Best In The East?
The Chicago Bulls, the Toronto Raptors, the Atlanta Hawks. The three top teams in the NBA East all have a case for being considered the best team in their Conference.
What is also interesting is who is not in the conversation.
The Washington Wizards are only three games behind and a real case can be made that they should be in the conversation as to who the best team in the East is. With Paul Pierce leading the way Washington is slowly working their way into the conversation, but they are not their yet.
The elephant in the room that is missing from the conversation is the Cleveland Cavilers. While they have showed sparks of greatness, this teams still needs to learn to mesh, and it is still questionable whether or not adding more big name players (J.R. Smith) to the equation is the solution.
Right now the Cavs are six game behind. They are barely clinging to a .500 winning record, and they clearly still have a lot of work to do.
So when discussing the best team in the East, let’s start with the team that should be the best in the East but sits at No. 2, the Bulls.
Chicago currently has the best odds in the NBA at winning a Championship at 5/1, tied with the Golden State Warriors.They are only a fraction behind the Atlanta Hawks in the standings, as well.
Pau Gasol is playing like he is five years younger, racking up blocks and rebounds, which is exactly what the Bulls picked him up for. Jimmy Butler is proving to be the x-factor the Bulls needed to win.
Derrick Rose is not having an MVP-caliber season, but he is playing well enough. Butler, on the other hand, is averaging 21.9 points 6.2 rebounds a game. Those numbers are MVP-caliber. With the Bulls coming off a win against the one of the West’s toughest, Houston Rockets, they are well on their way to being the team to beat in the East.
The Raptors cannot seem to get back in this conversation, unfortunately. With losses to the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns recently, their January is beginning to resemble their December where they struggled to win a game after sitting atop the East for most of the season.
Their regression coincides with the loss of DeMar DeRozan, which will soon be a non-issue as he is expected to make his return to action this week. We shall see if that puts them back atop the East.
The Hawks currently sit atop the East and are only a half a game from have the best record in the entire NBA. Atlanta has not really been in the championship conversation since the ’90s and they are currently on pace to win a franchise record 62 games.
The Hawks will get a big test with games against the Trail Blazers, LA Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies on the horizon, but if they pass those tests, bettors may want to jump on the Hawks bandwagon sooner rather than later.
