NBA Eastern Conference Win Total FULL REACTION 👀 | The Hoop Collective

NBA Eastern Conference Win Total FULL REACTION 👀 | The Hoop Collective

Hello and welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we are doing at a time that is not exactly recent. Let’s just be honest, it’s July. We’re It’s August. We’re just putting some stuff in. Uh some people are going on vacation. Joining me from Los Angeles, California, where he’s still working, is Tim Bontemps. Hello everybody. Joining us from the Pacific Northwest at a beautiful cabin in the woods is Bam McMahon. Howdy partners. Did some uh bioluminescent kayaking the night before we recorded this, so not not a whole lot. It sounds like it could have been um hallucinogenic uh aided. No, it could have been. It was not. Uh I did learn that there are some mushrooms that have bioluminescence in them actually. And one of which is even edible and not of the hallucinogenic kind. Also learned that the back seat of the kayak, the little tan kayaks where you control the rudders, uh 6’4 didn’t fit in that real well. So we had to have a we had to have a a midride shift. I see. Did was there any were there any bodies lost over the edge on the midride ship? That’s the case. No, no bodies lost, but uh one of my 12-year-olds learned several new words. Actually, no, he knows them all. He just heard I bet I bet he didn’t learn them. Um all right. So, today we are going to take a look at the ESPN. Look, now that the 90s something percent of the off season has uh has been completed, um the the overunder um win totals are updated by ESPN Bet and we’re going to take a look at the Eastern Conference and see how we think it’s going to shape up based on um the way uh ESPN Bet sees it. This is always a fun thing we do every year. So, we’ll start today with the Eastern Conference. Um and we’re just going to go straight down alphabetical order. I think that’s the best way to go. So, we’ll start with the Boston Celtics bonds. the Boston Celtics overunder for this upcoming season. The expectation is that Jason Tatum will be out for the entire year. They traded away um some key players. Drew Holiday at Chris Apps Porzingis. Jaylen Brown has the offseason knee surgery. Um is 43 and a half. I know Brad Stevens, their team president, said um you know recently when he uh when they gave an offseason update on their team, he said, “We’re still a playoff team.” And I think that’s true because the Eastern Conference is not super deep. Um, and this uh this overunder implies that the ESPN bet believes that they are still a playoff team with uh without Jason Tatum. Uh not to not to be uh not to to poke at you a bit, but if we’re going in alphabetical order, I think we skipped a team in Atlanta. Oh, the Atlanta Hawks. Yeah. Why? We could do Boston first. Uh I I mean you are correct. Uh that is okay. I am correct. A comes before B. I am aware. Well, no, he I see what he did. Jackson, what did you do? No, Jackson gave us Atlanta by division. It was my fault. Well, Jackson has alphabetical order by division in the I accept full responsibility. And because of that, I want to be held accountable. And Jackson, I would request that you do not edit that out. Well, also to make it easier, let’s go let’s go alphabetic by division because there’s no way we can put these now on the fly. Jackson just with some technological uh wizardry immediately fixed it. So, uh now it’s flipping. We’re going to start with the Celtics and then we’re going to do the Hawks. Yeah, that’s fine. Um so, yeah, I’m I’m doing some quick math here. So, Boston’s what? One, two, three, four, five. Yeah. So, they’re tied uh they’re tied for sixth with another team we’ll get to later. So, God, we’re figuring out alphabetical order and counting on the slide. This is getting off a roaring. Take a quick look at at where they sit. It’s early on the West Coast. Look, the the Celtics are in a weird spot obviously because they still do have a couple of really good players and then they also have some fairly giant holes on their roster. I mean, right now their center rotation is Xavier Tilman, Luke Garza, and Neimus Kada. Um, which is a bit of a drop off from Chris Porzinger and Al Horford and Luke Cornett. All of whom uh are going to be playing elsewhere next season. Um, we think for Horford. I mean, Celtics have said Horford’s not going to be in Boston, so it it’s a matter of Well, we think he’s playing, although by this time things might be wrapped up. But anyways, go on. But yeah, I mean, if I had to if I had to make a bet on the Celtics one way or the other, I would probably bet the under because they’re one Jaylen Brown and or Al Horford or Al Horford, Jaylen Brown or Derrick White injury away from just not having uh very much firepower on the court at all. And they have a lot of young players who I think they’re going to be playing a lot of minutes. and we’re not going to see Jason Tatum this year. I could certainly see this being some some version of a uh you know a pause for the franchise overall. I think they’re probably going to try to save more money. Right now they’re currently just into the second apron. So over or under? Well, I said under. Oh, sorry. Yeah. No, I I think there’s enough reasons to think that they’re going to go the other way. They could, you know, Jaylen Brown and Derek White could play 80 games and be awesome and they could, you know, maybe win 45, 46 games, but I think it’s more likely that they have some injuries. They play a lot of these young guys, a lot of minutes, and they’re they’re probably still in the playin anyway because I don’t really know if it’s possible to get into the bottom five of the East uh given how bad some of these teams are going to be. But I think it’s more likely they’re under 500. Yeah, I I’ll take the under and I will take it in part because the Celtics have another very tough opponent that will be on their schedule every single night and that’s human nature. These are guys who are obviously they’re guys who have won a championship, guys who are accustomed to competing for a championship and guys who are showing up to training camp fully aware that there is no way in hell they’re going to have that opportunity this season. uh you know they’ll completely understand that this is a gap year and I just think that’s