Again, any rating is imperfect... but even if you go by pure point differential on the season and remove SoS considerations:

Milwaukee: 8.8
GSW: 5.9
Toronto: 6.4
Utah: 5.2
Houston: 4.8
Portland: 4.2
Denver: 4
Celtics: 4.4
Pacers: 3.3
Thunder: 3.4
Sixers: 2.7

You can also see that strength of schedule still favors the east and deems the west harder to play in. Which makes sense, as the depth of the west is obviously superior, but the depth at the *top* of the west is also superior.

Again, this isn't considering "potential," it's considering actual performance. I'd agree that the Celtics and the Sixers, given one game, have at worst top 5 potential when playing their best. But since they didn't consistently play to that level, it's hard to say "they're better." The best teams win consistently.

My movies: http://russellhainline.com
My movie reviews: https://letterboxd.com/RussellHFilm/
My beer TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebeertravelguide