How can the Eastern Conference be fixed?

[CelticSooner]

Just watching LeBron continue to hold it hostage another season I have to wonder. It's bad and has been for some time. It seems going into every season we hear that the teams are young and will only improve. It's not happening though whether it be due to incompetent owners, management, or coaches. I hate this considering most of the large market teams are on the east coast. It's a trickle down effect when it comes to free agents not wanting to switch conferences. The Knicks and Nets are too prime examples of what I'm talking about. What's to be done because I fail to see it ever being what it was even 20 years ago.

[Onslaught]

In the 80's it was the other way around. The east was dominate and the west was a joke. The Lakers had a cakewalk to the finals every year.

It' will turn around one day. This isn't the first time something like this has happened.

[SHAQATTACK]

In the 80's it was the other way around. The east was dominate and the west was a joke. The Lakers had a cakewalk to the finals every year.

It' will turn around one day. This isn't the first time something like this has happened.

True.

Luck , trends, ownership or FO's leadership effect direction of teams .

It could be the majority of the East is just stuck in a rebuilding mode in general .

Eventually people ...owners, coaches , GM s come and go .......

Just like weather patterns .

[LGC88]

If NBA really want to even things up, they have to do it in the draft.
They let Wiggins go to the west, Towns and Okafor look like they will go to the west.

I have made a quick ranking on east/west teams on their respective wins (opposite conference wins).
Only 4 teams in the west are worse than the east.
Draft Ranking should be :
5. Minnesota
10. Denver
11. Sacramento
14. Lakers

Milwaukee, Boston and Brooklyn get a late lottery pick.

Here is the complete ranking :

Team   Total Wins   Conf   Opp. Conf
Philadelphia   18                 12       6
New York           17                 11       6
Charlotte           33                  25       8
Detroit           32                 23       9
Minnesota   16                  7       9
Indiana            38                28      10
Orlando             25                15      10
Milwaukee           41                30      11
Denver           30                19      11
Sacramento   29                18      11
Boston           40                   28      12
Miami           37                25      12
L.A. Lakers   21                 9         12
Brooklyn           38                24      14

Of course there is an obvious downside to this, as some teams will purposely lose against opposite conference teams just to get a lottery pick. But they could come up with an alternative rule like this one in order to even up the conferences.

[RockinRyA]

When the Celtics won the championship in 08 and the next succeeding contention years, the East was bad as well. However, The top 4-5 teams in the East were all awesome defensive teams and had stars so they were tough to face in the playoffs.
Top 5 during 08

1) Celtics
2) Pistons-awesome defensive team with multiple stars
3)Orlando-good defensive and rebounding teamand had Dwight and a couple of good players like Rashard and Hedo
4)Cavs-Good defensive team, had Varejao and Lebron
5)Washington-only team if I recall correctly that the 08 celtics lost the season series against. had arenas who was a pretty good player then

Even atlanta was good defensively and had Joe Johnson. So while the East overall were bad, at least you know that the top teams wont just fold when you face them in the playoffs. Unlike this year where top teams like hawks and Raptors arent really teams you fear in the playoffs.

[manl_lui]

I guess draft better and hire better GMs. Look at the West, they all draft VERY well, even if they are not lottery. Curry at 7, and Lillard at 6.

[D.o.s.]

I guess draft better and hire better GMs. Look at the West, they all draft VERY well, even if they are not lottery. Curry at 7, and Lillard at 6.

Exactly.

The Eastern Conference can be fixed by people refusing to hire Billy King, etc.

[PhoSita]

Get rid of conferences altogether and stop worrying about conference imbalance in the first place.  Seriously, what is the argument for continuing to put up with it, other than "that's how it's always been"?

The question in the OP might as well be "how do we fix small market teams and teams that have been criminally mismanaged for years?"  That's a tough question, but we shouldn't have to find the answer in order to make the playoffs more interesting and entertaining.

[D.o.s.]

Get rid of conferences altogether and stop worrying about conference imbalance in the first place.  Seriously, what is the argument for continuing to put up with it, other than "that's how it's always been"?

