The Beasts of the East
David Andrews
David Andrews
Nowadays, the NBA has been so jammed packed with talent that its forced teams to either stock up on superstars, in their attempt to catch up with the best of the best, or give up all their assets in hopes of acquiring some young talent for the future. As a result, it has caused many people around the NBA to lose interest in the sport as a whole. Spurs head coach, Gregg Popovich, even made the argument that the era of basketball we live in now has ruined the game entirely saying, “there's no basketball anymore, there's no beauty in it,” and, to an extent, many of Hillgrove’s students agree with him.
In recent years, the league has been so lopsided, in terms of talent, that teams without at least two superstars have struggled to make the playoffs or even come close to it. Teams that would easily make the playoffs in the east, have fallen short year after year because of there being so much talent in the west.
This year the west has gotten so competitive that almost every team, with exception of one, has a chance of making the playoffs and maybe even a run for the western conference championship. In fact, the team that had the best record in the league last year, the Houston Rockets, are currently second to last in the western conference. This shows just how competitive it is in the west, but why does the east have such little competition? Some people have even made the argument that, the only thing that kept the east relevant was the fact that LeBron was there, but this year is different. Now that he has made his way to the west and joined the Lakers, the entire landscape of the league has changed, and we finally get to see if those “eight straight finals appearances” of his, that everyone has been raving about, were an actual testament of his greatness or just a lack of talent in the east.
So many teams come to mind when you think of the new “beast of the east”, but the main one that people were talking about over the summer were the Celtics. The Celtics managed to take the LeBron led Cavaliers to seven games without their two best players, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. This alone proved that they were next up in the east, whether LeBron was there or not, but there were teams that thought otherwise. As a result of fans like us making so many foregone conclusions, teams like the Raptors, the 76ers, and the Bucks all made changes to their teams in their attempt to prove us wrong.
The Raptors traded all star guard Demar Derozan in exchange for Kawhi Leonard, and they have just been steamrolling through the east ever since. The 76ers acquired all star forward Jimmy Butler through trade as well and the entire dynamic of the team has changed. Now they have a go to scoring who can run pick-and-rolls with Joel Embiid and actually shoot the ball if necessary. Lastly, the Bucks added head coach Mike Budenholzer who has reinvigorated the entire offense to the point where it is no longer just the Giannes show.
Now that the east is wide open, after LeBron left, teams have stepped up to the plate and embraced the challenge of being the best team in the east. In what was thought to be the death of the eastern conference was the birth of the “beast of the east”.
In recent years, the league has been so lopsided, in terms of talent, that teams without at least two superstars have struggled to make the playoffs or even come close to it. Teams that would easily make the playoffs in the east, have fallen short year after year because of there being so much talent in the west.
This year the west has gotten so competitive that almost every team, with exception of one, has a chance of making the playoffs and maybe even a run for the western conference championship. In fact, the team that had the best record in the league last year, the Houston Rockets, are currently second to last in the western conference. This shows just how competitive it is in the west, but why does the east have such little competition? Some people have even made the argument that, the only thing that kept the east relevant was the fact that LeBron was there, but this year is different. Now that he has made his way to the west and joined the Lakers, the entire landscape of the league has changed, and we finally get to see if those “eight straight finals appearances” of his, that everyone has been raving about, were an actual testament of his greatness or just a lack of talent in the east.
So many teams come to mind when you think of the new “beast of the east”, but the main one that people were talking about over the summer were the Celtics. The Celtics managed to take the LeBron led Cavaliers to seven games without their two best players, Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving. This alone proved that they were next up in the east, whether LeBron was there or not, but there were teams that thought otherwise. As a result of fans like us making so many foregone conclusions, teams like the Raptors, the 76ers, and the Bucks all made changes to their teams in their attempt to prove us wrong.
The Raptors traded all star guard Demar Derozan in exchange for Kawhi Leonard, and they have just been steamrolling through the east ever since. The 76ers acquired all star forward Jimmy Butler through trade as well and the entire dynamic of the team has changed. Now they have a go to scoring who can run pick-and-rolls with Joel Embiid and actually shoot the ball if necessary. Lastly, the Bucks added head coach Mike Budenholzer who has reinvigorated the entire offense to the point where it is no longer just the Giannes show.
Now that the east is wide open, after LeBron left, teams have stepped up to the plate and embraced the challenge of being the best team in the east. In what was thought to be the death of the eastern conference was the birth of the “beast of the east”.