going to be tough to get amped up and and to maintain their focus for 82 games um knowing that this is a season that ultimately is going to lead to nowhere. Yeah. So the thing about and this is going to be repeating itself as we talk about this Bontennis just mentioned it. There are some teams in the East that are just weak and so you’re gonna get some wins whether you whether you relative or not. Um I suspect that Jaylen Brown, assuming his knee is okay, is going to have a massive season and I think he’s going to just carry them to a bunch of wins. I think he’s going to see as an opportunity this year to like show everybody what he can do. And I agree that they’re probably not going to have enough, but I think that he is going to be a differencemaker in a lot of games. So, I’m actually inclined to nose over because you’re going to see Jaylen Brown. I expect a huge year from Jaylen Brown. I will advise my friends who ask me about fantasy stuff to prioritize getting Jaylen Brown this year. Um, again, assuming he looks okay in the preseason, um, you know, I don’t know if he’s even going to 100% be able to start right there because, you know, as you know, I believe there’s no such thing as a minor knee injury. Okay, moving on. Let’s go go back to the A the Atlanta Hawks who had a huge off season. I in terms of value out versus value in, they traded Terrence man one net first round pick and I think one or two seconds and they ended up bringing back Chris Epsorzingis um Nquille Alexander Walker, Luke Canard and that 2026 unprotected first um that they got in that draft night deal where they moved back 10 spots in the draft which might be the most valuable thing they added and they added two really solid starters. Now, that’s not fair because they like to get uh Nikquille uh Alexander Walker, they also used an existing trade exception. So, it’s I’m not given the whole landscape there, but from what they traded out to what they brought in, um they’ve really significantly upgraded and their win total um reflects it. Uh McMahon, 46 and a half is what ESPN bet says is the overunder for the Atlanta Hawks. Yeah. And I think Atlanta had one of the best off seasons. Uh, arguably the best off season in the Eastern Conference. Um, trying to think where the argument would be. Um, well, I’m going to say they had the best off season uh, in the Eastern Conference. Are they seven wins better than last season? Um, look, obviously Porzingis’ health is going to be a major factor here. Um, but I do think that over the course of a couple years, they’ve done a phenomenal job of putting a cast around Trey Young that uh, you know, it’s not just a supporting cast, but it’s a cast that can protect him on the defensive end. And Trey Young for his defensive flaws is still one of the best offensive engines in the league. I would trend over on this one. Yeah, I’m going to go over too. I There are some questions here health-wise. Let’s see where Trey Young’s Achilles is at this year. The Achilles tendonitis. he had a lot of last year I think is a cause for concern. Um you know they are going to be relying on some young players. We’ll see how they develop. Zachary Reese will he take a step forward in his second year. Can Jaylen Johnson stay healthy? He is good player but he has had some injury issues. Chris Porzingis obviously has had um his fair share of injury issues. He’s got a clean bill of health after the stuff he had in the spring and by all accounts are going to play in Euro basket and the Hawks feel good about where he’s at. So, um, you know, so that’s all there. I I’m going to take the over because of what we talked about with Boston. There’s a lot of wins to be had in the East. I think the Hawks are going to be a top four team in the East. I don’t think the fourth team in the East is going to weigh 45 or 44 wins. Um, so I will take I will take the over there. Um, with, you know, with the injury questions still in mind. Yeah, I’m going to take the over. I was going to point out in case you forgot about Jaylen Johnson, he averaged 1910 and five last year on 50% shooting before he hurt his shoulder. Only played 36 games and as you pointed out, he has been he’s had injuries. He’s only averaged 46 games the last two years. Um, but this is a major uprising player there. So, you’re almost bringing him back. You know, he almost feels like a little bit of a new player as well, but obviously the health. Another thing to watch with them is whether or not they get Trey Young into an extension. They’re not going to give him a max extension. So, will he accept something less than that? We’ll see. That’ll be something that’ll um be a factor going into the season, but I’m also going to go over um you know, Dyson Daniels, another guy that got to get signed. Obviously had a had a breakout year last year. Okay, back to alphabetical order. The Brooklyn Nets. Uh we’ll start with you, Bontemps. The Nets overunder is 21 and a half. We don’t know whether they’re going to have Cam Thomas though. I feel like one way or another he’s going to end up staying in a Nets uniform. He is obviously a key scorer for them. They’ve got a metric ton of rookies. Uh five first round picks. Um uh I am not going to get aggregated again. Um over what people are saying about their first round picks. I will just say that in summer league their most impressive young player in many cases was Drew Timmy. Shout out Pierce High. Um was not one of their first round picks but 21 and a half bonds. Yeah, this one is tough because the Nets obviously are going to be bad. Um, just the question of how bad are they going to be? Um, I will I will take the under simply for what you just said. Uh, they’re going to be playing a ton of rookies, a ton of minutes. A lot of these rookies are interesting players, but they’re a lot of ball handlers who are not good shooters. Um, they’re gonna be playing a lot of young guards in general, which is That’s how you lose in the NBA, young guards. Oh, yeah. Especially mediocre young guards. Well, Diego Dem, their the eighth overall pick. I’m sure will be starting at point guard. I’m sure he’s going to have the ball in his hands a ton. That is going to be good for his development and it’s going to be good for losing games and trying to get a top five pick, which they really need to do