Community Shootaround

During the 21st century, Eastern Conference teams have had a winning record in games against Western Conference teams just once in 22 seasons. That happened in the 2008/09 campaign, when the East put up a 231-219 record (.513) vs. the West.

In every other season since 1999/2000, Western teams have had a winning record against Eastern opponents, often by a wide margin. The East’s second-best result came in 2015/16, when it posted a 218-232 (.484) mark vs. the West.

These numbers are a simple way of illustrating what most NBA fans view as common knowledge: For at least the last two decades, the West has been the stronger and deeper of the two conferences.

In the early going of the 2021/22 season, however, there’s reason to believe that the tide might be shifting. Even after Western teams won all three games against Eastern opponents on Monday night, the East has a 22-19 record in inter-conference games so far this season.

It’s obviously way too early in the year to draw any conclusions, but it’s not too early to start making some predictions based on what we’ve seen so far.

Among the East’s current top eight teams, the Sixers, Heat, Knicks, and Nets were expected to be here, but the Bulls, Wizards, Cavaliers, and Raptors have exceeded expectations so far. Some of those clubs might slow down, but some of their gains could be for real, and they all at least look capable of remaining in the play-in mix.

Further down the standings, the Hornets (5-6) are about where we expected, while the Bucks (4-6), Celtics (4-6), Hawks (4-7), and Pacers (4-7) are actually underachieving so far — we can probably expect more from most or all of them.

The Magic and Pistons, at the bottom of the conference standings, will likely remain there and lose a lot of games. But even so, that leaves 13 teams in the East with realistic playoff or play-in aspirations.

The West looks pretty deep too, but it may not have as many obvious breakout teams — its top nine clubs so far are identical to last year’s, albeit in a different order. There also aren’t as many underachievers in the West that we can count on seeing improvements from. The Lakers have been a little disappointing, but they’re still above .500 at 6-5.

With all that in mind, we want to know what you think. Has the Eastern Conference finally caught up to the Western Conference this season, or is the West still the more dominant conference overall? Do you expect the East to post at least a .500 record against the West this season for just the second time this century?

Head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts.

Entering the 2021/22 season, the Lakers and Nets were widely viewed as the frontrunners to reach the NBA Finals. When ESPN polled 16 of its NBA experts on predictions for the coming season, 10 picked the Lakers to win the West and 10 chose the Nets to win the East.

So far though, Los Angeles and Brooklyn have been inconsistent and underwhelming, posting matching 2-3 records. The Lakers lost two home games to open the season, then blew a 26-point lead in Oklahoma City on Wednesday against the winless Thunder. The Nets, meanwhile, have lost three games by double-digits — one in Milwaukee and two at home, vs. the Hornets and Heat.

It’s far, far too early for either team to panic. LeBron James has missed two games for the Lakers and James Harden is still working his way back from a hamstring injury for the Nets. And with the exception of the Lakers’ disaster in OKC, both teams’ losses so far have come against pretty tough opponents.

Still, the early-season results can’t be written off entirely. James has been increasingly affected by injuries in recent years — if that trend continues this season, it’ll have a significant impact on a top-heavy Lakers team. The club acquired Russell Westbrook over the summer in part to have another star available when James or Anthony Davis miss time, but Westbrook has gotten off to a shaky start in L.A., averaging just 17.8 PPG (his lowest mark since 2009/10) and turning the ball over six times per game. His fit on this Lakers roster was an open question entering the season, and it doesn’t seem as if the team has fully figured it out.

As for the Nets, the impact of Kyrie Irving‘s absence shouldn’t be understated. Brooklyn is supposed to have one of the best offenses in league history, but through five games, the club’s offensive rating is an ugly 100.6 — only Detroit and New Orleans have been worse. Harden expects to be back to his old self soon, but he’s certainly not benefiting from the NBA’s reduction on foul calls when offensive players go out of their way to initiate contact.

Again, it’s too early for a sub-.500 record to be a major concern for either of these teams, whose rosters are heavy on star power and veteran experience. But the expectations in Los Angeles and Brooklyn are high. Anything less than an NBA Finals appearance will be a letdown, so there’s not much room for error.

