We’ve covered the bottom-feeders, and the teams on the cusp. This space is reserved for the cream of the crop— the teams that legitimately have a chance to make the NBA Finals if things break right for them. Some require more breaks than others, but these five Eastern Conference teams can conceivably make the championship round.
Sidebar: Each NBA preview column will feature contributions from myself, and fellow HHSR contributors Kenneth Hicks and Anthony Hueston.
Chicago Bulls
Last Season: High expectations sat upon the Chicago Bulls. Under the tutelage of demanding coach Tom Thibodeau, they fought their way through the eastern conference earning the #3 seed and finishing with a record of 50-32 (.610). Franchise star Derrick Rose played in just 51 games last year, yet it was his most since signing his 2011 max contract with the Bulls. The season also proved to be a coming out party for swingman Jimmy Butler, who landed Most Improved Player honors for 2015.
Despite playing well in the regular season, Thibs was known for keeping his best players on the floor too long, wearing his guys down long before the playoff even arrived. To make matters worse, Thibodeau proved to be a thorn in the side of management. As pressure mounted on the coach from players and the front office alike, the only thing saving the coach was winning. The Bulls were supposed to be the team to stop the Cavaliers. If nothing else, the Bulls were supposed to give them a serious run for their money. After being dumped by a short-handed LeBron James in six games, Thibs knew that the writing was on the wall.
Offseason: Enter Fred Hoiberg. Iowa State’s young coaching guru has been asked to come in and be everything that Thibodeau was not. The organization is banking on a coach who can connect with the players and can maintain open dialogue with GMs John Paxson and Gar Foreman. Hoiberg’s offensive ingenuity will be a stark contrast to defensive grind of his predecessor. The team will be almost identical to last year’s roster, excluding the retirement of center Nazr Mohammed, and the addition of rookie forward Bobby Portis, who averaged a double-double in the Bulls preseason games (despite playing in the same conference as the All-Everything Kentucky Wildcats, it was Portis who won SEC Player of the Year in 2015). Other than that, Chi-City kept their full roster intact.
#Trending: Neutral. It remains to be seen how Hoiberg’s brand of basketball will translate to his new team. There are many questions surrounding the health of Derrick Rose, who has missed 59% of his regular season games since the 2011-2012 season. There also is reportedly a power struggle unfolding behind the scenes between Rose and the upstart Butler.
Though the 7’0” Spaniard is coming off a great first season in Chicago where he averaged a career-high in rebounds (11.8), to go along with a formidable 18.5 ppg, at 35, Pau Gasol has to be wondering how much longer he can play at such an elite level. Coming off a slow season hampered by injuries, Joakim Noah will look to get back on tract and back to his regular form which garnered All-NBA First Team acclaim in 2014, however he’ll have to do so in his new role of coming off the bench for Hoiberg. Noah is also in the final year of his contract and will need to show the Bulls and the league that he is still an elite competitor.
Expect for there to be a “getting to know you” period in Chicago between the coach, players and management. As all parties look to reach common ground, it may not be until later in the season where we can see if this team can gel together to become one of the preeminent teams in the Eastern Conference.
— KH
Washington Wizards
Last Season: The ’14-’15 season for the Washington Wizards was much like the ’12-’13 season. They finished with an above .500 record (actually their best record in 36 years!), second in the Southwest Division, made the playoffs, steamrolled their first round matchup (Chicago in ’13, Toronto in ’15) and were dispatched in six games in the Eastern Conference Semifinals (Indiana in ’13, Atlanta in ’15).
The Wiz were top 10 in opponents points per game allowed (97.8) and fifth overall in defensive rating (103.0). Offensively, they were led by Bradley Beal and John “Don’t Even Talk To Me About Colin Cowherd” Wall, the duo collectively having become known as “The House of Guards”…apparently. When they weren’t battling injuries, the Washington backcourt was electric and set the tone both offensively and defensively. In the frontcourt, Gortat and Nenê struggled with pick and roll defense but with their strong rebounding, were net positives overall. Paul Pierce did Paul Pierce types of things for better or worse and was nauseatingly smug about it as is his wont.
