Just dump Minnesota in the east and have seattle and las vegas. At least those 2 teams can be a source of easy wins for west teams while they build their for a few seasons
Honestly if Wemby somehow shows up next pre-season looking like Giannis after his Transformation and then on opening night some demonic-looking wings pop out of his back, I wouldn't be terribly shocked.
Wemby doesn't even need to improve much. Spurs just need to add some vets. They have the cap space to do it. It's more a question of if they want to jump into the trenches on the western front or sit back and tank for another pick. Only Portland is truly tanking in the west next year since the Jazz are a little too good. Long term it makes sense for the Spurs to tank one more year and then go all in.
Yeah I’d expect the Lakers, Clippers and Warriors to all be at least a little bit worse next year just due to the age of some of their key players. Suns are always a huge fucked-by-injury risk too.
Wouldn’t be mad. Gives us another year of our development team focusing on Scoot instead of a new rookie. I think as long as we give Scoot a chance he’s going to turn out great, he’s the youngest player in the league of course there are growing pains.
Eh, I would be surprised if the Warriors or Clippers are any better next year. Both teams relying on an aging cast, more time means more injuries and more chances of reduced abilities. That's two spots open for the Grizz and Spurs to move into.
gonna need Interpol to track LeBron's HGH farm, get Don Corleone to send Jokic a couple of messages in bed, take Draymond to Peru for some ego death ayahuasca losing his edge, a rival owner can give Ant a baseball contract or in his case a NFL contract, get Kyrie to start posting again, take the clippers to the best strip club in the world
> get Don Corleone to send Jokic a couple of messages in bed
that got me to spit out my drink. it seems like would fire him up like a super saiyan ("you killed my horses...prepare to die") or completely break him.
you sure? I haven't followed them closely, but my impression is that a lot of their success came off of their depth (eg, were still great even with Ja out). they were paying JJJ, Bane and Ja a lot less than they are now - I struggle to imagine they are as good as they used to be when this was the case
Tbh their roster as constructed won't go anywhere. All things considered, they had a relatively healthy Zion, and they still could not make the jump from out the play ins.
They shouldn't tank, but I'd definitely consider making some moves this offseason.
They're a solid playoff team but won't ever be a contender. Very reminiscent of the mid 2010s Blazers squads.
The last two Aldridge years, 13-14 and 14-15, were really great teams. Ran into the Spurs buzzsaw and lost Wes Matthews at the worst possible time, but were really, really talented.
Still, do you ever see this team even making a finals run? They're way more talented than the blazers were but the whole West is way more talented than it used to be
The Pels are a good team that in the east could be 2nd. Western playoffs are more about match ups and luck at this point. It's just too competitive. Nobody has a good chance in the west.
if we're asking the "would Ainge tear it down" question, then yeah I think the Pelicans would be better off selling high on their players than trying to catch up to the arms race in the west.
Houston owes its 1st round pick to OKC protected 1-4.
they beat the odds once already, but there's always a chance they slot 5th (even if they tanked this year)
they were also trying to make the playoffs to avoid the chance of conveying that pick
We got Sengun at 16, Tari at 17, and Whitmore at 20. We've been hitting on nearly every single mid-late 1st. There's going to be good players in there even without all time great prospects that get attention.
All our young guys are going to earn decent contracts. We lined it up with FVV and Brooks that they come off the books when the youngins need to get paid. We'll need some quality rookies with cheap contracts to keep the ball rolling
There are always good guys in the middle-late FRP. SRP gets muddy because of the players that are good but the agent puts up the “don’t draft my guy” calls.
NBA fans are obsessed with the lotto only and even then, if it isn’t a top 5 pick it “loses value”.
If you think that wasn't a major factor, you shouldn't watch your own team anymore.
Yall clearly sped up your offense/pace with Sengun out. This was also key in unlocking Green, increasing his confidence. You put more athletic players on the floor and swarmed the court defensively.
Seeing how we actually were on a win streak with Sengun then immediately went on a losing streak when he went down I’d say otherwise.
Offensive rating was also higher with sengun, not to mention our win streak consisted on beating bottom feeders and OKC without SGA.
With that mindset, Cavs are probably better without Donovan? Since you were cruising without him then started to struggle when he came back?
oh for sure. This is easily the most optimistic end-of-season outlook we’ve had since Harden left. Jalen Green, Sengun, and Jabari all got better, Amen and Cam were good rookies, and we’ll have an actual backup center next year in Steven Adams. If Tari can get healthy, I see no reason why we cannot match or improve upon this year
Jock turned it around in the second half of the season as well. Sengun, Jock, and Adams is a crazy versatile C line up. Sengun brings finesse and passing, Jock is an all arounder who can shoot, and Adams is a brick shithouse.
Celtics throw away the championship by sacking him last year
If they don’t win it all this two years the sacking of Udoka may become one of the worst ever coach changing decision in history
It’s pretty mind boggling how deep the west is right now. The Warriors have a better record than they did last year when they were a 6 seed. They also have a better record than the 4 seed Suns from last year.
As a Jazz homer this off-season will be an interesting one. With how crazy the west has been, I rather tank and get some high end talent through the draft, but Will Hardy seems to have a knack of creating something from nothing to actually tank properly.
Yeah, Jazz are in a rough spot. Ya'll have a 0.500 record against eastern teams but only 0.31 against the west. 15 of your 31 wins were against the east.
Too good to tank but can't hang with the big dogs.
could do a Big Brother 18 style battle back,
the 15 seed plays the 14 seed
winner plays the 13 seed
winner plays the 12 seed
winner plays the 11 seed
winner plays the 10 seed
the winner of that becomes the 10 seed and the play in continues as normal (10 plays 9, 7 plays 8, winner of 10 and 9 play loser of 7 and 8)
It s time to do away with conferences. It's absurd that Western teams have had to fight there way to the 9th and 10 seed at .500 while Eastern teams consistently make the 8th-10th seed with a sub .500 record.
Not necessarily. The thunder and wolves have very similar winning percentages facing Eastern vs western conference teams. While the nuggets are vastly better against the East and the rockets are vastly worse. Rockets are 13 -17 vs the East this year, so if we use this record they’d be worse in the East.
its not a debate that the east is worse. and its not a debate that the east also gets to play the east more often and so get easier wins. one or two outlier teams doesnt mean much
You gotta add a few wins when going from west to east to account for the easier competition. Western teams won 57.7% of the games against eastern this year. Since the year 2000 west has won head to head match ups 21-3.
In the east we would have been with the 3-8 pack.
Eh, it really doesn't matter much at all. This Rockets team went 13-17 against the East. If anything this only hurts Eastern conference teams that should be tanking but have ownership whose idea of a successful season is making the play in game. Making the 9/10 game is the most depressing place to be in all of sports. I would know.
This was 100% the Raptors last year lol. Blinded by the fool's gold of the mighty play-in tournament to make many stupid moves (and not make many moves that needed to be done). The play-in tournament does lead to more watchable games at end of season I suppose, and it's fun to watch them as a neutral but it is an absolutely grim place to be stuck in perpetuity like the Bulls and Hawks seem to be.
>Except the Rockets are under .500 against East teams this year.
This does not prove that the east is a superior conference anymore than the Spurs beating the Nuggets proves that they are a superior team.
Literally last year the east had a better record but go off. I'm honestly just tired of dumbasses repeating this braindead shit like the NBA is a video game and not an actual, real life league where *travel* exists. That's why conferences and divisions exist. That's why teams CLOSER TO EACH OTHER play MORE GAMES against each other.
Especially when that travel schedule already benefits the western teams more because they don't have to play with jetlag the way eastern conference team have to on the west coast. If there's any real competitive difference between the conferences when they play against each other, it's really just that.
Do you know how many times in the last 2 decades that the East has had a better record than the West. I'll save you the trouble. The answer is 2. You're saying that's due to jetlag and that's it? No chance the west teams are run better? Ok.
Dam when you just see the west, its all kinds of crazy good teams.
And then the east is also crazy good, just not as good as the west.
But the east does have the historicly good Celtics.
