2025-26 Mid-Season Mixtape Vol 1, Track 2: The Best Ensembles Assembled

Let's get into the league-leading teams in the Association. To start, wind your clocks back 3 hours (if you're on the East Coast like me, at least). We're headed out west.

The West

• OKC (1st) — 36–8
• San Antonio (2nd) — 31–10
• Denver (3rd) — 30–13

These should look familiar — the MVP race and the standings are basically the same. Jokic (Denver), SGA (OKC), and Wemby (San Antonio) are all in the hunt for an MVP, and their teams are all in the hunt for a title.

Denver and OKC have lived here for the better part of the last half-decade. San Antonio is the new arrival, but with two recent Rookie of the Year winners, lottery pick Dylan Harper, and star guard De’Aaron Fox added last season, their arrival feels more expected than not. If the wheels don’t fall off, the Spurs should make themselves comfortable at the top of the West for the next decade or more.

Get used to these three. They’re not going anywhere.

The East

• Detroit (1st) — 31–10
• Boston (2nd) — 26–16

These two, however, may surprise people. The one that shouldn’t be surprising, though, is Detroit.

For whatever reason, Motor City has a reputation for hard-working mediocrity. Even their legendary title-winning team is often remembered as having significantly out-performed it’s collective talent. Ask 10 people to name more than 2 players from that title team, and you’ll likely get one of Rip Hamilton or Chauncy Billups… and that’s about it (no offense to Tayshaun or the Wallaces).

And to be honest, the story this season isn’t necessarily that much different - the Pistons are 3rd in rebounding, tied at 1st in steals, 1st in blocks, are second in plus/minus, defensive rating, and are tied at 2nd in net rating. They, like the 1st place Thunder, are thriving on defense and capitalizing on outworking their opponents.

The other team in the east, however, is surprising. As noted, I’m a Celtics fan. Seeing Jaylen in the MVP hunt was shocking. But frankly, that is nothing compared to seeing Boston at the top of the East standings.

Honestly, it’s hard to understand what’s going on in Boston.

The story surrounding this team has been… mixed at times, which is odd for the second-best team in the conference.

As is expected, this team has seen some efficiency challenges early in the year. Almost everyone is shooting a lower percentage from the field as compared to their prior season - a nod to the gravity of Jayson Tatum on the floor. I say “almost” because there is one glaring exception to that.

Jaylen Brown is shooting the highest volume of his career, and has actually improved his shooting percentage over last season!

There are common questions around a Jaylen Brown led Celtics squad. Questions about ball security and decision-making. Concerns about taking care of the ball and avoiding empty possessions.

Browns leadership in Boston has emphatically answered those questions.

If turnovers are a signal of ball security, Brown has safer hands than the likes of Luka Doncic or SGA (both MVP front-runners), while having the second-highest usage rate in the league.

While the Pistons are 2nd in net rating, that is tied with Boston. The Celtics are 2nd in offensive rating (behind Denver), and 2nd in turnover percentage (behind OKC).

And I would be wrong to not credit Joe Missoula with a huge ownership of this. This isn’t “let’s hope for the best” basketball, or “happy accident” success. The Celtics went from one of the highest pace teams in league history - at one point in 23-24 having more 3 point attempts than minutes played - to playing methodical, patient, and lethal offense. The Celtics have the slowest pace in the NBA this season, averaging 96.4 possessions per 48 minutes. That’s 2 every minute, surprisingly fewer than the 24-second shot-clock would dictate. Yet their offensive rating (or points per 100 possessions) is second in the league at 121.6.

This is a team that is almost unrecognizable from just 12 months ago.

This is Jaylen Brown’s Boston Celtics.

This is a deep playoff contender.