Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat Show Similarities in Eastern Conference

Mar 24, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard

(19) and Miami Heat guard

(7) chase the loose ball during the fourth quarter at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee won 89-88. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Just recently a group of NBA Insiders at ESPN discussed which teams they believed would make the biggest jump from last season in both the Eastern and Western conferences.

While the clear No. 1 team in the East is the Cleveland Cavaliers, many teams will compete for the other seven playoff positions available.

Most of the Insiders in the discussion picked the Miami Heat to make a big jump in the conference and challenge the Cavaliers or Chicago Bulls. But Marc Stein, an Insider who has followed the Milwaukee Bucks closely throughout free agency this summer, picked the Bucks to make a huge jump in the East and challenge some of those top four or five in the conference.

Despite having one of the biggest season turnarounds in NBA history by going 41-41 last season after an awful 15-67 in 2013-14, the youth and inexperience of the Milwaukee Bucks cost them a few regular season wins and a chance to improve their seed in the weaker Eastern Conference.

Miami had the right players on the roster, but unfortunately for them, the injury bug bit them hard and they didn’t make the postseason last year. Dwyane Wade‘s aging body missed some time once again while their other star Chris Bosh missed 38 games with blood clots in his lungs.

Coming into the 2015-16 I believe both of these teams have some things in common, and it should be interesting to see if either one of them can challenge tougher teams in the East this year.

Let’s look at some of the similarities.

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