Western Conference

Some of, some of that stuff, we'll get into all that later.

But realistically, the Western Conference representative in the finals next year is going to be the Thunder, Spurs, Nuggets, Rockets, Lakers, Wolves.

Oh, that's six teams.

Sorry, not five.

But I think most people would say the Spurs and Thunder are still the most feared teams in the NBA.

Fair or unfair, I think that's just how people see it.

And it seems like getting to the top of the East is less daunting because the Knicks are closer to the rest of the pack, the Detroits, the Clevelands, the Celtics, the Phillies, the Miamis with Giannis, right? Than in the Western Conference, where it's those top two teams, then a, a bit of a gap.

I, I just think that's, that's what, that's where we're at right now.

I thought that was kind of weird, but With that said, today's episode is going to focus in on whatever Joe gets here.

But of course, as you and I both know, Western Conference dominated as far as the advanced voting, the advanced metrics, the advanced betting is a lot and heavy on OKC and San Antonio.

I don't want to say he's dead to you, Stefan.

I just don't know if he'll ever be traded to the Lakers.

But with that said, it is the Los Angeles Lakers and they're coming up around the corner.

But with that, I did want to go ahead and preface the show by saying with the Lakers and, you know, OKC and San Antonio, we all know OKC and San Antonio are being

favored at the top of the Western Conference,

but can any team else in the Western Conference break out of the pack that's mired in three through seven right now, or three through six, however you want to see the teams.

And then on top of all that, you know, Shaq and Kobe's relationship was reaching its breaking point.

Here's the funny thing is that despite all of that, the injuries, the drama, they still win the Western Conference, which is why with them, I don't even think that failed super team properly describes them because they were still really, really good.

The problem is they reached the finals and Detroit was a nightmare matchup for them.

Malone was hurt at that point.

He was a great basketball player.

His opponents in the Middle West, especially in the Western Conference, insist to this day that great as he is in the diamond world, he was an even greater All-American cage star.

There's the roar as Boudreaux, who has quite an unorthodox batting stance, starts his position.

Artie Fletcher is coaching at third base.

Check 'em out now at fanduel.com.

Uh, this is a division where there's a clear favorite, Robbie, and it's the reigning Western Conference champion Spurs.

Their number, as of this recording, is 60 and a half wins at FanDuel.

Last year, they won 62 games, so that's not crazy, and they were kind of busy this summer.

We could be as we could have been a top three seed.

every single year post that first time he went to that uh first time he went to the western conference finals we could have been a top two seed let's just pay one to one or two but they tend to not care until and i'd be until halfway through the all-star break right after once we get like three-fourths of the season in they're going to be a cool calm six seed seven seed and then they're gonna ramp themselves up to become a six or a five seed by the end of the season and then they're just gonna try their best to find their way to going against the Denver Nuggets and then they're gonna call it a day and you know what I'm okay with it It's not the best.

I don't like being an away team every single year for some reason, but it will work.

And not even to mention, I like it that we went and took this chance on Jonathan Kaminga because this was a guy.

But even if we're done, I'm satisfied.

We're not going to be a Western Conference finalist.

We're not going to be a real contending team next year.

I'm okay with that.

Like, I kind of know what their identity is.

Like, they lost in the Western Conference Finals.

I don't fully love the piece.

I actually don't know where everything fits yet.

Tell me why you guys have the Rockets at number three.

The Rockets are a young team.

They have been consistently a 50-win team on the top part of the Western Conference for some time now.

I think that they have so many young players who are going to just continuously get better.