Carmelo Anthony made the decision to stay with the New York Knicks this off-season. Photos/Wikimedia Commons
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or the first time in years, it appears as if the Eastern Conference has evened up the talent pool in the NBA. For the last 8 years the Western Conference has been the far superior conference in terms of teams and talent.
For example, in last year’s final standing, two teams in the western conference had better records than the 8th place playoff qualifier Atlanta Hawks, who entered the playoffs with a modest 38-44 record. Most notably, the Phoenix Suns who missed the playoffs due to superiority in the west finished with a 48-34 record, which would have been good enough for 3rd in the Eastern Conference.
Since 2006, there has been a minimum of 1 and a peak of 4 teams that missed the playoffs from the west but had better records than the 8th seed in the eastern conference. In that same time period, the average amount of wins to make the playoffs in the east has been 37.5 vs. 47.1 in the west, with the biggest loser being the previously mentioned Phoenix Suns and the 2007/08 Golden State Warriors who both finished at 48-34 and missed the playoffs where they both finished 10 games or more ahead of the 8th place eastern conference qualifier Atlanta Hawks both times.
The preceding numbers excluded the lock-out shortened 2011/12 due to its 66 game regular season schedule.
In direct connection to the records disparity is the talent that often defects from the east and heads west. As in all sports, teams usually trade star players that could hurt them out of the conference altogether.
An example of this was in 2012 when the 76ers traded Andre Iguodala to the Denver Nuggets in a trade that also saw Dwight Howard land with the Los Angele Lakers and the east only receiving an aged and hobbled Jason Richardson and Andrew Bynum who ended up never playing for 76ers for two of the biggest stars in the east.
Since 2006, a large number of east stars have signed on to play with eastern conference teams besides the trades that have taken place. Besides Howard and Iguodala staying in the west by signing on as free agents with western conference teams after their trades, other notable stars simply left their previous teams to sign in the west.
Some notable examples are: Jamal Crawford left the Hawks and signed with Portland (currently still in the west with Clippers), Marco Bellinelli and Boris Diaw left the east to join the San Antonio Spurs, Monta Ellis left the Milwaukee Bucks to sign with the Dallas Mavericks and in 2004 an entire team left the eastern conference and relocated to the west which resulted in 3 all stars and talent such as JR Smith, David West, and Baron Davis moving from the east with the New Orleans Hornets without a transaction.
Over the last couple years, the East has been slowly recouping some of that talent outside of trades. Although superstar players like Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams were traded from the western conference to the east in Feb. of 2011, many other players made their exodus to the east via free agency beginning in 2012. In what should amount to more level competition between the two conferences beginning this season, here are some of the players who decided to take their talents to the east.
Broken down into three categories below is a look at the important players who currently play in the east that either; 1) Had the opportunity to head west until their respective teams ended up keeping their player in the east, followed by; 2) players who had lucrative contract offers to head west and decided to stay in the east, and the final section which represents; 3) players who headed east after playing previous seasons in the west.
Since 2012, these players signed offer sheets and either they moved to the east as a result, or were maintained by their team in order to keep their player in the east. Most had limited options due to their restricted status in free agency:
Roy Hibbert: After making his first All-star appearance, the Portland Trail Blazers extended a 4/yr. $59M offer sheet to secure the services of the Pacer Big man. Through they received harsh criticism due to Hibbert only averaging 13 pts. and 9 rebounds, the Pacers decided to match the offer and retain his services, thus keeping him in the east away from Portland.
Brandon Jennings: Restricted free agency is always a risky proposition. After watching several teams grab point guards without as much explosion and upside as himself, Brandon Jennings found himself exploring options from teams from east to west. Several western conference teams had interest, but decided to go in another direction based on the fact that the Bucks threatened to match any offer he received. Just as Detroit drew up an offer sheet, Milwaukee decided to instead work out a trade to acquire Brandon Knight, thus keeping both him and Jennings in the east.
Brook Lopez: In a trade that only materialized on paper that was never consummated, Lopez was the name most highly associated with a trade with the Orlando Magic for Dwight Howard. The Magic eventually parted with ways with Howard and Lopez was left with The Nets. The agent for Lopez began pursuing teams to produce an offer sheet to allow his client to resume his career since his client was shopped so heavily in a season where he only played 4 games as a result of injuries. Dallas, Portland, Sacramento, and Houston were among the teams rumored to be lining up for his services. However, on the first day of the signing period, Nets’ GM Billy Hunter repaired the teams’ relationship with Lopez and signed him to a max extension of 4 yrs. /$60M, thus keeping their franchise center in the east.
Jeff Teague: Teague expressed a desire to leave the Hawks via free agency after GM Danny Ferry parted ways with Larry Drew, the only coach he played for in his four year NBA career. Although Atlanta owned his rights as a restricted free agent, Teague met with the Mavericks who were prepared to sign him to an offer sheet after they backed out of a deal with Devin Harris when it was discovered he would need surgery on his toe. During this time, Drew was hired as the Head Coach of the Bucks. With Drew on board, the Bucks offered his former PG a 4 yr. /$32M offer sheet. Teague decided to sign the offer from Milwaukee, passing on the Mavs offer. After failed trade discussions surrounding Milwaukee’s own RFA Brandon Jennings, Atlanta matched Milwaukee’s offer. Jennings ended up in Detroit, Teague stayed put in Atlanta, and Brandon knight ended up in Milwaukee keeping all that talent in the east.
Kendall Marshall: In an attempt to sneak a player through waivers and resign him after signing another player in order to preserve salary cap money, Marshall was grabbed by the Bucks. The Lakers never had any intention of losing Marshall, who played so well in the absence of Steve Nash and became a fantasy basketball star along the way. Several teams took notice, and the Bucks were awarded the young stud.
The following are players who had total free agent autonomy to play anywhere they could get a desired contract, but after having offers from the west, these players decided to stay in the east:
Luol Deng: After playing over nine years in Chicago as the glue guy for the Bulls, Deng played the final 40 games of the 2014 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers after being traded for salary cap space in Jan. 2014. Just as everyone not named Carmelo Anthony, Deng waited out the beginning of the free agency period in 2014 for Lebron James to make his decision. After Lebron decided to go to Cleveland, the other dominos fell quickly. Deng flirted with offers from the Mavs, Rockets, Lakers and Phoenix before deciding to replace Lebron in Miami and stay in the east.
Chris Bosh: Bosh was so close to going to the Houston Rockets that he even tweeted that he had agreed to sign with them. That simple tweet started a domino effect that saw the Rockets move the contract of Jeremy Lin to the Lakers in order to have the cap space to sign him. Within hours of these developments, Miami Heat President and General Manager Pat Riley offered Bosh a max deal, and Bosh quickly changed his stance and headed back to be the Heat franchise player.
Marcin Gortat: The Phoenix Suns were among the many to reach out to Gortat, but only hours after the opening of free agency for 2014, he decided to stay in Washington for $60 Million.
Lance Stephenson: After making free agent visits to Dallas, Lakers, Memphis as well as receiving interest from others while mulling a 5 year deal from his previous team in Indiana, Stephenson decided to sign with Michael Jordan and the newly named Hornets on a shorter deal. This deal weakened the central division, but kept a very good player in the east.
JR Smith: J.R. Smith was left on as a member of the Nuggets after the Carmelo trade. The strike shortened season tested Smith’s patience and he signed on with Zhejiang Golden Bulls of China in September of 2011. With no opt out clause in his contract; Smith was forced to stick in China the entire season. Smith was offered several larger deals in the west according to him, but he chose to sign with the Knicks to reunite with Carmelo and have a chance to win a championship. The NBA granted the 20% annual raise provision due to his departure during the lockout and Smith stayed in the east.
The players who signed with an eastern conference team after playing in the west the previous season or more:
Channing Frye: After spending the last 7 seasons in the west, Frye signed with the Orlando Magic in an above market deal to be the veteran presence for their very youthful ball club.
Al Jefferson: Al Jefferson probably represents one of the most important signings made over the last two seasons. Not only did Jefferson make his way from the west leaving more money on the table in leaving with his former club (Utah Jazz), but he also represented the first big name signing for the Charlotte Hornets, which could finally make Michaels Jordan’s team a destination.
Pau Gasol signed with the Chicago Bulls during the summer, stating he wants to help them win a title.
Paul Millsap: Millsap followed former Jazz teammate Jefferson’s’ lead and headed east to join the Atlanta Hawks.
O.J. Mayo: After playing his first five seasons in the west including his first 4 with Memphis, Mayo packed his bags leaving The Dallas Mavericks after only one season to sign a three year deal with the Bucks.
Jodie Meeks: After spending the last two seasons developing his skills with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, Meeks decided to jump into a bigger role with Pistons, signing a 3 year deal to be Detroit’s starting shooting guard.
Pau Gasol: After spending his entire 14 year career in the west including the previous 7 with the Lakers, Gasol decided to sign with the Chicago Bulls to spend his final years in the NBA chasing rings.
Marvin Williams: Not a name that jumps out at you, but Marvin Williams has been an important rotation guy on every team he suited up for. Back in Atlanta he was the reason Josh Smith was a sixth man to begin his career. In 2012 Williams signed with Utah as an important rotation guy to help alleviate recent departures. Williams eventually forced his way into the starting line-up due to his ability to stretch the floor and play multiple positions. He will bring that same ability back to the east as a member of the Hornets.
This infusion of talent that has found its way to the east doesn’t come without players going the other way. It seems as if the west has always been stacked with more depth and simply more talent.
But for the first time since 2006, more players have left the west to join the east. This year should be the year that the records begin to even out at the bottom of the conference. The Charlotte Hornets alone made huge strides and should easily eclipse the 43 wins they had last year.
The Atlanta Hawks didn’t do much to add to their team to improve on their 38 win playoff performance of last year, but by simply excluding them from the playoffs and adding the Cleveland Cavaliers as a team that will definitely make the top 8, there should be many more wins by the team who captures the 8th seed in the east.
With talent like Eric Bledsoe, Greg Monroe, Evan Turner, Andre Blatche, and Ray Allen still available, there could be even more additions to the east. The games still have to be played, but at least this year they should be on more even terms.
