NBA Contender Draft | Slam N Jam

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What are the Eastern Conference playoff predictions?

Andrew Schlecht 1:36
Mike, what's up? Hey, guys. How we doing? We enjoying tonight's NBA action?
Alex Speers 1:43
It was really fun. I like having the two games. I really enjoy having the two games, which is very fun. We are recording this late, late Thursday. So when you're listening to this on Saturday, you're confused about the two games that I'm talking about. So it's just one game on Friday. Not talking about that, but we are going to talk about the Eastern Conference to start with. And so the second round of the Eastern Conference is set. Most people are already looking ahead to a Cavs-Celtics conference finals. But I want to ask you the same question about both series. An upset feels unlikely, but what would need to happen for the Pacers and Knicks to make these long series?
Andrew Schlecht 2:28
the drew holiday uh injury kind of lingering out there where i don't feel like we've gotten an update since that series is wrapped up with orlando i feel like that could actually cause some some issues for boston and jaylen brown already kind of you know limping around a little bit and then lost a finger i think halfway through that series as well so i i think that could be something but i actually like the pacers i i think halliburton uh the the way that you saw even though I mean clearly they just took care of business against Miami right but Tyler Hero is still putting up big numbers and we saw guards be able to attack the backcourt of Cleveland so I think I think Indy could be frisky but I also think we're I'm putting that energy out there so that we get a long series but it does feel inevitable that it will be Cleveland and Boston
Mike Zakarian 3:16
Well, let's talk about some of the teams that are no longer with us in the East playoffs. And starting with the team you just mentioned, the Miami Heat. So they won the fewest games they've won since 2015. It's their second straight first-round exit in the 1-8 matchup after finishing the play-in again. How bad do you think Miami's situation is right now? They're not Phoenix, all right?

How bad is the Miami Heat's situation?

Mike Zakarian 3:38
We don't think they're Phoenix. But do you see a clear path forward without a rebuild?
Andrew Schlecht 3:44
Do you know why I feel like it is kind of bad right now is that there's this whole conversation about Giannis maybe leaving Milwaukee. And I haven't heard anybody really say, what about Miami? And that makes me think it's kind of bad because I feel like that would be the first that's anytime anybody wants to go anywhere. They're like, well, the heat could be a pretty good spot. I feel like we haven't really heard too much about that. So I don't know. I don't really see the path forward to Miami. I feel like they have a lot of nice pieces there, but I don't know what the right move would be that all of a sudden would vault them into the contender conversation.
Mike Zakarian 4:20
Yeah, it's tough, especially with Bam's contract. I'm really torn. What team would that contract make sense for? Because when he's the top played player on your team, it's just not going to work. That's not going to work long term. You're talking about a Giannis trade. I feel like it would have to include Bam. And then at that point, what's left when Giannis arrives in Miami? So, yeah.

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