NBA Eastern Conference Favorites: Knicks Lead, Hawks Rise

Watch NBA Eastern Conference Favorites: Knicks Lead, Hawks Rise - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00The Magic and the Hawks among the favorites to win the conference, Gilbert.

00:04That is rare.

00:05Usually they're the favorites to be the play in, right?

00:07But the Knicks are the favorite followed by Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, and Philly.

00:13Where's Boston, Gilbert?

00:15Am I missing something here?

00:17Boston's taking a gap year.

00:18At least it would appear so.

00:19You know, obviously the Jason Tatum injury and the Cyrus Halliburton injury as well.

00:23These Achilles injuries have really set back two teams who probably would have been the favorites in the Eastern Conference.

00:28They'll get back to it in 2026, but for now, you mentioned the Hawks.

00:31I really love what they've done this offseason, bringing in Kristaps Porzingis, the draft pick they had with Asa Newell.

00:37You know, the deals that they've made, the way that they are building around Trey Young, signing to kill Alexander Walker.

00:42If I read correctly, I think Trey Young is the only player on that roster under 6'4".

00:46So if you're going to build around a guy like that, a smaller point guard, put size around him, put defenders around him.

00:52They have last year's number one pick.

00:53They have Dyson Daniels, who had a breakout season last year.

00:56So there are a lot of things to be excited about if you are a Hawks fan.

01:00And maybe we'll see their biggest run since 2021 when they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

01:04So I think they're a sleeper team.

01:06Now we've seen that they're, I think their odds jump from 25 to 1 to 9 to 1, basically based on those moves that they've made.

01:11So it's exciting to see if the Hawks can actually make good on this.

01:14But like with any team, health will be key.