Ranking the East: Where do the Detroit Pistons stand?

1) Cleveland Cavaliers

This is a no-brainer, right? If good health is a given, the Cavs are the class of the East. Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love can help extend the tail end of LeBron James‘ prime by taking pressure off him during the regular season. J.R. Smith is still testing free agency, and his decision might actually be more important than you think: he made 204 3-pointers for Cleveland in 2015-16, and his defense was much improved. Iman Shumpert was abysmal in the Finals, but he can’t shoot much worse. (Right?)

Richard Jefferson the Savior is returning, and it looks like general manager LeBron will use the Dwyane Wade‘s signing with the Chicago Bulls as an opportunity to steal Mike Dunleavy–a versatile forward who shots 39.4 percent from three-point land in three years with the Bulls. This team might not be good enough to beat the Megateam rising in the Bay in the form of the Golden State Warriors, but it’s certainly good enough to take the first seed in the East as long as LeBron is King.

2) Boston Celtics

Ugh. I know. It pains me, too. But this makes sense. Brad Stevens proved his status as a wizard nearly turning Isiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley and a bunch of gumpy tweeners into a No. 3 seed, and the Celtics are going to be even better with the addition of free agent Al Horford, signed away from the Atlanta Hawks. Who knows how much third overall pick Cal rookie Jaylen Brown will add to an already deep team; if it’s anything at all, the Celts might be really scary.

Evan Turner and Jared Sullinger are gone, but don’t sleep on the force of nature that is Guerschon Yabusele. (Did I spell that right?) Let’s not talk about it. Let’s just turn our heads and ignore it. Boston is going to be pretty damn good next year, and it sucks.

Next: Nos. 3-4