EASTERN CONFERENCE is WIDE OPEN | Carmelo Anthony breaks it down

EASTERN CONFERENCE is WIDE OPEN | Carmelo Anthony breaks it down

The NBA season is around the corner. God, I can’t believe it. Yeah. Okay. As a as an NBA analyst, take machine analyst work. Like, what what are we looking forward to the quote cards quoting? Are you going to be plastered on our Instagram? Carmelo Anthony says, “No, I’m not a hot takes guy.” Okay. I’m a perspective guy. Okay. You know, I I I tell my story and I give you my why, right? We we have this thing where we don’t and we don’t do it here either, right? But it’s like we don’t we don’t say things on air that we can’t say to you in your face. So that you know we establish that early. So now it just we can talk the game, we could talk basketball. We ain’t talking character. We we speaking actual facts and we speaking the actual game and things that happen within the game. Mindset, you know, I like to speak about the mindset of the game. What it’s like coming into New York to play the Knicks when they on an eightgame winning streak, right? and you got a chance to stop that industry. Like that type of those type of conversations is like my perspective on on this. So obviously we’re in New York y’all. The amount of people that have said to me it’s a bus year or bus. Championship or bus for New York and Cleveland. Honestly, coming out of the East, how you feeling about it? Cleveland is do or die. I don’t feel like the Knicks are do or die yet. Cleveland is do or die. You won 64 games last year, right? You done hit the wall three times. You hit the same wall three times, right? You can’t get over the wall for whatever reason. You hit the wall three times. You can’t hit the same wall three times and don’t make adjustments. You just can’t do that. You come back, you went 64 games last year. They say you get punked by Indie, right? That’s what’s going on. You going into this off season reading, hearing everything because you ain’t cut your phone off. You online. You see what’s going on. You see what’s happening. Mental toughness. Where’s our mental toughness? They can’t do nothing better than they did last. They defend. They They do everything. They score. They shoot. They defend. Score in a bunch of ways. Yeah. Number one team in the East. So now the tweak that you come back with is And Kenny Atinson, coach said, “We about to make some tweaks. I’m making little tweaks.” Okay. The tweaks is the mentality like are we mentally tough to to win 64 games again this year but do the same thing in the postseason? Can we sustain that mental toughness throughout the postseason? Right. What is what is Moy going to do? What’s the step Mobly going to do? Cuz if Moy go from 18 to 23, he’s an MVP candidate. I think he’s the guy that is has the most to do with their success this year. I think Donovan Mitchell can take you only so far. as great as he is, he’s spectacular player. I just seen in the la two of the last three years, he’s run out of gas simply. And as good as he is, I think for them to take that next level, Evan Mobley has to be the guy. Like, he has to be the dude who makes that Anthony Davis type leap where he’s like, “Yo, as long as he’s on the court, you have a tough time of beating that team because he does everything on the court. He can defend more. He’s the better defender, a more capable scorer, could stretch the floor out, all that type of stuff.” And then now you still have Donovan Mitchell being a a very good scorer, a guy you can go through in crunch time. You got Lonzo Ball who I loved as a pickup coming off the bench. You know what I mean? I think Lonzo Ball is the key. I think I think a healthy Lonzo Ball helps them a lot. The key though, he’s a major key to success more than the key. Like X factor key is all the same. All the same. How much he playing? How much he playing? How many minutes he gonna average this year? He not gonna play back to back. So we know that back to backs is out. out. All right. Lonzo Ball play 20 something minutes a game. I got 18. I got less than 20. 20 something a game. You play 22. You play 22 minutes a game. You don’t think he play 22? You got it. He’s healthy enough. I The reason why I’m saying Lonzo tell us please Lonzo what he brings what he brings to the game. Yeah. Right. He could defend. He’s a 66 point guard. His his IQ is is is up there with the best of them in the NBA. Right. General He sees everything. He’s a floor general. He can score the basketball if he have to. Now, he got to be a little more consistent with his shot. But if we get 70% 60 70% of Lonzo ball of what we know he can do, his capabilities, that Cleveland team is dangerous. On top of Mobly taking that that leap, he got to take that he got to take that next step. I think I think it’s two parts for Moy. Moy had if Mobly get that Trey ball if he get the Trey ball down pack he’s unstoppable. He could do all that with me. My thing about Hold up. My thing about Moley is is he tough enough to go through this and want that? Do he really do he want that from a from a toughness standpoint? Do Cleveland want it from a toughness stand? I mean, he he has to at this point cuz as good as he is looking at that Eastern Conference, you’re going to have to either deal with Towns who has a lot to prove. You got Ben Carroll who is in Orlando who I think