in this year’s draft. Um, Cam Thomas will be back. I’m almost certain it will be on the qualifying offer at some point. If that is the case, if Cam Thomas comes back on the qualifying offer, I’m also going to suggest to my friends who play especially some I have some friends who have like points only leagues. I was going to say field goal percentage part of it. Cam Thomas on the qualifier on a on a bad team. Get that gentleman on your fantasy teams. No. So that I I will take the under. It would not shock me if they go over. Obviously, Jordy Hernandez, Fernandez did a tremendous job last year and showed he can really coach, but you know, this team is this team has to be in the top five next year. I suspect this year is going to go like Utah did last year where they are going to do everything they can to make sure that they are, if not the worst record in the league, right there instead of being somewhere in the middle of the lottery like they were this year. Yeah, I’m going under because it better be. Um, and the Utah comparison to me is is exactly right. Uh, right down to Jordy Fernandez has already proven that he can coach. Matter of fact, he’s proven that he can coach a little bit too well for where the Brooklyn Nets are in their rebuild. Um, just like Will Hardy did in Utah. You’ve got to make sure that he’s not capable or not allowed in maybe some cases of of putting lineups out there that can actually win games. Um, it’s just where they are. They don’t have a player to build around. They’ve got to find that guy. I dare you. Michael Porter Jr. has just arrived in town. He’s very excited. They’ve got to find that guy in the draft. By the way, did you see the Nets posted a video of Michael Porter coming to their um practice facility for the first time, which is it’s a great practice facility in Brooklyn. It’s got a great view of the Manhattan skyline. And um did you guys see this video? Oh. So Porter comes in, you know, it’s like a it’s a team propaganda video. They’re like, you know, he is properly like impressed with their practice facility. And he’s like, “Wow, you guys got two courts.” Which which was more of a commentary on the Nuggets who have sort of this antiquated facility that’s like on the fourth floor of the ball arena. So, exactly. That’s interesting. So, I don’t think like he I don’t think he was meaning to take a shot at the He’s never He’s never been Yeah. Listen. I know. He’s never seen a practice facility with two. I’m just kidding. I’m sure he’s seen it. I’m just saying that’s that’s what he want me to say. That’s what he said. Yeah. No, it’s like the Rockets when they opened there last year, they went from having just this little one court in the arena to this palace of a practice facility. Um, yeah. So, I I I don’t we don’t need to discuss this just a whole lot, but they’ll be bad. And and again, the other thing I would say it it better be really bad now andor really lucky in the lottery because those 27 that 27 draft, guess what? Oh, the Rockets still have swap rights. Yeah, their their plan when they made the trade last summer was to get control of their picks for 2 years. And as soon as they did that, it was pretty obvious they were going to intend to be bad for two years. And considering that they haven’t even spent all their cap space as of the recording of this particular podcast indicates that that intends to be. So, I think the under and if they go over 21 and a half, we’ll congratulate them, but it will be by accident. All right, the Charlotte Hornets 24 and a half. McMahon. Um, they are thriving. My friends in Charlotte are looking, and I mean seriously, I’m not, this is not ironically, they are looking for summer league champions gear. They are desperate. I have a I have a I have a good friend in Charlotte who has um his company has season tickets in the fifth row and he loves going to the games but he’s really trying to make his son a uh a Charlotte Hornets fan and it’s a hard sell. So he is hoping that they improve but uh 24 and a half they have uh you know they have added to their roster a little bit um but they are excited about their about their draft. Obviously, Khan Canipple had a big summer league. Um, my son went to McNeely, another brief Pierce product, spent his fresh excited about having gotten Liam McNeely with a 29th pick, which they got from Mark the Mark Williams trade. Um, my son went to a Kraton basketball camp. Um, oh yes. And, uh, he was very excited that Ryan Kulkiner came back. Okay. attended the camp um as a newly crowned summer league champion. Um so uh but anyway, McMahon 24 and a half for the Charlotte Hornets. Tough one. Um I did I did realize after our uh last pod, we did not mention the Charlotte Hornets as a potential option or as an option for Chris Paul, which they were. Um, but Chris Paul wanted to be a father at home, not a babysitter in his hometown. Um, and the Charlotte Hornets are a team that’s desperately in need of babysitting. That’s why despite having one of the an incredible talent in uh, and uh, LeAngelo Ball is the face of the franchise. You’re sitting there looking at an overunder of 24 and a half. What’ I’m say? Said LiAngelo Ball. It’s early. LaMelo. God, it’s early on the West Coast. Well, LeAngelo Ball. I’m You know, hey, his his music plays at the games. God, I was like, it’s not yellow. Anyways, LaMelo, and I’ve had my my moments uh discussing LaMelo, and I don’t think he’s proven me wrong to this point. Um, I just feel like the Hornets are a franchise in search of an identity, and I don’t think LaMelo is going to be part of that long-term identity. So, I guess that’s a long-winded way of saying 24 and a half feels about right for me. I’ll take the over cuz I think it’s going to be hard not to win more than that in the in the East. They have any kind of relative health. I’m going to take the under because they like the Celtics basically have no centers on their roster. I think Ryan Coiner might start. Um because I think the only centers they have are he and Mason Plumbley at the moment. Um and I just I think this team in general like let’s see if LaMelo can play more than 45 games. He again missed a bunch of games last year. Um, you know, they still feel like they’re trying to get, you know, obviously we’re one of these teams that fell in the lottery