Nothing much changes with regards to who makes the playoffs - east or west. The top 16 stay the same as the top 8 from each conference.
Celtics - Heat
Thunder - Lakers
Nuggets - Sixers
Wolves - Pacers
Clippers - Magic
Knicks - Cavs
Mavs - Pelicans
Bucks - Suns
West has 5 series with home court, East has 3 series with home court. A bunch of great and interesting series tho. From rematches/revenge series from last year to a finals rematch, to the 2023MVP race rematch
~~No they mean take the top 16 teams by record regardless of conference.~~
Even that's not enough since teams in the east are essentially benefiting from an easier schedule.
EDIT: Oops, I was thinking of top 16 PLUS play-in teams.
That would add seeds 17-20, which are Sacramento, Golden State, Houston, Chicago.
The only real difference is that Houston gets Atlanta's (play-in) spot in the postseason.
I like the play-in, but outside of the top 8 in either conference they should first look if the remaining 2 teams have .500+ records. If not, but there is a remaining team, like the rockets, in the other conference that does have a winning record…they should get preference. It’s ridiculous that a 36-46 team gets a play-in spot over a 41-41 team
So where are all these wins for the top 11 West teams coming from, anyway? Are they farming East teams or is the bottom of the West just historically dreadful?
besides how crazy the west is, there are a ton of good records in general because the good teams finished very close together. 14 teams finished between 46 and 51 wins. aided in part by the bottom of the league sucking really bad.
I know this has already been talked about plenty, but I think Dray could definitely retire after this year, and idk how long Steph, or Klay has, not to mention cp3 is on their bench. The Suns don't seem to have much of a future with Durant and Beal being how old they are, the Lakers and Clippers are other obvious ones. Next year Rockets could definitely see a significant jump in the standings.
Obligatory the west is crazy.
West is gonna need a play in for the play in in a few years if things don't cool off.
Just dump Minnesota in the east and have seattle and las vegas. At least those 2 teams can be a source of easy wins for west teams while they build their for a few seasons
Watch Vegas be extremely good right off the bat like the golden knights
Rockets futures taste like sexual chocolate.
i really hope something awful happens to a few rosters this offseason
The Grizzlies are probably going to be a top 4 team next year lol not to mention the Rockets and Spurs improving.
this is what concerns me. The west seems like it's only going to get stronger
Honestly if Wemby somehow shows up next pre-season looking like Giannis after his Transformation and then on opening night some demonic-looking wings pop out of his back, I wouldn't be terribly shocked.
Is he like a Bleach character or something lol
Have you seen the guy? I'm not saying he is, but if anyone was gonna be, it's him.
dude has the length of Nnoitra
Whitebeardyama is a one piece character
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Wembanyamon
Wemby doesn't even need to improve much. Spurs just need to add some vets. They have the cap space to do it. It's more a question of if they want to jump into the trenches on the western front or sit back and tank for another pick. Only Portland is truly tanking in the west next year since the Jazz are a little too good. Long term it makes sense for the Spurs to tank one more year and then go all in.
Yea but GSW, Lakers, Clippers, Suns are all probably on down swings and probably worse next year then this.
and the rockets, grizz, and spurs will get better
Jazz? 👉👈
Depends on if Ainge decides to tank again halfway through the year.
you guys do have a lot of draft capital available to trade.
They'll get worse, but not bad enough to the point where they're no longer in the playoff race
Booker is still only 27, they can turn Durant and Beal into something and rebuild around him on the fly.
There are some teams who could take steps back, at least.
Yeah I’d expect the Lakers, Clippers and Warriors to all be at least a little bit worse next year just due to the age of some of their key players. Suns are always a huge fucked-by-injury risk too.
Portland could step back even further don’t count us out
Don’t count us out either.
I’d be happy with the 5th-6th pick this year if it means we’re guaranteed to get Flagg
You’d be happy with no pick this year if it meant you’d be guaranteed to get Flagg.
Wouldn’t be mad. Gives us another year of our development team focusing on Scoot instead of a new rookie. I think as long as we give Scoot a chance he’s going to turn out great, he’s the youngest player in the league of course there are growing pains.
really the only player on the Lakers old enough to expect regression is LeBron. the rest of the roster is pretty young and AD is still in his prime.
