For the past four years, the NBA Eastern Conference has been, to put it lightly, a joke. Only one season out of these four have all eight playoff teams had a record more than .500, with the eighth seed in each of the last two seasons finishing with a 38-44 record. The East was not only dominated by a few select teams, but lacked talent, experience and legitimate contenders.
Over the course of the last six months, all that has changed. The Eastern Conference as we knew it was gone, shattered once again by the greatest player in the league. LeBron James took his talents out of South Beach and the prodigal son returned, giving life to a team that had been gasping for air since his departure three years ago.
Contenders in the Wide-Open NBA Eastern Conference
What LeBron James was probably aware of, and what has become painfully obvious over these first few weeks of the NBA season, is that this change means a lot of work for the Cavaliers. As we’ve seen, even the greatest player in the world can’t win entirely on his own, and the lack of depth and chemistry has the Cavs faltering early.
This isn’t about what the Cavs need to do to fix things. This isn’t about how James needs to step up as a leader, Kyrie Irving needs to be a better point guard, Kevin Love needs to be more assertive and the bench needs to step up more. If James has shown us anything over the course of his career, it is that although the beginning might be a little shaky, things will come together, and when they do they will be spectacular. Just look at what he did with the Heat. No, this is giving notice to the rest of the East that the timing could not be more perfect to take charge of the conference.
While the Heat were ruling the Eastern Conference over the past few years, several young teams experienced a variety of growing pains. For the Washington Wizards; John Wall’s rookie season coincided with James’ first with the Heat. When Bradley Beal showed up two years later, this “House of Guards” backcourt became one of the best in the conference, if not the League, and began to form the core for a Wizards playoff team that are now contenders in the East. The same goes for the Toronto Raptors, who had to undergo some pretty ugly rebuilding years before making the playoffs last spring.
Currently, the Wizards and the Raptors are sitting pretty at the top of the East, and haven’t faced any stiff competition in their respective divisions so far. The Bulls are sitting in third, the Heat in fourth, with Atlanta and Milwaukee behind them. And sitting seventh in the conference? The mighty Cavaliers.
The Cavs will get it together, there’s no doubt about that. At some point the team will gel, LeBron James will regain his LeBron-ness, and the Cavs will wreak havoc on the East. From what we’ve seen, it’s only a matter of time. However, how much time that takes is still up for debate.
The teams in the East can’t wait for the Cavs to come together to turn it up a notch. Teams like the Raptors and Wizards have spent several seasons going through exactly what the Cavs are going through right now, and have moved past those struggles and into the successful part of the process. It would be a shame if they didn’t give it all they had right now. There isn’t time to wait; the East is there for the taking, especially this season. Who’s willing to step up and take it?
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