![]() ![]() Even though Trae Young is an elite playmaker and scorer, your team will always be limited when your best player is an undersized inefficient guard who plays no defense. To put it bluntly, the Hawks have been just about average since making it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021. Regardless of what happens, this will be a very good team for the next couple of years 6. Allen is a fantastic player, but this core probably reached its ceiling as a four or five-seed. Even though it certainly would not be terrible if they decided to run it back, it would probably be for the best if they traded away Allen. Their core four of Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen were fantastic in the regular season but lost to the Knicks in the first round in only five games. Although Donovan Michell is a big part of the reason why, in reality, their young guys have gotten better every year. The Cavs made the playoffs for the first time after LeBron James left in 2018. If he walks, they will likely go after more role players and build around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey for the next two to three years, which is honestly not a bad spot to be in. It is not easy to be great at scoring and playmaking simultaneously, but Harden is one of the five best guys in the league that does that, so it would be a relatively big hit for the Sixers. Despite Harden not making the All-Star Team or All-NBA, he had one of the more underrated seasons. This is mainly because we do not know if James Harden will be back in Philly or not. The Sixers are one of the harder teams to predict as of now. Regardless of where the Miami Heat finishes in the regular season, they will always be a threat in the East. There are also rumors that they are interested in Damian Lillard, but there is still no evidence to say that will happen. Will they have one of the best records in the East? Will they go back to being an eighth seed again? Or will they be somewhere in between? This is hard to tell as of now because Jimmy Butler does not care so much about the regular season. It will be interesting to see how many wins this team gets in the regular season next year. After nearly being eliminated in the play-in tournament, they found a way to upset the Bucks, who were the title favorites, in five games, and the Celtics in seven games. Just when people start to count out the Heat, they prove them wrong. Not many people doubt he can go on another far playoff run, but he has to do it to maintain “All-Time Great” status. He already has a ring, but that can only hold enough weight for so long. As much as all the little details matter, what matters the most is how Giannis plays in the playoffs. If they can get the All-Star version of Middleton in the playoffs, they will be a hard team to beat. Khris Middleton will also likely be fully healthy by the start of the season. Though this certainly does not solve all their problems, it could be a good culture change for them. They fired their Head Coach, Mike Budenholzer, a few days after losing in the first round. That said, it is hard to count them out for this upcoming season. When you have debatably the best player in the world, Giannis Antetokounmpo, on your team, losing in the first and second rounds is unacceptable. The Bucks have had back-to-back big disappointing years after winning the title in 2021. (Yes, I’m paying Jaylen the Supermax without blinking). Regardless of what happens the rest of the offseason, they should have no problem being a top 3 seed in the East as long as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown stay healthy. It seems like they improved on both of those problems by strongly improving their assistant coaching room, and it looks like they are trading for Kristaps Porzingis. The two main issues were that they had to suspend (and eventually fire) their head coach days before training camps and starting center Robert Williams had knee surgery right before the season started. Even with this all being said, a lot of things did not go their way from the beginning of the season. Despite forcing a Game 7 after being down 3-0, most people would agree the Celtics should have won this series, and they have no one to blame but themselves. The Celtics will be coming off yet another heartbreaking series loss. Without further ado, here are the way-too-early 2024 NBA Standings Predictions for the Eastern Conference 1. There are only a handful of teams (as of now) that could make the finals, but it will be super interesting to see how each team does. ![]() ![]() The West is far more stacked and deep, but the East is just as interesting. This is Part II of giving The Way Too Early 2024 NBA Standings Predictions. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |