NBA Contenders

-NBA standings 

- Magic Moment 

-LetEmKnow

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

All right, listen up. I I know you think you know, you thought we hung it up. You thought we hung up the headphones and we were done. Because it's been about four weeks, four weeks since the last Max Vert podcast. And I'm sorry for that. Genuine genuinely, truly I'm sorry for that. Unacceptable. But on the flip side, I had my bachelor party. Um I had that a couple weeks ago. Uh that was in Naples, Florida. And then Stefan had some things going on with moving and and getting ready. Um he ended up moving back to Ohio. So he had some things going on as well. And I had a bridal shower that I showed up for like the last 30 minutes that uh I had to go to this past weekend. So those are my excuses. I know you don't really care for excuses, but that is why we've had a four-week hiatus. Now I've said football season's over. I think the last pod was the Super Bowl reaction, and now it's strictly basketball. And we are finally back. It's March 9th, and this is a great, no better time, honestly, because NFL free agency pretty much officially started today, and I was very sleeped on sleep on this. I was snoring, didn't even realize, didn't even realize 3-9 was the official start day of NFL free agency. And that's because once the Super Bowl ends, you know, we're six months away from football. I kind of just I I check out, I clock out of football, and it's all things basketball now. So with all that being said, we got NBA coverage for you today. And that is what is going to happen moving forward. So moving forward, we're going to do some NBA coverage. Uh I know Stefan's got he's busy right now, he's got a lot of things going on in his life. His fiancee is uh pregnant, so they're expecting a second child. So uh last I've heard, we've been talking a little bit, uh he might be back around NBA playoff time. So it could be a solo pod for the foreseeable future, but he will be back. So with all that being said and that addressed, we're gonna go straight into the NBA standings. So NBA standings as of March 9th, 2026. I'm gonna go with the Eastern Conference first, and this is in an order from one through eight. Okay, I know seeds nine and ten, they are the play-in teams, they're eligible to you know backdoor their way into the playoffs, but I'm not gonna mention them. I'm only gonna mention the one through eight. So Detroit one, Boston two, New York Knicks three, Cleveland Cavaliers four, Toronto Raptors five, Orlando Magic six, Miami Heat seven, Philadelphia 76ers eight. So that is your Eastern Conference. Okay, Western Conference, Oklahoma City Thunder one, San Antonio Spurs two, Minnesota Timberwolves three, Houston Rockets four, Los Angeles Lakers five, Denver Nuggets six. Wow, that's kind of a shocker. Phoenix Suns seven and Golden State Warriors eight. So those are your top eight teams per each conference. Um looking at this, let's let's break it down to our top ten, our my top teams for each conference. So, you know, kind of just standings aside, who do I think are the top teams for each conference? So starting in the east, I'm gonna give you three. I'm gonna give you okay, I'll give you four teams. So we'll split it in half. I'll give you four teams per conference. So Eastern Conference, these are my teams in my order, who I think are the top teams in the East. The top four, splitting it in half. Okay, so number one, I have the Boston Celtics. You know, they've been a good team, top two seed without Jason Tatum. And you're aware by now, Jason Tatum just came back. So they have gotten even better. So in my eyes, they're now a one-seed team. So I got Celtics as number one. And this is in my opinion. Number two, I have the New York Knicks. Okay. New York Knicks as my number two team, and right behind them, I have the Cleveland Cavaliers. Okay, so Cleveland Cavaliers are my third in the East, and this might shock you, but my number fourth team in the East is the Detroit Pistons. I know they have the number one seed, but I view the Celtics, the Knicks, and the Cavs all as better teams. Okay, so that is my one through four in the East. Okay, in the East. Sound like I had a little lisp there, sorry. Getting a little excited, excited to be back. This stuff's fun, man. Get to talk sports. You know, I do this every day of my life, and it's just fun. I don't need any money out of this. It's just fun to speak your mind. Also, those listening, friends, family, please ask to join the show. I'd love to have you anytime. You know, I really like to have perspectives of fans of different fan bases. I get that a lot in the NFL. There's a lot more random fans. You got Steelers fans, uh, you know, I have um Eagles, Panthers. NBA is kind of different. I feel like in Ohio, a lot of the people that I am around in Ohio, you know, they don't if they do like the NBA, they're probably the Cavs or you know, they follow LeBron James. Or, you know, there's not that many random NBA fans, if that makes sense. So, but if you are, if you're an Atlanta Hawks fan, if you are a Washington Wizards fan, Indiana Pacers, uh, if you like the New Orleans Pelicans, I mean, please join the show show because I want to hear about your team and your perspective and how you feel about