Brooklyn 4th in the Eastern Conference to Start the Season

No one saw this coming. The Brooklyn Nets are currently in 4th place in the Eastern Conference. That is not to say they are off to a blazing hot start as they are just 4-4 on the season, but their standing is surprising to say the least. Yes, that record of 4-4 is good enough for 4th place in the East. That’s how bad the conference has been to begin the year. The New York Knicks, who were picked to finish 2nd in the East, are behind the Nets at this point with a record of 3-4.

While Brooklyn is in 4th place mostly due to the rest of the East being bad, they still have been playing better than expected. The Nets were projected to win around 20-25 games this year and right now they have won half of them which sets them on pace to win over 40 games. So, why have the Nets been good and the Knicks worse than expected?

Brooklyn has some underrated veteran players such as Dennis Schroder, Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson, Nic Claxton, and even Ben Simmons. While Simmons has played around half the games, he has been effective as he’s played in three of their four games. Unfortunately, they had an easier schedule to start the season and now in their next six games they played Boston twice, the Knicks twice, and the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers.

Speaking of the Knicks, they are under .500 which no one saw coming. Their last two games they lost to the Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks as well. The trade a couple weeks before the season of getting Karl-Anthony Towns has taken them some time to adjust to. It will be interesting if they play him more at power forward when they get Mitchell Robinson back as they have been exposed on defense a bit early in the season.

The season is very much in the beginning stages. Most teams have played less than 10% of their games so these early records and standings will greatly change here in just a couple weeks, most likely. It has been a surprising start regardless for these two New York teams.

By Jack Stradley, I’m a sports writer always looking for a gripping story and a hot take.