ESPN has a ranking going on again this year in which they rank teams "FUTURES" based on things like Management Quality, Player Quality, Drafting, Team Finances, etc.  As of today, they have ranked numbers 11-30.  There are some surprising teams that appear quite low in the rankings.  For instance, Phoenix ranks number 28, yup that is right 28 out of 30.  Dallas ranks 14.  These are teams that we think of as perennial powerhouses.  So far they haven't ranked the Spurs, OKC, Houston, Lakers, Portland,  Denver, Utah. That only leaves three teams from the East (Miami, Orlando, Chicago) in the top10.   Those rankings should come out tomorrow.  It appears the long term power still resides in the West.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=FuturePowerRankings-3-100803