The east has definitely caught up to the west. It used to be there were 1-2 "real" contenders in the east and there was a big dropoff to the rest. in the early 00's the east was abysmal. I mean those Iverson Sixers teams didnt belong in the finals. and they got destroyed by the lakers.
as much as i loved those teams, the IT4 celtics and run to game 7 against the depleted cavs celtics really overachieved in those years making it to the ECF
but I would put the Nets, Celtics, Sixers, Bucks, Heat all in the upper echelon teams in the east at least having 2 stars
I agree the east has caught up some at the top compared to the IT years and that time frame, but the problem is after that too 5 it really seems like tons and tons of mediocrity, especially if raptors can’t get it together. The west on the other hand is going to have some really good team probably not make the playoffs.
Miami isn't in the top 5 in the East right now either. And a very mediocre Spurs team is currently in the playoffs out west. I think you are greatly overestimating the mediocrity of the West. Sure both LA teams look great and Denver and Utah are probably going to be pretty good (with Dallas rising), but after that, nothing to write home about. And that is mostly so because the talent is evening out in the conferences, which was basically the point I was making. Top tier players are moving East. Now sure, maybe it isn't because of Lebron and some other reason, but for basically a decade everyone seemingly wanted to go West and now all of a sudden the East is the place to be.
I disagree. I think Portland has a lot of talent and is still working to figure it out. Apparently Nurkic had a very rough offseason and is still working back, but him lillard, mccollum and covington is a real lot of talent. I am not sure if they are there yet, but think Pelicans have a lot of talent with Zion, Ingram, Ball, Adams and Bledsoe. You also did not mention the suns who some are calling a dark horse contender with booker, paul and ayton. You compare these three teams to say the knicks, magic, hawks, and they are substantially better. It is a battle every night our west where in the east we have a real lot of garbage teams.
LAL > MIL
LAC = PHI
DEN < BKN
UTA = BOS
POR < MIA
PHO = IND
That is the top 6 in each conference, pretty darn even.
Dallas is clearly the next best team. After that though, I don't think there is a whole lot of difference between Toronto, Orlando, Atlanta, and Charlotte and teams like San Antonio, Memphis, New Orleans, and Oklahoma City.
The conference imbalance just isn't anywhere near what it once was and that is because the talent is much more evenly dispersed between the conferences than any time in the last decade.
Conveniently leaving out potential 7 and 8 seeds that LAL and LAC will face like GS with Curry and Dal with Doncic?
While top teams in the East essentially get byes with the Knicks/Magic/Hornets.
No byes in the West. Top East teams still face easier path.
Yea this is kind of the really key point (and not trying to do some weird matchup of top 5 teams. In the east, there is absolutely a ridiculous amount of bad teams. The magic have managed to become even more mediocre. The Knicks play hard but seem to clearly be a mediocre team with their best player as Randle. The Wizards look absolutely awful. The Bull are mediocre to bad. Charlotte is mediocre. The pistons and the cavs flat out stink. How many bad teams are there in the west. The Twolves and Thunder seem like the only obvious ones. Perenially bad teams like the Suns and the Pelicans and Grizzlies have made some progress to being competitive while the teams like the Cavs, Bulls and Knicks have not.
And yet the Cavs have split the season series with the Grizzlies with each winning on the road and while Morant didn't play in either game neither did Sexton, Garland, or Love (not that you can rely on Love, but the two young guards have been vital to the Cavs this year). In fact, the Cavs are 4-2 with both of them with wins over Philly, Charlotte, and Atlanta.
The terrible Knicks have beaten Milwaukee, Boston, Indiana, Utah, and Atlanta. Not exactly scrub teams.
Chicago just took Dallas to the woodshed in a game LaVine was 1 of 8 from the field. At the end of a 6 game Western trip that started with them beating the Blazers. They also beat Dallas earlier in the year. So this great Dallas team apparently can't beat this non-competitive Bulls team. What does that say about Dallas?
Detroit is bad, and yet their 3 wins are Boston, Phoenix, and Miami. I think them and Minnesota are the two worst teams in basketball without much separating them.
Sacramento and Houston might be the 3rd and 4th worst teams in basketball right now (yet to be seen what Houston actually looks like, but they were a weird collection of players before they traded their best player for a serious talent downgrade in Oladipo and a bunch of draft picks).
I just think you aren't looking at the two leagues with any real consistency.
If you project the playoff teams (not projected finish order, I just listed them by current record)
East - MIL, BOS, PHI, IND, BKN, MIA, TOR - then ? ORL/CHA/ATL/WAS
West - LAL, LAC, UTA, PHO, POR, DAL, DEN - then ? SAS/OKC/NOP/GS
I do think the 7th team in the West will end up better than the 7th team in the East (Dallas or Phoenix is better than Toronto), but the top 6 are pretty even, and the 8th teams are both going to be mediocre at best no matter who gets the spot as there really isn't much difference in the quality of the rosters of the 8 teams I put up there.
This notion that the West is just brimming with all this talent and the East still a big pile of mediocre poo just isn't borne in reality any more and it is that way in a very large part because the top tier talent is much more evenly distributed between the two conferences now.