is going to be really good. You got the Detroit Pistons who are just physical for sure from top to bottom. I got them three. You got What’s up? You got three. I got uh uh Detroit. I I think Orlando and Detroit three four as as the as a you know one of the three resident Nick fans here three four as far as Eastern Conference teams that I worry about Orlando Detroit the the two teams I look at like% they’re going to be an issue they’re definitely going to be an issue um as long as they stay healthy yeah if you watch last year you know that’s coming the one the one I think would have been better last year if they were healthy I think who you say I think the one that’s sneaky this year is Atlanta so we okay all right I I I have to I have to wealth. I I agree with you if I want you to continue speaking on on that, elaborating on that. But I want to say I agree with you. I just I think Trey going to be what it is, whatever. But I do think that the organization has shown you got to get in line cuz we already we paid Quinn. Yeah. I like the type of athletes they have. They got versatile. They got size. If Trey is playing good ball and not shooting you out of a basketball game, they going to run the floor. They have the ability to defend like they got to me they got a bunch of prototypes have multiple positions now I don’t know how beautiful the offense is going to be but they should be able to defend in my mind Atlanta is going to be the the sleeper team in the east like just to me because to your point they have they have the length on the defensive line right they Daniels uh Johnson KP you know you you allow you put them four around Trey and just let Trey go out there and and and and do what he do on the defenseive event. Now Trey have protection now. He can take a little bit. All them gamles that he take. Yeah. He He can do that. Yeah. With them guys back there in the paint defending passing lanes and those guys is actually really good. I also Daniels is nice. I think I think Johnson is nice. I love Johnson. Johnson’s really good, but I think Porzingis for the past several years like his impact is so like I think it’s a little understated, right? Like the Celtics were already good. When they got Porzingis, that put them over the top. It was like they are difficult to be. Not just cuz the numbers, I don’t think the numbers really tell the entire story of how effective KP is, but what he does on the court as far as like blocking shots, stretching the floor, giving those wings ability uh uh space to to operate out there, like him just being healthy and able on that court changes that dynamic of any team he’s on. Yeah, they going to defend, man. They know, man. like being healthy and able to be good. So, hear me out though, too, y’all. I think that I don’t think Boston’s going to be bad. Like, I still think Boston has the potential to I think Boston’s going to be [ __ ] up. They’re going to be lucky as hell. I think I again I I love your take. I’m not saying champions, but like you can’t ignore them. They’re not going to Boston is going to be as bad. No, I don’t think we’re giving them. This gives this year is an opportunity for JB and Derek White, but for JB and to put that white hat on. Yeah. You’ve been wanting it. You’ve been wanting to be that guy. Here’s your opportunity to see if you can lead a team because we haven’t seen it yet. That’s not taking nothing away from your game, but here’s an opportunity. It’s unfortunate that this is how you got it. But now you get an opportunity to step over and drive and drive the truck. Now you was driving on some day. You was driving the truck on certain days. You had the keys. Now you have to drive the truck. Responsibilities too. You already had a trip. You you know him. Does he want that role? I think he want I think he want that. So I think I think it’s the best. I believe in JB. I believe in JB. I think it’s the best role ro world ro world ro world ro world ro world ro world ro world ro world ro world ro world role to be in because one like I said the expectations are lower there’s no Jason tatum everybody like the team is gonna be completely different for him I’m saying they’re already sort of there is no I don’t think there’s any realistic expectations of Celtics championships like there were in the past three four years right as good as tatum is and we all look at him as the white hat of the Boston Celtics as great as he is he’s always had Jaylen Brown next to him so I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to see if he could truly be the white hat on his Why not? But why? Why not? Because why not? Why not? Because you already feel you feel like there’s there you know that you splitting the white hat over there anyway. But yeah, but you already feel that way. Not in a negative way, but you the guy too. Like let’s not downplay that. You that [ __ ] So if I got opportunity to show the world that I can lead this, then there’s opportunities later. You get what I’m saying? If if that if that opportunity arrives where you have to go somewhere else and lead a team, this is your auditioning to show the league that you could be the number one. You could be the number one guy and lead a team. He’s getting paid a super max. I hope I hope he’s I hope the league knows what he’s getting of Super Max along with another super. You