Leastern Conference woes

Wow I know it has been since Jordan's days with the Bulls that the East has been comparable to the West. Even though the East has won two of the last 3 championships. I was looking at the standings today and only 4 teams in the east are at .500 or above. Meanwhile the west has 11 teams at .500 or above. The Atlantic division, the most pathetic has the Celtics and the Nets tied for the lead at 5 and 8.

I always thought there should be a rule in the NBA that if you don't finish the season at .500 or better, you don't make the playoffs regardless of final standing. The team you would've faced would get a bye to the next round. Of course, having a lot of bad teams in your conference would mess it all up, but it's just a shame that if this holds up, many bad teams from the East would get a playoff berth while some good lower tier teams in the West would be sitting at home.