Eastern Conference Preview: Ranking the teams in Tiers

The Eastern Conference is stacked. And deep.

This may be the best Eastern Conference we have seen in decades, which means not only are good teams going to struggle to make the playoffs, but good rosters will end up missing even the play-in. The East is at least 11 deep with teams dreaming of the playoffs this season.

Let’s break down the Eastern Conference by tiers. To be clear, these tiers are based on said team’s ability to win the title, not simply where they will fall in the regular season standings. For example, the Heat or 76ers could easily grab a top-two seed in the East, they will be good regular season teams, but they have playoff questions to answer.

Milwaukee BucksBoston Celtics

Anything short of the Eastern Conference Finals will disappoint these teams. Milwaukee has continuity, strong defense, and the best player in the world in Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks just need to stay healthy (they might have returned to the Finals if Khris Middleton hadn’t sprained his knee), but an adjustment on defense to take away a few more 3-pointers wouldn’t hurt. Still, this is the core of a team that won it all in 2021 and could do it again.

Boston has depth, continuity, athleticism, and defense (especially once Robert Williams III gets healthy and returns to the lineup) — everything that led them to the Finals last season. The only question (the thing holding me back from picking them to win it all… but that’s for next Monday) is how they respond to Ime Udoka being out and Joe Mazzulla being in as coach. Maybe the Celtics don’t miss a beat, but Udoka helped them find their identity last season and was fantastic in leading them to the Finals. That’s no small thing to replace.

Philadelphia 76ersMiami Heat

Both of these