the team and the future, all that good stuff. So it'll be easy to find a Cass fan. It'll be easy to find someone that likes the Lakers just because of the you know their history and they have LeBron. And you know, I I know some people that are Celtics fans, but if you're listening, please reach out to me if you're a fan uh of any team and want to get on the pod. So, okay, moving on. Western Conference, my top four. Okay, I'm looking at this. Okay, so my top four in the West, it's gonna be Oklahoma City Thunder at one. And then number two, I'm gonna go with the Denver Nuggets. They're actually the sixth seed, but I I I'm gonna go with Denver Nuggets as number two, and then the Spurs as the number three seed, and then the Minnesota Timberwolves as the number four. So I really want to like the Houston Rockets, and I like, you know, I like what KD's doing over there, but they did lose a big piece with Dylan Brooks, so that's a tough L for them, and I don't think that they, you know, are top four at this point. So basically I knock out the Rockets and then I put in the Nuggets, but I put the Nuggets at the number two seed. Okay, so the Nuggets were the team that took the Thunder to a game seven uh in the Western Conference. Of course, the Thunder wants a game seven in the finals, uh, but uh in the Western Conference, you know, they got the Nuggets have Jokic, and you know, they're used to finding ways to win in the playoffs. So even though they fell short last year, they were they were close. So those are my NBA standings, and then the current NBA standings in the East and West. Um and then I'm trying to look if there's any surprising teams. Um I don't really think, you know, I would say my magic are a surprising team. I thought that they would probably be about a four seed right now, so they're not too far off. It's not a huge surprise for me. I thought they would be a uh three at best, uh four, and maybe two at best, but most likely three or four seed coming into the season. And you know, injuries with them and you know all that good stuff. So that that's a little surprising. Toronto at five is kind of surprising. I know they got Brandon Ingram. Uh the Bucks, you know, you know, with Giannis, you know, anytime they're outside of the playoffs, that's surprising. So there are a few surprisings in the East. I'd probably say the Toronto Raptors, the Magic. Uh Raptors are overperforming in my opinion. Magic are slightly underperforming. We'll get back to them later. And then obviously the Bucks is a big surprise to me. So, and then going into the West, I would say the Nuggets being the six seed is surprising. Now, they're a half game back of being a four-seed. And they could easily, you know, they're like a game and a half back, or one game back, it looks like, as a three-seed. Um, so they're not very far off of being, you know, one game, and they can go from six to three. So not a huge surprise there. Just the West is more balanced. Uh, what else? What else? Spurs. Spurs are probably the most surprising in my opinion. 47 and 17. You know, I know Wemby is a freak of nature, but it's still so early in his career, so I didn't expect the Spurs to be where they are today, especially because I don't think they really have a number two. Like, okay, it's playoff time, and you know, when it comes playoff time, these teams are like, all right, what's our game plan? We're gonna shut down option number one. So if option number one is to shut down Wemby, you focus on Wemby, who are the Spurs gonna go to as their number two? Okay, and you're gonna say De'Aaron Fox, but is De'Aaron a a true number two? I don't know. I don't know. I don't I I it maybe he is, but he he's not um yeah, he's just not a dominant number two to where I'd be like, yeah, you know, he could carry he could carry at any point the Spurs, and Wemby could be the backup option. So kind of like what Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum do. I just don't see that with Wemby and De'Aaron Fox. So that's probably my biggest surprise as the in the West is how well the San Antonio Spurs are playing. Now, now we're gonna talk about real contenders. So we've talked about 16 teams as far as the top eight in the East and the top eight in the West. And then we talked about eight teams, four, my top four in the East, and then my top four in the West. So now we're gonna talk about the real contenders. Who's a contender, who's a pretender? And this is very simple because the NBA is not like the NFL. The NFL, you know, Cinderellas could get into the playoffs, they can be a wildcard team, wildcard teams go on to win Super Bowls. It happens. It really does happen. They go on a run, and you just got to get in. But the NBA is different, and I don't think people, what I'm about to explain, realize how different the NBA and the NBA playoffs, and historically speaking, NBA champions, how different it is than the NFL. So I have the one two seed theory. Okay. So breaking it down by seeds, these are all the champions in NBA history. So the one seed has been a champion fifty-three times, the two seed has been a champion sixteen times, a three-seed has been a champion uh eight times, a four-seed uh 1969 Celtics over the Lakers, so a four-seed has won uh as an NBA champion only once, and a six seed uh has