NBA: 2019-20 Eastern Conference playoff projections

2. Philadelphia 76ers

Once the chemistry begins to develop, the Sixers may bolster the best starting five in the entire league. Their size, length, and defensive potential are almost unmatched by any other squad.

On offence, there are legitimate questions about their floor-spacing and depth which is why I’m giving the Bucks the edge but if Ben Simmons can start knocking down outside shots and if Joel Embiid can play somewhere around 70 games (at an MVP level), I wouldn’t be too surprised to see the Sixers atop the eastern conference at years end.

3. Boston Celtics

With the two obvious picks out of the way, this is where things start to get interesting…

If the Pacers had a fully healthy Oladipo, I’d have them as the third seed but since that isn’t the case, I’ve gone with Boston for a few reasons (not just Oladipo’s health).

Despite having a pretty weak center rotation, this Celtics squad has everything else it needs under coach Brad Stevens to be a 47-50 win team.

Kemba Walker seems to be a better point guard for Brad Stevens than Kyrie was and because of that, guys like Jayson Taytum and Gordon Hayward are going to get a lot more opportunities this year.

There has been a lot of chatter about Hayward getting back into all-star form and if he can do that, along with Taytum taking another step and Kemba being Kemba, then Boston will have a pretty formidable big three.

Jaylen Brown appears to be the odd man out in this situation but if he stays on the team, he’ll still be able to provide stellar perimeter defence and occasional offensive outbursts which could make him a big x-factor come playoff time.