Is the Atlantic the best division

[Moranis]

With Toronto, Boston, and Philly being the top 3 seeds in the East (or top 2 and 4), and both the Nets and Knicks not being near the worst teams in the league, is the Atlantic the best division in the sport.  No other division even has 2, 50 win teams.  The division has 220 wins overall.

The other 2 contenders for best division are in the West.  The Northwest Division will have every team finish with at least 46 wins, but Portland and Utah are currently tied with 48 wins as the division winner.  So lots of good teams, but no great teams.  The division does have 235 wins though, by far the most.

The Southwest Division has Houston leading the way as the best team in basketball, with the Spurs and Pelicans both with 47 wins, but then has Memphis and Dallas who are both terrible (though a lot of that is injury related).  The division has 205 wins (which is actually 4th as the Central has 207 wins, but without a clear dominant team I didn't include them).

So if you go by wins the Northwest is the best division, but does the fact that it doesn't even have a 50 win team affect how you would view it, or is the argument that it has no 50 win teams because its worst team will be 46-36 (and thus there are no gimme divisional games).  Or do you go with the Atlantic that has 3, 50 win teams (and the Raptors might hit 60).  Or do you go with the Southwest where the best team in basketball resides, along with 2 solid playoff teams, and 2 injury riddled crap teams reside, even though the Central has more overall wins.

[Big333223]

I honestly don't even know what the divisions are anymore.

[bdm860]

They'd look a lot better without all the injuries.  Even though the C's have performed well, and I hope for the best, still worried they're going to be a sitting duck in the playoffs.

But a healthy Atlantic is legit.  With a healthy Atlantic:

Maybe both the C's and Raptors hit 60 wins.

Maybe New York hits 40 wins with Porzingis

Does a healthy Jeremy Lin and/or D'Angelo Russell do anything for the Nets?

And while it's amazing Philly's winning streak has come without Embiid, could they have notched a few more wins if they had a healthy Fultz all year?

If next year you told me the C's, Toronto, and Philly will all be healthy, it's not out of the realm of possibility that the Atlantic could possibly have three 60 win teams.  Though I kind of expect Toronto might take a small step back (but stay in the 55-59 win range) and Philly to take a smaller step forward (also in the 55-59 win range), three 60 wins team could happen.

[nickagneta]

Yawn...they still have divisions in the NBA? Everytime I look at the standings it's in conference mode.

That said, how can the Northwest not be the best division. 5 teams, all 11 games over .500 or better and the division has 15 more wins than any other division. Seems pretty easy to me.