been an NBA champion only once, and that was the 95 Rockets over the Magic. So when you hear that, what do you hear? You hear uh there's been no seven seed to win the NBA championship, there's been no eight seed to win the NBA championship, there's been no five seed to win the NBA championship. And then this is the most important part outside of the one and two seed, so the one and two seed, fifteen fifty-three for the f the one seed, and sixteen champions for the two seed. There have been a total of so seeds three through eight in NBA history, there have been a total of ten NBA champions. That is huge. I can't explain how huge this is. You need to be a one or two seed, and these are just the facts. It's not even opinion, this is the facts that I'm laying out. Historically speaking, you have to be a one or two seed if you expect to be the NBA champion, if you expect to be a real contender, if you expect to hold up the NBA championship at the end of the year. So of all the history of the NBA, a third through eight seed has won the championship ten times. And three of those, or sorry, eight of those, so eighty percent of those, eighty percent of those came from the third seed. So I might hurt some feelings today. You know, I've hurt my feelings, but I'm gonna let you know who are the contenders, and it just comes down to the one and two seed. So as of now, as of now, the contenders in the Eastern Conference are the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics. Okay, the contenders in the West, as of now, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. These are the one and two team one and two seeds of the respectable conferences, and these are the guys that at this present moment in time are real contenders. Statistically speaking, all the other teams, the Knicks, the Cavs, the uh Minnesota Timberwolves, the Rockets, the Lakers, the Nuggets, the Magic, all those other teams are currently pretenders. Statistically speaking, don't argue with me, argue with your mama, because this is how it goes. So now, on the flip side, Detroit, 45 and 18, they're the number one seed, but Boston is 43 and 21, they're the two seed, and Detroit has lost four straight. Now they're hitting adversity. Are they going to be able to hold on to the one or two seed? Because New York's 41 and 24, so New York's only four games less wins than Detroit. And Cleveland is only six games less wins than Detroit. So I wouldn't be surprised if Detroit falls out of the top two seeds. Maybe Boston gets two, or maybe Boston gets one and then the Knicks get two, or maybe somehow the Cavs get up to two. But at this present current moment in time, the Pistons and the Celtics are the real contenders. These teams have a great, they have a high chance of winning the NBA championship. Okay, moving on to the West. Thunder, 50 and 15. And then the Spurs 47 and 17. And then there's a drop-off. Uh especially a big drop-off between the one and the three-seed. So the Thunder have 10 more wins than the three-seed Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Spurs uh have a seven-game lead on the Minnesota Timberwolves. So with you know it being March, I don't think that the one and two seed in the West is going to change. So the Thunder and the Spurs are your contenders. These are the teams that are probably going to represent the Western Conference and go on to possibly win the NBA championship. So I'm sorry, Timberwolves, Rockets, Lakers, Nuggets, Suns, Warriors, Clippers. You guys, you guys aren't real contenders. So that's my one, two seed theory. And I don't think a lot of people realize just how important it is to be a one or two seed in the NBA. And I don't think I realize either until I I looked it up some years ago because my Magic were maybe a four or five seed. I think they're a five seed. I'm like, you know, what are the odds that they win the NBA championship? And it it was next to nothing, you know, that they even had a chance. So obviously I'm a Magic fan, and my boys got they got pretty much a zero percent chance to win the NBA championship. They are a sixth seed currently, and there's been one champion as a sixth seed. So listen, it's it sucks. It sucks for me and it sucks for you if if you're not a one or two seed fan, but it is what it is. It's the cold, hard facts. Okay, moving on, because I am a Magic fan, so we're gonna talk about my boys, whether you like it or not. Okay. So, some notes I have on the boys. They are winners of four in a row since April 2025. That's not good. That's not good at all. But the good news is they are a top five defense since the All-Star break, and they won 10 of 14 games. So the Magic are starting to get into stride. And they're doing all this without Palo. And I'm gonna tell you why they're playing such good team ball right now, because when they have struggled struggled, I personally think it's because they don't play good team ball. You know, it's usually Palo and Franz one-on-one. Okay, Paolo gets the ball this time, Franz gets it this time, zero ball movement. Shot clocks down to five, ten seconds, and then the person creates on their own to try to make a shot. And they have too much talent on that team to be playing like that. But something happened. A player was inserted to this lineup, uh rotation, I should