"It's not fair."
The words have been echoing through the halls, from Nassau to Chicago. They are supposed to have the Mecca of basketball. They are supposed to be home to champions. The game started there.
Yet, since Michael Jordan's Bulls walked off into the sunset, the East has hardly been a beast. The teams east of the Mississippi have won two titles in the past 10 years. And one of those teams, Miami, is the worst team in basketball right now.
There was hope for change this year. Detroit has earned the right to be called one of the best teams in the NBA. Cleveland has LeBron James. And, until two weeks ago, it wasn't crazy to think Boston would be hoisting No. 17 up into the rafters.
Not anymore.
As quick as the power shifted to the West with Jordan's departure, the idea that the East was back on the rise has diminished.
Four years ago, you could feel it. Detroit had just upset the Lakers. James was living up to the hype and then some, and the East still had Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, Shaquille O'Neal, and Dwyane Wade.
Now, like a cruel joke, the West is taking it all back. It started last year, with Iverson jumping conferences to Denver from Philly. Then the Los Angeles Lakers went from mediocrity to overnight Finals favorites with the L.A. Larceny. Mitch Kupchak brought in Pau Gasol and, although he stayed in the West, it brought another Western team to the championship picture.
The Lakers recently acquired Gasol and a 2008 second round pick for Kwame Brown, possibly Aaron McKie (salary cap purposes), Javaris Crittenton, Marc Gasol, and Los Angeles' 2008 and 2010 first-round picks.
My first reaction: How? What? They got away with that?
If this were fantasy basketball, that trade would not even lasted a second before being overturned. On a level of 1 to 10, this larceny is a 937.
Over the past three years, the Western Conference has paraded around the Staples Center knowing the big, bad Lakers were no longer big, just bad. Now the Grizzlies hand Los Angeles a gift right back into the Finals picture.
Before the "Laker Larceny" Los Angeles had proven to be a much improved team from the previous season. Andrew Bynum was playing like a future all-star, Derek Fisher provided a grounded leader, and Kobe was being Kobe. The biggest reason for the improvement this season is the Lakers' bench.
Kupchak made a savvy move dealing for Trevor Ariza to solidify a potent bench of Ronny Turiaf, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, and Vladimir Radmanovic. That group has averaged over 30 points per game, second only to San Antonio. Kupchak has to be grinning when he looks at the roster he can roll out. Phil Jackson, he'll have to get another hip replacement surgery with all the jumping up and down he's been doing since the deal.
Jackson, a coach known for finding the best matchups, is going to have so many different formulas to work with, it will be impossible to prepare for the Lakers. Los Angeles can go big: C Bynum, PF Gasol, SF Lamar Odom, SG Bryant, PG Fisher. Or they can go smaller: C Bynum, PF Gasol, SF Luke Walton, SG Bryant, PG Fisher. Or even smaller: C Bynum, PF Odom, SF Walton, SG Bryant, PG Fisher. There are so many options with just the first six, never mind how he can mix and match with bench players and starters. There are six players who Jackson can facilitate in and out to keep players rested for the final stretch as well as create mismatches at every position.
Thanks to that deal, everyone in the West felt they needed to follow suit. A week later, the Diesel was heading west. While this trade is not as clear-cut of a winner as was the Gasol deal, a healthy Shaq is still a healthy Shaq.
Shaq wants to solidify his legacy and needs to win one more championship to accomplish that. You can expect him, when he gets healthy, to do everything in his power to prove all the naysayers wrong.
There's nothing scarier than an all-star with a chip on his shoulder.
And now, most recently, Jason Kidd may be ditching the East for Texas.
It's the 21st century's version of manifest destiny, the gold rush and the Oregon Trail all in one.
While stars continue to flee west and the conference gains more and more strength, the East seems content to just roll with the punches. As much talk as there was for Boston in the first half of the season, since the Gasol deal, you can't talk about the NBA without talking about the West and all the different scenarios that are about to bloom as we get closer to playoff basketball.
We won't even mention a Portland team that is a Greg Oden away from competing, or Denver, San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans, the best team in the West at the All-Star Break. Nine teams are within four and a half games of first. The 10th-place team in the West would be sixth in the East right now.
Does the East deserve an underperforming Bulls team, and the Knicks? No. Will it be a while before the East makes things interesting again in the Finals? Yes.
It's not like the East doesn't have the pieces to make some deals happen. Danny Ainge did it, grabbing two Western all-stars and sending them East. Orlando made a move, bringing in Rashard Lewis. Yet the East has done nothing to facilitate a wow from the NBA faithful since Boston's "Three Party."
There is one bright spot. Unlike the late-'90s when Jordan left, the East is loaded in youth this time around. The Hawks, Magic, Bulls, Raptors, and Cavs all have young talent, and will get the East on the right spot if those players live up to their potential.
Why, though, does the East feel it's okay to sit stagnant while the West truly becomes the Wild, Wild West? In your mind, can you honestly see anyone besides Boston or Detroit winning the championship? Now while you're there, how many teams can you see from the West?
During the All-Star Game, Doug Collins mentioned this year might be the first time a 50-win team doesn't make the playoffs. At the same time, there is a possibility a 50-loss team could make it in from the East.
So East Coast, you have two options. Find Doc Brown and travel back to 1990, or head into the future, and wait for Danny Ferry to get LeBron some help, or Dwight Howard to become the beast he is destined to become.
Until then, you're right East side, it's not fair.
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