LeBron James is probably going to play his entire career in the "weak" eastern conference, and I'm pretty sure that nobody but the lowest of low-bottom haters are going to hold it against him.
And, on the flipside of that, look at a couple of his contemporaries: Carmelo Anthony has played sixty percent of his career in the west, and has made it out of the second round twice. How many people do you reckon are going to give him a pass for playing in the west? How about Chris Paul? CP3 has played his whole ass career in the west, and didn't make it out of the second round until Year 13. How many people do you think are lining up to give him a pass? Because I'm guessing that the number is somewhere south of nobody.
Winning the east still counts; to paraphrase the late Jim Valvano, "We've got to have a chance, we're the only other guys playing."