get what I’m saying? You got two Superman that’s going Let’s keep it a When they show the commercial on TV, they’re showing Jason Tatum. You know what I’m saying? and like Luka Don right as much as it doesn’t like they not showing Derek White. Yeah, that’s no disrespect to him. They not showing Anthony Sammon Simons. They not showing those guys when the when we go NBA Showtime Jaylen Brown. You get what I’m saying? We Jaylen Brown. So this is your opportunity to do what you do. I’m excited for I’m excited for him to be in that role. You mentioned Efanie Simons, right? He’s probably I think Yeah, like he’s a guy who scored a lot very well for Portland. He’s going to Boston. There’s an opportunity for him to really like rise as a player. Boston a got no big who they bigs though. They I like I have no idea at Golden State. I think um what they got I think they lost the big boy. Bobby from Toronto. Oh, Bush Bush. Yeah. They got Bobby Salid. Okay. Bobby Bush. Uh okay. We we got off on the East, but we we we ran off our Knicks tangent when we were talking about the Cavs. We didn’t get to the Cavs. We talked Celtics, but we haven’t talked Knicks yet. We didn’t get to the Nick. I I do think the Knicks have an opportunity to win it. Win it all. Yeah. My predict I don’t I don’t want to predict. I I can see a scenario where Knicks Denver is in the finals. Like I can see that scenario. the Knicks. It is a it is a do or die situation in a sense. Not not as much as Cleveland though, right? Like we still got a little bit room to wiggle, you know, you know, if if we want to go make a trade to really go after, but right now we are in prime position to win a NBA championship. We stuck to the plan. We believed in Leon. We believed in a four, five year plan. This is where we bubble at right now. We got our team. We got the bench now with Brogden and Clarkson and and and and Frenchie. Uh no, he not even French already. He not even Dominican. Wait, who? Yelli. No, we got a [ __ ] He didn’t tell me that, but maybe Mitchell Robinson is he looking lean. You get what I’m saying? He got a new farm. He eating well. He doing his thing. You get what I’m saying? So he on the right path. So if we could get that Mitchell Robinson, a healthy Mitchell Robinson, the Knicks is there. I’m taking it a step further. The Knicks have to win it all this year. We don’t have to. They have to win it all this year. I know. I know we all have that to the finals, bro. We have that innate New York like pessimism in us where it’s like, ah, we want to like give ourselves a little space just in case it doesn’t happen. I’m like, nah. Emotional cushion. This has to be the every NBA champion we’ve seen in the past several years have knocked on the doors for the past several years like one year they have a good playoff run. Then it’s like get to the conference finals, then they make it to the finals. It’s like every what the the the Celtics did it. They were knocking on door for a while. Nuggets, they were knocking on the door for a while. They got it. The Warriors were always the Warriors, but still like it’s always been a progression. The Knicks have been under that same progression. We wasn’t knocking on the door. They were in the conference finals last year. wasn’t knocking on the door knock that was your first real knock something sat in the whatever finals or the semiinal to be fair they had to go against you know Miami Braun for some of those as well and Cleveland Brawn like that’s so canon those years that LeBron ran the East like I don’t even look at those as like real years for the Eastern Conference I’m talking about since he left everybody who’s come out of there has been a team that’s been knocking on it for a while and the Knicks are purposely uh currently positioned as that team. The Pacers aren’t going to be healthy. The Celtics aren’t going to be healthy. Those are the last two teams that knocked you out. Now you have not just the team that you got there with to the conference finals, but you have a retoolled bench. You got guys who have taken less money to say like, I’m going to make an opportunity here with the Malcolm Brogdens, Jordan Clarkson’s, Yabules, like all these guys who are primed in their role. And you have two bonafide allstar, all NBA guys on your team. There is no reason why you shouldn’t win an NBA championship. You have everything that any other contender has right now. I agree with you. I mean, I I I agree with you. I just don’t think I think the Knicks is there. We We made plays. They are there to to get us there. And like I said, I have the Knicks, Denver. You know, the ball’s got to bounce a certain way. And there’s a there’s a scenario where that can happen. This is my You have to get over the hump, though. You have to you have to get past Cleveland because Cleveland is thinking the same thing. This is our time to do it. So, it’s gonna be a clash. And c could we get over the Cleveland, right? Can we get over that? Right. Can we win 64 games? Can we have a dominant season? Yes, I think the Knicks can. I think so. And even if they don’t, I think in the playoffs against Cleveland, bro, Cleveland is the Knicks version of the Minnesota Twins to the Yankees. Like no matter what happens. Yeah, bro. Like if we seen you in the playoffs, you getting cooked no matter what, bro. Like the games