Central Division preview
PREVIOUSLY: ATLANTIC, SOUTHEAST, PACIFIC, SOUTHWEST, NORTHWEST.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
Last season: 48-34, lost to Pacers again in playoffs, lost Damian Lillard to Achilles tear.
Offseason: Milwaukee shocks NBA and waives Dame, hires Myles Turner but also, out of grave necessity, employs Cole Anthony.
C: Myles Turner – block machine who spreads the floor, can be trusted with the extra pass and to talk defensively. Isn't perfect addition but the best Bucks could do. If the Bucks went after the most famous player available, fine. If the did it to decimate a rival, whatever. If they ran after Turner blindly in a bid to favor their franchise star, we clearly do not care, they landed on a tremendous ballplayer who will help this (lacking) team with all the basketball problems which matter most.
F: Giannis Antetokounmpo – disrespected for dunking a basketball, not on my watch: Giannis Antetokounmpo is what you're supposed to do with the basketball when you are good at basketball. "Go do Giannis stuff" means "take the directly line toward the goal, score while using as little flourish or embellishment as possible." This guy scores 30 and pulls down a dozen boards but his handle isn't spicy enough? He's Greek! These are nuanced, dynamic flavor paletts, not meant to overwhelm with pepper and vinegar. Those ingredients are best served in hotter habitats, anyway, not in a Mediterranean Climate. No, Giannis is all about dipping a sardine into, I don't know, some kefir and dill combination.
F/G: A.J. Green – Bucks have to get some spacing out there, agreed, but, A.J. Green? Career 42 percent three-point shooter still hasn't dunked in over 2600 NBA minutes, he never turns it over, he moves a lot but he's only useful if they look for Green, repeatedly.
SG: Gary Trent Jr. – not a ballhandler, can pass but would rather not, only 42 turnovers in 74 games last season, 1893 minutes. Career 39 percent three-point shooter managed 41 percent last season, only started nine times.
G: Kevin Porter Jr. – at least he'll be suitably embarrassed for ruining the Bucks' season. Giannis probably wants to stay in Milwaukee, ESPN is probably full of shit, but Antetokounmpo will play a few months with this guy at starting point guard and reconsider the game itself, let alone a trade to a contender.
Ryan Rollins is this team's nominal point guard, he kinda loitered around last season but made over 40 percent of his threes. He isn't great, but he is better than Ryan Hollins was at basketball. Way better.
Taurean Prince started in big lineups until his removal in the playoffs, may be asked to Hoover minutes in the same fashion in 2025-26, provided his jumper holds up. It may not have to ... Cole Anthony was seemingly a great save at point guard, but either he's rubbing the Bucks the same (wrong) way he affected the Magic. Or Doc Rivers wants to stick it to the son of the guy who battled him for Knick minutes, three decades ago.
I couldn't stand watching Cole Anthony, early in my evening, giving away good Magic minutes. But he could really Derek Fisher-some noise with this lineup. Drives when he has to, misses two-thirds his threes but hits the showy ones, aggressive defense the referees sometimes give into.
I regret to inform the haters that Bobby Portis is only improving with age ... Andre Jackson Jr. is not stepping up and into prominence ... Gary Harris was slow and he missed 65 percent of his threes in Orlando last season, absolutely capable of a return to form at age 31, Giannis can help a fella like Gary ... Round and large and big man Jericho Sims managed 155 dunks in 192 career games, that's our Jericho ... Amir Coffey played for Doc Rivers in Coffey's rookie season and the two haven't forgotten it, he's gonna get minutes this season and Bucks fans won't know why.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Alex Antetokounmpo are each signed to contracts, but don't act like Larry Bird's brother wasn't on those early Celtic teams. Hell, they later brought Larry Bird's brother in to coach!
OK, I'm back. I did a little research and it turns out this isn't Larry Bird's brother but longtime NBA player and coach Chris Ford, my apologies to Chris Ford.
Milwaukee's problem wasn't competence, merely crummy playoff luck. Crummy playoff luck because they relied too heavily on a point guard in his mid-3os. No problem with that in 2025-26, the Bucks won't have a point guard at all.
They'll throw Giannis at the East and dig in for 50 wins, which is more than possible. MKE will try to recreate whatever magic guided the Pacers last season, the Bucks aren't proclaiming themselves favorites (even with the best player in the East) or even most improved (after plucking the NBA's top free agent), simply a team trying to survive its own success.
