Post by kipper on Nov 13, 2023 16:51:47 GMT -6
Was having a chat with Kong in PM and something interesting came up. Is West that much better than East.
To get an idea, I will look at the amount of wins per team for the conferences and then amount of wins for the playoffs teams.
First of all, here are the standings for both conferences.
East
*New York Knicks 75 7 .915 9-1 39-2 -
*Toronto Raptors 66 16 .805 9-1 35-6 9.0
*Boston Celtics 57 25 .695 9-1 32-9 18.0
*Philadelphia 76ers 50 32 .610 7-3 30-11 25.0
*Chicago Bulls 45 37 .549 4-6 25-16 30.0
*Brooklyn Nets 39 43 .476 2-8 24-17 36.0
*Orlando Magic 38 44 .463 5-5 22-19 37.0
*Charlotte Hornets 37 45 .451 3-7 23-18 38.0
Atlanta Hawks 37 45 .451 3-7 22-19 38.0
Washington Wizards 33 49 .402 4-6 22-19 42.0
Cleveland Cavaliers 30 52 .366 4-6 17-24 45.0
Detroit Pistons 30 52 .366 3-7 20-21 45.0
Miami Heat 25 57 .305 4-6 14-27 50.0
Milwaukee Bucks 24 58 .293 2-8 13-28 51.0
Indiana Pacers 22 60 .268 4-6 12-29 53.0
West
*Portland Trailblazers 55 27 .671 5-5 34-7 -
*Dallas Mavericks 49 33 .598 7-3 28-13 6.0
*Golden State Warriors 55 27 .671 7-3 29-12 0.0
*Phoenix Suns 51 31 .622 8-2 28-13 4.0
*Seattle Sonics 51 31 .622 2-8 28-13 4.0
*Sacramento Kings 50 32 .610 5-5 28-13 5.0
*Los Angeles Lakers 50 32 .610 5-5 26-15 5.0
*Denver Nuggets 42 40 .512 5-5 22-19 13.0
Los Angeles Clippers 41 41 .500 6-4 27-14 14.0
Minnesota Timberwolves 39 43 .476 7-3 23-18 16.0
Memphis Grizzlies 29 53 .354 3-7 16-25 26.0
Utah Jazz 27 55 .329 4-6 17-24 28.0
San Antonio Spurs 23 59 .280 3-7 18-23 32.0
Houston Rockets 19 63 .232 2-8 15-26 36.0
Let us begin by looking at the whole conference.
East: 608-622, 0.494 win%, 40.53 wins/team
West: 581-567, 0.506 win%, 41.5 wins/team
Playoffs teams wins total
East: 407 wins
West: 403 wins
For the playoffs teams, the East has more wins than the West, but in general, the West have a better winning percentage. Obviously, with games within the same conference in this case, the East and the West would have a 0.500 no matter what. With the winning percentage being what they are, it shows that the West has a better group of teams than the East, at least they were better versus whoever they played from the East, since they beat them in more cases than not. Obviously, that depends on which team faced who. If the Sonics faced the Pacers, it would be normal to see the Sonics beating them. With the playoffs total being considered, that to me seems to show that the overall competition is better in the West as well than in the East.
Why is that? Well if you think about it, it means that although the West won more often than the East when they faced each other, it also shows that the teams out of the playoffs are have more wins on average for the West than the East. Therefore harder to make it into the playoffs. So overall, it seems to point that the West was a harder division this season.
So now the questions we were trying to get to. Would it be easier to get 45 wins in the East or in the West. To me, after doing this, it seems to be the East. Yes you have the top dogs in the East that you will obviously get a lot of L's from, but you also have worst teams in general. I am not sure if the schedule prioritizes game within division and then within conference, but if it is the case, we can take it a little further. We can say that the easiest would be in the East in the Central division since that would be the worst of the 2 divison. BUT WAIT. THERE IS MORE. Is it actually the easiest or would it just so happen that 1 of the division in the West is inflated the whole conference?
Central division had 36.4 wins per team on average for all 8 teams. If we then look at the Midwest division. Which seems to be the weaker of the 2 Western conference division, they have 32.6 wins per team on average. So, perhaps the answer to the easiest way to get 45 wins would be, a team that is in the Midwest since more opportunities at facing worse teams and getting wins.
