Who is the 3rd best team in the East?

[TheBoi10]

The delusion here

[robbie84]

Pacers are close, I'd put Celtics 3rd, Pacers 4th and Toronto 5th.
I think Kemba, Smart, Brown, Tatum, Hayward are a better core than
*Oladipo, Turner, Sabonis, Brogdon, TJ Warren
or
Siakam, Lowry, Gasol, Ibaka, Van Fleet, Powell. If the Raptors players were all 3 or 4 years younger, then they'd be incredible, but Siakam is the only player I really get excited about of their core. It's time to move those old guys on and build around Siakam.

Oladipo is obviously the key for the Pacers. Are Turner/Sabonis/Brogdon good enough to help Oladipo get the 3rd seed in the East? I'm not sure they're as good as Smart/Brown/Tatum helping Kemba. (with Hayward hopefully improved too).Obviously the Celtics losing their two key big men is the biggest question mark for them. Kanter was impressive in the playoffs for Portland, and he'll add rebounding, but he's still a large down grade to Horford's spacing/defense and Baynes defense.

I would have to give the coaching edge to Boston.

It will be close though, and I'm prepared to be proven wrong.

[mademan]

I don't particularly buy it, but whatever. To paraphrase, sample size matters and Pascal Siakam is no longer an unknown. You better believe defenses will be keying on him hardcore. It will be interesting to see what he does given the change in circumstance. Can he step up and lead, or will he lead Toronto to the top of the East? I look forward to finding out...

The idea that other teams weren't scheming for Siakam is ridiculous. It was well known what he was doing and he was still able to deliver.

The Raptors are underestimated every season and every season they outperform the projections. This season will be no different. Their top 7 is just as good if not better than Boston, Indiana and Brooklyn. They just need one or two of McCaw, Stanley Johnson, RHJ, Matt Thomas, Terrence Davis to deliver some quality 8 or 9 man minutes.

that's counting on a bunch of old guys to play same..dont see it...also counting on no old guy not to have injury..also don't see it..season coming soon time will tell and catches all

He's not wrong though. Every year the Raps are underestimated by both avid fans on this forum as well as vegas, and every year, the Raps have outperformed those expectations. You can call the Raps fall every year and eventually youre gonna be right, but this is the same thing we've heard every year for the past 5 years.

[CodeBreaker]

Where's Detroit?

[hoosierdaddy34]

I have to go Indiana. They clearly got better. The Celtics and Raptors got worse. I think the difference is enough that they have pulled ahead of those two teams.

[hoosierdaddy34]

Richardson is a defintely a better player than Reddick. That really shouldnt be a discussion.

Stats say otherwise, at least for last season. Unless you counting on Richardson to improve his shooting and scoring.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1_hint=J.J.+Redick&player_id1_select=J.J.+Redick&y1=2019&player_id1=redicjj01&idx=players&player_id2_hint=Josh+Richardson&player_id2_select=Josh+Richardson&y2=2019&player_id2=richajo01&idx=players

Reddick is a better shooter no doubt, but I just mean in terms of overall Basketball play...Richardson is the far better player now.

But yes Richardson's shooting and Lack of Playmaking/Ballhandling needs work. He's not bad at any of them, but he's not very good at them either.

You are underestimating the importance of gravity on a team like Philly with two guys you know are going to control the ball already. They need space to operate to be at their most effective.

Now Horford will replace some of the floor spacing Reddick did, maybe even be more important as it gets a big out of the lane. But Richardson won’t scare a defender to leave him like Reddick did but he will make up some of that on the defensive end.

Overall I do think Philly is better this year than last year.

[Yuri Vaultin]

The champs.

[DrWood]

I'm going contrarian here and picking Miami. Because if I'm right you'll all have to bow down to my intellect. And if I'm wrong, I was just taking a shot on a long shot.

[PrimeThyme]

I kept the choices to the teams that were brought up on the most recent Lowe post. When polling NBA people around the league Lowe said these were the teams that were mentioned the most for the 3rd spot (outside of Miami who was brought up as a candidate by Simmons).

[DrWood]

Just wanted to mention that I think it's quite possible one of these teams will be #2.

[RHODEY]

I guess we're back to overhyping the Celtics again. They lost a serious amount of depth from a team that was already mediocre last season.

All they did was replace Kyrie/ Kemba and Horford /Kanter.

Kyrie to Kemba is practically neither a upgrade or a downgrade. Horford to Kanter is a massive Downgrade. Are we just assuming there gonna be better this year just because of better chemistry?

lol Boston didn't just lose kyrie and horford. they lost all their defensive bigs..Banes and the dude that now plays for the Knicks, they lost Rozier too...Kanters defense is beyond bad....

[Gooner]

People are sleeping on Brooklyn. If they sign Melo, they are gonna be tough for anybody, and I'm not joking.

[obispo]

Indiana will remind their performance before injury of oladipo. So them for me.

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[mcmurphy]

If you don't think Toronto doesn't arrive in the top 3 of the RS in East, you are foolish.

[Gooner]

If you don't think Toronto doesn't arrive in the top 3 of the RS in East, you are foolish.

They don't have Kawhi anymore.

[freethedevil]

Boston, clearly.

But next season Brooklyn will dump them with KD.

This season to be competitive with Celtics Indiana need fast Oladipo comeback with his 2017-18 shape since early start, which is not realistic. Miami can be competitive if they trade for Beal.

in what universe is boston clearky better than toronto?

[freethedevil]

If you don't think Toronto doesn't arrive in the top 3 of the RS in East, you are foolish.

They don't have Kawhi anymore.

Kawhi played like a fringe all star during the rs and contributed very little to their historically great defense. They're still better than the rest of the pack.

[Gooner]

If you don't think Toronto doesn't arrive in the top 3 of the RS in East, you are foolish.

They don't have Kawhi anymore.

Kawhi played like a fringe all star during the rs and contributed very little to their historically great defense. They're still better than the rest of the pack.

Kawhi a fringe all star? Yeah, sure. You can't replace an all time great player. We'll see how it goes without him, I think they are gonna struggle to make the playoffs.

[nikster]

They don't have Kawhi anymore.

Kawhi played like a fringe all star during the rs and contributed very little to their historically great defense. They're still better than the rest of the pack.

Kawhi a fringe all star? Yeah, sure. You can't replace an all time great player. We'll see how it goes without him, I think they are gonna struggle to make the playoffs.

I think this is the worst prediction I’ve seen in this thread. They were a 59 win team in 2018, this team isnt much worse.

[freethedevil]

Kawhi played like a fringe all star during the rs and contributed very little to their historically great defense. They're still better than the rest of the pack.

Kawhi a fringe all star? Yeah, sure. You can't replace an all time great player. We'll see how it goes without him, I think they are gonna struggle to make the playoffs.

I think this is the worst prediction I’ve seen in this thread. They were a 59 win team in 2018, this team isnt much worse.

team might be better honestly