Guess: 46-36, tied for No. 4 in East.
CHICAGO BULLS
Last season: 39-43, finally traded Zach LaVine, embarrassed on home floor during lone Play-In appearance.
Offseason: traded Lonzo Ball for Isaac Okoro, drafted another teenager, committed to Josh Giddey.
C: Nikola Vucevic – if last season (when he hit way, way above his career highs in three-point and field goal percentage) is any indication, Vucevic will at least give as well as as he gives back in 2025-26. He'll be 35 but after a new contract, another 18 and 10 campaign appears likely, possibly even greater numbers due to LaVine's yearlong absence.
F: Isaac Okoro – starting because the Bulls are embarrassed to play Patrick Williams too many minutes, they don't want a $18 million forward finishing outings with two points and one rebound in 19 minutes, so Chicago traded for Okoro. Cleveland fans? That's how bad we have it, now. You are way ahead of us, in this century at least. Chicago fans? Okoro is technically an NBA player, he will take off the warmups and run around and that's about it. Better than Patrick Williams in the agnostic sense, so, try not to drink too much during Bulls games this year if you can.
F: Matas Buzelis – all we got goin' for us these days, while we're waiting for It to Happen, some kid from Hinsdale.
G: Coby White – turned into a layup-or-three guy more than ever in 2024-25 and it helped, he hit 37 percent on his threes again and improved his free throw rate. Only 25, a 20-point scorer for two seasons now, he'll go down as one of my favorites, he'll be especially cruel to watch (working for another team) when as he continues to grow into his late-20s strength, starts playing Dad Ball. Reliable players (19 games missed in the last three seasons) currently out with a calf strain at the moment, good start, very Dad injury.
PG: Josh Giddey – my reaction to his unsurprising re-signing was unsurprising, nobody likes tall point guards better than me but only when they play like Ron Harper, only when they bring it up and get out of the way, go in the corner and think about what they're going to do on defense next time.
That the arc on Giddey's shot will improve, maybe he'll become a leader someday, not my gripe. Can't start a great team when four guys are thinking about what's tumbling down the lane behind them. Giddey isn't even trying to defend, and it still won him this contract.
He's fine, the Bulls will be fine, but they've capped themselves. This was advertised, a quarter-century ago, as a franchise above all. Presumably the front office should match this sort of titanism, sometimes it can, though it rarely tries. Or is given permission to try. Or wants to try, for fear of failing and losing the position.
Ayo Dosunmu was sidelined by shoulder surgery (and the realization he, like Coby White, won't be Bulls past their contracts) in 2024-25, he is a free agent this summer and will make himself quite a bit of money with his superior play in 2025-26 ... Jevon Carter realizes he has nothing left as a spot-up splasher and that he only way he can get a shot off is to go for it off the dribble, disaster ... Zach Collins and Kevin Huerter and Jalen Smith remind me it would be a good idea to prepare a column listing Players I'm Not Fond of Who Will No Doubt End Up in Chicago Someday. Like how Cubs fans felt when they got Aaron Miles or Cardinal fans felt when we had to take on Ryan Theriot.
Collins' Western finals appearance was only six and a half years ago, not 382 years ago. He is almost 28 now and dunked a bunch upon becoming a Bull earlier this year. A little too stridently, perhaps, Collins underwent surgery to repair a fractured wrist and is out through at least mid-November.
Huerter is an average three-point shooter who hurts the team defensively and gets to the line once every never. A fine midrange shooter but then again so are the people they bring out of the crowd during timeouts to bank shots from designated spots on the floor for a chance to win a team gift card with enough purchasing power to buy "JOR" from a Jordan jersey in the team store.
Tre Jones starts in Coby White's absence, he's emerging as a scorer after making early career hay as a sensible reserve point guard. He still should be a reserve point guard, maybe a reserve's reserve, but he isn't bad, and won't hurt Chicago. On offense, at least.
Noa Essengue is the NBA's youngest player except for that guy who took Duke to the National Championship game. Is this good?
Looks alright for his age! Needs to put on 50-to-100 pounds. Maybe he can eat some extra cake when he turns 19 in mid-December.
