What do you all think has been the catalyst behind the division of power in the 2 conferences? How has the West become such a power conference while the East has become a style conference? Law of averages would put a balance of power in both conferences but it's not that way at all. Some theories for why this is please....
I think it's because of Shaq and the pathetic number of real centers out there. The other Western powers that are on the championship bubble had to bulk up their frontline to provide a credible defense to Shaq. You saw Portland hoarding up forward centers to expend 5 fouls on him. The Eastern Conference had some of their major big men traded from them in the last 5 years. During the Jordan era, the East was known more as a thuggish physical conference while the West was known for it's athleticism and free flowing offence. This is just another part of the cycle.
Shaq signing with LA Weber being traded from DC to Sacramento There was some luck involved with San Antonio winning the lottery in '97 despite Boston having the worst record Also, if the Clippers become a powerhouse, which is largely dependant on Sterling, they can thank the Bulls (Brand), the Cavs (Miller), and the Magic (Magette) If the Rockets ever get over the hump, we can give partial thanks to New Jersey It looks like Dallas is the only current Western power that has built their team without anybody else's help
I think Invisible Fan has hit it on the head. I think Shaq's presence has forced the whole conference to go with power underneath. A related question is, what happened to create such a disparity in talent between the Eastern Conference and the Western? I've been thinking of it as a blip -- that luck had it that a lot of EC teams had to go through some rebuilding all around the same time. But, I'm just seeing talent continue to flow from the EC to the WC. Andre Miller going to LAC is just the latest example (not that Miles isn't talented, he's just not as uniquely gifted as Miller). Is it the free agents? The quality of management? The depth of owners' pockets (spendthrifts in Dallas, Portland and, to a lesser extent, Sacramento)?
The Internet Boom made Cuban rich with something similar to lottery luck. Microsoft lies and cheats and that made Allen rich. Marbury whining helped Minn keep Garnett happy...that was kinda dumb luck Canada's boring culture and the Lottery made us pretty lucky Clippers can't help finally doing something with all those lottery picks and now Cleveland handing them the final piece wow...you're right. Nobody builds teams anymore. It's cheating, luck and stupidity. Now, if Denver gets Lebron James next yr....it will be a conspiracy. A conspiracy to make the West so good so that the East fans will stay up to watch West-coast games rather than going to sleep like they did in the Celtics/Knicks/Pistons/Bulls/Pacers/Caveliers years in the 80s
My hypothesis: Athletes hate to lose and not enough of the "stars" have the patience or ability to carry a bad team very far (what I like to call "the Phil Jackson effect"). Therefore, many of the promising rookies will want to find greener pastures (i.e. better teams) and are more likely to request/demand trades, or leave via free agency when their contracts expire. Alternate hypothesis: In some cases, maybe the "stars" feel the need to prove something, or feel that advancing far in the playoffs in the East will earn them the dreaded asterisk on their achievements. They may be genuine competitors and therefore, want to play only against the best competition (i.e. the West), so that their wins mean that much more.
Oh Dallas still better be sending thank you letters to the Bucks. Remember the Tractor Trailer trade for Dirk Diggler? Yeah back then everyone probably thought that Tractor would be better, but still....
iirc, Dallas could've picked the Diggler right away (they had the #6, the Buckst the #9 pick). Dallas only did that trade to get the rights to Pat Garrity also (who was packaged w/ some other guys and sent to Phoenix for Nash).
