00:00out of patience be perfectly honest with you i'm running out i mean i don't know why they need
00:04quite this much time everything happened on the weekend saturday and sunday it's not like there's
00:09been anything it's it's strange like there used to be kind of the you know your reward so to speak
00:16for not being named an all-star even though everyone wants to be named an all-star as you
00:20do get that elongated break but now if you're gonna have the all-star stuff happening over the
00:25course of friday saturday sunday but then still not resume your season until thursday it sort of
00:30feels like we're giving the all-stars a break as well and that's just disingenuous to the process
00:35i don't like it get back to work yeah i i think it must have been collectively bargained in their
00:41cba
00:41i'm sure yeah because what i remember in in the all-star game was the teams played monday tuesday
00:47wednesday and then there was like usually two games on a thursday and that was it and then friday saturday
00:53sunday were the games and then by the way monday a couple of teams played and that was it and
00:57then
00:58everybody was back tuesday but you're right this is way more extended so let's take a look at the
01:02first half let's look at the eastern car more than the first half obviously these teams have played
01:0750 some odd games but eastern conference here detroit pound for pound the most consistent team in the nba
01:12this season uh without a doubt even more so maybe than oklahoma city oklahoma city the best team but
01:18detroit the most consistent they just never really had a bad streak in them 40 and 13 on the year
01:24and
01:24then boston is right there with 35 wins so were the knicks the calves have come on strong you have
01:28toronto and then you also have philadelphia so i i guess most folks think that if you i don't know
01:35if you include cleveland in this race for the east as well some people think yes some people think no
01:39some folks think it is detroit boston and new york to win the east do you feel that way or
01:44is
01:44cleveland potentially in the mix as well i think cleveland's in the mix simply because they've
01:50improved ever so slightly very small sample size obviously since getting rid of darius garland who
01:56for whatever reason it just it wasn't working with him this year and i know he's been a big part
02:01of what
02:01they've done in the past but i was looking at numbers earlier and i think 21 and 8 something along
02:06those lines this year without him whereas a 500 record with him so they get rid of him they bring
02:12in
02:12james harden who as we know is this just perennial loser in terms of you know not accomplishing things
02:18at the highest levels of the nba on a team level individually of course he's done basically everything
02:24one could do but on a team level he hasn't and now there's a little bit of you know team
02:29hopping
02:30whether it's ring chasing or just being disgruntled in his various environments hard for me to say
02:34but the calves are off to a 3-0 start since his arrival so you know evan mobley should be
02:40coming
02:40back from his injury soon as well if they can string wins together if the nixon celtics continue to
02:48vie as they are obviously for the atlantic you know i think that you know ultimately while the
02:54calves do belong in the conversation the pistons are the team to look at because you brought it up
02:58in in comparison to the thunder okc got off to that otherworldly start 24 and 1 whatever it was
03:05despite the fact that the thunder really haven't been fully healthy all year long there's just
03:11every game it feels like there's somebody influential or multiple somebodies who are
03:16out of the lineup so we still haven't seen okc 50 plus games into the year at their best the
03:22championship version that they were last year and in spite of all of that still have an incredible
03:27record off the hot start and you know they've come back down to earth of late but feels like those
03:33are the two teams if you're thinking about and this goes back to your original question in terms of
03:37winning the east who's going to have the most wins in the nba i think the pistons just based on
03:42what
03:42they're doing and what a tough out they are they're worthy of an investment they're worthy of a thought
03:47at plus money and so if we're going to feel that way about them as compared to okc certainly when
03:53you're looking at the east individually you have to say this is still detroit's conference to lose now
03:59all of that being said i'm purely talking about the regular season and who's the one seed when it comes
04:04to the playoffs at that point in a series anything can happen and i'm not including some of the bottom
04:11feeders the play in tournament teams or even teams that are sitting there you know let's say five
04:15through eight necessarily but you're one through four if jason tatum does come back for boston if the
04:21calves the pistons can stay healthy if the knicks you know are just continually a team that you know
04:28really has a a lot of tenacity and physicality and aggression and all of that stuff and just
