Quote:
Originally Posted by 411ken
"easiest" road to the playoffs/finals this year is definitely the West conference..
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I beg to differ. I believe the Western conference is actually tougher than the East. I'm basing this with depth of teams and overall number of possible contenders. This is all based on expectation and current rosters.
In the East we have 3 elite teams (Celtics [if they can keep up with the shortened but heavy season AND Jeff Green is unhealthy], Heat [current faves], and Bulls [monster defense, very deep roster and D Rose!]) and then a sudden drop off. Only other possible contender is the Knicks (with their strong front court and I believe Baron Davis will shine in MSG).
I am not counting in the Magic since I think Dwight Howard has almost given up and will be traded. Hawks has a decent core with Joe Johnson, Horford and Smith but no bench and I hate their PGs. They signed T-Mac for fuck's sake!
In the West, there are the following teams who has proven they have veteran players and have "been there": Lakers (if Kobe stays healthy and everyone else plays their role), Mavericks (the team is slightly worse than last season imo, but they have won it all already), and Spurs (61 wins last season with their 3 core guys in Duncan, Parker and Manu back).
Proven contender = Thunder (young, strong and starred with my guess for MVP this season, Durant)
While these teams are possible contenders:
Clippers (with depth in PGs Paul, Williams and Bledsoe, while Billups, Butler and showtime Griffin should provide stability),
Grizzlies (who went to the second round last year and has Rudy Gay back and Randolph, Marc Gasol, OJ Mayo, Conley and that rookie Vasquez - they are a VERY strong overall team and I guess will end up in the West final),
and even the Trailblazers (Aldridge, Camby, Wallace, Felton, hopefully healthy Oden and Matthews - surprising team which will play their butt off if need-be)
To sum it up top tier teams in the West and East are as follows:
West: LAL, DAL, SAS, OKC, LAC, MEM and POR (debatable)
East: MIA, CHI, BOS, NYK and ATL (debatable)
IMO, West has deeper teams and more importantly, more teams with talent and role players. It will be a tougher ride to come out of the West. Thus giving the Eastern champ (probably CHI or MIA) a more worn out West champ to face. My prediction is OKC losing to MIA in the final 4-2.