some that was hoping to jump up all the way. I do like Khan, but yeah, we’re hoping to get Cooper Flag or someone like that in the draft. Um, so yeah, I I will reluctantly take the under cuz 24 and a half I think is a very good very good number, but they do still feel like they’re at the start of whatever they’re trying to do, which, you know, I I think to your point, McMahon, one of the more interesting things to look at going forward is sort of what is the LaMelo ball situation in Charlotte going to be? And I think, you know, as this year plays out, that will be something we’ll begin to probably start to figure out because if, let’s say, they do win 30 something games and LaMelo plays 65 70 games and is good and healthy, that’ll look one way. If they’re if it’s another 45 game season for him and they win 20 games, it might look a different way. I think if LaMelo plays really well early in the season, it could be an interesting trade deadline. LaMelo has averaged 35 games play though the last three years. Now, I recognize that there was some draft positioning, which happened again this last year. I mean, they lost 12 of their last 13 games. You know, sometimes you have teams that are like, you know, try to build up, you know, going into next year like you, we’ll talk about Toronto about their finish. It was not a strong finish. And Brandon Miller only played 27 games last year. He looked very good in those 27 games, but he played 27 games. So, um they’re going to still take in the teeth a lot. Um uh I tend to think they might slightly go over 24 and a half. Um but it’s so their talent, if they’re fully healthy, dictates they probably should win some home games at least. But again, it’s hard to bank on LaMelo when he’s just can’t stay on the court. So, it’s hard to bank on him when he’s on the court, too. Well, he’s tough to watch, man. I mean the 32 foot onelegged, you know, threes like Well, I know and fouling out when you don’t guard anybody. I know Charles Lee was trying to bring a certain style of play uh this last season and it at times it felt like it was leaning into some of LaMelo’s bad habits. I mean, at times he didn’t play that many games, but there was a few times when I watched them and I was just like I I this is it’s it’s tough. It’s a tough watch at times. Obviously, when he gets hot, it’s But he’s an extraordinary talent. He might end up having a heck of an NBA career. I don’t think it’ll be in Charlotte. Well, you know, you you before last season, I was kind of bullish on LaMelo and I think the three of us got a little minor back and forth about it where I was sort of saying I think he can do better. He his performance last year did not help that position. Let’s just let’s just put it that way. So, I’m going to take a step back from that even though I think that they’re their their talent dictates that they’re more than a 24- win team. But, uh, all right. Chicago Bulls, one of our Apology accepted. Apology accepted. One of our favorite teams to discuss their competence. Um, 32 and a half bonds. Yeah, I’m taking the under. Uh, I think the Bulls are going to be looking to be pretty bad this year. And they never do that though. Well, again, they could maybe get the 10 seed with 32 wins uh in the East. And um Oh my god, that’s a sad statement that I can’t dis dispute. I just think it’s going to be hard for them to get a lot of wins with the team that they have. like there’s just not there’s not a lot of talent on this roster. Um you know Josh Giddy we assume will get extended at some point uh and be in Chicago. Um we’ll see if he and Kobe he will be on the team. We’ll see if Kobe White makes it on the team through the whole year. He’s going to be a free agent next summer. Um he will not be extended because he’s making too little money to get extended at a number I think that he would take. So I I just think that in general the Bulls will try to be competitive as you said McMahon that tends to be what they do. I just don’t think that with the team they’ve got and probably playing Modis Bazelle has a ton of minutes probably playing Noah Essen Gay their first round pick this year a good amount of minutes. Um you know if Nick Vusvich misses any time at all they don’t really have any depth behind him. Um, I could go either way on it, but I’m going to take the under cuz I just think they’re probably going to end up being higher in the lottery than maybe they normally intend to by default this season. They finished the season like they were winning games and you know Lavine trade. Yeah. And Giddy was putting up numbers. Yeah, I hear what you’re like. Their roster is not an impressive roster, but they were able to win games with this core last year. You know, they went on that nice little stretch where uh you know, highlighted by Giddy hitting the halfcourt buzzer beater to beat the Lakers. Um I don’t think they’re going to be anything close to a contender, but they were a 39 win team last year and I don’t think they’ll be dropping off. like I don’t think there’s a major drop off coming from that. The Bulls Tom Tibido was the Bulls coach for five years and I and I granted I understand that the team had a lot of talent. Derrick Rose is MVP in there. Those five years they averaged 51 wins. Okay. Tom Tibido has now not been the coach for 10 seasons. These are the Bulls win totals for those 10 seasons. Now some of these actually I’m just going to give the win loss record because obviously there was some co affected seasons. Mhm. 42 and 40, 41 and 41, 27 and 55, 22 and 60, 22 and 43, 31 and 41, 46 and 36. That was Billy Donovan’s second year. 40 and this is the last three years. 