The east is no beast

The 2003-04 NBA season has been very entertaining and is sure to provide perhaps one of the most anticipated playoffs in recent memory this spring.

Oh, and the Eastern Conference has a couple of good storylines, too. I guess.

Seeing Indiana battle New Jersey or Detroit to see who will lose in the finals should be interesting.

Plus, the east has the one they call King James, and Cleveland has an outside shot at a playoff spot. But, that's it. There really isn't any reason to pay attention to the collection of teams that Philadelphia columnist Stephen A. Smith refers to as the "Jay-Vee Conference."

In international politics, there is a systematic theory of how nations co-exist called the balance of power. In today's NBA, the balance of power is embarrassingly out of whack.

Below are just some examples of how far the east has fallen.

* Miami and Toronto, the two teams that are currently tied for the final playoff spot in the east, have identical 25-33 records. Golden State and the L.A. Clippers are tied for the second to last records out west with 25-32 marks.

* Denver is hanging on to the final playoff spot in the west, but would be the No. 4 seed in the east and therefore hold home court advantage for at least one series.

* For the first time in NBA history, three teams in the same conference with losing records might make the playoffs. In fact, it would be shocking at this point if that didn't happen. New York also is eight games under .500 and is almost a lock to make the postseason.

All this and Detroit -- which could have had Carmelo Anthony and added some star power to the east -- drafted the hapless Darko "The Busto" Millicic. All he has done this year is use up valuable oxygen on the Pistons' bench. (Sheesh, there's hard-working players that need that air during timeouts.)

Now I'm rambling, but the point to this column is that I have the solution. Well, at least I have an idea or two that would help.

Move the Minnesota Timberwolves to the east. Hey, it only makes sense.

The T'Wolves would then have eight games every year with their natural rivals, Milwaukee and Chicago, instead of just four. Plus, it would mean another marquee team to bolster the conference's tarnished reputation of bad teams and worse organizations.

It also would mean that Kevin Garnett -- arguably basketball's best player -- would be playing on Broadway, and on Beantown, Philly and Florida, on a regular basis. The east coast basketball community needs a jolt after all the recent downers (Danny Ainge's Celtics fiasco, the Knicks, Allen Iverson's ongoing antics, and the St. John's scandal in the college ranks.

New Orleans is scheduled to make the move to Western Conference basketball next season to make room for the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. Great, the east will lose one its only decent teams in a trade-off for another terrible one.

I know that it would be hard to pull off anyway because one conference needs to have 16 teams in a 30 team NBA for scheduling reasons, but, in that case, maybe the league should follow baseball and start talking about contracting a team.

The notion that an NBA franchise can't work in basketball crazy North Carolina was crazy anyway and the Hornets never should have been allowed to leave for the French Quarter. In that case, there shouldn't be a team in New Orleans.

Here's another thought that just might make sense -- move Indiana, New Jersey, and Detroit to the west with New Orleans. Then, contract all the other teams in the former Eastern Conference and have a draft lottery for Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter and Paul Pierce. All the other players can go the CBA where they belong.

There you go, Mr. Stern, I've solved all your problems. In the meantime let me contain my excitement as the race for the final eastern playoff spot heats up between Miami, Toronto and Cleveland.