The playoffs arrived and Washington coach Randy Wittman went small for the first time all season by dropping “that Kardashian guy” (as Walt Clyde Frazier calls Kris Humphries) and Rasual Butler from the rotation, both of whom were getting 20 mpg in the regular season. He also staggered the minutes between Nenê and Marcin Gortat at center, slotted Peirce at power forward and doubled Otto Porter’s minutes at the small forward. With more room to maneuver, the House of Guards were able to take over, especially Wall, who reached double-figure assists and points in three of the four games in the sweep.
Washington stole home court advantage by winning the first game against Atlanta in the second round but lost John Wall for three games in the process. The Wizards were able to win a second game thanks in large part to the irksome heroics of Paul Pierce before succumbing to defeat in six games. The series was tight throughout, heaven only knows what would’ve been if Wall had been healthy. Outside of Game 2 in Atlanta, the largest margin of any of the other five games was six points!
Offseason: After improving their record for the second straight season the Washington Wizards will be looking at lots of changes this season after stumbling into a new identity.
They watched as Paul Pierce took his talents to LA to be closer to his home, rejoin Doc Rivers and make the Clippers as detestable as possible; it’s like Mr. Perfect joined Shane McMahon and the Mean Street Posse! But to replace the disposed the Wizards brought in via trade, Jared Dudley who had eerily similar numbers for Milwaukee last season and should be able to stretch the floor in a similar fashion while being an improvement on defense. They also brought in Alan Anderson who is currently out with ankle injury with no time-table for return at this time. Gary Neal was signed to back up the guard position and serve as another scorer off the bench. These three primary acquisitions will be a much-needed boost to the perimeter shooting for the franchise that got most of its shooting from Pierce and Beal last season.
In the draft Washington participated in a three-team deal that saw the team bring in Kelly Oubre Jr. from Kansas, adding yet another wing player that can attack the basket or shot from 3, even if he was called “basketball illiterate” by an anonymous NBA GM.
#Trending: Up. The Wiz are ready for a breakthrough. On every champion’s journey they must go through levels; there are few shortcuts to a title. This John Wall core may never raise the O’Brien Trophy, but by moving to a small ball lineup with the players they have they are ready to jump up a tier in the NBA. After two years of losing in the conference semis, Washington could contend for a top four seed.
That is as long as they can manage to avoid any major injuries along the way. Beal and Wall have suffered pretty serious injuries and as the team goes small they both become infinitely more important the overall success both short and long-term. Beal is nearing the end of this deal and will be looking for a max contract offer from the Wizards who are have already offered an extension in hopes of avoiding restricted free agency and max dollars for the 23-year-old shooting guard…that ain’t happening unless Beal knows something about the Slim Reaper’s plans in OKC.
— AH
Atlanta Hawks
Last Season: Everyone’s favorite “fraud”— few defended the Hawks throughout the course of 2104-15 harder than I did. And guess what? I was right!
It doesn’t matter the circumstances; if 26 teams are sitting at home and you’re one of four teams still playing in late May, you’re a legit championship contender. That is what the 60-win Hawks were a few months back. Coach Mike Budenholzer’s ball and body movement/pseudo-Spurs offense worked wonders against the Eastern Conference. Multiple players had career years for ATL, resulting in a remarkable four Hawks making the All-Star team. Even more impressive was the entire Hawks starting lineup winning Player of the Month after an undefeated January.
Despite all that, Atlanta struggled with top-seeded expectations in the playoffs. They stammered through the first two rounds before succumbing to a sweep at the hands of a superior Cavs team. Maybe their chances would’ve been better had swignman Thabo Sefolosha not been a senseless victim of police brutality (like so many Black men before him).