40 and 42, 39 and 43, 39 and 43. That is hell. That is Yeah. No, they’re in purgatory. That is not where you want to be. and their maneuvers in the interim have neither leaned into getting farther down or leaned into getting much better. And so, um, they won’t even let Billy Donovan out of purgatory. Like, he could have gone to the Knicks and they won’t even let him go because they won’t even admit their situation. So, I’m afraid to say for Bulls fans, I agree with McMahon, it’ll probably be over 32 because this team is addicted to this mediocrity and their actions. I will I will root for being wrong on that one because that will make me happy if they end up at 38 and 44 and ridiculous. But, but they refused they refuse to rebuild, right? I mean, that might be their their best marketing slogan, refuse to rebuild. like as some source of pr seriously like it’s some source of pride they are stuck on the mediocrity treadmill they are the definition of a purgatory team and Jackson’s better at looking things up than me 17 and 13 since February 6 uh you know since the Lavine trade for the Bulls I was able to look up the the final quarter was 15 and six and look it’s you know the final quarter of the season that’s when the tank of Paloo is in full bloom and so The Bulls are like racking up wins against some teams that are tanking. But the point is the Bulls will rack up wins against teams that are tanking late in the season because they’re you too principled if you want to be polite about it or too proud or too dumb to rebuild. All I’m going to say is I read all of those um numbers, all of those records and this off season the Bulls extended their front office and Arturus Kishovich their uh team president asked the fans for patience. Okay. Uh next up, Cleveland Cavaliers 55 and a half. That is the largest in the Eastern Conference. Um the Cavs coming off an off season where they um lost Tai Jerome in free agency uh traded Isaac Aoro or reserve for Lonzo Ball um to be basically Ty Jerome’s replacement and signed Larry Nance. So they did some maneuvering on their bench will bring back their whole uh starting unit which is now going to be a lot more expensive because Donovan Mitchell’s contract extension kicks in. uh Evan Mobley Supermax contract kicks in and they are a second apron team. They’re pretty much locked into this roster for this season. Um and 55 and a half they are the uh favorites right now. Uh Bontemps to win the Eastern Conference. Yeah, I’m taking the over. Uh I think they’re I still have some concerns about them as a playoff team as we saw last year in the playoffs. However, uh they are built to win a ton of regular season games and the East stinks. So, I think they’re going to win a ton of regular season games and I think they got a very good chance to be the one seed again. I’d also take the over. I think that uh overunder is probably deflated because of the epic playoff disappointment that uh somebody here struggled to admit was actually a disappointment. Um they uh you know it’s credit to them that are you talking about me because of course it was a disappointment. No, no. When they were on the brink of elimination, we had some battles. Wendy, we don’t need to revisit here. Let me just take my little cheap shot and we’ll keep it moving. They clearly lost to a better team. Okay, we don’t need to re relitigate or revisit. Let me take my cheap shot and keep it moving. Um, but I agree with Bon Tempimps as reluctantly as I utter that line that uh, you know, they’ll they’ll probably be the one seed in the Eastern Conference again and they’ll do it win more than 55 and a half games. Yeah, look, they they probably will not go as hard in the in the regular season this year and, you know, they had one of these seasons where there was a number of games that could have gone either way that went their way. Um, and so 64 wins is hard to see repeated, but they’re not I don’t unless they’re going to have significant injuries. I don’t see them winning nine fewer games. So I’ll go over on that. And again, as Bontam said, and I I predict we will be saying into next season frequently, their regular season output will not matter as to what except what happens in their postseason. They have now graduated beyond where they can be congratulated for regular season success. But that’s a good place to be. Um, all right. Uh, Detroit Pistons, uh, one of last year’s ascendant teams. Um, surprised us how good they were. No longer on the surprise. Um, generally, uh, kept their team in place. Um, a big factor for them will be getting back uh, Jaden Ivy. They did have some cap space that they had the option to maybe go out and bign name shop, but uh Trejan Langden, their team president, made it clear his priority um uh was um you know, keeping that team, you know, in place. Anyway, uh McMahon 45 and a half ESPN bet for the Pistons. I I I like them as a team that will continue to improve. They did lose some key bench pieces. Um, you know, they they lost Malik Beasley to his own stupidity. Um, they lost Tim Hardway Jr. who they, you know, essentially allowed to leave uh signed a minimum with Denver. And then they lost Shruder. Um, Jay Ivy, I think, more than makes up for the absence of Shruder. brought in Duncan Robinson to, you know, replace Beasley is that volume three-point shooter and then and the gravity that creates, the space that creates for uh Kate Cunningham in particular, but I’m going to bet on continued improvement from Kate Cunningham who proved he is a legit face of a franchise last year, who’s you know, I think ascending superstars fair. I think Jaylen Duran is one of the most dynamic young bigs in the league who is also going to uh continue to improve. Ivy was playing well um before he went down. So I I like this young core. I I like the job JB Bicker Staff obviously did last year and I think they’ll bump it up a few more Thompson I think also is going to continue to improve. So I think they bump it up a few more wins. Yeah, I think this overunder is right about in the right place. I I’ll be curious to see if they can push forward a bit or if they if they sort of have a reset season to some degree after jumping up as much as they did last year. um still has some concerns overall about their offense around Cade and you know just the overall setup of their team, but they have a young team that is going to be pushing to win games and Cade is awfully good and JB Baker staff has shown an ability to help young teams continue to improve. So, I’m going to take uh the over also simply for the fact that again when you look at this middle section of the East, there’s not a lot of competition for them. And I I think it’s hard to see them finishing out of the top six because of that. And so, I’ll take the old Jaden Ivy is one of the more interesting players to watch in the Eastern Conference last year. He really was looking like he was going to ramp up and be kind of the player that they thought they were