Many of the NBA’s other sub-.500 teams aren’t surprising, but the Celtics (2-3), Pacers (1-4), Suns (1-3), and Clippers (1-3) certainly would’ve hoped for better starts.

We want to know what you think. Is it still too early to draw any conclusions about any of this season’s slow starters? Or has some of what you’ve seen from the Lakers, the Nets, or other sub-.500 clubs made you skeptical of their ability to meet preseason expectations?

In honor of the league’s 75th anniversary season, the NBA has revealed its selections for the 75 best players in league history — actually, as a result of a tie, 76 names show up on the NBA’s list.

The list features all 50 players who were named to the NBA’s 50th anniversary team in 1996, as well as 11 players who are currently active: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, and Damian Lillard.

The full list can be found here.

The fact that the NBA didn’t rank the members of the 75th anniversary team from No. 1 to No. 76 will limit the debate over the list to some extent, but there will still be push-back on some of the players selected and plenty of advocating on behalf of those who missed the cut.

Kurt Helin of NBC Sports, Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype, and Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report were a few of the many writers who identified players they felt were snubbed. Tracy McGrady, Dwight Howard, and Vince Carter showed up on all three of their lists, while Dikembe Mutombo, Bernard King, Grant Hill, and Pau Gasol were also named multiple times.

Long-retired players like Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Artis Gilmore, and Walt Bellamy were cited by at least one writer, as were more recent stars like Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Chris Bosh, and Nikola Jokic (who is one of just two MVP winners not on the list, along with Derrick Rose). And, as Scott Polacek of Bleacher Report writes, Klay Thompson was one of the players who publicly griped about his exclusion, having felt he deserved a spot.

Of course, coming up with a list of snubs is easier than deciding which of the 76 players who made the cut didn’t deserve it. Asked which player they were most surprised to see among the 76 selections, a couple ESPN panelists suggested that they might need to see more from Lillard and Davis before giving them a spot on this list. ESPN’s Marc Spears also wondered if a player with more longevity than Bill Walton might be more deserving of Walton’s spot.

We want to know what you think. Are you generally in agreement with the NBA’s 76 choices? Were there any questionable selections or glaring omissions?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts!

The Nets and Bucks will enter the 2021/22 season as the clear favorites to win the Eastern Conference next spring. The betting odds at sites like BetOnline reflect Brooklyn’s and Milwaukee’s standing atop the conference, as does the analysis of experts like ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who places the two teams first and second overall in his rankings of all 30 teams for the ’21/22 season.

As Lowe acknowledges, Kyrie Irving‘s availability – or lack thereof – is a major wild card that could affect the Nets this season, but every non-Irving critique of the club essentially “amounts to nit-picking.” The Bucks, meanwhile, have been the NBA’s best regular season team across the last three seasons and reached new heights in the 2021 postseason. With a healthy roster heading into this season, they look like a safe bet to be one of the East’s top seeds.

After those top two teams, Lowe’s next tier of Eastern clubs includes four talented clubs with some question marks: the Sixers, Heat, Celtics, and Hawks.

The Ben Simmons standoff hangs over Philadelphia’s season — if Simmons’ holdout extends into the regular season and the 76ers still haven’t found a trade they like, they’ll essentially be down an All-Star for the foreseeable future, which will limit their ceiling. The Hawks, the team that eliminated the Sixers from the playoffs in 2021, are deep and should be able to count on continued growth from their young players, but a team’s improvements aren’t always linear. As for the Celtics and Heat, they’ll be looking to bounce back after relatively disappointing 2020/21 seasons that ended with quick postseason exits.

While those four teams may be the favorites on paper to fill out the top six in the East, Lowe expects at least one of them to slip into play-in territory. He identifies the Knicks, Bulls, and Hornets as the next-best bets to crack the East’s top six.

The Knicks, of course, were the No. 4 seed in the East last season and will bring back a very similar group, along with new additions like Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier. They outperformed expectations in 2020/21 and may experience some regression, but they’re a deep, well-coached team looking to prove that last season’s breakthrough was no aberration.

