The eastern conference is now legitimate again.

[Celtsfan92]

1. Pacers
2. Wizards
3. Bulls
4. Cavs
5. Heat
6. Nets
7. Celtics
8. Sixers
9. Raptors
10. Hawks
11. Knicks
12. Hornets
13. Pistons
14. Bucks
15. Magic

Celtics make playoffs AND get Philly's pick!!

You're insane. Sixers could win a halftime trivia contest, but not much else. That team needs a lot of time and health to develop.

Celtics...look in a perfect scenario I think they win 38-40 games. But that means every single thing that could go right goes right for nearly the entire season. I don't think that will happen.

Besides, why do we want to make the playoffs with this team? 8 seeds are NBA purgatory. You couldn't be in a worse place if you're a perennial 5-8 seed

[Rondo9]

This bears repeating: It's only mediocrity if you have long term contracts to bad players and little to no draft picks.

[Celtsfan92]

The east is still weak, but the Miami separation will help distribute the teams so you don't have such a top heavy conference. Also, Parker and all the other draft picks from this year will help the teams a lot int he coming years-- especially Philly in the future. My rankings:

1. Cavs <-- Wiggins, Lebron, Irving will be huge for them.. and what if they get Love too?
2. Wizards <-- They will make it to the ECF; Pierce is better than Ariza
3. Bulls <-- Assuming Rose is healthy, a front line of Pau and Noah will be great
4. Heat <-- I really think Deng will be solid, Bosh will step up; Wade will play his usual 50 games out of 82
5. Pacers <-- Hilbbert is done, and without Lance, they'll hurt
6. Hawks <-- If Harford is back and healthy
7. Hornets <-- If they can get Haywood and Jefferson stays healthy
8. Raptors <-- They kept Lowry and were solid last year

----
9. Nets <-- Garnett will be out for most of the year, Williams will probably fight with his coach again; Just an overall dysfunctional team. Livingston left, Blatche leaving. Pierce gone.
10. Knicks <-- Melo will have one of his best years number wise, but they have no one else on their team
11. Pistons <-- Monroe and Drummond will be big for them
12. Celtics <-- Rondo will be healthy causing wins for half the season before he gets traded. Celtics always play with effort causing us to get a higher seed than we should on paper. Would love to be where the Magic & 76ers are.
13. Bucks <-- Parker will have some solid games but I'm not high on Kidd as a coach
14. Magic <-- Aaron Gordon won't help them
15. Sixers <-- Tank city!

At least many of the teams are not a joke anymore. Top 5-6 Teams are actually respectable, and the bottom teams such as the 76ers and Bucks have bright futures.

TP for your efforts. Nice work. A few thoughts...

I want to say Cavs won't be 1. I honestly don't think they are, but then I look at that team and remember the terrible Cavs teams that LBJ won 60+ games with and wonder if the talent on this team is really worse? Idk. They're just still so young. I don't love Kyrie as a player yet. I think he's vastly overrated as a player for what he does. Wiggins could be great or it could take him a while to adjust. Dion is inconsistent. Bennett is Bennett. Ray Allen is another year older (if he signs) and was already less effective. Can mike miller even jog anymore? His back was shot 6 years ago. What's Tristan Thompson really gonna do? LeBron makes you an automatic top 4 team I think, but 1 is a very high bar this year.

2...look I adora Paul Pierce. He's my favorite player ever. I worshipped him. As an all-timer, Ariza doesn't stand a chance. Next season? Come on...that's a huge blow. Paul will be good, but he also just averaged career lows in almost every single statistical category last season, including minutes. He was getting 28 mpg...that will probably go down to no more than 25. So will his production. Right now, they're still good but not better.

IF Rose comes back and plays to his former level, Bulls are 1 seed hands down. That's a huuuuuuuge if though.

Everybody sleepin on Indy. They lose production without Lance, but he hurts their chemistry and doesn't fit their style. He's a special player, but they might be better without him or his antics.

In your scenario the Raptors win the division making then no worse than a 4 seed. There's no reason for me to think they can't win 50 games this year, or at worst repeat last year's success.

I'm not sold Charlotte stays good enough. I don't think they really improve much next season.

Forget Garnett - if DWill stays on the court that's a good team. If Brook Lopez isn't shot forage because of that foot injury, him plus dwill and JJ could be a top 4 seed.

Don't sleep on the much-improved Hawks. With a healthy Horford they win 45 games.

Agree with everything else mostly!

