Gonna be a dogfight for those 3-6 seeds in the West, even moreso than this year. LA (who are bordering on the "top tier" with SA and OKC), Houston, Dallas, Portland, and Golden State will all be incredibly tough. That's a 1-7 lineup that will make for some really tough first round series. Then you have Phoenix, Memphis, the Brow trying to make NO relevant, and the Kobe trying to make the Lakers relevant. Just a brutal conference next year. That's 11 teams that easily make the playoffs in the East.