On July 2nd, 2018, the landscape of the NBA changed when Lebron signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Lebron leaving the Cavs (again) to go to the Lakers meant that the Eastern Conference had become wide open.

For EIGHT straight seasons, a Lebron led team reached the NBA Finals from the Eastern Conference (Four with the Heat, Four with the Cavs). Beyond that, for four straight years we watched the Lebroniliers (the 2018 Finals name for essentially Lebron, the corpse of George Hill, injury riddled K Love, Finals form Kyle Korver, and an odd cast of characters) met the Golden State Warriors in the Finals. We saw different case of characters, subtract Kyrie, add KD, etc. However, the Cavs were one crazy Kyrie three pointer away from losing all four years.



The summer of ‘18 felt like a low point for the league as every fan of the NBA had a bad taste (unless you’re a Warriors fan) in their mouth after watching the Cavs lose in four games to the Warriors in a Finals that featured both teams for four years in a row.



All this changed when James announced he would take his talents to the Western Conference and become a Laker.

Western Conference



This year, the Western Conference is even more of a bloodbath. OKC looks friskier, the Nuggets might be the deepest team in the league, Harden is having a historical statistical season, the Jazz are coming on, the Spurs are still the Spurs, the Clippers are young and fun, the Lakers are on the outside looking in, the Kings are exciting, and oh yeah, the Warriors Dynasty look even better with Boogie Cousins and barring injury or self destruction they’ll waltz right back into the playoffs.



Eastern Conference



The Eastern Conference however might be an even more interesting story. With James gone, many believed that the Celtics would run through the East after having took the Cavs to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals without Kyrie or Hayward.



Milwaukee Bucks



However that has not been the case. The best record in the NBA belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks, having hired Mike Budenholzer, who created a fast paced offense that benefits their star, Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks look like the best team in the East right now. Their length, depth, and ability to knock down three’s has really been something to watch this year.



Toronto Raptors



The Raptors made a lot of noise this summer when they hired Nick Nurse after firing Dwane Casey, whom won Coach of the Year last year (Thanks Lebron). The Raptors also made a blockbuster trade when they sent Toronto loyal DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs for disgruntled Kawhi Leonard.



On July 2nd, when Lebron announced he would be leaving the East, a dark cloud disappeared over the city of Toronto. Much like the ending of The Lord of the Rings when Frodo destroys the ring and all of a sudden the tower with the eye crumbles and wipes out most of the orcs and bad guys. That’s how it felt for the Raptors to finally break free of the reign that Lebron had over them. Seriously. That man owned that franchise for years and single handedly got Casey fired.



Indiana Pacers



The Pacers, another frisky team, was another contender in the Eastern Conference (and ranking wise still kind of is). However, on January 23rd, while running back to defend a pass, Victor Oladipo ruptured his quad tendon, an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season. A tough break for the Pacers who were a tough team and contender of the East.

Philadelphia 76ers



The Sixers have been an interesting story this season. Having started off to a slow start, the Sixers are slowly coming on. Finally hiring Elton Brand as their GM, whom is making a splash.



Boston Celtics



The Celtics, the consensus best team in the Eastern Conference, have been frustrating this season. The C’s also got off to a slow start and have had some head scratching loses, the most recent coming to the Clippers at home where they blew a 28-point lead, on Saturday night. Tatum hasn’t progressed like many believed, Gordon Hayward, who missed a year of basketball with that gruesome ankle injury has been rusty, and it seems like the Celtics play more of a individualistic basketball over team ball. Kyrie, who announced his intent to resign before the season with the Celtics, changed his tone last week when he said to ask him about resigning on July 1st. It has been a frustrating season for the Celtics.



Trade Deadlines



The Celtics could be in even more trouble, now that the Eastern Conferences’ best teams have all made trades to bolster their rosters to make deep playoff runs. Lebron took to the media to voice his opinion on the active East teams who all made a deal before the deadline stating, “everybody in the East thinks they can get to the Finals because they ain’t gotta go through me.” Well he’s not wrong. In fact, that’s just it. With a wide open conference, teams made moves to help their chances.







The Bucks sent Jason Smith and Stanley Johnson to New Orleans in a three team trade to get Nikola Mirotić, a stretch four who can knock down three’s to help bolster their bench.



The Raptor traded Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright, CJ Miles and a 2024 second-round draft pick to the Grizzlies for Marc Gasol. An upgrade at the center position, with Gasol able to knock down threes.





The Sixers made one of the biggest blockbusters trade two days before the deadline when they traded Landry Shamet, Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, 2020 first-round pick, Miami’s 2021 first-round pick and its 2021 and 2023 second-round picks for Tobias Harris, his friend Boban Marjanovic and Mike Scott from the Clippers. This trade gives the Sixers an intriguing starting five and creates an opportunity for the Sixers to switch everything on defense. The potential of the new look Sixers showed on Friday Night when the Sixers took down the second place Nuggets at home.





The Celtics stood pat at the deadline. A small victory was had however, when the tradeline came and Anthony Davis remained a New Orlean Pelican giving the Celtics an opportunity this summer to trade for Davis. The Celtics have been rumored as a team wanting to sign Enes Kanter, a recent Knick buyout. Not exactly the name of a player to help their playoff run as Kanter’s defensive flaws make him unplayable in the postseason.



The East isn’t as deep as the West but I would argue that the top of the East is just as good as the top of the West if not better.

Conclusion

The Eastern Conference is more entertaining this season then prior years without the iron death grip of Lebron ruling the East. If Marty McFly came back from the future, and told me today that any of the four teams made it out of the East (Bucks, Raptors, Sixers, Celtics) this spring, I wouldn’t be surprised. The East should be fun and competitive to watch this postseason.

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