David Dupree USA Today

Forest Park, IL: Greetings, David. Have you ever done an extended report on why the Western Conference so superior to the East (besides the fact that Shaq plays in the West)? What accounts for this phenomenon? Is it a cyclical thing? And what will need to happen before the East can rise to the level of the other conference? Whatever the reason, I hope the tide turns soon. This last Finals series was dreadful.

David DuPree: The tide probably won't turn too soon, at least not until Shaq is gone, It is cyclical. The best pl;ayers for some inexplicable reason just happen to be in the West. The East does have some good young teams on the way up, though. Orlando should be there soon and Indiana and Chicago could be very good. The West also seems to have adjusted to the changes in the rules quicker than the East.


Singapore: Dear David, unlike last year's playoffs, this one had a real gem - the Kings and Lakers series. Hopefully, this rivalry will heat up in the years to come. Unfortunately, outside of that, the already weak Eastern teams underperformed and of the packed Western teams, only Dallas was really interesting in their play. I hope that next year we'll get some more parity among teams and the level of competition increases. Watching the Lakers go about beating everybody up when they feel like it is AWFULLY tiresome. As for the draft I'll be looking forward to it - couldn't say that last year! I think Jay Williams'll be a great fit with the Bulls. With Jay at 1, Crawford at 2, Jalen at 3 and a developing Chandler and Curry at 4 and 5, what's not to like about the team's future? Jeff

David DuPree: I'm a big Jamal Crawford fan and he and Williams in the backcourt together and Curry and Chandler together upfront certainly puts them near the head of the class in a couple of years.

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