

#1
#2
#3 tie
#9
#14
#15

The East has the following:

#3 tie
#5
#6
#7
#8
#10
#11
#12
#13
#16

The West has 6 of the top 16 teams, the East 10. This shows that not only is the East deep, it clearly is and really can't be refuted, but is deeper than the West....currently. That could change before season's end.

Or 7 if you break the tie for the West and because they are so close it could pretty easily be 8 and 8 after tonight and the west theoretically could have 9 after tonight depending on how the games all go.

Someone must have missed the word "currently" in my post.

well currently 7 of the top 16 are in the west.