I’m just happily watching the death-bowl at the top of the Eastern Conference this year. The Nets boys are still cooking in the oven, but once the dust settles in 1-2 years, we’ll be ready to mow down these geriatric teams with no assets and no cap space.

Also Keon Ellis and Mo Wagner. 

Sheesh /s

This is the actual answer.

Good thing we have a deep team

Does this factor in Paul George being made of glass?

I’m sure Kawhi will play 82 games for the raps next year.

This may be the most underrated move of the offseason. He was so important to what we did last year.

Amazing acquisition for the Magic.

The magic have underachieved though

To be fair, this was the brains on that bench. We all saw Mitch does nothing

Mosley is not good

Have them pegged as 9th and 10th. Heat could easily be on the outside looking in too

Hawks were kinda scary last season after trading Trae, can’t underestimate them imo. They also did the best against NY in the whole playoffs.

Easy answer. Mine too. Obvious.

Orlando is good though, if they’re full strength they’re a tough team

I think yall are underestimating Sean Sweeney. I predict that he has the Magic as a top 5 seed.

This is my gut reaction as well, which probably means they will both make it.

Philly and Cleveland are the two teams that have enough talent to safely withstand prolonged injuries to their best players. Maybe the Knicks as well. I feel like those 3 are close to locks for top 6 seed.

If Raptors get Kawhi and he is similarly available as he was last season, I think they are also top 6.

Hard to see Celtics and Pistons dropping out of the top 8 if Cade and Tatum are healthy.

I personally think the Heat will be top 8, if not top 6. But they have work to do on filling out their rotation.

Pacers should be extremely competitive with top tier teams if they are healthy. Somehow easy to forget they were arguably a Haliburton injury away from winning a title against the OKC juggernaut.

It’s a gauntlet

I think I know which one.

In the meantime this is gonna be a great year for hoops. 10 fan bases jacked for the season. With good reason

You’re telling me Bam can’t handle an offensive load

I remember the narrative being that Giannis was faking it so he can lower his trade value, or something of the sort.

Nevertheless, that roster is incomplete af. Gotta wait and see what they do to make the spacing worse.

Doubting Spo seems crazy

Magic, Hawks and Raptors out - Wizards in

I think Charlotte should be added to the list, as Brandon Miller looks primed to make the leap (hopefully he stays healthy), and Diabate was really establishing himself second half of the season.

The starting team looks interesting (and please correct me if you think it is different):

Coby White
Kon
Brandon Miller
Naz Reid
Diabate

I have a lot of respect for Charles Lee as well and hope he succeeds since he was so integral to our ‘24 run.

I’m convinced that if the Bulls had the Wizards young core and then added AD and Trae the media would be calling them dark horse candidates.

I hope you’re right (you will be)

Their over under is set at 37.5. Sounds like an opportunity to make money if you truly believe this

Lmaoooo okay

This guy thinks AD won’t choke on a cheezit at summer camp and require a tracheostomy 

Glad you mentioned Wizards as well, I think Trae has been really motivated and the optics look good with him work g out with the young guys. I think they are quite solid, with AD’s health really being the factor of pushing them into playoff talks:

Starters:

Trae
Kyshawn
Dybansta
Davis
Sarr

Bench (in order that I am predicting will be subbed in):

Ayton
Coulibaly (listed as forward, but I thought he played point?)
Middleton
Champagnie
Riley
Vuckevic

Achilles, shingles, and marriage, all in 12 months. He’s a completely different dude when he comes back.

Could say the same with Tatum though now that Brown is gone. Tatum got a few more games in to break off the rust last season but basically similar timelines of recovery.

Yeah it’s a different team, I could see a slow start from them and then fighting to get in post all star

Honestly, fair take. A slow start is gonna cost them a lot. I will say though the east playins will be straight fire.

As a Celtics fan I just don’t see how anyone is saying we got better.

We added Paul George, Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley; lost Brown and Vucevic

The health of Tatum will be key and I’m not confident he’ll be playing 70+ games this season. He got injured again in the playoffs and it is now an unfortunate trend of him missing games. Brown at least gave us stability.

And then there’s the fact that we won 56 games with half the league tanking last year and an Eastern conference that didn’t look nearly as intimidating as it does this season.

The fact that so many other teams have gotten better makes me think 56 wins is unlikely. We are probably gonna be a play-in team IMHO.

Sounds like a propaganda. They really have a chip on their shoulder to be better cause if they win less without Brown, well the analytical discussions gonna be interesting. As well as Brown vs Tatums impact.

They won 56 with JT missing 85% of the season, swapping Tatum for Brown, Vuc with Robinson and adding PG makes them better than they were last year prior to Tatum coming back

They had Jayson Tatum for 15 rusty games last season. A full season of him is going to outweigh the downgrade of going from Brown -> PG.

Not to mention they signed Mitchell Robinson which plugs the biggest hole the team had last year.

Yes but Tatum was out the majority of the season, point is he’s gonna be back.

Don’t think I would call it stacked, more like them even in skill

I’m obviously biased but the Raptors are a pretty deep team. Obviously Kawhi is injury prone but I see them as less susceptible to injuries as some of the other teams. I agree with Miami though

Brunson had wrist surgery and has a 2 month recovery. I could see a slow start from him with a post championship hangover.

Ya I think people are underrating Orlando because of last years health problems

When healthy it was a good team for sure and should secure a playoff spot

Sixers are still too talented to crash and burn that far. It’d be more of a 2019 Celtics season, bad vibes all year, team not working together and hovering a little above. 500.

Sixers didn’t crash and burn without embid and Paul George for long stretches of last season. They have only gotten better since.

If the sixers don’t get another center they are cooked.

Anthony Davis AJ Dynasty Trae Young

Is a filthy team

He started off the 2024-2025 regular season slow but he was still good enough as a whole to make 3rd-team all-nba.

Yeah, Lotta fans dont understand just because you were really good one year doesnt mean the team will catch the same fire, especially like 2 years ago now by the time next season starts

Full year of Tatum

They objectively did, swapping Brownwith Tatum, Vuc with Robinson and adding PG.

The only way I could see that as an argument is if they’re counting Tatum as an addition over last year.

So basically Tatum, Robinson, and George is better than Brown and Vucevic

Isaiah Joe shot 42% on 6 3s a game last season. John Collins shot 40.6% on 3 attempts per game. I would say that is a significant addition to their shooting

Tatum being injured would just hasten Hugo’s rise to superstardom.