Has the NBA’s Eastern Conference Become Dominant Over The West?

Posted by By Sports Session at 8 September, at 18 : 52 PM Print

The landscape of the Eastern Conference has slowly changed recently.  The last few seasons all everyone wanted to talk about is how weak the Eastern conference was, how all of the dominant teams were in the West. Thanks to the Kevin Garnet/Ray Allen trades in 2007 the Celtics were able to upset that trend, although that happened it on temporarily tilted the balance. Their chance at winning multiple championships is severely limited because of their aging roster. They may have another run left in them, and if they do there won’t be too many more after that.

Cleveland was nothing short of superb in the last two regular seasons before falling apart in the playoffs due to no low post presence, and no one that could consistently knock down a jump shot. The Orlando Magic have had a couple of good seasons in a row, but took a step back this past season? When you look at Orlando Dwight Howard jumps off the page, and as great of a player as he is, he’s not going to carry any team offensively. Other than those three teams and maybe the Bulls, the rest of the East was a joke. Name one playoff team in the West where Joe Johnson would be the franchise player?

This season will be far different than the last few seasons, as the East will be much more competitive. When was the last time the Eastern Conference had two teams capable of winning an NBA championship?  Not just make it there, but actually winning once they’ve gotten there. A lot more is involved in winning on that stage than talent.

Now with the super trio in Miami, Orlando retooling, Boston, and Chicago there are four teams that have a legitimate shot at being in the hunt for a championship.  If you look at those teams in the East and compare them to the teams in the West then the balance of power may have swayed permanently for the time being.  Phoenix will never get there with Amare departing for New York, and Steve Nash aging as each year goes on.  The Dallas Mavericks are still trying to find the right formula to get to the next level, but should still be a good team.  The Lakers are the best shot out of the West, as the other teams still have a lot of re-tooling to before they are championship caliber again.

The coming NBA season will  ultimately tell if the East has not taken over as the power conference in basketball, but there are plenty of teams in the West that won’t go down without a fight.  San Antonio is a bit of mystery this coming year, and a team with that many veterans may have another run left in them.  It is not a foregone conclusion that Miami will win it, the NBA has gotten less interesting as it comes down to 7 or so teams with a real shot at winning it all.

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