The Eastern Conference has been the NBA’s puddle of mud for the last decade. With exception to a couple seasons where LeBron James, Boston’s former big three, and Orlando’s adroit offense ruled the conference, it’s been uneventful.
Any professional league or organization that’s had the same team advancing to the Finals for four straight years (Miami) can get a bit tedious.
But, there’s a flip side to it.
Every time a conference is at an all-time low and there’s a wide gap of talent, you always get a foolish race for an eight seed. When teams know they’re going to finish below .500 and still continue to fight for the final playoff spot, it strikes people as a bit thoughtless. If a franchise owns their first-round draft selection for the following draft, why would you rather it be outside of the lottery (picks 1-14)?
Does it make any logical sense to give yourself zero percent at claiming the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft? Last season, the four worst teams in the league were Milwaukee (15-67), Philadelphia (19-63), Orlando (23-59), and Boston (25-57). What do all four have in common, besides being in the laughable East?
They all had a worse record than the team that claimed the No. 1 overall pick. Cleveland, which won 33 games last year, fell into the luckiest situation basketball has witnessed since the 1997 draft lottery.
The main element here is extremely simple: You don’t have to be a bottom-feeder to steal a top two or three pick. In fact, that rarely even works. Usually, teams that fight and crawl toward the playoffs and come up short … usually get rewarded. Perhaps it’s a gift from the basketball gods, or perhaps it’s just good karma. The American tagline has been the same since the early 1900’s. Hard work pays off.
In relation to this 2014-15 season, the East has been improved as a whole. Across the conference, all 15 teams have combined to win 354 games, and it indicates they’re on pace to win 577 for the entire season. It would be a bit more than last year’s total, which was 556. Give a round of applause for the Hawks, a re-surged unit that’s accounted for nearly 12 percent of the East’s win total.
But, there’s still going to be a fun jumble around the eight seed come April. It’s labeled “fun” because it includes five franchises struggling to stay alive, fighting for a playoff spot that doesn’t even matter.
As of Saturday, the East’s battle for the final postseason slot is a tight race:
- 8. Miami — 21-29
- 9. Brooklyn — 21-29
- 10. Detroit — 20-31
- 11. Boston — 19-31
- 12. Indiana — 19-32
All five teams are a combined 52 wins below .500, which is just criminal. Yet, Indiana is just 3.5 games back from the Heat for the eight seed, and two solid weeks without multiple losses would put the Pacers right on their tails.
Losers in nine of their last 13 games, the Pacers have been faced with the most inconsistent health issues since October. Once it was known that Paul George would miss the entire season, Larry Bird didn’t foresee David West missing over a month. He didn’t foresee George Hill missing 39 of Indiana’s 51 games thus far.
Nobody has dealt them a fair hand this year, so perhaps they’re trying to prove a statement. It seems as if just “being there” in the playoff mix without George’s supreme talent is their way of proving next season is a rude awakening. Just being a seven or eight seed this April would be their way of saying “Next year, there’s someone else you have to deal with.”
From what we’ve seen from Indiana in the last week, is it plausible they could contend for the eight seed?
Next: Signs Against Cleveland