Editor's note: As part of "The Stein Line" every Monday, senior NBA writer Marc Stein takes you around the league for the latest news in "Coast to Coast."

The aberration, as Bud Selig might say, has lasted two weeks now. Unless it's not an aberration. Common sense still tells you that, if every team were at full strength, the top four would hail from the Western Conference: Lakers, Kings, Spurs and Mavericks in whatever order you want to bicker about. Of course, common sense ain't especially handy when Shaquille O'Neal, Mike Bibby and Raef LaFrentz are injured … and the East opens the season by going 17-2 at home against the West.

	Paul Pierce and the Celtics needed OT to beat the Shaq-less Lakers at home.

That's no misprint. Seventeen-and-two, before a couple losses over the weekend: Miami to Seattle, Orlando to the Clippers. Overall, the East's early lead in interconference play is 23-16. If it seems a little soon to be tracking this stuff, it is -- except that this is the same East that won a whopping 37 percent of its games against the West last season, home or away, when you throw out a 65-25 record against Golden State, Denver and Memphis.

We know you want to know next what this might mean for, say, June. And, no, we're not prepared to say that New Jersey or anyone else from the East can actually show up for the 2003 NBA Finals and have a chance to win them. Thing is, it also doesn't really matter what we think. Aberration or not, East residents are starting to believe that the gulf between the conferences isn't as wide as the public perceives.

"I've always thought that too much was made about the West being so much stronger than the East," Detroit vice president Joe Dumars said. "And I'm sure some of the Eastern teams feel the way (we) do. But even when it was the East that was supposed to be so good (in the 1990s), I can clearly remember how tough it was to go to Utah, Portland, Denver and some of the other places and get a win."

Webber addresses his future … Olympic plans
Chris Webber called the University of Michigan's self-imposed punishments "hurtful," but he can't quibble with the school's timing. By announcing its attempt to basically forfeit the 1990s on Thursday -- the day after Webber got full-court pressed by the New York media before and following Sacramento's loss to the Knicks -- Webber was spared a full-scale inquisition at his locker to rival anything the courts have planned for him.

On Wednesday, before anyone had heard about his alma mater's plan to yank down banners and invalidate victories, Webber got a few questions about his legal troubles but responded by saying he's not at liberty to discuss the matter. Beyond describing himself "at peace" and insisting that he's "very confident" of vindication when his case goes to trial, Webber saved his most newsworthy disclosure for the subject of the Summer Olympics in 2004.

Webber, as with Kobe Bryant recently, said he hopes to represent his country after the Americans' humbling sixth-place finish at the World Championships in Indianapolis. But, as with Bryant, it's unclear whether Webber will make himself available next summer when the United States must qualify for the Olympics in a tournament at a location to be determined this month. In theory, USA Basketball wants players and coaches who will be ready to serve the next two summers.

	Any support in New Orleans is good support for Jamal Mashburn and the Hornets.

Mash won't bash Hornets' new surroundings
The Hornets have played four home games in New Orleans and attendance has dwindled each time, from 17,668 on opening night against Utah to 13,505 on Friday for Golden State's visit. Don't expect to hear the Hornets' players complain, though. Not after their first exhibition game in the Crescent City drew a bigger crowd than home playoff games last spring in Charlotte.

"I played here in 1993 in the Final Four, so I knew what type of support they had, what kind of party atmosphere it was," Hornets forward Jamal Mashburn said. "It's sort of a small market in terms of (business attributes), but so is Sacramento. Sacramento's not the biggest place, but (the fans) get after it."

After initially wondering openly about how the Hornets might do on a Tuesday night, Mashburn says he's not worried about the presence of only one Fortune 500 company in the city, or the widespread concerns about the lack of disposable income in town. He went on to predict, without flinching, that New Orleans Arena "is going to be one of the toughest places to play."

"The fans aren't sitting on their hands," he said. "We have a big tool here in terms of free agents. It was hard to get free agents in Charlotte, because you get to a point you want to play in front of people."

Kidd and Duncan together soon, but only temporarily
The first of two Jason Kidd vs. Tim Duncan regular-season meetings takes place Wednesday at Continental Airlines Arena. So brace for considerable chatter on both sides about the possibility of the two pals hooking up in San Antonio next summer, even with Kidd insisting that the Nets will keep him so long as he gets a max contract.

ESPN's own Sean Elliott, for one, believes Kidd. So he's warning his old friends in the Alamo City not to get too intoxicated by the idea of Kidd leaving the Greater New York area just because he likes Duncan.

"I think they have to be realistic," Elliott said. "I don't know when I've ever seen a high-priced free agent go from a big market to a small one. And for Kidd to come out West and go head-to-head with the Lakers, that's a tough proposition."

The safe money still says Kidd will elect to put his faith in Byron Scott and Rod Thorn and stay in Jersey, with Duncan also staying put. Much as TD would undoubtedly love a move to the East, opposite Shaquille O'Neal, the Spurs will have the salary-cap flexibility to re-sign Duncan and bring in another top free agent. He can't get that anywhere else.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.