Almost since the end of the dominant Michael Jordan-era of basketball, the Western Conference has reigned supreme to the Eastern Conference, and it's showed in every season since the 1996-97 NBA season. That was the last time the West had a team under .500 make the playoffs. But the narrative is slowly changing, as the East -- at least in a short sample size where every team has played between 11 and 16 games so far -- is finally outplaying the West, and the numbers are rather shocking.
In the first month or so of the season, the East is a combined 116-102 and the West is 106-112.
While that is only a 10-game difference in wins and losses, it stands out so much because the East boasts a winless team in the 0-15 Philadelphia 76ers, and the West has the undefeated Golden State Warriors, who just broke the record for the best start ever at 16-0. Those are rare anomalies for any season, and even with those two teams being where they are, the East is still playing better overall.
Currently, the East has 11 teams at .500 or better, and the West has a mere seven. To put that in perspective, just last season, only six teams in the East finished even, while nine teams were at least eight games over that mark in the West.
And it's been that way for a while. Out East, teams have been making the playoffs with sub-.500 records for years. In fact, the last time their top eight seeds were at least even was all the way back in 2009-10 season, when a young Chicago Bulls team went 41-41.
In head-to-head matchups between East and West teams, you see the former with an edge yet again at 40-32 thus far.
This year is obviously different. Even though it is a small sample, as mentioned previously, you can already tell which teams have improved, and which have started to decline.
In the East, the Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers have rebounded from poor 2014-15 seasons in which injuries or locker-room issues played a big part. The Hornets needed to get rid of Lance Stephenson, and the Pacers needed to get Paul George back while removing Roy Hibbert. Those moves made a big difference and those squads are definitely playoff contenders added to the East. Also, the emergence of Andre Drummond as one of the most dominant players in the league has made the Detroit Pistons relevant again, and even the New York Knicks are players with a different offensive system and rookie Kristaps Porzingis making a splash early on.
Out West, though, we've seen the fall of the Houston Rockets, which has been dramatic. They've even had their head coach fired already.
Sorry, Kevin McHale.
The Portland Trail Blazers are feeling the blows they took all offseason, where they lost LaMarcus Aldridge, Robin Lopez, Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum, and they're only 6-10 after losing last night at home. Then a team like the New Orleans Pelicans is drastically underperforming; expected to be a playoff team heading into the year, they're just 3-11 so far, and the odds of them turning it around aren't too great.
You also just have to look at what teams are just in bad shape in both conferences.
In the East, there's really only a couple of teams that don't have good outlooks moving forward: the 76ers and Brooklyn Nets. A lot needs to be done for them to improve, but the other 13 teams are already good or on the up-and-up.
On the other side of the country, there are at least five teams that need a ton of work and retooling or even rebuilding, including the Blazers, Pelicans, Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers.
While there's still 66-71 games remaining for each team this year, the changing of the guard has begun. It won't be long before the East becomes a powerhouse again with so many young superstars, and it's something the Association needs to continue its growth.