drafting him high in the lottery. And so what he is able to do um they they you know they al they when he got injured last year they didn’t rule out that he could come back at the end of the season. In fact they didn’t even apply for a disabled player exception because they thought he was going to come back. But the point is by the time the season starts he should have been fully healthy for 6 months. So, I expect him to really get going and he he’s a guy that if he, you know, continues elevating can really be a differencemaking player because the that backcourt play could be big. The other thing I’ll say is um they are a team that is upwardly mobile if they’ve got a lot of flexibility and they have um draft capital. They are a team that could go hunting for a mid-season upgrade. Now, they have to pay these young guys. They already paid Cade. Um they have to sign Ivy. They don’t have to, but you know to extend Ivy. Um so they may be careful about that. But um this this contract they gave to Duncan Robinson is one of the more interesting ones we’ve seen in a while because it was reported you know three years like 47 48 million but it’s extremely flexible. It’s guaranteed this year and then the next two years 15 million each year is non-G guaranteed. So if he’s great they can hold on to him. if they spend a bunch of money and need to clear the cap off, they can just let him go. So, it was actually pretty a pretty inventive uh contract. That was actually a, you know, a pretty, you know, the Heat had an interesting offseason, which we’ll talk about um here in a second. But, uh I like the Pistons slightly over this um as a bet on um on Jaden Ivy’s uh continued growth. Okay, coming up next, the um defending Eastern Conference champion, the Indiana Pacers. Hallebertton will miss the season. They lose Miles Turner um in basically uh they don’t want to pay him. You know, he walked for more money to the Bucks. Um let me take this back because I can get a call. They made him an offer that would have taken him into the luxury tax, but they got beat by a higher offer that was market value. They may not have agreed with market value, but it was market value. And um they’re going to try to replace him by committee. Um and so basically they lose their point guard and their starting center. Two pretty important positions. So 39 and a half is the number bond temps for the Indiana Pacers. Yeah, this this one is hard to because I they’re not they’re going to try to make the playoffs I’m sure. Um so I’ll probably reluctantly say the over. Uh, again looking at just how bad the East is. Um, but I mean they’re they’re going to no Hallebertton and no Miles Turner and not any real replacement for either is going to be um a difficult thing to manage, but they have enough depth and there I I don’t anticipate them trying to um I don’t anticipate them trying to really tank. So, I I’ll say they get to around 40, you know, 41 and 41 and I’ll I’ll take the over there. I’d probably take slightly under. Um, again, the the whole gap year thing here. Um, I I think the most interesting thing about the Pacers this year on the floor is going to be watching Ryan Nimhard as the full-time point guard. Um, obviously Nhard. Ryan Nemhard if you fulltime. Why am I I am so bad on Listen, I’ve been making mistakes today, too. I am not putting my I’m not looking down my nose at you, but Ryan Nimhard, full-time point guard of the GLeagues, Texas Legends this year on a two-way contract with Mix. I tell you what, I got to have I’ve only had one cup of coffee. um Andrew Nimart, who has certainly made himself a household name for NBA media at least. Um but seriously, the guy has proven himself as a great role player as a like dude, what a playoff run that he had. Um great defensive guard. Um outstanding complimentary player. He’s going to have the ball in his hands this year a ton and it’s going to be fascinating to see how he handles that and you know longterm there there might be some some major benefit to him having this experience. I’m going over here just because I know how the Pacers organization operates. They’re well coached. They’ve got good development. They’ve got good depth. Um they’re just limited in what they’re going to spend. That’s just the truth. And that’s that’s what happened to they lost Miles Turner because of that. I mean, that’s just no other way to put it. Um, but they have, you know, there are some some younger players who could get bigger roles this year who might thrive a little bit. You know, you might see some Johnny Fury who, you know, they have routinely drafted guys who have gotten better. Not everybody. They don’t bat a thousand like anybody else, but um, uh, a big thing for them will be what they do with Benedict Mather and whether they extend him and if they don’t extend him, whether they trade him. Uh, but obviously they have T.J. McConnell who will help them and you know TJ McConnell is going to lead them to victories like he’s going to be a differencemaking player. You’re you’re there might be two or three games this year where TJ McConnell makes the difference and that pushes them over. So I don’t know what’s going to happen with them but um they are a team that typically overachieves not underachieves and so I’ll bet on their overachieving. Uh, okay. Uh, Miami Heat, uh, McMahon, I believe it’s your turn. 37 and a half. The, uh, wager on the Heat to being a losing team, uh, this year. Uh, they make the move to get Norm Powell is their big offseason move. Um, uh, losing team. They branded this year. I don’t like betting on the Heat to be a losing team. I know they were last year. Um, I don’t know, man. I think Tyler Herro, Bam Matabio, Norm Pal in the Eastern Conference, they won’t have the Jimmy Saga unfolding and sucking the soul out of the team for the first half of the season. Um, obviously I don’t have to talk about Spo’s credentials as a head coach. I’m I’m going to take the over here. My best bet on the entire board, take an over on the 37 and a half. The Heat last year had the fifth most clutch games in the league, 42 of them. They went 14 and 28. They’re not going to do that again. And they while doing that, they won 37 games. So in nine clutch games, they were 23- 17. They’re going to be better than 37 wins. And like you said, McMahon, Batab