What do you guys think?
To get an idea, I will look at the amount of wins per team for the conferences and then amount of wins for the playoffs teams.
First of all, here are the standings for both conferences.
East
*New York Knicks 75 7 .915 9-1 39-2 -
*Toronto Raptors 66 16 .805 9-1 35-6 9.0
*Boston Celtics 57 25 .695 9-1 32-9 18.0
*Philadelphia 76ers 50 32 .610 7-3 30-11 25.0
*Chicago Bulls 45 37 .549 4-6 25-16 30.0
*Brooklyn Nets 39 43 .476 2-8 24-17 36.0
*Orlando Magic 38 44 .463 5-5 22-19 37.0
*Charlotte Hornets 37 45 .451 3-7 23-18 38.0
Atlanta Hawks 37 45 .451 3-7 22-19 38.0
Washington Wizards 33 49 .402 4-6 22-19 42.0
Cleveland Cavaliers 30 52 .366 4-6 17-24 45.0
Detroit Pistons 30 52 .366 3-7 20-21 45.0
Miami Heat 25 57 .305 4-6 14-27 50.0
Milwaukee Bucks 24 58 .293 2-8 13-28 51.0
Indiana Pacers 22 60 .268 4-6 12-29 53.0
West
*Portland Trailblazers 55 27 .671 5-5 34-7 -
*Dallas Mavericks 49 33 .598 7-3 28-13 6.0
*Golden State Warriors 55 27 .671 7-3 29-12 0.0
*Phoenix Suns 51 31 .622 8-2 28-13 4.0
*Seattle Sonics 51 31 .622 2-8 28-13 4.0
*Sacramento Kings 50 32 .610 5-5 28-13 5.0
*Los Angeles Lakers 50 32 .610 5-5 26-15 5.0
*Denver Nuggets 42 40 .512 5-5 22-19 13.0
Los Angeles Clippers 41 41 .500 6-4 27-14 14.0
Minnesota Timberwolves 39 43 .476 7-3 23-18 16.0
Memphis Grizzlies 29 53 .354 3-7 16-25 26.0
Utah Jazz 27 55 .329 4-6 17-24 28.0
San Antonio Spurs 23 59 .280 3-7 18-23 32.0
Houston Rockets 19 63 .232 2-8 15-26 36.0
Let us begin by looking at the whole conference.
East: 608-622, 0.494 win%, 40.53 wins/team
West: 581-567, 0.506 win%, 41.5 wins/team
Playoffs teams wins total
East: 407 wins
West: 403 wins
For the playoffs teams, the East has more wins than the West, but in general, the West have a better winning percentage. Obviously, with games within the same conference in this case, the East and the West would have a 0.500 no matter what. With the winning percentage being what they are, it shows that the West has a better group of teams than the East, at least they were better versus whoever they played from the East, since they beat them in more cases than not. Obviously, that depends on which team faced who. If the Sonics faced the Pacers, it would be normal to see the Sonics beating them. With the playoffs total being considered, that to me seems to show that the overall competition is better in the West as well than in the East.
Why is that? Well if you think about it, it means that although the West won more often than the East when they faced each other, it also shows that the teams out of the playoffs are have more wins on average for the West than the East. Therefore harder to make it into the playoffs. So overall, it seems to point that the West was a harder division this season.
So now the questions we were trying to get to. Would it be easier to get 45 wins in the East or in the West. To me, after doing this, it seems to be the East. Yes you have the top dogs in the East that you will obviously get a lot of L's from, but you also have worst teams in general. I am not sure if the schedule prioritizes game within division and then within conference, but if it is the case, we can take it a little further. We can say that the easiest would be in the East in the Central division since that would be the worst of the 2 divison. BUT WAIT. THERE IS MORE. Is it actually the easiest or would it just so happen that 1 of the division in the West is inflated the whole conference?
Central division had 36.4 wins per team on average for all 8 teams. If we then look at the Midwest division. Which seems to be the weaker of the 2 Western conference division, they have 32.6 wins per team on average. So, perhaps the answer to the easiest way to get 45 wins would be, a team that is in the Midwest since more opportunities at facing worse teams and getting wins.
What do you guys think?