after drafting Curry and bringing in Lee - also drafted Klay Thompson they brought in Bogut & Igodoula. Speights & Draymond Green score a solid PER off the bench. So does Jermaine O'Neal.
They have the most accurate shooting back-court in the NBA but they also have size w/ Thompson & Lee as well as Bogut, O'Neal, and Igodoula
However, the standard deviation is lower in the NBA than in any other sport so it will be the usual suspects. Miami, Indiana, Oklahoma, and San Antonio. Portland is playing as well as any west team(currently tied w/ OKC at 43-43 in the 2nd), I remember one draft analyst, can't remember the name spent much of the whole draft criticizing the selection, like how can you pick a player from the Big Sky so high? Now he is probably the best performing player from the 2012 draft, Anthony Davis picked up his scoring this season and his defense and rebounding numbers were already solid. Damian Lillard could score from day 1, only player besides Oscar Robertson (useless historical trivia but still impressive) to score 20 points and record 7 assists in his first 3 games. Unanimous rookie-of-the-year selection. I bet you Kings wish they could have their pick back and to a lesser extent, Bobcats.
Anyways, where I was going with that is Portland probably needs some playoff experience before we really count them in the same group as Oklahoma City & San Antonio.
West has a lot of good teams which could shake things up early and make things easier for a 3rd or mid-seed in second round or even a conference finals match-up but the 82-game schedule and 7-7-7-7 playoff format weeds out the pretenders.
West has more good teams but the East has the 2-best teams. I start with Indiana and their outstanding defense. They have the highest defensive efficiency ratings since the 03-04 Spurs & Pistons. The best in recent history if you go back 2 or 3 years. 3 years they were among the best, the last 2 - the best. While it is true they play mostly East opponents while the West in recent years had the top 3 scoring offenses - it usually alternated between OKC, SA, and Denver but this year 10 teams are scoring enough to be among the league leader in other years, Portland, LAC, and Houston/Minnesota round out the top 3 but Indiana always the fewest points per possession against Western opponents, they allow a little over a point fewer than Oklahoma City. I'll say more about Indiana in a second.
I say Miami Heat is the second best or potentially the best (meaning ending the season w/ a Finals trophy) because they have James, Wade, Bosh, Chalmers, and Ray Allen as their 5 best players and as much as you might have going wrong, you have chance if those 5 are your 5 best players. However, their defense isn't as good as it was the first 3 years of the big 3 which was among Chicago w/ best in the league as well as when Indiana snuck in there.
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Overall scoring varies w/ pace which is why points per possession is a better indicator (Miami has the best offense based on that metric (Portland #2) but one of the slower paced teams in the NBA - makes sense since they lead the NBA in FG%) and the regular season is generally tougher for coast teams. Phil Jackson said the reason why the Bulls won 72 games and why the Lakers or the Heat (this was right after the big 3 got together) never will is because the Bulls played in the central time zone.
When it comes to the Indiana Pacers, they are like the Seahawks equivalent of the NBA. Their points-per-possession defense is in "greatest defense ever" territory.
Here are the best teams based on defensive points per possession since the '76 (Nuggets and Suns came before the 3-point shot so it was easier to hold opponents scoring. I remember 98-99 and 03-04 Detroit defenses vividly. The 03-04 Detroit defense was the most visually impressive.
1. 2003-04 San Antonio Spurs, 94.1
2. 1998-99 San Antonio Spurs, 95.0
3. 2003-04 Detroit Pistons, 95.4
4. 2013-14 Indiana Pacers, 95.5
5. 1976-77 Denver Nuggets, 96.1
6. 1977-78 Phoenix Suns, 97.0
When you compare the overall league's average defensive ratings of those years, 102.9 for the Spurs & Pistons. 102.2 for the '99 Spurs while this season is up to 105.2 (the way teams are scoring this year is insane) so Pacers have their mark in a year of much higher scoring than their counterparts.
The also lead #2, Chicago by a whole 4.3 points per possession which is rare. Look back at the years at the link, Indiana allowed fewer than #2 Memphis last year by .8. Chicago edged out Boston by .2 in 11-12. Chicago edged them out by .4 the year before that.
http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/defensiveEff
One thing I realize that I didn't realize before this post is that Golden State is #3 in defensive points per possession. That could come in handy in the post-season
On edit - On the topic of Portland - they just had a game against Oklahoma City and it ended just like a few days ago when they were in Indiana. Almost pulled off a big win, in this case they missed a couple of shots that would have won the game while in Indiana they forced OT w/ a 3-pointer. Portland has the talent and ability to match-up against anyone but wonder how their experience will affect them in the playoffs.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Meanwhile, the Raiders continue to suck. 