The Atlanta Hawks admitted their mistake with AJ Griffin, moved on, cleared cap space, shot for a winner in 2025-26. The Chicago Bulls, comparatively, will vie for a Play-In berth and hope Dalen Terry really turns it around this year ... Julian Phillips isn't good either but at least he wasn't a first-round pick ... Patrick Williams is so bad. He probably woulda turned into an OK ballplayer had some other franchise taken him on, a more settled group, the Kings or the Wizards or something, not the Bulls.
Patrick made $18 million last year and he'll make that again this season. Also next season, and again in 2027-28. Also, 2028-29. Five different times he will make $18 million to play basketball, and unless he's dealt from Chicago, it won't be in front of supportive fans. He's only 24, he can still turn in a so-so NBA career but he has to get the hell outta here.
That's where my team is at. Last year was tough, watching this group aiming for the middle, understanding that two of my favorites (Coby and Ayo) weren't long for the city.
The Bulls front office wants us to believe in a lineup with a 35-year old center and a point guard who doesn't play defense, they want us to root behind a group that made no effort to improve in the face of the East falling apart, no move to take advantage of a rare opportunity. The East is wide open, the Bulls are closed.
It is an entertaining group because NBA basketball is entertaining, not because the Bulls were fortuitous enough to pull Buzelis (listed as a top-three 2024 draft prospect a year or two before the Bulls lucked into him at No. 11). I've never seen a franchise so pleased with itself for barely cracking even.
Protest? Object? Don't watch? Ignore? We tried that. They have revenue sharing.
Chicago only thrives when absolutely everything goes their way, win the wins pile up after doing it Their Way, which means drafting, only, no trades. Occasional and insipid free agent signings. Weird ones, Jabari Parker, the things that inspire people to consider money laundering operations, and how they might tie into floor-bound power forwards.
I still love them, but only because the Bulls gave me a way to learn to love the other 29. In June we enter Year No. 28 without a title and good, this franchise did nothing to deserve as much.
The NBA is awash in 1990s adoration, which worries this nostalgia merchant. It isn't good for the league's health, it scans as gimmicky and desperate, and it demeans the brilliance of the product behind the hype. The Bulls don't stink because they traded some All-Star center for a YouTube clip of Marv Albert saying "YES," but they are proof of what novelty sentimentality (Jerry Reinsdorf doesn't really miss Michael and Scottie) can do to a business.
It is shocking, how insignificant this franchise is. Jerry Reinsdorf completely dragged these Bulls back to the realm it occupied pre-Jordan, the sticky late-70s, when my dad would roll up to Chicago Stadium right before tip and find a great seat for no money, because he had no money, and then later he'd tell his friends about this market availability and they couldn't be bothered, rather stay home and listen to Ian Dury records.
Nobody thinks nor cares about the Bulls anymore, save for us diehards. What a waste.
Guess: 38-44, tied for No. 10 in East
INDIANA PACERS
Last year: 50-32, but then they won 15 playoff games and took the Oklahoma City Thunder to seven games before falling in the title round? Huh.
Offseason: already unsettled from Tyrese Haliburton's Achilles tear, the Pacers then refused to pay free agent center Myles Turner, further dampening the group's Eastern title defense.
C: Isaiah Jackson – if he returns to anything approximating what he was pre-injury, the Pacers will do quite well. The trick, as Indiana struggled with all 2024-25, was replacing what IJ did off bench. Tony Bradley ain't it, James Wiseman never was, Jay Huff is not a defender. Someone will have to step into center minutes when Jackson takes a blow, and won't. Before then, however, the NBA will be mighty surprised at how capable a starter Jackson is.
F: Pascal Siakam – makes me want to know more about old wooden warships so that I could accurately compare Pascal Siakam to the proper battleship. Quite convinced I have some battleship boffins amongst my subscribers and I wouldn't want to embarrass myself. Further. Averages 20 points and seven boards and three assists as a career Pacer, 53 percent from the floor and 38 percent from deep. Absolutely has enough to carry this crew in 2026, I wouldn't want to be his ibuprofen bottle, but Siakam is something else, he can run this.
F: Bennedict Mathurin – to his credit, the ball kinda left Mathurin's hands when Tyrese Haliburton came to town. He hasn't struggled, but far from flourished. Capable of a 20-points per game average without ignoring others, Bennedict would like to ignore others (who else on this team is better served to keep the ball on a drive through the lane), coaching staff won't let him.
SG: Aaron Nesmith – won't go wild in Haliburton's absence, though he can handle the burden of taking the ball and seeking out the other side's most helpless defender. Made 40 percent of his regular season and career three-pointers as a Pacer, recently turned 26.
