The Eastern conference is not as powerful as the western conference but they do still have some teams that can compete. The conference had a major disappointment as soon as Lebron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers. There are only a couple teams that have even a little chance at beating the reigning champions, the Golden State Warriors. Those teams are mainly Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. First the Philadelphia 76ers, They have much talent on the team and most are actually young so this team is going to be good for a while. Their team is consisting of the last years rookie of the year Ben Simmons, All-star Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, Markelle Fultz, JJ Redick, and Robert Covington are some of the better player players on the team. The Philadelphia 76ers are one of the key teams. The other key team is the Boston Celtics. The Celtics are going to have a promising year this year with the key players Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Smart for defense. With those players and if they can stay healthy, they could have a huge year.

The Eastern conference got some good rookies in this past draft. First, the 5th pick in the draft, the Dallas Mavericks picked Trae Young, then traded him for the number 3 pick Luka Doncic. Trae Young is going to look good in his first year. In preseason he is doing very well and he hit a buzzer beater against the Spurs to win. Another rookie to look out for this upcoming season is Mohamed Bamba. Mo Bamba was drafted 6th overall to the Orlando Magic. Bamba is 7 feet tall with a crazy wingspan of 7’10”! Mo Bamba is pretty popular coming into the season as he has a song named after him. Collin Sexton is one rookie that I’m looking out for because he was drafted to the Cleveland Cavaliers that just lost Lebron James. People think he is a good fit for the Cavaliers to go with Kevin Love. Some more rookies that were drafted to the east in the draft in the top 10 are Wendell Carter Jr., Kevin Knox, and Mikal Bridges that could also have some promising seasons.

A team that could have a breakout season is the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers last year did really well in the playoffs with some players that did really well like Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, and Bojan Bogdanović. Last year these players did very well. The team went farther than most expected and almost knocked the Cleveland Cavaliers when they had Lebron James. The Pacers could end up having a great season. They recently got the rookie Aaron Holiday which could help the team even more than before. Victor Oladipo won most improved player last year with his breakout season from recently getting traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder with Domantas Sabonis for Paul George. This year can be a full breakout year for the Pacers and they have a possibility to go far in the playoffs this year.

The Eastern Conference might not be as powerful as the Western, but they are getting better. Who do you think will win this year?