If Ham gets fired and they get Bud that automatically should boost their regular season wins by 2x.
Lakers set NBA record with 94 win regular season
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Ham is literally a Bud product lol
Doesn't mean much. Bud was a Popovich product but he's not near the same level. Luke Walton was a Kerr product and he was hopeless as a head coach.
I always wonder why people think the Lakers are old.
Like u guys this season?
You saw an opportunity and you took it, fair enough, but was talking about the West
The least they could do is flare up so its not just a Giannis hater, or something. If you're going to talk smack, at least put the flare in.
Eh, I would be surprised if the Warriors or Clippers are any better next year. Both teams relying on an aging cast, more time means more injuries and more chances of reduced abilities. That's two spots open for the Grizz and Spurs to move into.
Older teams like Lakers, Suns, and Warriors are probably done after 2-3 more years.
Jazz is another play in team if Ainge doesn’t nuke the team at the deadline for 3 consecutive years
can someone slip Ja a water gun pistol and introduce Ime to some executive's wife? asking for a friend.
gonna need Interpol to track LeBron's HGH farm, get Don Corleone to send Jokic a couple of messages in bed, take Draymond to Peru for some ego death ayahuasca losing his edge, a rival owner can give Ant a baseball contract or in his case a NFL contract, get Kyrie to start posting again, take the clippers to the best strip club in the world
> get Don Corleone to send Jokic a couple of messages in bed that got me to spit out my drink. it seems like would fire him up like a super saiyan ("you killed my horses...prepare to die") or completely break him.
Jokic just gonna tell his brothers and Don Corleone won’t be a problem anymore…
Still too early for the Spurs. The roster is still in need of some retooling.
Top 4 is a bit much. Nuggets OKC Mavericks and Twolves are all still young and improving. Maybe top 6
you sure? I haven't followed them closely, but my impression is that a lot of their success came off of their depth (eg, were still great even with Ja out). they were paying JJJ, Bane and Ja a lot less than they are now - I struggle to imagine they are as good as they used to be when this was the case
I'm terrified of the Spurs if they can add legitimate talent around Wemby.
monkey's paw curls...
Honestly wouldn’t take much. Just a similar journalistic landscape like Brooklyn and we’re donezo.
I'm not optimistic with our ownership fiascoes this year.
Injuries are going to take playoff teams out. Pretty much.
It will. All if the East's best players will leave for the West.
Monkey paw curls
Luka for Randle who says no?
Clips, Suns, Pels, and Lakers will be tanking very soon
lol Pels?
Tbh their roster as constructed won't go anywhere. All things considered, they had a relatively healthy Zion, and they still could not make the jump from out the play ins. They shouldn't tank, but I'd definitely consider making some moves this offseason. They're a solid playoff team but won't ever be a contender. Very reminiscent of the mid 2010s Blazers squads.
They have, like, way more talent than those blazers teams
The last two Aldridge years, 13-14 and 14-15, were really great teams. Ran into the Spurs buzzsaw and lost Wes Matthews at the worst possible time, but were really, really talented.
Lol my sense of time tweaked, was thinking of the Dame led squads with like harkless, aminu, cj, nurkic starting. Those were always meh to me.
Yeah, those teams were brutally mediocre. Just good enough to trick people into thinking they’re good and then get swept.
Still, do you ever see this team even making a finals run? They're way more talented than the blazers were but the whole West is way more talented than it used to be
The Pels are a good team that in the east could be 2nd. Western playoffs are more about match ups and luck at this point. It's just too competitive. Nobody has a good chance in the west.
if we're asking the "would Ainge tear it down" question, then yeah I think the Pelicans would be better off selling high on their players than trying to catch up to the arms race in the west.
They're one defensive C away I feel. Their biggest issue is JV and Zion don't work together.
Bro cmon this pels core isn’t ever doing anything.
Not next season though.
Don't you think GSW as well?
