
6. Taking a wider glance around the East, many of the Bucks’ rivals have had their own tumultuous starts to the season. Have you seen anything that would make you change your view of the top of the East heading into the campaign?
DL: Not really. The only exception to this might be the Boston Celtics. Coming into the season, I thought Boston possessed the talent to be a real challenger in the East. Their hot start, including getting a win over the Bucks a few weeks ago, has only confirmed for me that they’re a real threat to get one of the top two seeds in the conference. If they can land a center to shore up that one weak position on their roster, they’re going to be a real threat to Milwaukee and Philly.
All of that said, the 76ers and Bucks are still the favorites to come out of the East. They’re the two most talented teams, and they possess the two best players in the conference too. Unless and until Boston improves at center, they’re still a tier below those two teams.
BR: Nothing I’ve seen so far has really changed my perception of the East’s hierarchy. The Raptors have had a great start with Siakam playing out of his mind, but the success of their supporting cast seems unsustainable and various injuries have begun to plague them. Boston has had a nice start, but the Hayward injury will hurt, and their overall talent level is less than what they had last year. Philly is still the second best team right now to me, but even they still have some things to figure out on offense with the offseason acquisitions of Josh Richardson and Al Horford. While the Bucks struggled early on, they have gotten back on track and still have the best player in the East with a talented roster around him. I’m still confident the Bucks are the best team in the conference with a very good chance of making it out of the East.
LB: I don’t think so. The top of the East should remain a three dog race with Milwaukee, Philly, and Boston. Boston has perhaps been the most surprising but they’ve had some incredible defensive luck go their way. They are indeed a strong defensive unit that should finish in the top third of teams this season, but they’re currently only having opponents shoot an average FG% of 41 percent. Playing New York twice certainly helps.
All three teams have had some tough injuries to deal with in the early going. We know about Middleton, but Boston will be without Gordon Hayward for 4-6 weeks and Ben Simmons has been nursing a shoulder issue and has missed the last two games. His injury is something to monitor as the season goes on.
JT: I don’t think there’s been much to change the pecking order of who finishes where, but the top-4 certainly looks to be stronger than many expected heading into the season.
The Celtics have certainly proven that to be the case and they continue to prove that they tend to be their best when outperforming expectations in the Brad Stevens era. I was higher on this Toronto team than I think the general consensus was and I think they’ve shown, despite some concerns over their depth, that they will be a tough matchup more often than not when fully loaded. And the Bucks and the 76ers certainly overlap with one another with both teams now dealing with losses to key pieces like Ben Simmons and the aforementioned Middleton.
AM: If I’m being honest, and I should probably try not to be too honest to avoid providing everyone with too much ammunition for when I will inevitably be proven wrong later in the year, I’m even less convinced by many of the Bucks’ rivals at this point.
The Celtics are outperforming expectations, but I feel are due something of a crash back to earth in the not too distant future. The Raptors have been impressive, but have felt like they’ve had to push everything to its limits to do that. And the Sixers simply haven’t been the juggernaut that so many people were ready to proclaim them to be. Of course, let’s not pretend the Bucks have been at their most convincing either.
With all of that considered, I still see Milwaukee as the best of the bunch in the East, as I would have believed before the season. It’ll be interesting to see how the next 10 games play out and what does to the landscape beyond that.
We’ll be back for another edition of the Bucks’ roundtable very soon!