For as long as anyone could remember, the Western Conference has been the deeper, and overall better conference. That may be changing this season, and it can only help the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ever since I started following the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA in the mid-1990s, the Western Conference has always been the better, or at least the deeper and more talented, conference.
While the Eastern Conference would have only one or two teams that had any shot at winning the NBA championship, the west had as many as four or five. Even when Michael Jordan‘s Chicago Bulls dominated the NBA for much of the 90s, the west still had more good or great teams than the east, which was at the full mercy of His Airness.
Besides our beloved purple and gold, the west has had notable powerhouses such as the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, the early 2000s Sacramento Kings and for a minute, the (ugghhhhh) Los Angeles Clippers. There were many years where it looked like the Western Conference Finals were the de-facto championship series.
Who could forget the days when a Game 7 between the Lakers and Kings was, for all intents and purposes, the world championship? Or when a second-round series between the Lakers and Spurs felt like the “real” NBA Finals?
This season, it looks like that is changing.
Out here by the Pacific Ocean, the Golden State Warriors are still the solid favorites to win their third straight NBA title. But they have issues. Steph Curry and Draymond Green have been banged up and out of action, while the issues between Kevin Durant and his teammates have been well documented.
Besides that, there are a few teams with strong records that I’m not sold on. As of this writing, the (ewwww) Clippers are tied for the best record in the conference at 15-7, as well as the fourth most efficient offense in pro basketball. But, does anyone really trust a team led by Tobias Harris and Danilo Gallinari to be considered an elite team in April, let alone May or June?
Denver is who the Clippers are tied with atop the west. They have the third-best defense in the league in terms of efficiency, as well as the seventh best offense. But, they have no superstar – if they’re down 108-106 with two minutes left, who do they give the ball to who they count on to deliver them a win?
Oklahoma City is 14-7, but are 18th in offensive efficiency and dead last in 3-point shooting percentage. That’s not a recipe for being an elite team in the modern NBA.
Portland has been looking good early on, but their defense has fallen off and they are now 13-10. In addition, they’re too much of a two-horse gang offensively, no matter how many Steph Curry-like clutch shots Damian Lillard hits.
And I don’t need to tell you how much of a human garbage can the Houston Rockets have been. They’ve made Carmelo Anthony into a scapegoat there, but in reality, GM Daryl Morey letting go of Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson and Luc Mbah a Moute has been just as much to blame.
As we speak, it seems like the level of talent of the Western Conference, individually and team-wise, is drying up a bit.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Conference is going through something of a renaissance. The Toronto Raptors are not only the best team in the conference but arguably the best team in basketball right now with a sterling 20-4 record.
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Future Laker, ahem, I mean their new superstar Kawhi Leonard is playing magnificent ball, as he showed on November 29 when he went mano-a-mano against Kevin Durant and delivered Toronto a win in overtime.
The Milwaukee Bucks are the new darlings of the NBA with a 15-7 record. They’re averaging an insane 121.4 points per game and are first in offensive efficiency while ranking fifth in defensive efficiency.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is looking like the next Lebron James, albeit a leaner and taller version of him, and coach Mike Budenholzer has no doubt imported some of that good mojo he gained during nearly two decades of being on Gregg Popovich’s staff in San Antonio.
The Philadelphia 76ers could be the league’s newest superteam after acquiring four-time All-Star Jimmy Butler, giving them a legit closer. He joins Joel Embiid, who is looking like a modern reincarnation of 1994 Hakeem Olajuwon, and Ben Simmons, who has seemingly everything in his arsenal except for a jump shot. If/when they add one or two cheap role players, they could become as good as anyone else in the league.
As much schadenfreude as we may be getting from watching the Boston Celtics struggle after being picked by many to be the best team in the east, don’t count them out yet. Don’t underestimate the power of the leprechaun – it may come back to haunt us.
What does all this mean for the Lakers? If the Clippers, Nuggets, Blazers or whoever comes back down to earth a little in the west, it means an easier road back to the top for the purple and gold.
Before the season started, many were saying that the Lakers would have a hard time just making the playoffs in the west despite the presence of LeBron James, mainly because the west had too many good teams, as opposed to the east.
It’s early, but if you read the tea leaves, the tide might be turning. Assuming it does, it would be ironic that Lebron came out here knowing that it would be tough winning his fourth ring in the west while not joining a superteam for once, only to see the west become possibly the weaker conference, if just by a little.
It also seems like the powers of the NBA are currently morphing into whatever they will be for the next few years. The Lakers are (hopefully) back, and it may be the beginning of the end for the Golden State Warriors as we’ve known them since Steve Kerr snubbed Phil Jackson‘s offer to coach the Knicks and instead took the helm in Oakland.
Besides that, can we really say with any firm certainty that we know who is the second best team in the west, or even if there’s another team besides the Warriors in the west who has a real chance to win it all this year?
Take a deep breath, Lakers fans. If their players and front office take care of business, we could be seeing the beginning of our own parting of the Red Sea, and the NBA World Championship trophy could be there for the taking not too long from now.