04:34continues to be again a tough out to use that phrase there's you know even any of those four
04:39teams ultimately could represent the eastern conference agreed now in the west it's maybe a
04:46little bit more clear cut as far as who can win the conference because oklahoma city is the best team
04:52and the spurs have had their number if you want to take a step beyond that denver with yokich obviously
04:58would be much better than 35 and 20 on the season that's kind of where they are and i don't
05:03really
05:03think anybody thinks that houston is going to win the conference could they upset someone and get to
05:07the western conference finals yes i think that's in play then you have the lakers and the timberwolves and
05:11i think i have a ton of confidence of them winning the conference so i can't rule out denver
05:16they have arguably the best or second best player in the nba and the spurs have the number of the
05:22thunder so is it worth a dart throat just taking san antonio and hoping they face oklahoma city because
05:27i think denver by the way would beat san antonio in the west to your point if we're talking about
05:32who
05:33ultimately wins the west in the playoffs reaches the nba finals to me it is those three teams you know
05:38i'm kind of in the wake of this kevin durant burner stuff going on waiting for the houston rockets to
05:44implode i don't take the lakers all that seriously to me they're just too old and then the timberwolves
05:49yeah they've been the western conference finals each of the last couple of years but there's just
05:53only so much anthony edwards is going to be able to do not on his own there's other players on
05:59that
05:59team of talent i realize but it's still it's a top heavy conference and that top tier are those three
06:06teams that you mentioned and so oklahoma city to me and i would think to anyone is still the rightful
06:13favorite to win that conference and and win the championship for that matter and repeat
06:18if it can get healthy at the right time we just we haven't seen it again jalen williams missed a
06:24huge
06:24stretch to begin the year now we've seen sga out or home grin out and on and on they're not
06:29themselves have yet despite the record and you outlined it and i brought this up a number of times
06:34before as well for whatever reason san antonio wemby or no wemby they have just owned oklahoma city
06:42there's just something about this matchup that goes you know beyond the alien that they have been
06:47able to have their number and control and then when it comes to yokich i mean i thought oklahoma city
06:53was going to lose to denver in the playoffs last year and i'm i'm almost always you know just going
06:58to lean in pretty heavily on yokich and the nuggets so long as he has some representative pieces around
07:05him because again he is the best player in the nba he's not the mvp this year but to me
07:09he is the best
07:10player in the nba and i'm just never going to count a team that is led by yokich out and
07:15so
07:16i i think it's tough i think it's really tough to watch those three teams you know potentially
07:20beat the hell out of each other now if you do want to lean in on the the old phil
07:24phil jackson adage of
07:26you know within the modern era the 40 20 rule and teams you know if you're a legit contender you
07:31have
07:32to win 40 games before you lose 20 it narrows the field tremendously you know we've only seen teams
07:38without that benchmark win four titles during the modern era and really all of them if you look at
07:44them outliers the teams this year just a quick peek at the standings oklahoma city is already qualified
07:50detroit as well both those teams have 140 plus while losing in the teens san antonio at 38 and 16
07:56should
07:57get there and then boston who needs a winning streak here at uh 35 and 19 needs a 5 and
08:030 start to the
08:04second half to qualify as well but we're only talking about three or four teams that according
08:09to that rule barring outlier is a a realistic champion come the the early part of the summer
08:17nba's mvp adam down the stretch we go here uh sga is minus 190 so naturally it looks like it's
08:26his
08:27to lose but given the amount of games that he's missing still a little dicey to think that he could
08:32win this thing if he misses i don't know another eight to ten more games then you have yokich who
08:36is back at three to one i think it's going to be one of those two well that's what it
08:40is it down to
08:41injury with this you know new requirement in the last couple of years that you have to play 65 games
08:47to qualify when yokich returned sooner than i thought he would i invested yokich at five to one
08:52like you said it's three to one right now that to me just felt like a good number for a
08:56dart throw if
08:57he misses any stretch of games that bet is dead because he won't play in enough games and if
09:01he continues to miss time that's a problem as well if he does now if he doesn't pardon me he's
09:08absolutely the mvp if he doesn't you got a wide open field there thanks adam for coming on we'll talk
09:14soon
Comments