G: Andrew Nembhard – will simply be asked to play a ton of minutes and handle an increased, if not outsized, amount of responsibility in 2025-26. This is who the Pacers are, they ask the unlikely to step into something the unlikely haven't been asked to do before. Made only 29 percent of his threes last regular season but rebounded to splash 46 percent in playoffs.
Pacers will be without T.J. McConnell at least through early November with a bum hamstring. The injury that doesn't really go away unless you don't do anything, but then you'll go out of shape from not doing anything, try to get back in shape, pull a hamstring. Vicious cycle, and what kept me from an NBA career.
Major season for Obi Toppin, asked to spell Siakam (they'll need Pascal's legs for championships when Tyrese returns), play out of position at center or wing, handle, push, defend. Everything but shooting and dunking for Obi but, again, this is what the Pacers ask of these guys. Other franchises play to strengths, but the Pacers don't give up on the two-way potential of performers otherwise dismissed as non-defenders.
Big season, Ben Sheppard. Turns it over once every four games, hits threes in the postseason, annoys all season, trying to bring hand-checking back and I'd like to let him.
Jarace Walker fell out of the rotation in the playoffs. Did all he was asked during the regular season, his second campaign, learned the plays, felt the push, got his wind back after a scary leg injury suffered during his rookie season. All-around talents will get all the attention they deserve in 2025-26, he'll be asked to create and defend and run and work as prominently as someone with his draft pedigree (No. 7 in 2023) should. He'll be fun to watch.
James Wiseman was already not great at this and then he tore his Achilles, the Pacers obviously like his touch and size but there is no point tossing him minutes with Tony Bradley as the strict baseline. Bradley is replacement level, pairing the bad with good. Jay Huff a different phenomenon, a scorer, but if the Pacer staff doesn't like the way you square defensively they'll pin someone's tail to the bench. Huff is the latest reclamation project, trying to make a defender outta someone who ain't, his buckets could be a boon if he works out.
Four years ago, Taelon Peter (6-4 combo guard) was a sophomore coming off the bench for the D-II Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys, last year he was Sixth Man of the Year in Conference USA while playing for Liberty. This young man's clear aversion to starting ballgames might be exactly what this Pacer bench needs.
Kam Jones, Marquette Dude, is the draft pick. Combo guard already suffering from back woes ... Johnny Furphy is last year's draft pick, he isn't 21 yet which is good, the Pacers have a ton of scorers his size looking to earn minutes, keep the team afloat during Haliburton's absence.
This group didn't really have a break, moving from to the deadening possibility of life without Haliburton, then the Turner breakup. Took into Indiana's offseason time, and you know what Indiana likes to do with its summers:
The point is to survive the regular season without making it worse. Playoffs are a treat, the regular season is the gig.
The holdovers worked deep into June, a hundred games, exponential excitement, popping inside from triple-digit temps, only to discover how steamy it is on the inside. Supremely draining for Jayson Tatum and Nikola Jokic and Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo, how's it gonna feel for Aaron Nesmith and Obi Toppin?
T.J. McConnell's entire body already answered that question, Haliburton shouldn't have played in the games leading up to his Achilles tear, we make sacrifices in services of something special, a moment we may not see again. No regrets with this crew, but also dangerous territory to skulk through. This team is balanced and eager and cheerful, but pain is pain, and the Pacers will feel it throughout 2025-26.
Luckily, this team keeps dealing itself great players: Indiana looks at its bench and just drags another guy out to defend and hit a corner three.
Physically daunting, this turn, but plenty of heroes to spot. Like Furphy can't win a few games, like Mathurin isn't ready to star, like McConnell won't be buoyed by the time off, like Huff can't turn a few quarters, like Sheppard won't steal a few. This is the East, and the Pacers are dutiful from tip to buzzer, that serenity alone is worth a few extra wins.
This group will be just as exciting, win nearly as much. Fewer logo threes, that's all.
Guess: 46-36, tied for No. 4 in East.
DETROIT PISTONS
Last season: 44-38, No. 6 in East, fell to New York in classic opening round series.
Offseason: Malik Beasley asked to leave the table, under suspicion of counting cards.
C: Jalen Duren – third in dunks last season behind Rudy and Giannis, didn't pause for his own shot as often last season and the Pistons whooshed along as a result. Badass big man.
