When you look at the NBA ‘s Eastern Conference, well first it hurts your eyes, then when you look at it again it hurts your everything. Seriously, look at the NBA playoff race in the East. It’s laughably bad. It’s high in unintentional comedy. Before the Atlanta Hawks won their last game, they were 12-12, and the #3 seed. Yes, a friggin #3 seed was only .500!!!
Your #4 seed Boston Celtics are under .500! Yes, a losing team projected to get home court advantage in the NBA playoffs. I’m not joking, And even though the Celts are going through a complete and total rebuild, (yes Brad Stevens has his hands full) they still lead their division.
The historically weak Atlantic division is all under .500, so it’s even worse than it usually is. And the East dominates the projected NBA Draft Lottery too. They comprise 80%, 8/10 of the worst teams in the NBA. Utah and Sacramento are the only exceptions. The Milwaukee Bucks bring up the rear as the worst team in the league; winning 21% of their games thus far. And the tenth slot, the Toronto Raptors would get the final NBA playoff spot out of the East; with a 40% winning percentage. So essentially going 2-3 all season gets you to the NBA playoffs, if you’re in the Eastern Conference.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also an analyst for multiple news talk radio stations across the country; with regular weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS Catch him Tuesdays talking Illini and Northwestern for KOZN 1620 The Zone, Fridays talking Chicago Bears for WAOR 95.7 The Fan