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all right, Let's have now where we saw the emergence of both the Sixers and the Nets in the first half.
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Paul.
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How many teams have a legitimate shot of winning the East?
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And how do you rank them?
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Uh, it's the Nets, the Nets.
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I mean, look at what they do.
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I said 7600 bucks, but when I look at them, they haven't had Durant.
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They have a Kyrie.
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Hard has been the one concert they have since he's made the trade.
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And that's why I haven't been the NDP conversation.
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But can you imagine when they get all three healthy and get some games under they built?
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I believe they've only played, like seven games together.
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Yes, I mean, come on.
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And they're still winning games there.
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Half game out of first place without all three of them.
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Only playing seven games.
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And you talked about Utah playing the most difficult part of their schedule, right?
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Utah has had one of the hardest strength of schedule up until this point put, the thing about the Brooklyn Nets is that their record versus teams over 500 is monstrous.
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It's like 12 and two or something absurd And so I still think the Nets are the team to beat.
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I think the 76 ers and then obviously I do believe the Bucks are team that if they were to make it to the final, nobody is going to be sitting up here on this panel being like, How did that happen?
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It's like, Hey, they made some shots.
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They did well, say hot.
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At that end, I will be a You know, a lot of different variations can happen, but it's it's It's really the Brooklyn Nets to lose, and I won't quite give them the championship to lose.
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But it's their conference to lose.
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And so the Brooklyn Nets are the team to beat.
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Not surprisingly, when you have three players of that caliber on the roster now I want to note that you guys picked four teams in the West, but only three teams in the East, and that's because the Eastern Conference France.
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There's a lot of parody.
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That's the nice way to say that after the top three teams, the Eastern Conference has been where mediocrity lives.
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As Zach Lowe tried to coin a new slogan yesterday, I don't think the NBA is adopting that just four of the 15 teams are above 500 entering Wednesday, which is on pace to be tied for the lowest percentage of over 500 East teams entering the All Star break since the merger people in 1977.
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That is a long time ago.
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Richard.
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How many teams do you expect to finish above 500 this season in East?
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I'm gonna say, five.
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I'm gonna say five.
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Understand that this optimist?
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Well, this is not a normal year, and I'm an Eastern Conference guy For the most part, I played the majority of my career there.
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Paul.
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Same way is that Look, understand this.
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Toronto, one of the historically best teams, is playing in Tampa, right, like there's a lot of different things going on in the Eastern Conference.
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It's just making this a little bit more difficult.
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I think the teams are better than their record is like we set up here and ask if it was like panic time for Boston, because they were in the seventh spot two days later, there in the fourth spot in there above 500.
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So there's like a seven way tie for fourth at one point statistically 24 hours.
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So, yeah, I just think that there's going to be five teams.
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At the end of the day.
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They will start separating themselves as you get down the stretch.
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And this is why I say, to crown a true champion, you take a listen.
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Boston is in the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
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You see, there will be if they were one through 16 1 through 16, they'll be out the playoffs.
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They'll be out the playoffs in the Western Conference right now.
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Don't start that conference.
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That one through 16 would be the best in the world.
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You got to put the best 16 teams do it.
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I don't understand.
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Where do you understand what happens when it rains in L.
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A.
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Everyone starts with this, like crazy stuff.
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13 16.
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2 teams in the East is going to start going to make the playoffs MVP, an offensive player in the M V P.
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That's not the best player in the world.
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No, no, look, this is and I'll just say it again because people maybe don't know.
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This is not like a commissioner's decision.
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The owners would have to vote.
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I believe it's like a two thirds or three quarter majority, which means you have to have a chunk of Eastern Conference owners basically voting themselves out of the playoffs.
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And it's not just in terms of their fans.
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Wouldn't have as much fun or their players wouldn't get the experience.
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There is playoff money on the line, and so that tells you travel with it will never have to travel with a lot of things You have to change.
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Travel wouldn't play each other four times.
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In the same way.
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You have to change a lot of things.
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Thank you.
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