10. Indiana Pacers
Heading into the season, the Indiana Pacers are one team that I’ll be keeping a close eye on. They could absolutely be one of those teams that drastically plays about their expected projects or they could look very much like a team that is still 1-2 years away from being a playoff threat in the Eastern Conference. Either way, Pacers fans should be excited about the team’s future. Led by Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner, the Pacers, at least on paper, have what it takes to be competitive.
If the addition of Bruce Brown pays dividends, and if Bennedict Mathurin takes another step in his development, the Pacers should be penciled into one of the top 10 seeds in the East. I have them here as the 10th seed but wouldn’t all be that surprised if they were much better by the end of the year.
That said, I’m not sure if this core, at the moment, is better than what the Hawks and Sixers have. Even though those two teams have their issues, the Pacers may still be too young to consider them better than Atlanta and Philadelphia, respectively. For now, it’s only fair to have Indiana as the 10th seed.