The first wave of major free agency signings are complete. How do these moves change the landscape of the NBA’s Eastern Conference?
It’s already started. After winning 44 games, making the playoffs, avoiding any egregious overpays in free agency and returning one of the league’s best starting lineups, the Pistons are already being overlooked for a playoff spot in 2016-17.
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While teams like the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls made a splash with big (albeit questionable) free agency signings, Jeff Bower and Stan Van Gundy stayed under the radar, making bargain signings at positions of need. Their big free agency splash happened just before the 2016 trade deadline, when they dealt Brandon Jennings (now a Knick) and Ersan Ilysova (now a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder) to the Orlando Magic for Tobias Harris.
Detroit went 17-9 with Harris in the starting lineup, even with a thin bench and the corpse of Steve Blake backing up Reggie Jackson. Now, with a more capable backup point guard (Ish Smith), some depth in the front court (Jon Leuer), a couple of promising rookies (Michael Gbinije and Henry Ellenson) and another summer of work under the belts of the team’s young core, it appears Detroit is well poised–barring injury–to continue their rise up the Eastern Conference rankings.
It’s really too early to start ranking these teams. After all, there are still trades to be made and signings to be added. But hey, it’s fun, and don’t pretend you weren’t doing it in your head already. So here’s one writer’s opinion, based on July 7 rosters:
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