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Remember
the good old days when the West was merely Wild?
The
National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Western
Conference passed Even Wilder, broke through Berserk and
zoomed off the charts within seven days as the Los
Angeles Lakers, who already looked great, got Pau Gasol
from a weaker team in the West, and the Phoenix Suns,
who already were great, got Shaquille O’Neal.
The
O’Neal deal didn’t just send off tremors. As far as the
NBA was concerned, that was the Big One.
Said
Toronto Coach Sam Mitchell from the relative safety of
the East:
“It’s
getting kind of scary out West, isn’t it?”
Try
coaching there. The Raptors, No. 5 in the East at 26-22,
would be No. 11 in the West…except with their 9-10
record against West teams, they probably wouldn’t be
26-22.
The East
is day-and-night better, at least at the top with Boston
and Detroit looking as good as the best West teams,
giving the NBA every chance of a more competitive
Finals.
Of
course, after
San Antonio’s 4-0 walkover against
Cleveland last spring, what wouldn’t be more
competitive?
Boston’s
rebirth not only revives the NBA’s greatest tradition,
the Celtics have single-handedly reversed years of West
domination, going undefeated against West teams.
However,
the Celtics played most of them when they were red-hot
in their 30-4 start and are in no doubt about what it
means:
Nothing.
“We
still have a West Coast trip coming up [after] the
All-Star break, so you know I’m not going to say a word
about it,” said Coach Doc Rivers. “The West is better
than the East.”
If the
West is merely deeper than the East, as the ocean is
deeper than a birdbath, it wouldn’t pose such a problem
for the NBA, except for one thing:
The West
will get a LOT better soon.
Whether
the Lakers put it together this season or need another
move, they’re clearly an emerging giant.
So are
the Portland Trail Blazers, who’ll get Greg Oden next
season to go with their bright young players who are
proving to be wiser than their years.
Then
there are the old Big Three (San Antonio,
Phoenix, Dallas) and the young comers (Utah, New
Orleans.)
That’s
seven elite teams without
Houston,
which won 52 games last season, started the weekend on a
49-win pace and was tied with Golden State for the No. 8
slot.
The real
problem is that each conference has its own mindset.
In the
East, teams do anything within reason to get better.
In the
West, teams do anything to get better, period.
It
wasn’t a surprise that O’Neal of the Miami Heat and
Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies were available. It also
wasn’t a surprise they went where they did as West teams
climbed over each other to get them, ignoring the
gigantic commitment in additional salary and luxury tax.
The
Lakers pooh-pooh the notion Jerry Buss took on an
additional $75 million or more. It’s true, it could be
less…if they let Lamar Odom walk after next season and
don’t bring anyone into his $14.5-million slot.
The Suns
are looking at an additional $40 million, although they
insist they’d have paid that much anyway because they
would have re-signed Shawn Marion.
That’s
not what they said before when they did anything to
avoid the tax, giving up two No. 1 picks to get
Seattle
to take Kurt Thomas, whom they missed badly.
It’s not
the same in the East, with the standard of proof so much
lower.
Take
Chicago owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who sold every seat
through the awful post-Michael Jordan years and started
this season thinking his young team was a comer in the
East.
When
Kevin Garnett went to
Boston,
the Bulls didn’t scour the land for a superstar. Even
after Kobe Bryant chose them, they were fearful of
melting themselves down for a player who looked
high-maintenance and had an opt-out coming.
Even
with the Bulls’ illusions about their team shattered,
they passed on Gasol although they had the biggest
expired contract (P.J. Brown’s) because of the
luxury-tax bill.
The East
does have GMs who have supportive owners and will rock
and roll (Boston’s Danny Ainge, Detroit’s Joe Dumars,
New Jersey’s Rod Thorn, Indiana’s Larry Bird, Miami’s
Pat Riley and New York’s Isiah Thomas, whose problem is
he’s too daring.)
On the
other hand, there are:
Atlanta—Managerial
paralysis drags on with the owners still suing each
other.
Charlotte—Hiring
Larry Brown should have been the no-brainer of all time,
but owner Bob Johnson is cheap.
Philadelphia—Under
new management after years of trying to screw up the
courage to trade Allen Iverson, whom they finally had to
demonize to convince themselves it was time.
Milwaukee—Small
market.
Cleveland—Ready
to boogie but has nothing anyone wants except
you-know-who.
Miami—They used to wheel and deal, but their payroll now
touches the sky with, you may have noticed, nothing to
show for it. Despite having a billionaire owner, Riley
said they didn’t re-sign Jason Kapono because of tax
concerns.
So if
Commissioner David Stern doesn’t have to seed the
playoffs to get a competitive Finals, seeding would have
another important benefit: putting the East on the same
playing ground.
There’s
no reason the teams out here in the West should have all
the neuroses. |
