NBA Eastern Conference: Which Tier Is Your Favorite NBA Team In?
By Eric Saar
Taking an overview of the NBA Eastern Conference and creating tiers of championship contenders, playoff contenders and cellar-dwellers.
If you take it as a whole, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference of the NBA are quite different. While the West, like we dealt with on Wednesday, is generally competitive throughout except for a few teams, the East is more top-heavy. Lately, more often than not, a team can make the playoffs out East with a record hovering around .500. To compare, the Suns out West had a record of 48-34 (14 games over .500) and still couldn’t make the postseason.
Criteria
As with the Western Conference, these are the criteria for discerning the tiers.
Cellar-dwellers are those who already don’t have much hope of making the playoffs. Playoff contenders are those teams who will have enough wins to either sniff the postseason or get in, but don’t really have a great chance at advancing deep into the playoffs. The East is so bad, most any of these not so great teams could make a surge and sneak in. Playoff contenders are playing at a high level and in such a way it is sustainable. They will be around in the latter stages of the playoffs and have a decent chance at making the NBA finals should things fall their way.
Cellar-dwellers
Philadelphia 76ers (0-13)
We’ve reached that part of the season, when the question is asked if the worst team in the league (this year clearly the 76ers) could be beaten by a dominant college team. That recently happened with Eric Bledsoe, Kentucky and the 76ers. By the way, the answer is always no.
Anyway, the 76ers still haven’t won a game, nearly a month into the season, and have already lost 15.8 percent of the season. Their point differential is an abysmal negative 16.5, certainly pulled down by the ridiculous and embarrassing 32-point (Toronto Raptors) and 53-point (Dallas Mavericks) losses already suffered early in the year.
They just aren’t good and won’t be for a while. It certainly doesn’t help they drafted an already-injured Joel Embiid third overall this summer.
Detroit Pistons (3-10)
They are in the beginning stages of a rebuild. Stan Van Gundy, as both GM and bead coach, just was hired this offseason and he is evaluating his players, trying to figure out what he has.
They have their cornerstone piece in Andre Drummond at center in what is a big and tall frontcourt with Greg Monroe and Josh Smith. This set of bigs is good for rebounding (resulting in Detroit being the 4th best rebounding team), but bad for offensive spacing. Drummond and Monroe are certainly low-post guys, while the oft-maligned Smith can shoot, but would be better if he wasn’t such a low-percentage volume shooter from outside the paint (37.4 FG%, 19.0 3FG% this year).
Things could be better next year as Monroe took his qualifying offer this year, making him an unrestricted free agent this summer, loosening the logjam and increasing the spacing. Also, Van Gundy would have some time and money to make some moves.
But this is not their year.
Playoff Contenders
New York Knicks (4-10)
You wouldn’t think the Knicks are playing playoff-caliber basketball right now, but in the East it doesn’t matter as much due to the East being so top-heavy.
I give the Knicks the benefit of the doubt because they are working with a new to them (and new to coaching) head coach in Derek Fisher, who is implementing a completely new offensive system with “The Triangle” which is what Fisher and President of basketball operations Phil Jackson ran in LA. Also, they’d had some injuries, played some tough competition and endured some close losses.
They’ll turn it around after they get comfortable with everything and make a push for the playoffs.
Orlando Magic (6-9)
The Magic are a young team and weren’t quite themselves with their best player, second-year guard Victor Oladipo missing extended time with a facial fracture. Ever since they lost Dwight Howard in a trade, they have been trying to get back to that former glory; and are certainly making progress.
Since Howard was gone following the 2011-12 season, the Magic have improved each season. In 2012-13 they bottomed out at 20 wins. The next year they had 23. So far they are 6-9, and I expect them to finish a few games below .500. If they overachieve, they can slip into the playoffs, but it probably won’t happen.
Boston Celtics (4-7)
The Celtics have some great guards with the assists leader Rajon Rondo, fifth-year player Avery Bradley and rookie Marcus Smart. That could be the best defensive backcourt in the league. Athletic, tough, long.
This year, the Celtics don’t have the roster to live up to their legendary history, but will progressively improve within and see what they get in the draft. But like most teams in the East, if they make a run, they could nab a playoff spot.
Brooklyn Nets (5-8)
After the debacle with Jason Kidd, the Nets were looking for a fresh start. They found it in Lionel Hollins, the Memphis Grizzlies’ former head coach. However, their play still isn’t cutting it. They are in the bottom half of the league in points per game, points allowed per game, assists per game and rebounds per game. That’s pretty mediocre. Not going to get you wins.
Relying on the veteran presence of Kevin Garnett, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams, the Nets will probably turn things around. They are almost there. Their point differential is negative 1.0. They just need a few better shots to fall each game to turn the tables in their favor.
Charlotte Hornets (4-9)
The Hornets have regained their nickname and look to make the playoffs again like last year. With the addition of Lance Stevenson to Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson, the core for Michael Jordan’s Charlotte team is in place.