The question in the OP might as well be "how do we fix small market teams and teams that have been criminally mismanaged for years?"  That's a tough question, but we shouldn't have to find the answer in order to make the playoffs more interesting and entertaining.

I think a lot of it at this point is travel logistics and television scheduling.

[Donoghus]

Just give it time.  These things have a tendency of being cyclical and working themselves out. 

Not one of the things in the game that I get terribly worked up about. 

[knuckleballer]

By getting rid of the conferences, travel will increase which isn't a good thing.

In time, the conferences will balance out.  People say that players prefer to play out west because of weather and lifestyle, but I haven't noticed many players actively doing so.  What stars have moved out west as free agents in recent years?  Dwight Howard?

The fact is the Western teams just happen to have better management.  I don't think there is any reason for that.  It's just worked out that way.  That will naturally change over time.

[PhoSita]

Get rid of conferences altogether and stop worrying about conference imbalance in the first place.  Seriously, what is the argument for continuing to put up with it, other than "that's how it's always been"?

The question in the OP might as well be "how do we fix small market teams and teams that have been criminally mismanaged for years?"  That's a tough question, but we shouldn't have to find the answer in order to make the playoffs more interesting and entertaining.

I think a lot of it at this point is travel logistics and television scheduling.

Those sound like manageable issues to me.  You can still use divisions to make sure that the teams that are closest to one another play each other more often in the regular season.

Isn't it worth figuring out to get the best playoff product possible?

Keeping conferences ensures that more exciting early round matchups are possible, e.g. Clips vs Spurs.  But is that really a good thing, when that first round matchup ends up being the most entertaining one of the playoffs?

[manl_lui]

Get rid of conferences altogether and stop worrying about conference imbalance in the first place.  Seriously, what is the argument for continuing to put up with it, other than "that's how it's always been"?

The question in the OP might as well be "how do we fix small market teams and teams that have been criminally mismanaged for years?"  That's a tough question, but we shouldn't have to find the answer in order to make the playoffs more interesting and entertaining.

I think a lot of it at this point is travel logistics and television scheduling.

Those sound like manageable issues to me.  You can still use divisions to make sure that the teams that are closest to one another play each other more often in the regular season.

Isn't it worth figuring out to get the best playoff product possible?

Keeping conferences ensures that more exciting early round matchups are possible, e.g. Clips vs Spurs.  But is that really a good thing, when that first round matchup ends up being the most entertaining one of the playoffs?

actually tbh, I don't mind the conference inbalance. As I said before in another post, bad drafting and bad GMs in the east. But to combine what we both said

I rather see the NBA shrinks the number of teams. Go from 30 teams to like 26 teams. Reform the draft style

more talent in the pool for more teams, more competitive going to playoffs

[Donoghus]

Does it really matter if some of the most entertaining series occur in the first round or the conference finals or whatever?  Celtics/Bulls in '09 was one of the most entertaining series ever and that was a first round matchup.  Did it really deter from the remainder of those playoffs?  (Celtics being sans KG was a much bigger frustration, IMO). 

Entertainment is entertainment.  Sports being the most unpredictable brand of it.   

[PhoSita]

Does it really matter if some of the most entertaining series occur in the first round or the conference finals or whatever?  Celtics/Bulls in '09 was one of the most entertaining series ever and that was a first round matchup.  Did it really deter from the remainder of those playoffs?  (Celtics being sans KG was a much bigger frustration, IMO). 

Entertainment is entertainment.  Sports being the most unpredictable brand of it.

Well, it should matter to the league because the best ratings are always going to be for the later rounds.  More fans tune in to watch the Conference Finals and Finals than tune in for the first round.

The most exciting matchups, one would hope, would tend to occur later in the playoffs.  Obviously it's a nice surprise when a one-sided-on-paper matchup ends up becoming an epic series, like Celtics vs Bulls in 2009. 

Also, it's a matter of quantity.  When two contenders go at it in a grueling 7 game series to open the playoffs, though, that's not such a good thing, because it means one of the more exciting teams to watch only gets, at most, 7 games.

Or are you happy that the Spurs got knocked out in round 1 and we got to watch more of the Rockets, Wizards, or Bulls, instead?