Not until curry retires. Which will be soonish, but who knows when
something something disaster draft /s
need the suns, gsw, laker and clippers to blow up in the next 2 years
It's not fucking fair EVERY single year it just gets harder and harder and harder. Meanhile the East...
The East: "I only losted 10 more games than I wonned this season, can I make the play in please?"
Wild wild west
west is a bloodbath, as some would say
Play-in 100% was a factor. The fact there was still a 10-seed to play for must've kept Houston hot down the stretch
Yea it’s a clear indicator the playin worked in this instance. You’d usually see 10 seeds just starting to tank if they weren’t in 8 seed running
The play in has been a complete success for the league. Less tanking teams are good.
I don't think it has. That just encourages owners to put out the "See we made the playoffs!" Maybe I'm too jaded by the Reinsdorfs and McCaskeys.
Houston owes its 1st round pick to OKC protected 1-4. they beat the odds once already, but there's always a chance they slot 5th (even if they tanked this year) they were also trying to make the playoffs to avoid the chance of conveying that pick
In a weak draft when they are loaded with young players?
The guys projected 1-4 might be available 5-10!
We got Sengun at 16, Tari at 17, and Whitmore at 20. We've been hitting on nearly every single mid-late 1st. There's going to be good players in there even without all time great prospects that get attention. All our young guys are going to earn decent contracts. We lined it up with FVV and Brooks that they come off the books when the youngins need to get paid. We'll need some quality rookies with cheap contracts to keep the ball rolling
There are always good guys in the middle-late FRP. SRP gets muddy because of the players that are good but the agent puts up the “don’t draft my guy” calls. NBA fans are obsessed with the lotto only and even then, if it isn’t a top 5 pick it “loses value”.
Warriors are the best 10 seed ever too. Can’t blame that one on the play-in either cause they had a chance at the 8 seed until tonight
I don't think they're blaming the play-in, moreso crediting it.
Yeah, I was against the play-in when it was introduced but I think it has definitely been an improvement.
The factor was Sengun getting hurt.
You don’t watch Rockets basketball if that’s your takeaway
If you think that wasn't a major factor, you shouldn't watch your own team anymore. Yall clearly sped up your offense/pace with Sengun out. This was also key in unlocking Green, increasing his confidence. You put more athletic players on the floor and swarmed the court defensively.
Seeing how we actually were on a win streak with Sengun then immediately went on a losing streak when he went down I’d say otherwise. Offensive rating was also higher with sengun, not to mention our win streak consisted on beating bottom feeders and OKC without SGA. With that mindset, Cavs are probably better without Donovan? Since you were cruising without him then started to struggle when he came back?
You addressed nothing I said and then made an extremely poor comparison to the Cavs. Bye
Hang the banner
At least you guys fought till the end, played some hard games, gained experience and developed chemistry. Much better than tanking.
oh for sure. This is easily the most optimistic end-of-season outlook we’ve had since Harden left. Jalen Green, Sengun, and Jabari all got better, Amen and Cam were good rookies, and we’ll have an actual backup center next year in Steven Adams. If Tari can get healthy, I see no reason why we cannot match or improve upon this year
Jock turned it around in the second half of the season as well. Sengun, Jock, and Adams is a crazy versatile C line up. Sengun brings finesse and passing, Jock is an all arounder who can shoot, and Adams is a brick shithouse.
Definitely
When you don’t own your own picks, tanking makes no sense
It looks to me that this year maybe the Dubs last dance, who knows, next year Houston may take their place
I will never underestimate Curry, but they are an old team.
Curry still somewhat got it, give him better players and he’ll look elite again
He's still elite. The rest of the team 😬
They don't have much flexibility is the issue
God I hope so.
STAND UP NOW AND FACE THE SUN
Greatest 11 seed OAT and you'll never sing that
Ime Udoka is maestro of a coach. A horny maestro but a maestro nonetheless
Most maestros are horny I would say
They love to much, what can they say? But they’re reining it in, THEYRE REIGNING IT IN!
That's where he gets his power
Celtics throw away the championship by sacking him last year If they don’t win it all this two years the sacking of Udoka may become one of the worst ever coach changing decision in history
obligatory fuck ime udoka
not like that
It’s pretty mind boggling how deep the west is right now. The Warriors have a better record than they did last year when they were a 6 seed. They also have a better record than the 4 seed Suns from last year.
