The window is shut for the west.Its the east's turn

[SinBAD]

All you lakers fans will hate this but these next 5 years will be all east.No way the lakers with an agin kobe win anything.Lebron or dwight are just too good.Kobe and timmy had great runs but they are getting old.Lakers though always manage to get star player sso unless they get Bosh its shut.Your bench is garbage and will get dominated in the final.Even suns will give you a hard time but you should beat them after watching them beat the spurs.

Suns are also done.Nash is 36
Spurs cant win a 5th ring.
Houston has the money to get bosh or a free agent and has Yao so thy have a chance
Dallas are done with an aging dirk and kidd
OKC are the future of the west along with portland and denver.
Denver still have carmelo, he's stil young, they will need new players but their franchose player is young.

Go East!

[gm5k]

I pretty much agree. Lakers have a good chance to win this year, but it's likely their last good chance IMO.

[TampaDude]

The East is rising. The Cavs and Magic are arguably better than any team in the West right now, with the possible exception of the Lakers. The Celtics are still tough. The Hawks are not quite "there" yet, but they're getting close.

Overall, the West has more good teams than the East, but the best teams in the East are CLEARLY superior to most of the teams in the West right now.

[pauls931]

Agree, the east has more elite teams than the west that just has LA. However, if Portland can ever become healthy they may rise to that level.

[Giuseppe]

Poppycock! Things can change moment to moment, trade to trade, injury to injury, scandal to scandal, firing to firing. The NBA is dynamic, extremely volatile.

[Cane]

Atlanta and Boston sucks but yea now its going to be the era of the East. No longer does the west have a prime Shaq and Duncan.

Plus all the teams with a ton of capspace are in the East so that conference is going to change substantially over the summer and probably for the better.

Chicago, Miami, New York, New Jersey, are all franchises that can gamble on talent.

[TampaDude]

Poppycock! Things can change moment to moment, trade to trade, injury to injury, scandal to scandal, firing to firing. The NBA is dynamic, extremely volatile.

You'd really like to believe that, wouldn't you? :lol

[SomeCallMeTim]

You'd really like to believe that, wouldn't you? :lol

Most people wouldn't actually... people prefer things to be static and predictable. The NBA is, for the most part, anything but. Lakers are ample proof... went from knocking on the doorstep of a "sure thing" 4th championship in the Kobe/Shaq/PJ era, with only the "weak" Pistons standing in their way in 2004 to, a few months later, seeing the team implode in the wake of an embarrassing loss and the franchise head right into the wilderness of three years of rebuilding. Then, just as quickly as things things went south, the team was a contender again because of the development of Bynum and then the acquisition of Gasol.

All of these things were utterly unpredictable even months before they happened. How in the world can anyone think they can project two seasons in the future, let alone five?

[mavsfan1000]

Orlando and Cleveland will tire each other out in the ECF though. Thus the Suns have a good shot.

[MiamiHeat]

the seesaw of power. in the 90's it was the East, then the 00's was the West

now it will be the East again as the Heat become contenders, Derrick Rose lifts the Bulls, Dwight Howard matures for the Magic, LeBron rapes the NBA for titles, etc.

[SomeCallMeTim]

the seesaw of power. in the 90's it was the East, then the 00's was the West

now it will be the East again as the Heat become contenders, Derrick Rose lifts the Bulls, Dwight Howard matures for the Magic, LeBron rapes the NBA for titles, etc.

Yep, we've heard that before with the abortive 2000s Pistons, Heat, and Celtics "dynasties."

One-and-done, all of them.

Meanwhile, Lakers and Spurs keeping the balance of power out West where it belongs for more than a decade.

[JoeTait75]

Most people wouldn't actually... people prefer things to be static and predictable.

The West was the superior conference for a solid 15 years (1992-2007.) So in some ways things were static and predictable.

[baseline bum]

LA still has probably two more years after this one where they'll be top contenders. There's no way this is their last shot.