re: An NBA Draft: It's Blowing East

ajon1600 — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 09:36:39 GMT

I agree with a lot of this article.. The East is getting better, and we here in the West are getting older and slower.

But I still think Los Angeles Lakers are the best team in basketball... We missed a key player in Bynum because of a season ending injury... If he is back 100% next season, and teamed with Pau Gasol I think we will be right back on top in the West.

It may be time to consider trading Derek Fisher again, and giving the starting position to Farmar, or put a package together to bring Tony Parker to Los Angeles... I think he would be a good Hollywood fit with his lovely wife and French flair.

I have to see Boston repeat a couple times before I call them the best in basketball. The recent playoff series really could have easily been 3 -2 in favor of L A going back to Boston.

re: An NBA Draft: It's Blowing East

ngrudin — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:28:28 GMT

I respectfully disagree with this argument for a variety of reasons...

The most obvious being the following -- the Celtics proved to be the best team in the league this year, yes, but the next 4-5 best teams were in the Western Conference: Lakers, Spurs, Hornets, Jazz, and Suns. Any of these five would've been favored to beat the Pistons' lackluster bunch. And this is not even to mention the Mavs, just 3 years removed from the Finals.

Add to this that the Trailblazers just barely missed the playoffs without Greg Oden, who would've been the top pick in this year's draft as well, and you have yet another team out West that would dominate most Eastern Conference teams. And, to add to that, the Blazers made another brilliant draft day trade to pick up a legit PG in Bayless.

Yes, the Heat and the Bulls will be improved, but still, the vast weight of the NBA's best teams reside out West. Minus the Celts, the East is still JV.