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Hard Screens Podcast: 2015-16 Eastern Conference Seeding

By Shane Young

Nov 21, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) dribbles the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) defends in the second quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 91-78. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 21, 2014; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) dribbles the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) defends in the second quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 91-78. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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Over the last five years, the NBA’s Eastern Conference has fell subject to unhealthy criticism. It failed to provide hefty competition throughout the league, especially in comparisons to the Western Conference — where you’re in tears every other night studying the next opponent.

Since the beginning of the 2013-14 regular season, the West has earned a total of 1,327 wins, which is an average of nearly 45 per team. On the contrary, the East has garnered only 1,133 wins, for an average of 37 per team.

Not only has it been atrocious, but the disparity quickly launched a load of debates on whether the NBA should shake up its conferences.

It’s actually a great thing everyone embraced patience, since the East appears to be accelerating in the right direction for 2015-16.

On today’s Hard Screens Podcast, I’m joined live (in-studio) by Cody Daniel, a fellow scribe for HoopsHabit.com who understands the doldrums of the East. Daniel has covered the Philadelphia 76ers for the site, although primarily focusing on the NCAA atmosphere lately. You can find his detailed, excellent work here.

We recorded this podcast with the intention of analyzing our projections for the 2016 Eastern Conference standings. Because the upper half of the conference is more intriguing, we decided to give our 1-8 seeds in the East (with projected win totals), along with deep discussions on each franchise.

For the first 25 minutes or so, however, we thought it would be fascinating to examine the 2015 draft choices by Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Since these are the two teams we cover on a weekly basis, it made perfect sense to raise the question:  “Did Los Angeles make the right decision at No. 2 overall in June’s draft?”  As you can imagine, it turned into a battle of “Jahlil Okafor vs. D’Angelo Russell,” which some may think is a silly concept to argue over.

Russell and Okafor are both 5-star players for the future, at least based on the evidence they supplied as NCAA freshmen.

So, who do I have with the eight highest records in the 2015-16 East?  How much does my partner differ?  How do we view the No. 2 and No. 3 overall picks leading up to their rookie campaigns?

Enjoy the show, as a lot is packed into one entertaining session!