Bio had a bad year last year. He will be better. They had the Jimmy thing hanging over them for half the year. Um, I I suspect they’re going to be decently better this year, especially because again, like the Pacers, they’re going to be trying to win games in the East and they’re there going to be a lot of games to win. So, I think that number is I agree. I think they’re going to try to win. They may improve during the year. I’m going over Milwaukee Bucks 42 and a half. Uh this seems to be a wager that Giannis is not going to be there the whole year because they have won over 42 games for like the last eight years even if there has been some injury issues. Uh Bontemps I don’t know what’s going to happen with Giannis but um I would probably not make this bet right now until I see opening night but um uh 42 and a half if Giannis is there seems low. Yeah I mean probably it’s low. I mean, again, they they had Damen Lillard last year, who’s awfully good, and they didn’t really replace him. Uh they replaced Brook Lopez with Miles Turner, but they they still have the all-star point guard hole on their team. And yeah, they went out and like I I’ve liked some of the stuff they’ve done on the margins. Like Ryan Rollins is an interesting young player. Um you know, getting Cole Anthony uh for the minimum on a buyout is fine. Uh there’s just not there is not a lot of talent on the roster and their one Giannis injury of any sort away away even whe whether he’s on you know say he’s on the team if he misses three weeks they quickly become one of the worst teams in the league. Uh so I’m going to take the under both as a hedge on if something happens though I don’t really expect it to uh trade-wise and also just the idea of him getting hurt cuz he’s going to have a insane usage load this year and you know he’s going to put up crazy numbers but what I’m also not convinced that’s going to have him in a situation where he’s going to be playing 75 games and if he misses Like I said, he misses any chunk of time, these guys are going to have a really, really, really hard time winning games. Yeah. No, they’re going to put the ball in the Santa Koopo’s hands. Uh, just kidding. I was continuing my trend of script brother’s names. Could have gone cost there. Uh, former 60th overall pick, the Maverick’s third player in the uh Luca Jaylen Brunson draft. I I can’t go under 42 and a half with the honest, though. Um, I think we there’s going to be an interesting MVP discussion around him if he plays 70 games. I have the information I have today is that Giannis is on the team. Obviously, if that changes, you you change it, but um 42 and a half I’m going over. Um, New York Knicks uh real close to the Cavs in terms of favorites to win the East. Uh, McMahon 53 and a half. They added some some depth to their team. Um 53 and a half New York Knicks. I’m going to go over just because I think that the Knicks are going to benefit from playing in the Eastern Conference where there’s, you know, going to be a lot of wins to be had. Um yeah, so that that’s about what I’ll say there. Um I and I I don’t know Mike Brown’s obviously uh his credentials speak for themselves. I I don’t know if Byron Tibs is going to lead to more regular season wins or not, but I think this team wins more regular season games than they did last year. If that makes sense. Yeah, I I’m also taking the over. Uh same reasons as the Cavs. The Knicks are good. The Knicks are pretty deep. The Knicks got deeper this off seasonason and the East stinks. So, they’re going to win a couple more games and they’ll probably be the second seed. Yeah, there’s there’s three teams that ESPN Bet has in the 50s for over under in the East and I just think that there’s going to be a lot of wins available for those teams. So, the Knicks I’m going to go over. The other team that other than the Cavs that is over uh has in the 50s for their overunder is the Orlando Magic. 51 and a half bons. Obviously, the big offseason move trading for first for Desmond Bane. Yeah, I’m taking the under. I I don’t I I like the I like the Magic talent-wise, but the Magic have a lot of injury questions. Doug stay on the court. Desmond Bane has had um a decent amount of health issues over the past couple years. Let’s see how he can stay on the court. Um you know, Mo Vagner was a really important piece of them off the bench. He’s obviously got a torn ACL. We’ll see when he can play. Jonathan Isaac is a guy who’s in and out of the lineup in general. Um Palo and France Vagner both missed time last year. This team still has some shooting issues. And Jaylen Suggs. Yeah. Well, right. Suggs I mentioned earlier, but um I they could go over this number, but there’s enough things that could go wrong for them to be under that I’m going to take the under. But if they’re healthy in April, uh, going into the playoffs and they show some improvement offensively from their core guys, they are going to be a very difficult out in the postseason. I’d probably take the under. 51 and a half’s a lot. I think I think it’s close. I I think they’re probably a 50 win team. I don’t know about a 52- win team. Um, I love the the Bane fit for them. Um, you know, I certainly can say they overpaid. uh given the the pick package that went back in return, especially with the the Suns pick being in there. Um but this team was starved for a big time shooter. Bane’s a big- time shooter who can also create a little bit. Um but again, I think I think I’ll go 50 and not 52. Bane has averaged 56 games over the last three years. True. But even if they get um 56 games out of Bane, I think it’s going to be a boost to them. And I do think that they’re going to win some games. I don’t think they’re going to I don’t think they’re headed like to threaten 60. But again, if if I’m if I’m on the fence about a team in the Eastern Conference, I’m going to lean a little bit over if it’s a good team because I just think there’s going to be some wins out there. So, I’ll lean over on the Magic. I don’t even know how you say the Philadelphia 76 series. I I I mean, this is an offthe-board one for me. Um, Bontemps the number is 30 is um, sorry, the number is 30 40. Bontemps the number is 43 and a half. I don’t freaking know. You got to pick one way or the other eventually. Uh, I will I’m I’m picking the under. I