Zach Lowe

And he's one of the leading candidates for most improved player.

I'm not sure he'd be my pick, but we'll get into that later.

So the Pistons feel rock solid in that they're going to get the number one seed.

Whether Cade comes back when Cade comes back is a huge question.

They can't win the East without Cade Cunningham, but they know exactly who they are and what their identity is.

And

reintegrating him will be as seamless as reintegrating tatum has been for boston boston feels rock solid ascendant tatum is ascendant the whole team is absolutely rolling they know exactly who they are as their identity they know what they want to accomplish all the time there is never any confusion about what we're trying to do on any possession

The next two teams in the East are so fascinating to me, maybe the two most fascinating in the league because we're 75 games in and because of roster construction, mid-season upheaval, injuries, whatever, it still feels like both the Cavs and the Knicks are trying to figure some fundamental things out about themselves, stuff that the Pistons and the Celtics have already figured out.

I want to start with Cleveland.

They got off to such a great start after swapping Garland for Harden.

And they're still playing well.

They're 10 and seven in their last 17 games.

That's kind of like, ooh, okay.

The defense has slipped.

I think they're like 15th, 16th overall, and worse than that in their last 20 games.

There was always going to be some slippage potentially with Harden and Jared Allen missing games.

Allen's now back.

You started against the Lakers the other night.

They got blown out by the Lakers and yet another Luka MVP.

Hey, remember me?