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Bounce back? Bounce back to what? Outside of Miami last year, the East only had one 50 win team, the rather overrated NY Knicks. The Pacers showed big in the post-season, but even they weren't a particularly elite team during the regular season. The East, very simply, isn't as talented as the West.

Fun exercise, but take Miami away for a moment and just compare rosters. With Lebron out of the equation, is there a single player in the East you would take over Durant, Paul, Westbrook, Curry, Harden, or Dwight? MAYBE Paul George would beat out half those guys if you only use this year where he's finally playing like a legitimate superstar. The NBA is a star-driven league, and the West just has more stars.

It doesn't help that Rose is out now for two straight years, or that the West keeps landing #1 picks in better drafts, but that's just how things shake out. The East has too many teams that are terribly run that can't ever seem to improve (Cleveland and Detroit are prime examples). Atlanta and Milwaukee are well run, but cheap and happy just to make the post-season without seriously threatening to win it all. The Pacers could be the new Bulls, but that's still only two great teams in the conference, and probably only 3 or 4 that you would call legitimately good.

Once the Eastern teams get more chances to beat up on each other, the records will look to improve, but if we're being honest, outside the top 2 teams nobody is that good.