00:00Hey, how's it going, fellas? My name is Andy, and in this video, I'm going to talk about why the
00:04Eastern Conference has been so much worse compared to the West for most of the last 20 years.
00:10And this topic is pretty straightforward, so let's get right into it.
00:13In recent years, and even going back to the 2000s, the Eastern Conference was almost always seen as being inferior
00:20to the West.
00:21There were a couple of years here and there where the East was pretty good, but for the majority of
00:25the last two decades, it was not like that.
00:29We've never heard anyone say, wow, the East is going to be amazing this year.
00:33But even though many NBA fans say that the East has been terrible for a long time, most of them
00:38don't actually know why this is the case.
00:41I'll start from the late 90s and work my way up to 2017, so make sure to watch until the
00:46end if you can.
00:47Alright, to start things off, I'm going to give you guys some numbers.
00:50After Jordan's last championship in 1998, the Eastern Conference has only won three titles from 1999 to 2011.
01:00And those were the 2004 Pistons, the 2006 Heat, and the 2008 Boston Celtics.
01:06The 2000s era was dominated by the West, and the reason for this was due to a few important factors.
01:12Mainly trades, draft picks, and free agent signings that all heavily benefited the teams in the West.
01:17But for the East, especially in the earlier part of the 2000s, it was just awful.
01:22The conferences were so lopsided around this time, and the cause of this can be traced back to the 1990s.
01:28Let's first start with the 1996 NBA draft.
01:32The best player in this draft was Kobe Bryant.
01:34The Charlotte Hornets drafted him, and as we all know, they made a deal to trade him to the Lakers
01:39for Vladi Divac.
01:41Then, one month later, 24-year-old Shaquille O'Neal left Orlando to go to the West and join the
01:47Lakers.
01:48Now, the Lakers have formed a dynasty that would go on to win three championships from 2000 to 2002.
01:54But because Shaq signed with the Lakers as a free agent, Orlando literally got nothing in return for him.
02:01So basically, they were no longer contending in the East.
02:04Then, one year later in the 1997 draft, the San Antonio Spurs drafted Tim Duncan, and we see a similar
02:11situation happen in San Antonio too,
02:13as they become championship contenders for the next 20 years.
02:17In 1998, we saw a couple of moves that created even more powerful teams in the West, while the East
02:24just keeps getting worse.
02:25Right after the 1998 season ended, the Washington Bullets traded their star Chris Webber to the Sacramento Kings for Mitch
02:33Richmond and Otis Thorpe,
02:35two guys who were at the end of their careers.
02:37Webber would turn Sacramento into legit contenders, while Washington would miss the playoffs for the next six years.
02:45Then, in the 1998 draft, the Dallas Mavericks negotiated a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks,
02:50which would send them Robert Tractor Trailer for Dirk Nowitzki.
02:54So now, the Mavericks with Nowitzki have also become a perennial contender for the next 15 years,
03:01while the Bucks missed out on a chance to pair Nowitzki with a young Ray Allen.
03:05So now, throughout the 2000s, we see these Western Conference teams dominate the league,
03:10as their superstars reach their primes.
03:12Oh, I forgot to mention KG too.
03:14Minnesota would make the playoffs for eight straight seasons with KG.
03:17They only got past the first round one time,
03:20but those Minnesota teams were probably just as good as the top teams in the East at the time.
03:25I know the East also had some amazing players at the time,
03:28like Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen,
03:34but most of them did not have the supporting cast to compete with the powerhouses in the West.
03:39Just look at the team's records in 2003.
03:42The Detroit Pistons were number one in the East,
03:44but their record was the same as the sixth seed in the West.
03:47That's insane.
03:49Eventually though, there were some bright spots for the East.
03:51The 2003 and 2004 drafts brought in guys like LeBron, D-Wade, and Dwight Howard,
03:57who would turn their teams into contenders.
04:00Then we have other things like Shaq going to the Heat,
04:03the Pistons,
04:04Boston's Big Three,
04:05Miami's Big Three,
04:06the Pacers.
04:07The East was actually pretty good around this time.
04:09However, in recent years,
04:11it seems like the East has once again fallen off.
04:14The differences between the two conferences' records are ridiculous.
04:18And once again, just like in the 2000s,
04:21nobody's taking them seriously.
04:23In fact, 17 of the last 18 seasons,
04:26the Western Conference has had a winning record against the East.
04:29But when you take a step back and think about it,
04:32it's pretty obvious why the West is so much better right now.
04:35And it's the same reason why they were so much better back then too.
04:38Most of the best players in the league right now
04:41were either drafted by a Western Conference team or traded there.
04:45Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden,
04:49Kawhi Leonard, Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Demarcus Cousins.
04:53All of those guys can be considered top 10 or top 15 players.
04:57And they were always in the West to begin with.
05:00Recently, we just saw three all-stars in Jimmy Butler,
05:03Paul George, and Paul Millsap all move to the West.
05:06So the East is even worse than before.
05:09Of course, LeBron is still in the East,
05:11so they're gonna have at least one contender for the foreseeable future.
05:14And a few other teams have some great young players.
05:18Another major issue that I haven't talked about much
05:20is that coincidentally, many Eastern teams and their front offices
05:24have not done a great job.
05:26For example, look at the Knicks, Bulls, Pacers, and Magic right now.
05:30They all made some questionable trades and decisions
05:33that have set them back for years.
05:34The Bulls and Pacers mishandled building around their star players
05:38and now both Butler and George are gone.
05:41The Bulls and Knicks currently have two of the worst front offices in the league
05:45and even their own fans would agree with that.
05:48And the Magic?
05:49They haven't even come close to making the playoffs after trading away Dwight.
05:54Not many people talk about them,
05:55but they've made some of the worst trades in recent memory.
05:58Like giving away Tobias Harris for Jennings and Ilya Sova,
06:02then trading Ilya Sova, Oladipo, and Sabonis to OKC for Serge Ibaka,
06:07then realizing Ibaka wasn't working well with their team,
06:10and then trading him for Terrence Ross and a first-round pick in the mid-20s.
06:15Basically, what I'm trying to say is that there are two main reasons
06:17why the Eastern Conference has been really bad.
06:20One, the West drafted most of the best players in the last 10 years,
06:24and two, the Eastern Conference in general has made a lot more bad decisions from their front offices.
06:29A lot of teams in the East that should be contending right now
06:33are held back by poor decisions from their GMs.
06:36But with that being said, there are some teams with a bright future.
06:40In the next few years, we might see the East becoming the dominant conference.
06:44It's gonna depend on how well the organizations can surround their young stars
06:48with the supporting cast that they need to compete for a title.
06:52And that's all, folks. Hope you enjoyed the video.
06:54If you did, make sure to leave a like and subscribe if you haven't yet.
06:58I make all kinds of NBA videos from trivia to conspiracies and other entertaining topics,
07:03so hopefully you'll enjoy some of them. I'll see you next time.
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