Utah Jazz among teams providing evidence that West is inferior to East this year

The Utah Jazz are a perfect example of an interest phenomenon taking place thus far in the 2019-20 NBA season – the East appears to have finally surpassed the West.

It’s been more than just a narrative, it’s essentially been fact in the NBA for the past several years that the Western Conference is far superior to the Eastern Conference. It’s a conference that typically has had three or four legitimate title contenders at the top and a deep list of dangerous playoff-caliber squads, sometimes 10 or 11 teams deep.

Oftentimes, the final playoff spot in the West would come down to the wire, leaving two or three capable teams spurned, and practically always a team would need to be significantly above .500 to make the playoffs.

The East, on the other hand, has typically had just one, maybe two legitimate squads, especially during the years when LeBron James was King of the East and essentially strolled through the first three rounds of the playoffs. Near the bottom, some might wonder if the sixth, seventh or eighth seeds even deserved to make the playoffs with an at or below .500 record sometimes being enough to make it into the postseason.

In recent years, the West has boasted the highest star prowess, and they’ve simply been far more formidable than what the East could muster. Going into the 2019-20 season, many projected it would be more of the same, with the Western Conference boasting a slew of deadly squads, a number of title contenders, and a deep field for the playoffs.

However, in shocking fashion, so far the West has been extremely disappointing.

While things could certainly change, and in a hurry, as of right now the only team in the West that looks like a legitimate title contender is the Los Angeles Lakers (another surprise, if you ask me, but we won’t go into that here). They’re followed in the standings by the Dallas Mavericks, who figured to be one of the those deep playoff contenders, but might instead be competing for a top seed. That is a pleasant surprise of the sort that we expected the West could produce this year.

However, the other ‘surprises’ in the West have all been of the other nature. And that most certainly includes the Utah Jazz who have been abysmal of late.

After the Lakers and Mavericks, you have the Denver Nuggets who haven’t looked like the powerhouse they were last year. Nikola Jokic is struggling to find a groove, Jamal Murray hasn’t yet lived up to his massive contract and they’ve looked all around less impressive than a season ago.

I know you can’t put too much stock into a couple of games, but the Nuggets were recently thrashed by the Lakers, who as I mentioned are looking like the true top team in the West, then were subsequently man-handled by the Boston Celtics, as an example of a top East team being superior to a supposed top West team. The Celtics have been far better than expected, whereas the Nuggets have left a lot to be desired.

The same can be said for the LA Clippers, though admittedly we’ll likely never see their true ceiling until the playoffs, just as was the case with Kawhi Leonard‘s Toronto Raptors last year. But speaking of the Raptors, they’ve been absolutely incredible themselves, defying the doubters who thought they’d fall apart without the Klaw.

That’s one big reason why the East has been so much better than expected is that they’ve had all the teams who have taken impressive and surprising leaps whereas, other than the Mavs, the West hasn’t really had that yet. The aforementioned Celtics and Raptors are exceptional. The Miami Heat have been a massive surprise. And the Milwaukee Bucks have been as good or better than expected.

The only top East team that has disappointed somewhat has been the Philadelphia 76ers and they’re still really, really good. Even the Indiana Pacers, considering all the new faces they’re working in and the fact that they’re just trying to stay afloat until Victor Oladipo comes back, have been a legitimate foe who sits at 14-8.

Going back down the list of disappointing West teams, next you have the Houston Rockets who, sure, have had some brilliant moments and blown out some moderate to good teams, but I think we’ve all seen how suspect their system with James Harden and Russell Westbrook is. They’ve been about what I expected them to be thus far, but I can’t see them holding up in the postseason, and the way the West is scuffling around them makes them look less formidable as well.

Then there’s our very own Utah Jazz. My, oh my. What a team perfectly befitting the disappointment that has been the Western Conference. The Jazz were touted as darkhorse title contenders entering the season. Perhaps they can still turn it around, but from where we’re sitting now, they don’t look anything like it.

Their recent road trip was perfect evidence of the East taking the torch from the West as the Jazz were decimated in four straight games by the Bucks, Pacers, Raptors and Sixers. Sure, that’s a grueling road trip for anyone to face, but East road trips used to be viewed as a potential time to rack road wins. Anymore, that doesn’t exactly feel like the case.

Fortunately for Jazz fans, but not fortunately for the West, the Jazz have actually been far better than some of the other massive disappointments from the conference. Of course, the Golden State Warriors were projected to be in the playoff mix initially, but a maelstrom of injuries has taken them completely out of the running.

The Portland Trail Blazers went to the Western Conference Finals a season ago, and many pinned them as a team that would be in the thick of things for a playoff spot. I still think they’ll get there, but right now they’re 9-14, two spots out of the picture.

The exact same story goes for the San Antonio Spurs who likewise sit at 9-14 and have been atrocious. Some thought the Sacramento Kings could be an up-and-comer this year, but they’re 12th at 8-13. If the playoffs started today, the mediocre Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves, both of whom have losing records, would be in the playoffs in the West. That feels like a travesty.

Speaking of these bottom playoff teams, as the records currently stand, this has taken a dramatic flip as well. Normally East teams can get away with 40 or 41 wins to squeak into the playoffs. But as things stand currently, it’s the West that has teams with losing records in the playoff mix, whereas the eighth-place Orlando Magic are 11-11 and the seventh-place Nets are 12-10, which matches Utah’s sixth-place record.

In other words, between the number of elite teams at the top, the better play of playoff-caliber East teams over playoff-caliber West teams, and the fact that the floor in the East has risen while the floor in the West has dropped, with a pretty much equal number of terrible teams in the cellar for both conferences, it certainly appears as if the East has moved ahead of the West this season.

That would be a shocking and surprising development after years of the West ruling supreme. Perhaps teams like the Jazz, Blazers, Spurs and Nuggets will turn it up, and the West will become the bloodbath many believed it would be going into this year. But the way things are shaping up so far, it’s the Eastern Conference that is looking far more intriguing and capable to this point.