So many story lines affect the East, but of course the biggest thing is now Lebron James is a Los Angeles Laker which removes him from the conference entirely. Boston gets Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, Victor Oladipo is going into his second season as the driving force of the Indiana Pacers, the young 76ers go into the second year of the tandem of Ben SImmons and Joel Embiid and now Toronto has Kawhi Leornard instead of Demar Derozan. With Lebron gone, the East has been blown wide open. Now the question is what team is going to take over at the top of the East. Here's who I think will making the 2019 Eastern Conference playoffs.
1. Boston Celtics
Jayson Tatum & Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics
After being one game away from the NBA Finals without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, they can't help but to be excited for next season. With no more Lebron in the East, the conference title is just sitting there for the Celtics to snatch up. Imagine a small ball lineup of Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford with Terry Rozier and Marcus Morris off the bench. Easily the most talented team in the East.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons & Markelle Fultz, Philadelpia 76ers
Putting all the Bryan Colangelo burner account stuff aside, this is genuinely a talented young team. Building off of a playoff year in which they ran into a deeper, better coached squad in the Celtics, year two of the trifecta of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz is going to be something special. This season will also be year two of "The Process", finally taking all those top three picks and developing a playoff caliber team.
3. Toronto Raptors
Kawhi Leornard, Toronto Raptors
This team got better just off of the fact Lebron James is no longer in the East. Without Lebron and replacing Demar Derozan with a better player in Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors' window has slightly opened, but now they have to compete with young, deep teams in the Celtics and 76ers.
4. Indiana Pacers
Bojan Bogdanovic, Miles Turner & Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers
As one if not the surprise team in the East, the Pacers come off a season where Victor Oladipo displayed star potential and they took the Lebron led Cavaliers to seven games. With that kind of year, the Pacers need to prove that last year wasn't a fluke. Victor Oladipo, Miles Turner and now Tyreke Evans should be a strong core of talent improve with.
5. Milwaukee Bucks
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
This is simply based off two main things. The first thing is Giannis Antetokounmpo is already a top three player in the East and with another year, he will only improve and hopefully he will improve his shooting from behind the three point lint. The second thing is that the addition of Mike Budenholzer as the coach, the Bucks will finally have a real system to rely on which is what they've desperately needed. Adding Brook Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova, this season should also provide quality play in the front court.
6. Washington Wizards
Bradley Beal, Dwight Howard & John Wall, Washington Wizards
I simply can't imagine the Wizards missing the playoffs with talent like John Wall and Bradley Beal on the squad. Easily a top three tandem in the East. Their culture is the only thing holding their team back. If Dwight Howard can duplicate his production from last year along with a healthy Wall and Beal, the Wizards should definitely make the playoffs.
7. Detroit Pistons
Dwane Casey & Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons
New coach Dwane Casey will have his work cut out for him, but he has pieces to work with. This team with Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond clogging the paint and Reggie Jackson running the show, they lack spacing, but in the East they simply have too much talent to miss the playoffs in the East.
8. New York Knicks
Kevin Knox, New York Knicks
This may be considered a hot take, but personally I believe this truly is possible because of how wide open the Eastern Conference is now. I believe that Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson will build off of Summer League and step up early, especially with Kristaps Porzingis still being out due to injury. These guys paired with a year two version of Frank Ntilikina and a hard nose coach in David Fizdale could make a lot of noise in the fight for the last playoff spots.
Despite still being the weaker of the two conferences, the East is going to be a dog fight this year and I wouldn't be surprised if it came down to the last week of the regular season to properly determine the seeding. Watch out for under the radar teams like Cleveland with Collin Sexton and Kevin Love, Charlotte with Kemba Walker and Miles bridges and even my Chicago Bulls with their talented young core. This is going to be exciting conference to watch young stars burst onto the scene.