say, because he doesn't start. His name's Javon Carter. He's a point guard. Well, the Magic don't have a true point guard, and I've been asking for this for five years, and he's a true point guard. He's not a star point guard, he's not an all-star, he's not a Hall of Famer, but he's a point guard. He runs the offense. The Magic picked him up during the trade deadline. They got rid of Tyus Jones, and ever since Javon Carter got on this team, ball movement's been better. Hustle plays by Javon, kick outs. Now Paolo is kicking it one extra time. He's driving, he's dishing. And now the ball movement's happening, and the team is flourishing because they have a short point guard that can do the grimy stuff. He can make the extra pass. And then that guy makes the extra pass, and things are starting to open up. So the magic arm. A little heater. One ten of their last fourteen. And they've had some solid wins. They beat Minnesota at Minnesota on Saturday. And, you know, they also beat Dallas in a very close game last Thursday. So we'll see, we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. They beat the the Clippers and the Lakers, uh, both of those games in LA late February. So I like what I'm seeing. They're starting to really find their stride. And my in my opinion, I love Palo, but our best player currently is Franz Wagner. Okay. So Franz is our best player. Palo has more potential. Palo can be the better player, but if you go offense and defense, Franz is our current best player. Palo's not far behind him. And Franz has been in the league for one or two more years. So when they get Franz back, I expect them to close out and get, you know, possibly, possibly a top four seed, which would be great. And what I think is going to happen and what I want to happen, although I don't know if we'd win this series. I want that 4-5 rematch. Cavs versus Magic. Just like, what was that, two years ago, two seasons ago, 2024 season? Oh, that was electric. Seven-game series. It was the home team winning in dominant fashion. Back and forth. Magic vs. Cavs is a playoff rivalry. You know, ever since my lifetime, anyway. We we did it with LeBron when we went on to win. And then a couple years ago, Magic made the playoffs for the first time in a long time. Cavs were the four seed, Magic were the five seed. It went to game seven. Magic went on to lose that series. But oh, it was amazing. It was great TV. It was great playoff basketball. And I think both of these teams are similar type teams where they're not big, major cities. So when they get to the playoffs and they match up together, it's always it's always a blood match. And I want it. I want it, and I'll be the first to admit, hey, if the Cavs go on to win, say they sweep the magic, I'll be the first to give them the credit for the win. But I don't want to dodge any smoke. I want that rematch more than anything. And we have the rematch. We have it on this Wednesday on ESPN on March 11th. It's let them know day. Okay, so you know the Cavs slogan, I don't know where it came from. You know, you guys let me know, the Cavs fans. Let 'em know. You know, I think it's quite funny to say let them know when the Magic beat the the Cavs. They did it in a meaningless end-of-the-season game last year, and you know, I had to let let them know. But let me know what that means because you know the Broncos had the let's ride, or they had it, that Russ, you know, kind of brought. And we kind of we had fun with it. You know, we had fun with the joke of let's ride and you know people making fun of us. But let's ride made sense. It's like you're riding a horse. But what does let them know mean? I have what it ha what does that have to do with Cleveland, with Cavaliers? I'm not sure. But I'm ready to let them know on Wednesday uh that the Magic are back. Now, will that happen? I don't know. I don't know. This game is in Orlando, so I'm gonna predict that the Magic are gonna win because they usually win in Orlando. Uh, but that's gonna be a big, big game. I'm ready to see it. It's gonna be on ESPN, and like I said, it's kind of a it's a low-key rivalry, you know, Caz vs. Magic. So that's gonna be a big one. And uh we'll talk about that on the next pod. Um, you know, how that went out. I'll I'll either be ecstatic about it or kind of down. So let them know, Day, this Wednesday, March 11th. Okay, it's running about 26 minutes. I gotta get on and off of this because I gotta go practice a dance rehearsal for my first dance of my wedding. Uh, another fee, another charge that I have to um pay for for getting married, which I can't wait for the day. I really can't. It's gonna be great. But man, the expenses of this stuff is crazy. So a little 45-minute session, and um, yeah, I got other stuff to do too. So thanks for listening in. I will be back. Like I said, it might just be me, solo pods, uh, but this is good. I'm gonna get uh you know, dust off the cobwebs, make sure I'm saying ums and uhs less. And uh it's good practice for when Stefan does get back on the pods. So I will keep it going. I've always said there's no quitting. You know, if I'm gonna do this content, we gotta keep putting it up. So I know there was a four week delay, but I'm not going anywhere. So thanks for listening. I'll be back next week for some more NBA talk. Go magic.