Eastern Conference Predictions

[Marcos_Beck]

1. Nets - best team in the East
2. Heat - great regular season team, lacks big time scorers in the playoffs
3. Celtics - still missing last piece of the puzzle
4. Cavaliers - Won't be great in regular season but great playoff squad
5. Wizards - Gary built a great team that can win games if gel
6. Knicks - Luka can only carry you that far
7. Bucks - It's a solid team and a good coach
8. 76ers - Enough defense to be in the playoffs
9. Hawks - Youngsters are developing into good pieces but still need one more year maybe
10. Hornets - Jovic and a good core is enough for play-in
11. Raptors - Same team, same result basically
12. Magic - Still very much unproven and need a SF
13. Bulls - Good starting core will earn some wins until everyone is traded
14. Pacers - Could be a playoff team with a good coach
15. Pistons - Lacks too much offense even if improved

[Marcos_Beck]

I expect to be very wrong btw.

[Flaming Homer]

Nice work Lucas! And interesting thoughts.

The top of the conference is very close together with BKN, BOS, CLE, MIA as the main stays and now with WAS in the mix.
Most important is to make it to the playoffs and if possible secure home court. If you get there, anything is possible.
Who knows how much of the BKN dominance was just getting hot at the right time? We will find out.

I would rank MIL and also PHI higher, I think the former Bulls roster played promising during the last playoffs. And Manu is just really good in finding talent and make them work together.


I'm not sure if the Hawks can make it into the playoffs again, I feel we regressed slightly compared how the conference improved. Depending a lot on if Okoro, Perry and especially Naji can make a good step forward.
Hopefully we are not yet on this mediocre treadmill. I still hope there are players on this roster who can play with the best in the CSL. Maybe just wishful thinking

[Silogical]

1. Nets - best team in the East
2. Heat - great regular season team, lacks big time scorers in the playoffs
3. Celtics - still missing last piece of the puzzle
4. Cavaliers - Won't be great in regular season but great playoff squad
5. Wizards - Gary built a great team that can win games if gel
6. Knicks - Luka can only carry you that far
7. Bucks - It's a solid team and a good coach
8. 76ers - Enough defense to be in the playoffs
9. Hawks - Youngsters are developing into good pieces but still need one more year maybe
10. Hornets - Jovic and a good core is enough for play-in
11. Raptors - Same team, same result basically
12. Magic - Still very much unproven and need a SF
13. Bulls - Good starting core will earn some wins until everyone is traded
14. Pacers - Could be a playoff team with a good coach
15. Pistons - Lacks too much offense even if improved

This looks pretty good. You also dont need big time scorers to advance. I made it one game to the finals without simmons and BRK doesnt really have a big time scorer just a well balanced overall low scoring team(Ayton only 67/47).

I think a healthy NY team will finish 5th, then its a bunch of mediocre teams.

I like your bulls team but if youre tearing it down more than 13th looks fine.

[Marcos_Beck]

we could be a playin team but that's not the goal really.
We're not going all the way without better young players so let's tear it down, that should be fun

[rh0xxy]

We were one game shy of reaching the Conference Finals last season with this crew and i think we made some necessary changes to improved and so i think we have a good shot of making the Playoffs. Not sure why almost everyone is writing us off lol but yeah who cares, we will compete to win!

Here's my prediction:

1. Brooklyn
2. Boston
3. Cleveland
4. Miami
5. New York
6. Washington
7. Milwaukee
8. Philadelphia
9. Atlanta
10. Toronto
11. Detroit
12. Charlotte
13. Orlando
14. Chicago
15. Indiana

[OneNole]

I always enjoy these types of articles but as others have mentioned, I feel this one is really optimistic for a few teams. My quick overall guess on how I see teams doing this year: (probably more wins added up than is realistic)

1. Brooklyn: 59-23 I think their roster is even better than last season but I dont think they will do quite as well. I feel like their stars all played as well as they could and no fault to Rizzo, I think a couple will "drop" back to the mean. They will still be superstars but not quite as unstoppable.
2. Miami Heat: 55-27 Silo will stay up here until his team shows they can no longer keep up
3. Boston Celtics: 52-30 Another tried and true team that always hovers near the top. I would have them pegged for a couple more wins if Dennis was back to being a little more active.
4. Cleveland Cavaliers 50-32 I think they are built for the regular season but not enough defense to go far in the playoffs
5. New York Knicks 50-32 I dont love the depth and its taken Andrew way too long but definitely one of my favorite rosters. They will need some more depth if they hope to survive the regular season thoug.
6. Washington Wizards 46-36 I dont really know where to peg Washington. I dont really think the pieces will fit as well as they should and I think Gary has a history of being too impatient. If Gary can hold off from making big lineup changes or trades after a couple of losses this team may exceed expectations, but if he can't I can see this team struggling a lot.
7. Milwaukee Bucks 43-39 I will give Manu the benefit of the doubt that he has done enough testing for this lineup because otherwise his trades will fail badly losing two first round picks and missing the playoffs.
8. Philadelphia 76ers 42-40A tough Eastern Conference keeps them from moving up higher even if I do think they are better than last season
9. Atlanta Hawks 40-42 If they can pull off one of the trades they are working on I can see them pushing the Wizards for the 6th seed but the Hawks are still a young team in a very deep conference
10. Toronto Raptors: 37-45 A solid aging core keeps this team competitive but not enough star power to make a dent in this conference.
11. Detroit Pistons 33-49 Adding Wiseman to an already good defensive lineup will keep them in games but their lack of scoring will prevent any sustained success this season.
12. Chicago Bulls 30-52 Marcos is going to tear it down and do whatever he can to accumulate losses this year. Too much talent currently to lose enough though.
13. Charlotte Hornets 28-52 I think Dylan knows that his best approach to build a superstar loaded team similar to Memphis is to suck one more year, get another high draft pick to build around Jovic and Williams with loads of cap space and this team could become the best team in the East within two seasons. But they need to be patient one more season and hopefully they can use that pick for an elite defensive wing either via trade or in the draft.
14. Orlando Magic: 24-58 Starters are too young and depth is too weak to see this team doing much this season
15. Indiana Pacers 20-62 I dont trust TJ to be active enough. Enough solid veterans to fight Toronto for the 10th seed but not if they can't get some help from the top.

[wms02a]

13. Charlotte Hornets 28-52 I think Dylan knows that his best approach to build a superstar loaded team similar to Memphis is to suck one more year, get another high draft pick to build around Jovic and Williams with loads of cap space and this team could become the best team in the East within two seasons. But they need to be patient one more season and hopefully they can use that pick for an elite defensive wing either via trade or in the draft.

Will Jovic allow that? He is literally the CSL version of NBA WEmby (minus on the blocks and plus on the assists)... I think Jovic will be in the discussion for MVP this year... he probably wont win it but he is in the top 5 players for the award.

[Rizzo]

All the pressure is on me, huh?