The Bulls are one of the East’s most fascinating teams — they could have one of the NBA’s best offenses, but there are concerns about their defense and depth, so a wide range of outcomes are possible. As for the Hornets, Lowe acknowledges there are some red flags, but views young cornerstones LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, and P.J. Washington as good candidates to take another step forward in 2021/22.

The Pacers, Wizards, and Raptors are part of the next tier for Lowe, who consider all three clubs legit contenders to make the play-in tournament. Early-season injuries may hold back Indiana (T.J. Warren, Caris LeVert) and Toronto (Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher), but both clubs were perennial playoff teams up until 2021 and still have plenty of talent on their rosters. Washington lost some star-power by trading away Russell Westbrook, but the team’s depth is stronger than it has been in years.

Lowe places the Cavaliers in a group of their own, noting that executives around the league have wildly varying opinions on Cleveland’s roster. Some people are high on the Cavs’ collection of young talent, while others think they could be the very worst team in the NBA. Although they’re not a clear play-in contender, they could be in that mix if things break right.

The Pistons and Magic, meanwhile, project to be the East’s bottom two teams, despite the presence of rookie guards Cade Cunningham and Jalen Suggs.

After we broke down the Western Conference on Wednesday, I’m curious to get your thoughts today on the Eastern Conference. Do you view the Nets and Bucks as the East’s clear top two finishers? Which clubs will clinch top-six playoff seeds, and which four will end up in the play-in tournament? Of the 12 teams with realistic playoff expectations, which two (or more) will finish outside of play-in range?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on the Western Conference!

The Lakers are set to enter the 2021/22 season as the betting favorites to win the Western Conference, but they’re not viewed as the overwhelming frontrunners, with several talented teams expected to give them a run for their money.

In his preseason rankings of all 30 NBA teams, ESPN’s Zach Lowe places the Lakers in the West’s first tier along with the Jazz and the Suns, suggesting that he doesn’t view Los Angeles as being in a tier of its own atop the conference. Lowe isn’t necessarily sold on the supporting cast to the Lakers’ stars, and thinks Phoenix’s young core has room to continue improving.

If the Lakers, Jazz, and Suns all finish in the top six of the West, that leaves just three more teams that can claim a playoff spot without participating in the play-in tournament. Lowe’s next tier of Western teams features five strong candidates for those three postseason spots: the Nuggets, Clippers, Trail Blazers, Mavericks, and Warriors.

As Lowe observes, it’s hard to know what to expect from some of these teams that are missing a star player. Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard and Nuggets guard Jamal Murray are recovering from ACL tears and may not play at all in 2021/22, while Warriors swingman Klay Thompson, coming off an Achilles tear, seems likely to miss at least a couple months or so and may not be at 100% when he returns.

All of those teams still have stars more than capable of carrying the load in Paul George, Nikola Jokic, and Stephen Curry, but it remains to be seen whether they’ll reach their ceilings without a fully healthy lineup. Still, Lowe considers Denver and Golden State good bets to crack the West’s top six, along with Dallas, potentially leaving the Clippers and Blazers to earn their postseason berths in the play-in tournament.

While those may be considered the top eight teams in the West, there are several more clubs with playoff aspirations. Lowe places the Grizzlies a notch above a tier that includes the Pelicans, Kings, Timberwolves, and Spurs, but acknowledges that at least one club – and possibly two – from that latter group figures to qualify for the play-in.

All five teams of those teams are young and will count on recent lottery picks to make major contributions. All but perhaps San Antonio – which lost several productive veterans – are expecting to take a step forward and make some noise in the West in 2021/22. However, three of those clubs could be left on the outside looking in, unable to even qualify for a play-in spot.

The Rockets and Thunder are in Lowe’s bottom tier, viewed as at least a year away from becoming play-in contenders.

While I think Lowe’s evaluation of the West is reasonable, I’m curious to know what you think. Which teams will claim the top six playoff spot in the conference? Which four will make the play-in tournament, and which two will escape that tourney with the final two postseason berths? Which teams in the West do you expect to exceed or fall short of expectations in 2021/22?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts on the Western Conference!