Paul George seems like he’s going to be out for quite a while. We have no idea what Joel and Be’s health is going to be. Why would you pick the over? Yeah, I I’d agree with that. I just they could go way over. But well, but here’s the thing. Why would you But why would you bet that? Over under 43 and a half games played by Joel Embiid. Over under 43 and a half games played by Paul George. Let’s be honest, we’re probably picking the under on both of those. And that if we’re picking the under on those, we’re picking the under on 43 and a half wins. Yeah. Yeah. You can’t bet on the You can’t bet on the 76ers. It’s It’s insane. You have to You’d have to sleep on the under. All right. Uh Toronto Raptors had a bit of a spurt towards the end of the season, ended up screwing them in the lottery. They ended up going all the way back to ninth. They do get Brandon Ingram uh back um back. Well, I guess he never played, so I guess he’s not take he’s he’s not coming back. He has yet to play a game. And so they do get Brandon Ingram, who they paid a big premium to on a contract detention last year. Their overunder is 36 and a half. McMahon. This team has playin written all over it. Yes. God, they might want the play. They’d be thrilled with the playin. That’s the That’s the problem. The problem is is that, you know, if they get near it, they may go for it. Yeah. And I just God, they gave a ton of money to Yakob Purle in one of the more underdised contracts of the summer, at least for one that was nine figures. Jakoba Pearl got 26 million a year. Yeah. God, I I just I don’t really like the long term at all for Toronto. Um it’s good thing people up there like hockey so much. Um I’m going to take the under and think they’re going to be like a 33 win 10 seed. I think this one’s easy. I’m I’m taking the over. Last year they they won 30 games while pretty much actively trying to lose every game for the final couple months of the season. And uh they’re going to be trying to push forward and in the East there’s a lot of wins to be had and they’re going to end up somewhere around 500. So I’ll take the over. Yeah. If Brandon Ingram if Brandon that is none of that is an endorsement really of the way things have gone the last couple years. I tend to agree with your position man. talked about Toronto mount. I just they are they’re poised to be the eight seed. Well, somebody somebody’s got to win games when when two Eastern Conference teams plays, one has to win. And they they’ve got they’ve got a bunch of decent players and um you know, they’re they’re poised to be somewhere in that 500 mix. Yeah, their talent is indicative of a team that would be in this range. Um, I’ll go a nose over just because I think they’ll try to improve at the trade deadline and keep their foot down. Like I think that’s what they’re going to lean into. That’s, you know, it could end up on the last day of the season to get into the play. Uh, Washington Wizards uh, 20 and a half bonds. Yeah, this one is like the Brooklyn Nets one, a difficult one to go either way on because we’re probably going to have a couple teams under 20 wins, but which teams are they? Um, the Wizards last year won 18 games. Um, they do have a lot of young players who have gotten a lot of minutes who are probably going to um be better this year. So, they may improve a little bit. Um, I will probably take the under though and lean into the fact that they’re probably going to be bad for one more year and just playing again all of these young guys an absolute ton of minutes. Um, I I doubt CJ McCollum is playing a ton of minutes for them. I doubt Chris Middleton is playing a ton of minutes for them. Uh, you know, Trey Johnson is an interesting young guard, but again, as we talked about earlier, he’s not a point guard, but you play young guards, you’re probably going to lose games, and they’re playing a lot of young guards. So, I will reluctantly take the under, even though I think that one could end up being wrong. They at least have some interesting pieces in place. I really actually like the Cam Whitmore trade for them. Me, too. uh just as a high upside flyer, I don’t blame the Rockets for just basically saying, “Hey, we’ve got to move on from him. He’s not going to play regular minutes for us.” And you know, I don’t think he was going to be uh adding to the culture if he wasn’t playing regular minutes. But the guy can boy, he’s a 6’7 NBA athlete who can put the ball in the hole. Um, but yeah, I I would say it would certainly benefit them to to be under on this. Um, and try to add somebody else to a core of uh Alex Sar and and Trey Johnson. Um, and you know, I I but I I do I I just like I like the AJ Johnson trade for them. I like them taking these high upside flyer swings while they are, you know, figuring out who their core is going to be that they’re actually going to be able to win games with. Hopefully sooner than later, but certainly not this season. 20 is such a low overunder. It’s it’s hard to go under, but I think if they’re on pace to go over, actions will be taken to make sure they go under, which is what I’m going to lean to. Okay, that’s the Eastern Conference. Um, we appreciate you watching and listening to the Hoop Collective. Thank you to Jackson. Thank you to McMahon. Thank you to Bontams and um we will talk to you soon. Adios amigos.

Brian Windhorst is joined by Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to react to ESPN Bet’s NBA Eastern Conference win totals for the upcoming season. The guys discuss expectations across the conference, who will have a rebound season and the teams you need to be paying more attention to.
0:00 Intro
1:34 NBA Eastern Conference Win Totals
2:05 Boston Celtics: Over/Under 43.5
8:15 Atlanta Hawks: Over/Under 46.5
11:52 Brooklyn Nets: Over/Under 21.5
16:18 Charlotte Hornets: Over/Under 24.5
23:05 Chicago Bulls: Over/Under 32.5
28:08 Cleveland Cavaliers: Over/Under 55.5
30:51 Detroit Pistons: Over/Under 45.5
35:29 Indiana Pacers: Over/Under 39.5
39:26 Miami Heat: Over/Under 37.5
41:03 Milwaukee Bucks: Over/Under 42.5
43:40 New York Knicks: Over/Under 53.5
44:58 Orlando Magic: Over/Under 51.5
47:17 Philadelphia 76ers: Over/Under 43.5
48:15 Toronto Raptors: Over/Under 36.5
50:48 Washington Wizards: Over/Under 20.5

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