George Blaha mentioned prior to the Minnesota game that KG would be facing 3 former western conference elite PFs all in one game.

Rasheed Wallace
Chris Webber
Antonio McDyess

It got me to thinking about how the talent was coming back to the East a season ago when Shaq got traded to the Heat. Joe Johnson, Rasheed Wallace, Stephon Marbury, Steve Francis, McDyess, Webber to Philly. It looked like the East was starting to resurge after having the top draft pick for the last 4 years.

Now granted a lot of this talent is past their prime, but is it really any surprise that the best teams in the East feature players who made their mark in the West first?

Shaquille O'Neal
Rasheed Wallace
Chris Webber
Antonio McDyess
Antawn Jamison
Gilbert Arenas
Jason Kidd
Gary Payton
Jason Williams

These aren't small time players. Almost half of them are probable HOFers.

Let's not forget Chauncey Billups either. In fact, 4 out of the top 6 Pistons rotation players Saturday night are Western Conference imports (some by way of short EC stopoffs).

If you're looking for future moves, it might be logical to look at Western free agents before Eastern ones.

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Nov 13 LW Milan Lucic had an active night. He scored his first goal in eight games since his Oct. 25 hat trick and also pounded Michael Komisarek in a third-period fight. Lucic cut his hand in a fight with Michael Komisarek. "I'll be fine," he said. "(X-rays are) negative, but there's so many broken bones in there from before you can't really tell."

When does Okur become a free agent? LOL

The Western Conference is, for the most part, a higher-scoring, faster-paced, conference. Perhaps that is part of the reason that older big guys are moving to the East (to prolong their careers).

Not only Okur but Boozer as well started in the East. You sometimes hear west coast players talking about how superior their front courts are "this or that player would never make it in the West". Mohammed sustained 20 MPG in the West only to fall flat on his face this season in the East. East teams have won 2 of the last 3 Finals.

Only difference between the 2 divisions is the extra money willing to be spent out there. East owners are more likely to put lux tax over their teams.

I think the two styles of play in the divisions are good for the NBA. The grind it out style of the east vs the run-n-gun west.

The West by far has more talented players, however, the east has been very competitive in the post season over the past 20-25 years. Stern can try as hard as he wants to present a more offense oreinted league, but defense will always be a determining factor in who gets a ring.

If you look at the Western Conference teams that have won championships the last couple of decades, they were all very good defensive teams. The Spurs, Lakers, & Rockets were around the best in the league defensively when they won their championships.

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"We are going to be really good offensively and definsively, we are going to be a team that can beat you 120-110, or beat you 80-70" Coach Michael Curry on the 2008-2009 Pistons.

With all that talent and movement, we might want to consider a few more variables:

• Owners (sole and partnerships) and their fiduciary proclivities.
• GM talent and how they relate toward organizational frameworks.
• Coaching styles (team direction, player roles, analysis of their strengths and weaknesses, etc.).
• Agents (Influence as shown over players, and directional power via a single individual/partnerships/corporate agencies).