Offseason: Thankfully, Thabo was found not guilty for essentially getting his ass whooped by the cops, and now maybe looking into suing the city of New York over the incident. Paul Millsap flirted with Orlando in free agency, but ultimately stayed put à la 2000 Tim Duncan, Al Horford is still married to Miss Universe, and Atlanta basically brought back the entire team except for DeMarre Carroll. They also signed Tiago Splitter away from the Spurs, replacing Pero Antic, which is terrific news for anyone who supports the Atlanta Hawks.
The Hawks officially parted ways with Danny Ferry, and Tony Ressler (along with Grant Hill in a minority capacity) took over as owner of the Hawks, finally putting the two ugly occurrences in the past once and for all.
#Trending: Down. This is somewhat misleading. The Hawks are trending downward because the likelihood that this team will win 60 games again and grab the top seed in the East is not good. But Atlanta will remain formidable nonetheless. Their biggest issue might just be that some teams, like this next one, have gotten better.
— JH
Miami Heat
Last Season: In the wake of losing Cleveland’s prodigal son after four straight trips to the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat looked to reload (not rebuild) and certainly refused any notion that they lose any of that swagger they’d become known for. That was their intention anyways. Dwyane Wade played two-thirds of the season, which seems about right for him these days. Chris Bosh, the team’s best player, suddenly went out with a potentially life threatening blood clot halfway through the season. Hassan Whiteside burst on the scene and showed both untold potential and, with his antics, the reason why he was previously on so many different teams. Miami gave two future first round picks to Phoenix to acquire the Dragic boys.
Sidebar: Their names are Goran and Zoran Dragic. They sound like a tag team that hates Lex Lugar, Hacksaw Jim Dugan, capitalism and you American pigs.
Riley is out to prove he can do it again without the services of LeBron James.
In a separate deal the Heat sent Dayton, Ohio’s very own Norris Cole, Shawn Williams and Justin Hamilton to New Orleans for John Salmons. The Heat were exceptionally up and down throughout the season; they could feast on bottom feeders but would get bounced by 20 versus any and all playoff teams, and completely faded down the stretch. They faced the ultimate ignominy of facing the 76ers in the season finale with their draft pick up for grabs. Should they win they could end up handing their top 10-protected first round pick to Philadelphia. The Heat played only 6 players in the final game, but the Heat just couldn’t fully adopt the tank philosophy. The Heat defeated the 76ers in their final game even despite their best efforts to lose, but because there is some justice in the world, they did finish 10th in the standings and held onto their pick.
Offseason: Miami started the offseason by announcing they’d resigned face of the franchise DWade for a one year, $20 million deal. They also resigned his new backcourt mate Goran Dragic to a 5-year $85 million deal with a player option in year five. Riley and Co. also brought in Amar’e Stoudamire and Gerald Green to bolster the bench. The Heat also broke up the Dragic family by trading Zoran to the Celtics (Riley is ruthless). They also got rid of the “please LeBron don’t leave us, we’ll sign whoever you tweet about” draft pick Shabazz Napier by sending him to Orlando for a top 55 protected 2nd rd draft pick which is commonly called “bubkes”!
Speaking of draft picks, with the 10th pick the Heat selected Justise Winslow out of Duke. The small forward with time can develop into a key cog of the post-Wade era Miami Heat. At this point, the 6’6″ forward will have to learn where he fits in the NBA while backing up Luol Deng and serving as another valuable bench performer.
#Trending: Up. Call it a comeback! The Miami Heat probably have the highest variance between outcomes of any team in the conference. They are a veteran team with depth that should be able to absorb injury and space out minutes to limit concerns that are inherent to this roster. Make no mistake, there is a fine line between veteran and old and this roster could go careening past it. The team should be better than last year with a full season of Bosh and Dragic leading the team with glimpses of the man formerly known as “Flash”.