PF: Tobias Harris – no complaints, he was positively Tobias Harris'ish in his first Piston run, consistency over 2300 minutes, little rumble in the lane, little timely three-pointer, talking and defending throughout. Only 33, played during the lockout year as a teenager, might pass Jerry Stackhouse in career scoring list this season.
F: Ausar Thompson – wasn't truly himself last season, anxious to see him truly take over as clear No. 2 on the growing Pistons.
SG: Duncan Robinson – provides spacing but is also routinely burned defensively. Capable of the extra pass and also the zero rebound.
PG: Cade Cunningham – can't argue with 26-6-9, that improved free throw rate. However, if he's going to continue missing six three-pointers per game on average, he'll have to significantly cut back on turnovers.
Jaden Ivey's left fibula break was not basketball-normal, he underwent right knee surgery in mid-October to clear some things up and the Pistons will try to clear up his future with a statement sometime in November. I was never under the assumption Jaden was going to be himself in 2025-26, even if he didn't require an arthroscopic procedure. He broke his left fibula on Jan. 1, Ivey relies on sneaking athleticism and it will be a difficult return.
Caris LeVert here to replace Malik Beasley, that ain't happening.
Malik Beasley won so many games for the Pistons last season, either late in the contest or delivering mid-game knockouts. When I heard he'd gotten in trouble for betting on NBA games, it made sense, the guy played like he'd just laid it all on himself, and his Pistons.
Malik Beasley isn't here to do that again, nobody will do that again. Not LeVert or Ivey or Duncan Robinson or Ron Holland when he grows up. Beasley was a rare burst, it is important to note how much he meant toward the literal won/loss record.
Ron Holland is the complete and utter difference between a Pistons club struggling to survive inside a dilapidated East, or a bid to rise above the muck. He doesn't need to star, rather continue showing up and providing five-tool production.
Isaiah Stewart took on his bench role with aplomb, fouling more than ever in 2024-25 ... Paul Reed aka Basketball Paul shot some corner threes last season, mostly unsuccessfully, I remember them and they made me laugh. Banger with touch in his age-26 season, we have not seen the best of Basketball Paul.
Javonte Green is a baaaad dude and he will be one of Detroit's favorite players this season ... Marcus Sasser, less so, the man cannot stay healthy. If he does turn around (a bum hip is the current setback), the little scoring guard could do medium things for a Piston team trying to cobble a Beasley outta parts ... Daniss Jenkins is 6-3 and played well at sturdy lead guard in the minors last season ...
Colby Jones is a 6-6 off guard and yeah, Sacramento and Washington, good recall. Only 23 ... Second-rounder Chaz Lanier is 6-4 and a scorer and managed 40 assists in 38 games for Tennessee last season. Maybe they had a stingy scorekeeper ... Bobi Klintman was last year's second-rounder, a 6-8 forward who can pass and wasn't bad in the minors last season.
Pythagoras swears the 2025 Pistons shoulda won 46 games, not 44, maybe Pythagoras and Malik Beasley texted each other injury updates, maybe I'm underestimating the Pistons.
The push is for the middle of the pack, again, on offense. Tough sledding without Beas and Ivey, the mercurial Caris LeVert taking on too much.
Thompson is the salve, a 70-game season from him means the steals keep tapping and Thompson continues repping. If he builds into a confident No. 2 scorer by March, all the better, but it starts defensively, it starts by staying on the floor. Ideally, Ausur and Holland are indestructible, can run for 38 minutes without complication.
They'll have to be hearty, the rest of the team is a lot of hope, many incomplete role players.
In the East, though? That's enough. Roll one game at a time, and this Conference can be plucked apart for 50 wins. Sensible timing and patience, grabbing moments without taking risks. Precocious swingmen stepping up.
Guess: 42-40, No. 8 in the East.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Last season: 64-18, everyone was healthy, everyone scored, lost in second round after two starters fell.
Offseason: walked around wearing bubble tape and it didn't help, traded an unwanted player for what could be a spectacular solution.
C: Jarrett Allen – out of place in postseason but in exactly the right spot all regular season, led NBA in field goal percentage again and only 27, defeat to Indiana was not his fault. It was Isaac Okoro's.
PF: Evan Mobley – should grow into that three-point shot, his upper-body strength almost demands it. Marvelous two-way player could be the force leading to four playoff rounds in 2026.
