Knicks
Cavs (conf finalist)
Philly
Boston
Indy
Detroit
Orlando
ATL

I'd have to think these are the 8. Just a stab. Detroit won 60 illogically and Boston was not far behind. Also illogical based on Tatum being out most of the season and their lack of depth. Indy returns with Haliburton and an upgrade at the 5 in Zubic.
Philly? Yes, Embiid was the best player in the leauge when he got hurt 2 years ago. We got the Bells Paulsy version in the playoffs as he was coming back from the knee and he not the same since. On paper Philly should be feared and it might work if everything comes together. Health and chemistry. You know, the things that allowed us to crawl thru the window and win a chip!

Really the playoffs last season reset the talent back to the preseason expecations with Knicks and Cav's fulfilling their POTENTIAL! Unfortunately for the Cav's had depleted energy and knicks dominance allowed for nice rest. They they went into the Finals as they did might have been the deciding factor? One never knows.

Predictions? Not from me. Really teams are bunched together in the age of parity and the tanking teams allowed some teams to inflate their win totals. Top east seeding might not have a 60 game total.

I want a wire to wire Knick 60 game regular season, good health, and a back to back chip. Be a wonderful legacy addition to this already great story. Knicks have as good a chance as any. Thats good enough for me. Two years of "it all coming together" and nearly injury free is the key to any team.

Rosas leaving perhaps tells me Leon has no immeadiate plans to leave any time soon or succession plans are in place and he not the one.

My hope is the swagger and confidence winning a chip defnes the play. Same for Mike Brown. They were hungry and achieved. It was beautiful. Repeating with a bullseye on your back and staying healthy/a year older with wear and tear is harder with expectations and dealing with the spoils of victory. The hunger is less. Now its about balance of confidence/arrogance/health and potentially improved rosters we can't see yet.

As always, it all gets sorted out on the court!

But then you trim the fat and look at the post season. The very clear shift once of the offense started running through KAT. Yeah, we avoided top 2 seeds in the East, but you look at the DOMINANCE they displayed over the rest of the pack.

Coach made it clear regular season was to try new things. Not everything worked. But we built a lot of tools to busy out when we needed them. I expect more of the same this year.

Won't be surprised if Philly or some surprise team jumps us in the standings and finish #2 or #3 again this year. See a healthy dose of Kolek, Mo, Dadiet, Nickel in the early season and see what sticks.

Philly has such a high ceiling, but an incredibly fragile floor. Cleveland looks like they're stuck on a treadmill and need Spida to have an MVP season to really have a chance. Boston sold their soul. Detroit got exposed. Indy...I don't know what to make of them. I'm not a buyer on them being a true contender despite back to back heaters in the postseason, one year and a Haliburton Achilles ago. Siakam does give us fits though.

Also wouldn't be surprised to see a nice climb from Atlanta or Orlando in the standings. Giannis can enjoy the beach next April.

Panos wrote:You don't expect Miami to be in top 8 with Giannis + Bam?

Where do you rank them? Better then Atlanta/Orlando? We didn't even bring up Toronto yet.

They did just pick up Klay from the buy out market. I think they're firmly in the play-in, but it's all a crap shoot in that bunch.

Panos wrote:Frankly, I think Det was a fluke. I don't even know how they were as good as their record last year.
I wouldn't be surprised if they took a major dive this year.
I also think Boston could be highly variable based on JT's health. Those two teams could finish anywhere.
Same with Indy. Who knows what Hali will do this year. Do they make the playoffs at all? Who knows.

Unlike most here and in the media, I really fear Philly. I think that team is way stacked starting 5, and could be amazing. None of the other teams scare me.

Feel like Detroit played with a style that can really overwhelm you with physicality during the regular season but also was the underlying problem cause of a different whistle in playoffs, the ability to hyper focus on their one offensive outlet with his weaknesses that got exposed more cause of longer planning during a playoff series.

Their strength was used against them some

martin wrote:

Panos wrote:Frankly, I think Det was a fluke. I don't even know how they were as good as their record last year.
I wouldn't be surprised if they took a major dive this year.
I also think Boston could be highly variable based on JT's health. Those two teams could finish anywhere.
Same with Indy. Who knows what Hali will do this year. Do they make the playoffs at all? Who knows.

Unlike most here and in the media, I really fear Philly. I think that team is way stacked starting 5, and could be amazing. None of the other teams scare me.

Feel like Detroit played with a style that can really overwhelm you with physicality during the regular season but also was the underlying problem cause of a different whistle in playoffs, the ability to hyper focus on their one offensive outlet with his weaknesses that got exposed more cause of longer planning during a playoff series.

Their strength was used against them some

Detroit felt like us when we made our first playoffs with Thibs. So much effort and physicality to compensate for a lack of 3 point shooting.

Works well against regular season teams but then everyone gets physical in the playoffs and teams can shoot.