The NBA Eastern Conference has seen dramatic changes this offseason. Paul George is a Sixer, Karl-Anthony Towns is a Knick, Tobias Harris is once again a Piston, and with the season just around the corner, it’s a perfect time to do an Eastern Conference Power Ranking and see where the 76ers rank!
The bottom feeders
15) Brooklyn Nets, 14) Chicago Bulls, 13) Washington Wizards, 12) Detroit Pistons
Simply put, these teams stink. There is no viable path forward for the Nets and Bulls, given the construction of their rosters. Both teams should be having a fire sale come the trade deadline in February with intriguing veterans on their rosters. Alex Sarr fell into the Wizards’ laps with the second overall pick in the 2024 Draft, and Cade Cunningham has shown enough promise when healthy to warrant the Wizards and Pistons being higher on the list.
Mired in mediocrity… and a little surprise
11) Atlanta Hawks, 10) Toronto Raptors, 9) Charlotte Hornets
By this power ranking, the Hornets will find themselves back in the play-in tournament, hosting a play-in game! They have long been mired in something worse than mediocrity, so being back here is a major positive for the franchise. If LaMelo Ball can stay healthy, he and the ascending Brandon Miller are going to keep the Hornets afloat in a lot of ball games.
The Hawks and Raptors are more or less the same team every year, regardless of who is on the roster. (The 76ers also suffer from this issue, but the team’s floor is much higher with Joel Embiid.) The Trae Young-Dejounte Murray pairing did not work out in Atlanta, so with Murray shipped out to San Antonio, Young will have more time with the ball in his hands but also will have to integrate the over-drafted number one overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Zaccharie Risacher. The Raptors have fun players on their team, but nobody that can truly tie them all together. No true point guard or setup man, and a lot of clunky, awkward wings.
Lack of identity
8) Miami Heat
Feels strange to say the Heat do not have an identity. They have a premier playoff-riser in Jimmy Butler, one of the most versatile defensive weapons in the NBA in Bam Adebayo, and the best coach in the league, Erik Spoelstra.
Their identity is supposed to be “Heat Culture,” but at some point, they have to stop clinging to that. They are too smart of an organization not to realize where they are at, given the current landscape of the NBA. They have been in the Conference Finals three times and the NBA Finals twice since Jimmy Butler arrived, but they have been underdogs four out of five times in the first round of the playoffs. There is a reason for that, even if they are adept at overcoming it.
7) Cleveland Cavaliers
There is the expression “the whole is greater than the sum of its’ parts.” The opposite would be true when describing this Cavs team. They have so many good basketball players with unique skill sets, but they have proven they do not fit together.
Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, two All-Stars, both need the ball in their hands to be at their individual best. Evan Mobley, who could soon be an All-Star, has not taken the superstar-level leap that many had anticipated him taking coming out of USC. Jarrett Allen, another former All-Star, is a very limited offensive player who clogs up the paint and limits the team’s spacing. Isaac Okoro, Max Strus, and Georges “Bang Bang” Niang do not move the needle to the tune of winning basketball games. A lot of above-average-or-better parts that do not make up a great whole.
6) Orlando Magic
The Magic do have an identity on the defensive end of the floor, but that can only take a team so far in today’s NBA. Just ask last year’s Minnesota Timberwolves; teams that struggle to score the basketball end up getting exposed no matter how close they can keep a game with their defense. Paolo Banchero is a fantastic, young top-option to help lead the Magic forward, but he is going to need help from Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and others if they want to win playoff series in the spring. Hard to see where that consistent help is going to come from.
Almost there
5) Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks still have a lot of talent on the roster, but they seem to be going in the wrong direction as a franchise. The first year of the Giannis Antetokounmpo–Damian Lillard pairing could not have gone much worse. They fired their first-time head coach, Adrian Griffin, in the middle of his first season and replaced him with Doc Rivers.
Their third-best player, Khris Middleton, has been battling knee ailments for nearly two years now and cannot be counted on to give them consistent production. Of course, there is a world where everything works out because Giannis and Dame end up doing Giannis and Dame things, but the vibes have been off in Milwaukee for a while now.
4) Indiana Pacers
The Pacers are one of the toughest teams to gauge going into this season. On the one hand, they are still a very young team that is defensively challenged. And after a year of getting used to their inimitable, up-tempo play style, will the rest of the league have a better idea of how to slow them down?
On the other hand, they are fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, and despite getting swept by soon-to-be NBA champion Boston Celtics, they put up the best fight of any team against them. They have their core locked into place, and one of the better coaches in the NBA is Rick Carlisle. They will be around for a while.
3) New York Knicks
The Knicks have had a busy summer, acquiring Mikal Bridges in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets in July and then agreeing to bring Karl-Anthony Towns to the Big Apple from Minnesota. Their offense is going to be able to operate in a five-out scheme where everyone is capable of hitting shots and attacking closeouts. They are shoo-ins to be a regular season dynamo.
The issue will be in the playoffs, where not replacing Isaiah Hartenstein with a true rim protector will leave their defense exposed in the paint. Josh Hart and KAT cannot be counted on to be steady defensive forces down low, and KAT is susceptible to being taken off the dribble when he is drawn out to the perimeter by stretch bigs— which both teams ahead of the Knicks on this list have.
2) Philadelphia 76ers
The 76ers won the summer by signing Paul George away from the Clippers, extending their own in Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, and filling out the rest of the roster very admirably. Coach Nick Nurse, a tactical savant, is going to have a lot of options at his disposal.
The reason they slightly edge out the Knicks is due to their optionality on the defensive end of the floor. The 76ers are going to be able to guard the point-of-attack, off-ball on the wings, and deep into the paint with Embiid at the rim. Couple that with what should be a top-5 offense in the NBA, and the 76ers find themselves only looking up at the one team they have never been able to look down to.
Big Brother
1) Boston Celtics
Obviously. The reigning NBA Champions, the unequivocal kings of the Eastern Conference. They are returning their entire starting lineup from a year before and everyone aside from Jrue Holiday is entering or in their prime. They have played in six of the past eight Conference Finals. They can beat you offensively; they can beat you defensively. They are uniquely equipped to guard the perimeter and the rim. What more can you say? Until someone knocks them off their pedestal, they have earned the right to their own tier.
