Point guard Deron Williams joins the New Jersey Nets after he was traded from the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011.
Carmelo Anthony plays in his first game with the New York Knicks on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. Anthony, Amare' Stoudemire and the Knicks take on the Miami Heat on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011.
Which Eastern Conference team is the Heat's biggest concern this season and beyond?
CHICAGO — Before the recent All-Star Game, LeBron James was asked whether the NBA should pick teams the way the NHL did this season, with two captains choosing players regardless of conference.
"No, because Eastern Conference, Western Conference, we don't like each other," James said. "We would not pick somebody from the Western Conference to be over here to be with us and I don't think they would, either."
James is overstating the inter-conference antipathy - it's not exactly Democrats vs. Republicans.
And yet he's right that the East's best players and top executives wouldn't welcome the West's best to join them on a regular basis. Stay put. Over there. Far away. Certainly don't come over at the rate they're coming over of late.
Carmelo Anthony to New York on Tuesday. Deron Williams to New Jersey on Wednesday.
Talk about tailwinds.
Talk about more taxing games for the Heat, with the unbalanced schedule dictating three or four games against conference opponents and only two against teams from the West.
Talk about a tougher path to the NBA Finals, from the first round forward. Talk about fiercer competition for complementary pieces in the off-season, when cheap veterans might be enticed to join star cores in New York or Chicago almost as much as Miami.
"We're looking forward to the challenges," James said after the Anthony trade.
New Jersey won't present as great a challenge as even New York at the moment, and neither is yet on the level of Boston, Chicago or even Orlando.
Still, Williams - less-hyped but better all-around than Anthony - was an exceptional acquisition, a terrific all-around point guard in exchange for power forward Derrick Favors, point guard Devin Harris, two first-round draft picks and cash.
Not only were Anthony and Williams two of the West's 12 players in last weekend's All-Star Game, they also appeared in the 2010 All-Star Game, along with Amare Stoudemire and Chauncey Billups, who are also now Knicks.
That's four of the West's dozen from 2010, with another (Memphis' Zach Randolph) on the block and possibly heading East as well. And, of the other seven, all but two (Kevin Durant and the oft-injured Chris Kaman) are at least 30.
The West, after dominating in terms of depth of talent for more than a decade, has been decimated. It's not just the young franchise players gone since the summer: Anthony from Denver, Williams from Utah, Stoudemire from Phoenix.
It's the career-threatening injuries to Yao Ming and Brandon Roy, as well as Greg Oden, which have blown up promising blueprints for Houston and Portland.
It's the inevitability of the departure of New Orleans' best player, Chris Paul, with a strong possibility that he lands in New York with Anthony and Stoudemire - something he wished in a toast at Anthony's wedding last summer.
Meanwhile, all of the top East free agents in 2010 (James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Joe Johnson) remained in the conference, even with James and Bosh switching teams.
The biggest names heading West in the past year? The likes of Tyson Chandler, Vince Carter, David Lee, Michael Beasley and Caron Butler. No franchise centerpieces among them.
Why is this happening? Some will say it's a cycle: The West couldn't rule forever, the league was overdue for a shift. Others will blame James because, while he didn't switch conferences by leaving Cleveland for Miami, his decision to collaborate with other stars has inspired his peers, and jarred executives.
Others will blame Anthony's wife LaLa, for getting married and providing a platform for Paul's very public toast.
James was present at that reception and, according to reports, encouraged his friends to join the East party. If so, that's quite gracious of him, and flies in the face of those who believe that he left Cleveland to flee from a challenge.
It also made his task harder.
He certainly can't run now.
The challenge has come from the West to the East, to him.
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