The Western Conference already looks like titans in 2006-07. Eastern Conference teams are presumed dead. Take a look at the Atlantic Divide. The best team is 5-8–Boston Celtics. Will the teams from the East rise up and compete this season?

The Western Conference is full of hot teams. Take a look at who’s playing really well right now: The Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, LA Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, and even the New Orleans Hornets have a record winner.

So who’s hot in the Eastern Conference? That would be the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic, and oh, that’s it. In fact, the Pacers have faltered this past week, so you could call them tepid.

The most popular team in the NBA is the Dallas Mavericks. After stumbling in the first four games of the season, they fired it up and posted 10 straight wins as of this writing.

The two worst teams are the New York Knicks at 5-11 and the Memphis Grizzlies at 4-10. I would tell you that the Knicks are the worst. Despite winning just one more game than the Grizzlies, the Knicks have been horrible at home. They have lost 6 of their 7 home games.

The San Antonio Spurs are fast earning the title of road warriors. They have won 7 of their 8 away games and look great from the start. They are 11-4 and 7-3 in their last 10 games. Spurs need to play a little better at home – 4-3 so far.

Let’s close with the Eastern Conference. They look capable when they play each other, but when most of these teams play teams from the West it’s a different story. New Jersey shot at the gate at 5-3, but then they lost 6 in a row and now sit at 5-9.

Last season, the West looked much better, but the East stole the show when the Miami Heat took the crown. We could see a rematch of last season.