With the emergence of new young contenders, the Eastern Conference is improving.
The top five seeds in the NBA East Division right now are Atlanta, Washington, Toronto, Chicago, and Cleveland.
Those teams are a combined 50-33 against the West. That’s with the Cavs dragging everyone down with their 8-11 record against the West right now that is sure to improve drastically the way they’ve been playing lately.
At the end of last season, the top 5 teams in the East were 70-72 against the West. That was with Paul George and Lance Stephenson on the Pacers, LeBron James on the Heat, and the Bulls without Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol or Jimmy Butler’s final form.
So, these are improvements, right? I’ll take it a step further.
Last year, there were 2 teams in the East that people thought could win a championship: the Pacers (kind of) and the Heat (who got embarrassed). This year, we have the Hawks (also known as Spurs-East), the Bulls (when they can score they are scary), and I am going to throw in the Cavs based on recent events (LeBron is good at basketball).
Toronto still has too little experience and the Wizards are a couple of role player pieces away.
Disclaimer on the Cavs: they need to make Kevin Love more than just a stretch four to be able to get him invested defensively. Even on this winning streak he has just been sitting in the corner and running more pick and pop than pick and roll.
But any team that has James and two other all-star caliber players on it has a chance to go all the way. Plus, James has been dropping 30 points a night since his hiatus and the team’s won six straight.
The Bulls have the most West-ready team in the East, with a somewhat dynamic Rose and a frontline of the Gods in today’s age of the big man. Oh, and let’s not forget the new best perimeter scorer on the Bulls, Jimmy Butler. The Bulls also have West-like depth, which most teams in the East
I like to think of the Hawks as the Eastern Conference version of the Spurs. Their coach is from the tree of Pop, they move the ball like crazy, and they have all five starters averaging at least 12 a game. Jeff Teague is starting to live up to potential and I would put a whole lot of money I don’t have on either Horford or Millsap being “Biggest All-Star Reserve Snub.”
Can we put more Hawks games on TV?
I am not going to sit here and try to convince you that the East has gone from a laughing stock to being better from top to bottom in one season, but the gap is shrinking, at least at the top.
@JAjimbojr
jw331813@ohio.edu
