There is a draft blowing in the NBA and it is blowing East. After
years of Western supremacy, the tide seems to be shifting, finally, to
the Eastern Conference. The Celtics championship romp over the Lakers
not only established Boston as the league's top team, but suggested
that Detroit, which in the Eastern Conference Finals also fell to the
Celts in six games, may have been the runner-up. The Celtics provided
further evidence of that--evidence most experts ignored in their
playoff predictions--by going a remarkable 25-5 against the West during
the regular season. And the Piston's mark of 22-8 against the rival
conference represented a higher winning percentage than any Western
team managed against its own. (The Lakers' 37-15 was the West's top
interconference mark.)
And at last night's draft the only two players regarded as true
difference-makers, Memphis' Derrick Rose and K State's Michael Beasley,
both landed in the Eastern Conference--and both with teams that are
considered far better than their record. Rose went to the Bulls, which
got lottery lucky to snare the first pick despite having only the 9th
worst record in the league. The Bulls have an impressive array of young
talent, even if is mismatched and overlaps too much at the guard
position, and was actually expected to contend in the East this past
season. The addition of Rose should move Chicago quickly into the
East's upper echelon.
Miami, which got Beasley with the second pick, will be three seasons
removed (and minus Shaq) since its NBA championship. But the fastest
way for any decent team to make a big leap forward is to sink all the
way to the bottom because its best player is injured, enabling it to
snare a second superstar in the draft. San Antonio did that in 1997
when, after losing center David Robinson for the season, it managed to
draft Tim Duncan to twin with Robinson. Two seasons later the Spurs won
their first title. With Dwyane Wade returning from injury and Shawn
Marion, the key addition from trading Shaq, the Heat has an impressive
triumvirate to rebuild around.
Other top teams in the East, like Orlando and Cleveland, are built
around young superstars Dwight Howard and LeBron James and should
continue to improve. And Toronto appears to have pulled off the coup of
draft day by landing a perennial all-star in Jermaine O'Neal to play
alongside Chris Bosh at a price of only their second best point guard,
the talented, but oft-injured T.J. Ford, and a middling first-round
draft pick. Label the Raptors instant contenders. While plenty of
talent and talented teams--L.A., New Orleans, Utah--remain in the West
(including the two difference-makers out of last year's draft, Greg
Oden and Kevin Durant, neither of whom made any difference this past
season), contenders like the Spurs with Duncan, the Suns with Steve
Nash and Shaq and the Mavericks with Jason Kidd all appear to be be
showing signs of age and inevitable decline.
Tides do shift. The East won the NBA Title. The NFC won the Super
Bowl. And maybe the National League can finally win an All-Star Game.
(Reader warning: Don't bet on the latter.)
