One of the biggest narratives of the summer was how improved the Eastern Conference would be this season and that the Detroit Pistons may not have done enough to keep up.
Teams like Philly, Boston, Toronto, Cleveland and Indiana all added splashy names or had players returning from injury, and on paper, it looked like it would be a bloodbath.
This is why we saw nearly every national commentator pick the Pistons to take a step back, something the players heard, which put a big chip on their shoulder coming into the season.
Some of us weren’t as convinced, as Homer #1 (me) still picked the Pistons to win the East, and though that is far from being decided, it’s safe to say the East as a whole has not lived up to the hype so far.
The Eastern Conference is still not as good as the West
We haven’t even played 10 games yet, so to say it’s early days is an understatement, and outside of a few teams, everyone is still in it in the East.
But as of right now, there are only four teams in the East with winning records. You have the 76ers leading the way at 8-1, the Pistons and Celtics right behind at 6-2 and the Hawks in 4th place with a 5-4 record.
You then have three teams sitting at 4-4 in the Knicks, Wizards and Cavaliers, before getting to the whopping seven teams in the East with losing records.
The Bucks, Bulls and Nets are certifiably bad, so the idea that the East would be better because there are no “tankers” has not come to fruition, as these three teams have won just six games between them so far. They don't have to tank, they suck.
The Magic and Pacers fall into the “early catastrophic injury” group of teams that are missing their best players with injuries. Can they stay afloat while they wait for Haliburton, Banchero et al. to return?
The Heat and Hornets have been terrible and look like teams that are a year away from being truly competitive, though it’s hard to count out any team with Giannis on it. Miami could climb out of their 3-6 start, but they have no depth, and the early returns on the Giannis/Bam pairing haven’t been positive.
I’m certain we’ll see the Knicks and Cavaliers climb the standings, but that’s still only five good teams in the entire Eastern Conference, with the rest ranging from mediocre to plain bad.
Compare that to the West, where there are NINE teams with winning records right now and only four with losing records. Those four teams are all awful, but the West goes 11 deep with teams that could at least compete for the play-in.
This can and will change as we get deeper into the season, so the early sample size disclaimer applies, but so far, the East has not lived up to all the hype it was getting over the summer.
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