However, so far, things haven’t gone according to plan. They are 26th in the league in points per game, averaging just 94.4 points per game. That’s just not going to cut it, especially when your defense is 15th and you’re giving up 99.8 points per game.
They just can’t close out close games. Whether it is a good team or a bad one, the Hornets just seem to drop the close ones. Four of their nine losses were by three points or less, with their most recent loss by five points.
Since they reside out East, they still have a good chance to make the playoffs, but the potential for an amazing season fades with every loss.
Indiana Pacers (5-8)
It has not been a good year for the Pacers. At the beginning of last season Indiana was dominating opponents and at times was leading the league in wins, just steamrolling over the competition. Then they faltered the second half, stumbling into the playoffs, just squeaking through the first couple rounds, and then got beat by the Heat.
And it didn’t end there. They didn’t even own their first-round draft pick, their best player Paul George broke his leg preparing to play for team USA, then their third-best player Lance Stevenson left for Charlotte. What once was (recently) an Eastern Conference powerhouse, is now just another team, trying to sneak into the postseason.
Milwaukee Bucks (7-7)
The Bucks are off to a good start this season. Before Saturday’s loss to the Wizards, they had a win percentage more than .500, which is pretty incredible, considering they were never over .500 last season. With Jason Kidd as their new head coach and a young core of Giannis Atetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, John Henson, Brandon Knight, etc they certainly have a bright future.
However, with their youth (as the second-youngest team in the NBA with an average age of 23.7 years old) they will make some mistakes and falter in crucial times therefore capping their potential. They are improving though.
Championship Contenders
Atlanta Hawks (6-5)
Really the only think standing in the way of the Hawks and a deep playoff run is health. Their star center Al Horford has torn his pectoral muscle multiple times, derailing their season. If he stays healthy along with Paul Millsap, sharpshooter Kyle Korver and point guard Jeff Teague, they have the playoff-caliber talent. Milsap and Horford have both made the All-Star game, they just need to stay healthy and put it together in the playoffs.
Cleveland Cavaliers (5-7)
There is so much scrutiny on this team as the four-time MVP LeBron James came back home to Ohio to lead his original team to a championship. He is joined by All-Star power forward Kevin Love and another former number one pick by Cleveland in Kyrie Irving in a similar “big-3” he created in Miami (along with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh).
This circumstance is different. They don’t have as solid a supporting class and a much less NBA-recognized coach as they brought David Blatt from Europe instead of coach Erik Spoelstra, who had been with the Heat for many years.
They have some things to figure out on both ends of the court, but James, as the leader of the team, will figure it out.
Miami Heat (6-6)
Miami just lost the best player in the world in LeBron James, but replaced him with All-Star Luol Deng. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are still there, with Bosh as the primary offensive option. He was relegated to the third option when LeBron was there and Wade was younger and more able to handle the load.
They still have enough firepower on their team to compete, especially in the weak Eastern Conference, which is already 19-44 against the west this year as a whole. The West is already completely dominating the Eastern Conference.
Chicago Bulls (8-5)
The Bulls entire championship destiny lies in the knees of Derrick Rose, who has been oft-injured recently. If he can play at or near his MVP-caliber season from 2010-11, the Bulls will make the finals. Former Laker Pau Gasol joined the team in the offseason and down low with Joakim Noah form the best set of passing big men in the league. Both are known to excel at that skill and Noah leads all centers with 4.4 assists per game.
Starting small forward Jimmy Butler his breaking on to the scene offensively, as he was already thought to be an elite perimeter defender. Through 11 games he is averaging 20.4 points per game, which is significantly higher than his previous highest average last year of 13.1.
Without Rose, the Bulls are a team capable of making it to the second-round of the playoffs, as they have the last couple years. With him, they can win the title.
Washington Wizards (9-3)
The Wizards have one of the best young backcourts on the league with All-Star John Wall along with Bradley Beal, who just came back from injury. Their offense hasn’t been anything special (18th in the league, but that should be fixed with the return of Beal), but the team has won with its eight-ranked defense. They are only giving up an average of 95.5 points per game.
As this relatively young team matures, they will have a legit chance at making the finals. This year they’ll probably lose in the conference finals.
Toronto Raptors (11-2)
The Raptors are the second-best team in basketball right now. They have a ridiculous point differential of +12.2 meaning on average they are outscoring their opponents by double-digits. That’s elite. Right now only three teams are doing that. The Raptors, the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors.
Their only losses were to good East teams. They lost by five to Miami and by seven to Chicago. With Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas they have a good core going forward.
They have a chance at the finals if the Cavs don’t figure it out and if Derrick Rose doesn’t stay healthy.
Overall
The East is pretty weak, except for a couple elite teams. It will certainly be interesting as the season moves along to see how it all shakes out.
These are my tiers. If you disagree or want to talk about them, just let me know and connect with me on Twitter @Eric_Saar.
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