5 reasons the Toronto Raptors can win the NBA Championship
4. The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers aren’t quite ready
After an offseason that saw the Boston Celtics acquire both Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, there was an ostensible power shift in the Eastern Conference. Brad Stevens already led the Celtics to the top seed in the Eastern Conference the year before and a trip the Eastern Conference Finals. The additions of Irving and Hayward with Al Horford still in the fold gave Stevens three legit All-Stars.
Instead, Hayward had a gruesome injury in the first quarter of the season while Irving recently underwent a season-ending knee surgery, leaving the Celtics with Al Horford surrounded by some excellent, but not quite championship-level youth.
In Philadelphia, the team acquired No. 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz, added J.J. Redick and would, at least they hoped, have Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons healthy for a full year.
Fultz’s shoulder issues kept the team from seeing what their newest piece would look like on the court, but for the most part, The Process was finally paying off. Simmons is the front-runner for Rookie of the Year, Embiid will be in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation and the team (as of April 8) has the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.
However, Embiid is out indefinitely with a freak injury that left him concussed and with an orbital bone fracture. There is no timetable for his return, and without Embiid on the floor, the 76ers are just a completely different team on the defensive end of the floor.
Both teams are primed to be atop the Eastern Conference for quite a while, but neither team looks like they’re in a position to snatch the conference title away in the way that Toronto is right now.