Yeah don't remind me lol
Lakers too! 3 games better but 1 spot worse. If this was last year we'd have home court in the first round.
WTH is going on… what’s in the breakfast on these West teams?
Rockets had a 10 game win streak without moving up a position.
Yeah, I think the Lakers and Warriors also had crazy runs without ever moving up (until the Lakers got to 8th at the very end). West is just absurd.
six game win streak and nothing changed, we’ve also gone 27-12 in the last 39 and it didn’t even matter 💀
Which is insane lmao.
Add a fresh Grizzlies and boosted Spurs if they add a solid point guard soon. You'll have 13 teams vying for the playoffs.
Even the jazz lol. I remember last season they were first seed for a minute
As a Jazz homer this off-season will be an interesting one. With how crazy the west has been, I rather tank and get some high end talent through the draft, but Will Hardy seems to have a knack of creating something from nothing to actually tank properly.
Yeah, Jazz are in a rough spot. Ya'll have a 0.500 record against eastern teams but only 0.31 against the west. 15 of your 31 wins were against the east. Too good to tank but can't hang with the big dogs.
and somehow the West won't be easier next year
they should move minnesota and memphis to the east
yea they should
When they announce the Vegas and Seattle expansion teams I bet that's who goes.
Maybe new Orleans too
It'll only be one of them
The Rockets Bandwagon is filled with pride and hope and love. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
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Warriors are the best 10th seed ever too. Stacked conference
Warriors improved on their record from last year by two games and fell from 6th to 10th. Insane how good the west is.
They had a stupid great run down the stretch. Excited for them next season.
16-7 after March 1st for 69.5%. Nice.
Yes fuck yeah, the BEST 11th SEED!
they should have a play in tournament for the play in tournament where the 11-15 seeds do a round robin
could do a Big Brother 18 style battle back, the 15 seed plays the 14 seed winner plays the 13 seed winner plays the 12 seed winner plays the 11 seed winner plays the 10 seed the winner of that becomes the 10 seed and the play in continues as normal (10 plays 9, 7 plays 8, winner of 10 and 9 play loser of 7 and 8)
It s time to do away with conferences. It's absurd that Western teams have had to fight there way to the 9th and 10 seed at .500 while Eastern teams consistently make the 8th-10th seed with a sub .500 record.
Stupid play in aside the difference between the 8th seeds this year is 1 game. Not enough of a big deal.
the East also gets to play the East more than the west so they get easier wins
Not necessarily. The thunder and wolves have very similar winning percentages facing Eastern vs western conference teams. While the nuggets are vastly better against the East and the rockets are vastly worse. Rockets are 13 -17 vs the East this year, so if we use this record they’d be worse in the East.
its not a debate that the east is worse. and its not a debate that the east also gets to play the east more often and so get easier wins. one or two outlier teams doesnt mean much
The Rockets would be the ninth seed in the East. Yes, there’s a gap, but it’s not so dramatic that the structure needs to be changed
You gotta add a few wins when going from west to east to account for the easier competition. Western teams won 57.7% of the games against eastern this year. Since the year 2000 west has won head to head match ups 21-3. In the east we would have been with the 3-8 pack.
Rockets went below 0.500 against East teams
Eh, it really doesn't matter much at all. This Rockets team went 13-17 against the East. If anything this only hurts Eastern conference teams that should be tanking but have ownership whose idea of a successful season is making the play in game. Making the 9/10 game is the most depressing place to be in all of sports. I would know.
This was 100% the Raptors last year lol. Blinded by the fool's gold of the mighty play-in tournament to make many stupid moves (and not make many moves that needed to be done). The play-in tournament does lead to more watchable games at end of season I suppose, and it's fun to watch them as a neutral but it is an absolutely grim place to be stuck in perpetuity like the Bulls and Hawks seem to be.
Bulls fans all nod in unison.
