Eastern Conference tiers
Let's figure out where teams land before the season starts.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Three Musicians, Pablo Picasso, 1921
Just as we did with the Western Conference last week, let’s sort the NBA East’s 15 teams into tiers as things stand prior to the start of the season. Situations can and will change, and we’ll check in on this from time to time. Let’s go.
S Tier
Brooklyn Nets
Milwaukee Bucks
Obviously, the Nets need to be up here due to damn near beating the Bucks in the playoffs last season without Kyrie Irving and with a significantly limited James Harden. The Bucks need to be up here because they won the darn championship and have the best or second-best player on the planet. Milwaukee had a bit of roster tumult and you’d expect Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton to be tired coming in. Brooklyn has the whole Kyrie thing to deal with.
A Tier
Philadelphia 76ers
Atlanta Hawks
Miami Heat
Any of these three teams could slip down the tiers or jump into comparability with the top two. Atlanta feels the most stable here: there’s a chance they could take another leap depending on health and how De’Andre Hunter and Cam Reddish improve. Miami has the biggest range (we can’t ignore that the Heat have been an iffy regular season team the last couple years).
And of course, the Sixers … yeah. Let’s see who blinks. Big chance they slip a tier early and regain their place after a trade. And if it’s a good trade for Philadelphia, let’s just remember that they had the best record in the conference last season.
B Tier
Boston Celtics
New York Knicks
Chicago Bulls
Toronto Raptors
The most intriguing tier in this conference, just as the B Tier was in the West. I am now on the record saying that I think the Celtics and Raptors are going to be good. How good? Like, pretty good. I could see Boston slipping into the A Tier; I’m not quite there on the Raptors until we see Pascal Siakam back on the floor, but I’m high on their defensive potential and the Siakam-Fred VanVleet offensive attack.
The Knicks were super solid last season and there’s little reason to expect less. They won’t be playing the Hawks every night! The Bulls are the Remains To Be Seen squad of 2020-21. I would believe everything from No. 3 seed to play-in tournament for them.
C Tier
Charlotte Hornets
Indiana Pacers
Washington Wizards
I consider myself high on the Hornets and they could very well leap 2-3 of the teams in the B Tier; they did finish last season 33-39, so let’s see some improvement first. The Pacers are somehow already marred by injuries?! If this keeps up Indiana might have to make some roster adjustments. (Malcolm Brogdon, Caris LeVert and picks for Ben Simmons?)
The Wizards? Spencer Dinwiddie seems like a great partner for Bradley Beal. Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell are nice pieces for the frontcourt. I’m excited to see Wes Unseld, Jr. run his own team. This team has been pretty snakebit, but there aren’t many good reasons to assume they won’t be substantially better this season.
D Tier
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
The Cavaliers could definitely leap up into the play-in race or higher. There’s a lot of talent there, and plenty of players with a bunch to prove. I’m mostly concerned about their defense and their swing depth. Darius Garland for Ben Simmons? I offer that suggestion as someone quite pro-Garland!
The Pistons are frisky. I don’t think they’ll win 30 games or anything, but they will get a good bit of improbable wins over good teams.
F Tier
Orlando Magic
The Thunder of the Southeast. Unless Jalen Suggs is an immediate NBA genius this team should not win 23 games.
Scores
Sun 83, Sky 86 (CHI leads 2-1) — Completely shambolic finish with uncharactertistic turnovers from Courtney Vandersloot (who had hit some clutch shots and had some clutch assists to that point) and with the Sun missing all their late chances to take advantage. And now Connecticut, after that amazing season, is a loss away from going home until May.
Just 10 points for the MVP. Chicago is doing a superlative job keeping the ball out of her hands.
A really nice piece of this for the Sky is that one of the players who came over in the Elena Delle Donne trade in 2017, Kahleah Copper, is playing a huge role for Chicago. She had 26 in Game 3. The Mystics won a ‘chip off that trade. The Sky could, too.
Aces 60, Mercury 87 (PHX leads 2-1) — Absolutely horrific offensive performance for Las Vegas one game after an absolutely horrific defensive performance. Brittney Griner (18/11/3 blocks) and Brianna Turner (23/17/2 blocks) absolutely dominated A’ja Wilson (8 points, 2/14 shooting) and Liz Cambage (13 points, 5 rebounds). And Cambage was the only Ace to shoot 50% or better, excluding the players who came in for garbage time. The team shot 30% and 2/14 from deep. B-R-U-T-A-L.
Phoenix didn’t hit their threes (6/21) this game, none of the talented Mercury wings or guards went nuts … and they still won by 27. This series is a disaster in the making for Las Vegas. With Connecticut struggling, there has never been a better time to go win a title. And they are just getting bullied out of this series.
Links
The great Louisa Thomas on Ben Simmons and the acceptance of failure.
Zion Williamson sounds real mad about missing the playoffs.
Andrew Wiggins got vaccinated and will be able to play in home games for the Warriors.
Ben Simmons was supposed to get paid $8.25 million last week, apparently, per the terms of his contract. But the Sixers didn’t pay him that since he isn’t showing up to work. They will start deducting fines from the account if he misses games.
Marc Stein on the lack of issues with the NBA’s new Wilson balls.
The travel situation for WNBA teams is absolutely bonkers. And the league won’t allow teams to get their own charters because not every team can afford them. This is an area where I say the league should let the rich teams do it to pressure the less-resourced teams to step up.
For the first time this postseason, the Mercury will get to host a game at their own arena as the Suns and Lakers agreed to move their Wednesday game to the afternoon to create a doubleheader. Should be a good day for Phoenix basketball fans.
Bringing NBA pro days to the HBCU scene.
David Thorpe predicts Kevin Durant or Zion Williamson for MVP.
Be excellent to each other.