[zerophase]

The east is still weak, but the Miami separation will help distribute the teams so you don't have such a top heavy conference. Also, Parker and all the other draft picks from this year will help the teams a lot int he coming years-- especially Philly in the future. My rankings:

1. Cavs <-- Wiggins, Lebron, Irving will be huge for them.. and what if they get Love too?
2. Wizards <-- They will make it to the ECF; Pierce is better than Ariza
3. Bulls <-- Assuming Rose is healthy, a front line of Pau and Noah will be great
4. Heat <-- I really think Deng will be solid, Bosh will step up; Wade will play his usual 50 games out of 82
5. Pacers <-- Hilbbert is done, and without Lance, they'll hurt
6. Hawks <-- If Harford is back and healthy
7. Hornets <-- If they can get Haywood and Jefferson stays healthy
8. Raptors <-- They kept Lowry and were solid last year

----
9. Nets <-- Garnett will be out for most of the year, Williams will probably fight with his coach again; Just an overall dysfunctional team. Livingston left, Blatche leaving. Pierce gone.
10. Knicks <-- Melo will have one of his best years number wise, but they have no one else on their team
11. Pistons <-- Monroe and Drummond will be big for them
12. Celtics <-- Rondo will be healthy causing wins for half the season before he gets traded. Celtics always play with effort causing us to get a higher seed than we should on paper. Would love to be where the Magic & 76ers are.
13. Bucks <-- Parker will have some solid games but I'm not high on Kidd as a coach
14. Magic <-- Aaron Gordon won't help them
15. Sixers <-- Tank city!

At least many of the teams are not a joke anymore. Top 5-6 Teams are actually respectable, and the bottom teams such as the 76ers and Bucks have bright futures.

TP for your efforts. Nice work. A few thoughts...

I want to say Cavs won't be 1. I honestly don't think they are, but then I look at that team and remember the terrible Cavs teams that LBJ won 60+ games with and wonder if the talent on this team is really worse? Idk. They're just still so young. I don't love Kyrie as a player yet. I think he's vastly overrated as a player for what he does. Wiggins could be great or it could take him a while to adjust. Dion is inconsistent. Bennett is Bennett. Ray Allen is another year older (if he signs) and was already less effective. Can mike miller even jog anymore? His back was shot 6 years ago. What's Tristan Thompson really gonna do? LeBron makes you an automatic top 4 team I think, but 1 is a very high bar this year.

2...look I adora Paul Pierce. He's my favorite player ever. I worshipped him. As an all-timer, Ariza doesn't stand a chance. Next season? Come on...that's a huge blow. Paul will be good, but he also just averaged career lows in almost every single statistical category last season, including minutes. He was getting 28 mpg...that will probably go down to no more than 25. So will his production. Right now, they're still good but not better.

IF Rose comes back and plays to his former level, Bulls are 1 seed hands down. That's a huuuuuuuge if though.

Everybody sleepin on Indy. They lose production without Lance, but he hurts their chemistry and doesn't fit their style. He's a special player, but they might be better without him or his antics.

In your scenario the Raptors win the division making then no worse than a 4 seed. There's no reason for me to think they can't win 50 games this year, or at worst repeat last year's success.

I'm not sold Charlotte stays good enough. I don't think they really improve much next season.

Forget Garnett - if DWill stays on the court that's a good team. If Brook Lopez isn't shot forage because of that foot injury, him plus dwill and JJ could be a top 4 seed.

Don't sleep on the much-improved Hawks. With a healthy Horford they win 45 games.

Agree with everything else mostly!

Thanks for the TP!

A couple things:
1. I really do think that Cavs team will be the #1 seed, or at least #2. Irregardless, Irving will be better, and I'm not sold that Bennet is a bust. I think he'll actually be in shape this year and play well, and Wiggins is starter right now. I think the Cavs seeding more depends on how the Pacers come back. If they come back as the Pacers after the all-star break, then I really question how high they'll be seeded. If Hibbert and George come back with new fire, then I think they can really be in contention for the #1.

2. I think it'll take a while for Rose to really get back into the groove of the NBA game. We saw it last year when he tried to come back after sitting out for a year, and he was good, but certainly not MVP or even all-star caliber. Now imagine sitting out 2 years. Not to say he won't gain it back if he stays healthy, but it'll be at least until the all-star break before he's back to all-star level. I'm also not really convinced he can play Thibs defense and survive his crazy practices without breaking down at least at one part of the season.

3. Paul Pierce, though at career lows last year in minutes, I think had one of his best statistically efficient years last year. That Wizards team was probably one of the most underrated teams last year because of injuries and we finally saw how strong they were in the playoffs. Another year growing their youth and I think they really have something.

4. Opps, I forgot about the division seeding rules. You're right, the Raptors would be 4th or 5th? I remember they recently changed those rules because of the Spurs and Mavs being in the same division, but I forget the specifics.

5. I think the Jazz matched the offer sheet, so I would add the Nets as the 7th seed. A stronger eastern conference will finally a cause a good team like the Hornets to miss the playoffs. I would also be willing to move the Wizards down to the 3 or 4th seed, but definitely no lower based on purely record (excluding division rules).

[D.o.s.]

Per the above: Raptors would be 4th, Heat would be 5th (since the Wizards are in Miami's conference), but the team with the better record would have home court advantage in the first round.

reedit:I need coffee.