NBA East a winner in LeBron stakes
The NBA winner, besides the Lakers, in the LeBron James Sweepstakes is the Eastern Conference, especially Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto and Indiana.
Next season for the first time in eight years, a team that doesn’t have James will represent the conference in the NBA Finals.
For eight consecutive seasons, James has played on an Eastern team in the Finals: four with the Heat and then four with the Cavaliers.
But no more. James is with the Lakers, making the deep and talented Western Conference even deeper and more talented.
It was a seismic shift in the NBA landscape that has seen a steady migration west play out over the past few seasons with Jimmy Butler and Paul George going from Eastern teams to Western teams. Add Paul Millsap, Taj Gibson and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
With James’ move to the Lakers, the West now has 11 of the 15 players who were named to first-, second- and thirdteam All-NBA for 2017-18.
Here’s a look at the new hierarchy in the East.
Celtics
Boston, which lost to Cleveland in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals and lost to Cleveland three times in the playoffs in the past four seasons, isn’t disappointed with James’ decision.
The Celtics will be the favorites to win the conference, especially with Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving healthy and back on the court alongside talented youngsters Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier and veteran AllStar Al Horford.
The Celtics play max-effort defense, share the ball on offense and can field modern lineups, going with a small rotation or big rotation depending on the circumstance with an abundance of athletic perimeter players.
No telling which starting five coach Brad Stevens will go with, but Irving, Hayward, Tatum, Brown and Horford with Marcus Morris, Rozier, Aron Baynes, Semi Ojeleye and Daniel Theis off the bench is nice. And if Boston retains restricted free agent Marcus Smart, even better.
Stevens, who will win Coach of the Year honors one day, will continue to improve, and the Celtics will be even better in 2018-19.
Raptors
The Raptors, who fired their coach, Dwane Casey, because he couldn’t beat James’ Cavs in the playoffs, see a way to the Finals that doesn’t include a James obstacle. New coach Nick Nurse takes over for basically the same team that won a franchise-record 59 games last season and had the top seed in the East.
Who knows what Toronto’s roster will look like at the start of the season or after the trade deadline, but the pieces are there with All-Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan and young players who proved their value in 2017-18: Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam and Normal Powell.
Along with veterans Jonas Valanciunas, C.J. Miles and Serge Ibaka, the Raptors should be East contenders if that’s the direction president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri wants to go.
Sixers
The Sixers were in the running to sign James, but if they can’t get him they’d prefer he go west, leaving them with one less team to battle in the East.
For Philadelphia, it starts with Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons and their continued improvement. Dario Saric, Robert Covington, J.J. Redick and T.J. McConnell add depth, and if Markelle Fultz turns into the player the Sixers thought he would be, look out.
The Sixers’ flaws were exposed in a five-game series loss to Boston in the conference semifinals, and that’s where energizing coach Brett Brown comes in. He was fantastic when the Sixers were losing games a few seasons ago, and he was fantastic when they won games last season.
Philadelphia also selected four players in the draft, including shooting guard Zhaire Smith, who the Sixers believe has lottery talent. They are positioned well, too, for future spending within salary cap rules.
Pacers
The surprise Pacers took the Cavs to seven games and should be better next season with Most Improved Player and All-Star Victor Oladipo.
Add Myles Turner and Domantas Sabonis, also acquired along with Oladipo from Oklahoma City for Paul George a year ago, and Indiana has a great foundation.
Veterans Thad Young and Bojan Bogdanovic reinforced their versatility, and Doug McDermott should give Indiana more outside shooting.
Bucks
Milwaukee finished seventh in the East last season, and it’s time for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks to take another step forward. They should do it with new coach Mike Budenholzer.