5 reasons why the East has been worse than the West since 1998

#3 Drafts and trades: Part II

The 2003 NBA draft brought some great players to the East

Between the years 2000 and 2008, an Eastern Conference team selected 1st overall on every occasion except 2002 and 2007. However, aside from the 2003 NBA draft, with players like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Kyle Korver; all the other top picks didn't do much to reduce the disparity between the East and the West. The main reason behind that was very simple.

Even though players like Kenyon Martin, Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose and the stars from the 2003 draft were very good, they were still developing while the stars drafted in the 90s had reached their primes and established dynasties in Los Angeles and San Antonio. The regular season win count of eastern conference teams had risen, but the best team in the east was still no match for the best from the West. This fact was very evident in the 2007 NBA finals, where the San Antonio Spurs (58-24) swept the LeBron James led Cleveland Cavaliers (50-32).

A blockbuster 2007 offseason for the Boston Celtics saw Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joining Paul Pierce to form the Big 3 in Beantown. They dominated the 2007-2008 season, beating the Lakers in 6 games in the NBA Finals. However, age and injuries caught up with the Celtics and it'd be 3 more years before another Eastern Conference team prevailed in the Finals.