SF: Sam Merrill – Sammy the Dull, hits three-pointers (39 percent career as a Cav) and doesn't turn it over (76 times in 174 career games).
SG: Jaylon Tyson – 6-6 off guard hits threes wherever he goes, problem is he rarely goes on an NBA court.
G: Donovan Mitchell – turned 29 in September and turned in most sensible season yet in 2024-25, turned it over only 17 times in 288 minutes (nine games) during the team's truncated playoff run last spring. This doesn't have to be The Year, but it wouldn't hurt.
Darius Garland underwent surgery on his bum big toe in the offseason, the left one, the one he pushes off. Returning early jeopardizes another injury, or overcompensation on the other side, all his quadrants must be in order.
Garland doesn't turn 26 until midseason, I'm far from convinced he and Mitchell cannot play alongside each other, and anyway, what would you trade him for? It is 2025, small forwards are pointless. They're mostly Isaac Okoro.
The Cavaliers did well to deal for Lonzo Ball, even LB is spent by the playoffs, even if the jumper doesn't come around. Ball bounds off the bench and the club immediately knows what it is doing, that innate sense of captaincy is exactly what this roster requires. His problem is production, will he be a drag or will he rebound to were Ball was before major surgery, transplant surgery. He skipped through his final year in Chicago, showing he could play but not to what extent. Garland's early absence will push him, we will find out by Christmas.
Max Strus underwent offseason surgery on his left foot in August, another Jones fracture for short-stopping small forward, the Cavs don't want to push him back lest those bones turn to dust, he is due to return by Christmas.
Craig Porter Jr. knows the plays, he's the only normal point guard on this roster and the coaching staff treats him that way, gives him minutes ... Thomas Bryant is here, now ... Chuma Okeke is a unique player, he is a forward who won't see much action, ostensibly a 3-and-D guy but unmistakably different. Not good, just different ... Australian forward Luke Travers' father is named "Karl" and I can't think of a better name to say with an Aussie accent than "Karl Travers." Luke has size and is already 24 yet for six straight years he's boasted the hair of a college freshman.
DeAndre Hunter is already injured but it isn't his fault, someone banged his knee and caused a major bruise, not the other way around. Debilitating knee contusion or nyet, Hunter's turned good as heck at age 27. Nailed 40 percent of his threes as a Hawk and 42 percent as a Cav, cut the turnovers, kept getting to the line. Does Hunter's past suggest his knee contusion will eventually lead to some form of creeping illness or scourge? Of course, but it's only a bruise.
Aussie Dookie Tyrese Proctor is a tall combo guard who knocked in 40 percent of his threes as a Blue Devil last season, the second-round pick will earn minutes ... Dean Wade is a big chucking forward set to receive major minutes as the Cavs coaching staff prepares the starting bigs to play through June ... Nae'Qwan Tomlin, I do not remember him but will attempt to moving forward, he is 6-10 and someone to learn under Larry Nance Jr., who is back, turns 33 midseason, and has plenty of game left if Larry manages to stay on the floor.
The Cavaliers were first in offense last season yet lost their offensive mastermind, former assistant coach Jordan Ott, to Phoenix. With Ott now running the Phoenix Suns, surely Jarrett Allen can't dunk anymore, Evan Mobley will lose touch, Donovan Mitchell won't want the ball when it matters.
The team will have to work diligently to retain the alacrity and insistence that marked last season's precision. Spacing takes patience and effort, the Cavs have a lot of work to do only to approximate last season's regular season success. Wins upon wins that were revealed as forgettable the moment Indiana closed out in Game 5.
Retain fundamentals until spring, rub rabbit feet to stay healthy (or, watch minutes), do what's possible to be better than the sum of parts with Ball on the floor. Lonzo will be 28 this season, growing in strength as we move along, if he is anything like his 2021-self with these Cavaliers, there exists a whole new Cleveland Format for the rest of the East to deal with.
Confounding the West is another story, the point is resembling sensible once the hottest team at the moment takes its best swing. The 2025 Pacers were about as gimmicky as a supportive, comfortable pair of moderately-priced tennis shoes.
There is no other shoe to drop, no trade deadline or coaching change to wait out. The Cavs gotta go get this, right now.
Guess: 57-25, No. 1 in East.
WHAT A WASTE
Thank you for reading these! I had a blast putting them together. Thanks to Basketball-Reference and NBA dot com for stats, and to subscribers for hanging with me while.