— AH
Cleveland Cavaliers
Last Season: HHSR picked the newly remodeled Cavs to win the NBA Championship in their first season together. While our predictions have been white hot for some time, this one came up a bit short (it still stings). But even after a tumultuous first season wrought with awkward rotations, rumored coaching dissatisfaction, rumored offseason player departures and injuries, the Cavs were still two victories away from claiming their first championship in their 45 year history.
Kevin Love’s numbers dipped (as expected), but he experienced far more team success than ever before. Kyrie Irving did the same, while also authoring up a few memorable moments…
And LeBron was LeBron. It was the most successful season in franchise history. But just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any better, the 2015-16 Cavaliers are actually better than last year’s edition.
Offseason: After losing in the Finals (were the Warriors that good though?) in large part due to a lack of depth, Cleveland GM David Griffin — who was ROBBED…ROBBED!!!…for NBA Executive of the Year — made it a priority sure up the back end of the roster. This was a point of emphasis because, despite what every NBA talking head said all season, he was confident Kevin Love would resign with the team, which he did (five-year max contract worth $113 million). LeBron James also re-uped to the tune of two years and $47 million.
Remember when “Delly” became a star for 72 hours last June? Well, he was rewarded with a new deal…and a demotion. The Cavs brought back Mo Williams to provide some much needed scoring, should Kyrie injure himself getting out of bed too fast. Cleveland also trimmed the fat on the roster, jettisoning Kendrick Perkins, Mike Miller, Shawn Marion, Brendan Haywood, and most importantly, Kendrick Perkins (that was not a typo). The underrated Anderson Varejao is now healthy. Veteran small forward Richard Jefferson and 6’11” Russian transplant Sasha Kaun were added, while J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov were all brought back…and then there was Tristan Thompson.
The rallying cry for many Cavs fans regarding Tristan last spring was, “Pay that man!” The rallying cry for many Cavs fans regarding Tristan this fall is, “Fuck Tristan!”
Many Cavs fans were legitimately angered that a player with career averages of 10 points and 8 rebounds per game, who was a starter on a team that couldn’t make the playoffs until LeBron & Love came and he moved to the bench, who only shined in the playoffs because the guys in front of him (Love/Varejao) got hurt, was demanding $94 million. Tristan, through his agent, threatened the organization as he sat out all of training camp and the preseason. Although he eventually signed for $82 million over five years, there’s no telling the type of ramifications the Thompson situation could have— from locker room jealousy, to using LeBron to drive a wedge between himself and the franchise, to skipping all of camp.
The Cavs payroll (including luxury taxes) is in excess of an astronomical $170 MILLION! It’s the second highest payroll in league history! For all that money, this team had better be…
#Trending: Up. Does it even matter? No, it doesn’t.
“It” being the regular season for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Coach David Blatt — who had a highly underrated first season as coach of the new super Cavs — has one job: to finish the regular season with a healthy roster. Anything short of that is a failure for this season. Win totals, home court advantage and individual accolades are all equally insignificant for a team that is EVERYONE’S favorite to once again represent the East in the NBA Finals, and in many cases to win it all (including Vegas).
Health is a major factor for every team, but it’s especially critical for a squad that has very real championship aspirations. If the Cavs can somehow navigate LeBron’s back, Kyrie’s knee, Love’s shoulder, Shump’s wrist, Mozzy’s knee, Delly’s ankle, J.R.’s hammy and Andy’s entire body (while avoiding all other significant injuries), they’ll be fine.
And so what if some pieces are missing along the way? They’ll still win the East anyway.
— JH
Anthony’s East Playoff Teams: Cavs, Bulls, Wizards, Heat, Bucks, Raptors, Hawks and Knicks.
Kenneth’s East Playoff Teams: Cavs, Bulls, Wizards, Heat, Bucks, Raptors, Hawks and Celtics.
Justin’s East Playoff Teams: Cavs, Bulls, Wizards, Heat, Bucks, Raptors, Hawks and Celtics.
And we all have the Cavaliers winning the Eastern Conference because…who doesn’t?