Predicting the Eastern Conference standings: Where will the Pacers finish?

2. Philadelphia 76ers

Everyone seems ready to crown the Philadelphia 76ers in the East this coming year, and there’s a definite argument for how good this team could (and should) be once the dust has settled. Clearly, a #2 seed in this list is a great ranking, but Philly just seems to have one too many variables going against them to knock off Giannis and the rest of the Bucks from the top seed.

The team lost Jimmy Butler and opted instead to go all-in on their “Big 3” of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris. Then, they were able to sign Al Horford, which arguably gives them a legitimate “Big 4.”

But then you dig a little deeper and remember that in addition to Butler, the team also lost J.J. Redick to the New Orleans Pelicans. And then there’s the likely scenario where Joel Embiid misses 20-ish games once again in 2019-2020. These are things that must be taken into consideration when predicting where this team ends up in the standings.

It’s almost universally agreed that this roster will win a bunch of games, but it just doesn’t seem like they’re quite ready to really take the Eastern Conference over. They’re close, but there’s still someone else that should end up on top once again.