might be good, but like bro, unless Darius Garland and Evan Mo and Evan Mobley show me something different in the postseason, I’m not buying. So that’s that’s personally thinking the wrong nemesis for the Knicks. Cleveland Detroit almost took them out last year. I’m just saying Cleveland won 64 and they goal is to they are do or die right there. Right. Right. They know this is this is four times like that we haven’t we have put this thing together. We we’ve been knocking on the door in Cleveland. The Knicks haven’t been knocking on the door like that. So we still have a little bit of we have to get to the finals. We have to get out the East. I agree with that. Right. But Detroit is the team to her point. Detroit is the team that is scary. Not just in the East in the whole NBA. Yeah. I think Kate Cunningham is they realize they know what we can do. Like they now believe before last year they was just hooping, excited to be there. Now they know what they got. They know that they’re the new young core, the new young group in this in this league and they not afraid at all. Toughness. So if they meet up with Cleveland, this is what I like. We start talking about toughness now. Yeah. Orlando also, that’s another team I want to mention. But but I I don’t I don’t think and this is basketball talk, not nobody’s like I don’t think Orlando’s offense is smart enough for a postseason run. I don’t I don’t think there’s enough there. I talked to Cory Desmond who we love. I like Desmond Bane. Now that could be interesting. But he he has been with Paulo since now he was a kid and he was kind of like I’m from somebody that knows him. I’m seeing him him revert to bad habits because that offense is not enough like it’s not enough happening to get into a postseason. The Knicks like it was easy for the Knicks to game easy but they felt confident game planning for them defensively. The key to Orlando is sucks. Yeah, Jaylen Suggs is healthy. Orlando is a different different team. Different team. Fran Wagner is he’s Yeah. coming off a hell of a summer. his confidence is, you know, his confidence is certain nice FRS look like the best player that now we got to start now we got to start doing the same thing that we was doing with a to Paulo right he’s in that class now to you that curve slow down I’m asking what no you ask young young young who have an opportunity to take a major leap right this is the year that Paulo has to take that major major leap you already established yourself as the type of player that you’re going to be. Now, let’s let’s let’s tighten that up. Let’s get this a different mentality. Y’all got to They got a team now. Yeah, they got a good coach with with Coach M down there. Bane coming over there was a was a hell of a pickup. Jaylen S will be healthy. Mhm. Like Paulo is is in a he’s in a prime position to take that next step. I’m not saying win the East or anything like that, but you got to go from 78 to top three in the conversation. You know, I don’t think they’re going to take the East. I believe I believe they going to be they going to be like how we looked at Detroit last top four teams in the East. Top four teams, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, and that fourth is between either Orlando or Atlanta. I probably lean towards Orlando just because I like France Vagner a lot. like he gave he was hurt a lot of the year but when he was on there he g he made that team more complete and I think the guard lock jen that they had last year they got co anony’s in Milwaukee now so like Suggs is your guy and you brought in good bro and s is really good and you got Bane who was a grown-up who was like somebody who could like you talk about you know not having a smart enough offense like that’s an adult in the in the offense right there they got firepower man Orlando got fire power you just got to pay attention if you look at they rosy, you be like, “Oh shit.” Like, “Oh, they Oh, okay. They tough on paper.” Yeah. Yeah. If I can count on Porzinger’s health, I might have him in my I don’t think I don’t think I don’t think Orlando is ready to I don’t think Orlando is ready to beat New York or Cleveland yet. N I would put Atlanta in my top four before I put Orlando. Personally, if KP’s healthy, if he’s healthy, I’m with you. Hit that part. If he’s healthy, I’m with you. But I just Well, if he get the flu or some [ __ ] Yeah. Like if he got another mystery illness, it’s like I don’t know. Yo, he got tonsillitis. He’s out for the season. What, bro? Nah, we not I’m I’m out. [Music]

Carmelo Anthony, Mero, Monica McNutt, and Kazeem Famuyide break down the NBA’s Eastern Conference on 7PM in Brooklyn, from the Knicks and Cavaliers to Boston’s next move and a surprise Top 4.

#NBA #Knicks #CarmeloAnthony #Cavaliers #Celtics #NBA2025 #7PMinBrooklyn
.
.
.
New episodes drop weekly.

Subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for all the best moments from the show.

Download the full podcast here:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4sEy5p87mJ002F3NGsKIpq

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/7pm-in-brooklyn-with-carmelo-anthony/id1719570183

Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6f088d77-2522-4c50-8d49-2792070534c8/7pm-in-brooklyn-with-carmelo-anthony

Follow 7PM in Brooklyn on Social Media: https://lnk.to/7PMInBrooklyn