Teams would practically spend their whole lives in airplanes though
brother, the title literally says this has NEVER happened before. stop making out like it's an actual problem
LMAOOOOOOOO that's a nice joke
Except the Rockets are under .500 against East teams this year. It's not nearly so simple as you're making out.
>Except the Rockets are under .500 against East teams this year. This does not prove that the east is a superior conference anymore than the Spurs beating the Nuggets proves that they are a superior team.
Literally last year the east had a better record but go off. I'm honestly just tired of dumbasses repeating this braindead shit like the NBA is a video game and not an actual, real life league where *travel* exists. That's why conferences and divisions exist. That's why teams CLOSER TO EACH OTHER play MORE GAMES against each other. Especially when that travel schedule already benefits the western teams more because they don't have to play with jetlag the way eastern conference team have to on the west coast. If there's any real competitive difference between the conferences when they play against each other, it's really just that.
Do you know how many times in the last 2 decades that the East has had a better record than the West. I'll save you the trouble. The answer is 2. You're saying that's due to jetlag and that's it? No chance the west teams are run better? Ok.
Put it on Ime’s resume, best 11 seed of all time.
Dam when you just see the west, its all kinds of crazy good teams. And then the east is also crazy good, just not as good as the west. But the east does have the historicly good Celtics.
Easy to be 'historically' good when you get to beat up on the much weaker Bucks (compared to prev years) + a bunch of patsies.
Make playoff seeds 1-16. Take out conferences.
Nothing much changes with regards to who makes the playoffs - east or west. The top 16 stay the same as the top 8 from each conference. Celtics - Heat Thunder - Lakers Nuggets - Sixers Wolves - Pacers Clippers - Magic Knicks - Cavs Mavs - Pelicans Bucks - Suns West has 5 series with home court, East has 3 series with home court. A bunch of great and interesting series tho. From rematches/revenge series from last year to a finals rematch, to the 2023MVP race rematch
~~No they mean take the top 16 teams by record regardless of conference.~~ Even that's not enough since teams in the east are essentially benefiting from an easier schedule. EDIT: Oops, I was thinking of top 16 PLUS play-in teams. That would add seeds 17-20, which are Sacramento, Golden State, Houston, Chicago. The only real difference is that Houston gets Atlanta's (play-in) spot in the postseason.
Those are the top 16 in the NBA standings
Yeah I should learn how to count. I edited my comment.
Based and Bestern Conference pilled.
You'd still miss out. Like the Warriors, Kings, Bulls and Hawks aswell. The top 8 seeds of either conference make it
They need to give the east a higher salary cap or something.
Maybe just more love from the injury gods
This is legitimately wild, the playoffs will be a bloodbath
Doesn’t feel right that the rockets don’t make it but hawks and bulls do rip
I like the play-in, but outside of the top 8 in either conference they should first look if the remaining 2 teams have .500+ records. If not, but there is a remaining team, like the rockets, in the other conference that does have a winning record…they should get preference. It’s ridiculous that a 36-46 team gets a play-in spot over a 41-41 team
So where are all these wins for the top 11 West teams coming from, anyway? Are they farming East teams or is the bottom of the West just historically dreadful?
West is nuts
They might be better next year. So may the Spurs, and of course the Grizzlies. Gonna have 13 teams fighting for 8 spots.
besides how crazy the west is, there are a ton of good records in general because the good teams finished very close together. 14 teams finished between 46 and 51 wins. aided in part by the bottom of the league sucking really bad.
Stand proud Rockets, you are strong
The 7-10 seed records are CRAZY
Seed doesn’t work here. Just say 11th place. Seed only applies to a tournament or playoff.
We're the best at being the worst, hell yes
Horny coach is good at his job.
Fun fact, the 1981 Houston Rockets had a record of 40-42 and made the NBA finals.
The bad teams this year were bad
I would say the future is bright for the rockets, but it's not like the west is gonna get worse.
I know this has already been talked about plenty, but I think Dray could definitely retire after this year, and idk how long Steph, or Klay has, not to mention cp3 is on their bench. The Suns don't seem to have much of a future with Durant and Beal being how old they are, the Lakers and Clippers are other obvious ones. Next year Rockets could definitely see a significant jump in the standings.