The NBA is now over the three-quarter mark of the regular season with just a month and some change until the playoffs tip off in April. It’s all but certain that, for the first time since the 2017-18 season, the Sixers will not be a participant in those playoffs. It is unbelievable to think that this dreadful season still has 20 games left, and fans may not see Tyrese Maxey or Paul George for any of them. It is already known that fans will not be seeing Joel Embiid again.
Still, the misfortune and ineptitude of the Sixers does not mean the other teams do not deserve to be discussed in comparison as the season winds down. Is the Eastern Conference just a two-horse race? Are there any teams that can really challenge the Titans at the top? Here is the Eastern Conference check-in at this point in the season:
Capture the Flagg
15) Washington Wizards, 14) Charlotte Hornets, 13) Toronto Raptors, 12) Brooklyn Nets, 11) Philadelphia 76ers
The apple of every lottery team’s eye in this year’s upcoming draft is Duke’s freshman phenom, Cooper Flagg. In the final quarter of the season, teams will be positioning themselves to ensure the best chance to be able to draft Flagg.
The Wizards and Hornets are in no real danger of falling out of the bottom three worst records, which means both teams will have a 14% chance of landing the top overall pick.
The Sixers have more to play for (or not play for) than just Cooper Flagg. Above all else, the Sixers want to keep the rights to their draft pick, which is top six protected. The organization might shut down Paul George and Tyrese Maxey for good after already doing so with Joel Embiid. The rest of the team is built to lose, and they are doing a good job at it.
The Nets are coming off a win after an extended losing streak and are still playing all of their primary players. The Raptors are on a small winning streak and are also playing all of their primary players. The Raptors still have to play both the Sixers and Nets twice more—those games will prove vital to the outcome of this positional race.
Is the Play-In Tournament necessary?
10) Chicago Bulls, 9) Miami Heat, 8) Orlando Magic, 7) Atlanta Hawks
Obviously, there have to be eight teams that make the playoffs, but does the league really need to give the ninth and tenth-seeded teams the opportunity to play for the misfortune of drawing the Cavs or Celtics? No. All of these teams are resigned to a first-round slaughtering if they get there.
The Bulls have been at the same exact level of mediocre since the post-Derrick Rose days.
The Heat were forced to trade Jimmy Butler after months of back-and-forths and team-issued suspensions. They may have the best coach in the NBA, but Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, who are leading the charge, are not going to cut it.
The Magic started the season hot, but injuries have derailed their momentum, and even the returns of their top stars have not helped. Their offense is disastrous—it is the worst in the entire NBA in points per game—and their team defense—though it is the best in the Eastern Conference by opponent points per game—cannot make up for it.
The Hawks were dealt a big blow when they lost Jalen Johnson for the season amidst a likely first-time All-Star campaign. Meanwhile, Trae Young has proven he is not capable of leading a team to consistent success on his own.
No real chance
6) Detroit Pistons
It does not matter in the grand scheme that the Pistons have no real chance. The fact that they are in this tier at all is a major success. Tobias Harris‘ Pistons are going to make the playoffs outright.
JB Bickerstaff deserves a lot of credit for what he has done with this team. There is a reason Bickerstaff keeps getting hired—he is a great leader and stabilizer. He may not be the coach who will eventually put the Pistons over the top, but he will absolutely set the foundation for sustained success in the interim. He did the same thing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in their second post-LeBron era and paved the way for their historical success this season—which will come up again soon.
Cade Cunningham is coming into his own as a superstar in the NBA. The roster around him makes sense. The team’s coach is known for righting the ship. It has coalesced more beautifully than the Pistons organizations, players, or fans could have ever imagined. Do not be surprised if they find themselves hosting a first-round playoff series.
5) Indiana Pacers
The Pacers are in a similar spot to last year when they made the Eastern Conference Finals. They are very well coached, have one of the league’s best playmakers, run a very balanced offense, and play almost no defense. They also have almost no chance of returning to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tyrese Haliburton is a really good player, but he does elicit fear in other teams and has not shown the knack to take over and dominate basketball games. Having Pascal Siakam as your leading scorer, averaging just 20.8 points per game is not the greatest recipe for postseason success. Can they really count on Andrew Nembhard to be as good as he was in last year’s playoffs?
4) New York Knicks
This could be where the Knicks reside through the end of the decade, right on the cusp of having a chance but actually having none. They mortgaged their entire draft future for their current core and have a combined 0-9 record against the Cavs, Celtics, Thunder, and Lakers.
With the recent news that Jalen Brunson is going to miss multiple weeks with an ankle injury, the Knicks are in danger of falling in the standings with the Bucks, Pacers, and Pistons all within three to five games of them. And when the playoffs roll around, and they match up with Cleveland or Boston in the second round, they will be dispatched off in relatively short order.
So, you are saying there is a chance?
3) Milwaukee Bucks
It is hard in this day and age to say any team coached by Doc Rivers has any real chance. But any team led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is still the best player in the conference, has a chance when healthy. Couple that with Damian Lillard playing much more comfortably in his second season in Milwaukee, and the Bucks cannot be counted out.
The Bucks are not as well-balanced as the teams in front of them on this list but sometimes that does not matter when Giannis is destroying everything in his path. If you ask any player or coach in the East the one person they would least want to see in an intraconference playoff series, their answer would be Giannis.
The big guns
2) Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavs have been bashing teams’ skulls in from the moment the NBA season tipped off and they have not let their foot off the gas. Rivaling only the team in front of them on this list for best starting five in the NBA, new head coach, Kenny Atkinson took an already good team and made them great.
Donovan Mitchell is a bonafide superstar and a notorious playoff-riser. Darius Garland and Evan Mobley have both taken individual leaps this year and were both named All-Stars. They have won at least ten consecutive games on three separate occasions this season.
They have an eight-game lead over the Celtics for the best record in the East, but until they prove it on the playoff stage against them, no lead in the regular season can catapult them to the top spot.
1) Boston Celtics
The reigning NBA Champions are powering their way through the regular season and do not even look like they are breaking a sweat most of the time. They have everything a great team needs to win championships plural, and that is exactly what they are looking to accomplish.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are both superstars. They have two centers that can provide spacing for the Jays by stretching the floor via drive-and-kick or pick-and-pop. Derrick White is the NBA’s best Swiss Army Knife, and coupled with Jrue Holiday, they combine to form the NBA’s best defensive backcourt. Payton Pritchard is the current favorite to win sixth Man of the Year.
The Celtics have made six of the last eight Eastern Conference Finals and two of the last three NBA Finals and hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy just nine months ago. Until someone knocks Boston off, they will remain at the top of the East food chain.
