The Whiteboard: The Western Conference is stuffed with solid teams
By Ti Windisch
The top of the East has gotten better, but the Western Conference is loaded with teams who will contend for the NBA Playoffs.
This is a broken record post, but with a newfound respect for the top of the NBA’s Eastern Conference emerging it might be worth repeating: the Western Conference is just loaded with absolutely solid teams. Just over a month into the season, a logjam has already emerged.
The Golden State Warriors are still on top, both in terms of actual talent and in having the best record in the conference. The Portland Trail Blazers are in second place with 10 wins already this season. After that, it’s basically the rest of the conference all within a couple games of each other.
Only one Western Conference team has less than six wins–the hapless Phoenix Suns. The Minnesota Timberwolves, which were basically torn apart by the Jimmy Butler saga, are the next-worst team at 6-9, and Minnesota just got a huge win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
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It is early in the season, sure, but the East already has a clear hierarchy. The five teams that were obviously going to be good — the Raptors, Bucks, Pacers, Celtics, and 76ers — are the first five seeds, respectively. Five teams in the East have less than six wins, and the Miami Heat are currently just one spot out of the postseason with a 6-8 record.
The Heat would be tied with the Dallas Mavericks for 13th in the West with that record, as 12 Western Conference teams already have seven or more wins. They’re not all juggernauts, but almost every team in this conference is solid at the very least.
Five good teams and three okay teams are going to make the postseason in the Eastern Conference. That’s more good teams than normal, and watching those five battle for the right to battle the Warriors will be exciting. The East is getting better, slowly.
In the West, on the other hand, some really stout teams who would easily qualify for postseason play in the other conference are going to miss out. There’s a chance every non-Warriors series will be close, and even the Dubs might run into some trouble in this West. Some things have changed, but it’s hard to argue most of the talent in the league isn’t still out West.
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