While we are coming to the end of the first official weekend of the 2017 NBA Free Agency Period, a plethora of crazy additions and trades have already been made that few of us saw coming. Paul George traded to the Thunder, Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves, Paul Millsap recently signing in Denver and Chris Paul in a sign and trade to Houston. Although the Cavs have had a pretty quiet offseason so far, you can definitely say that the Cavs are getting better due to the majority of the top talent leaving the Eastern Conference and heading to the West. In fact, 13 of the 14 top players according to ESPN rankings last season are in the Western Conference currently. Undoubtedly, the Cavs will have a pretty easy path earning their fourth straight Eastern Conference Championship and NBA Finals appearance, but what Eastern Conference team will make the biggest jump this upcoming season?
Philadelphia 76ers
Last Year's Record - 28-54
Draft Additions - Markelle Fultz, Jonah Bolden, Jawun Evans, Sterling Brown, Mathias Lessort, Anzejs Pasecniks
Free Agent Additions - J.J. Redick (1 year, 23 million) and Amir Johnson (1 year, 11 million)
Free Agents on Roster Currently - Alex Poythress, Tiago Splitter, and Sergio Rodriguez
The FEDS are coming! 76ers fans are counting on the foursome of Markelle Fultz, Joel Embiid, Dario Saric, and Ben Simmons to lead the 76ers back to the playoffs for the first time since 2011-2012 where they lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics. Granted the majority of the team can stay healthy for the 2017-2018 season, the starting lineup should actually gel pretty well together in my opinion. Fultz has the ability to create his own shot similar to Isaiah Thomas of the Boston Celtics. Saric and Embiid should both be able to space the floor and hit open threes which will also give open driving lanes for Ben Simmons, one of the premier athletes in the NBA. Outside of their youth, one of their major strengths will likely be their three point shooting. Obviously the addition of Redick immensely improves that and as noted, Embiid and Saric can both shoot well from beyond the arc. Also, the bench has some above average three point marksmen, including Jerryd Bayless, Robert Covington, Nik Stauskas and Gerald Henderson. On the other hand, although youth can be a great thing, the 76ers virtually do not have any veterans with playoff experience which is extremely helpful when you have such an abundance of young talent. The 76ers are going to be an athletic, explosive team that will be a lot of fun to watch, but it is hard to imagine them really contending in the East yet. My prediction is that they end up being either a 7 or 8 seed and either get swept or lose in five in the first round.
Brooklyn Nets
Last Year's Record - 20-62
Draft Additions - Jarrett Allen and Aleksander Vezenkow
Free Agent Additions - None Yet
Free Agents on Roster Currently - Randy Foye and K.J. McDaniels
Clearly, the Nets are still struggling, missing out on both this and next year's first round picks from their awful trade with the Celtics, but they are hoping that head coach Kenny Atkinson can right the ship. Leading up to the draft, they were able to acquire D'Angelo Russell from the Los Angeles Lakers who will be the new face of the franchise, but along with Russell, they had to take on the awful, awful contract of Timofey Mozgov. Even with the addition of Russell, the Nets are still in a bit of a pickle; they have 30 million dollars in cap room, but may not be able to use it. The two top free agents linked to the Nets are Otto Porter of the Wizards and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope of the Pistons, both of whom are Restricted Free Agents. Reports are surfacing that both the Wizards and Pistons are both planning to match the potential Nets offers, even if the Nets offer a max contract to either. Either Porter or Caldwell-Pope would immensely help the Nets, but either of them coming here are decreasing as realistic options. The Nets best bet may be to hang on to the majority of their cap space and instead of signing top-tier guys, sign below the radar, second-tier type players. Brooklyn obviously won't win a large amount of games again this upcoming season, but similar to what Philadelphia was able to do, letting the younger players play, grow, and develop could be extremely helpful. Then, in future years, hopefully the likeliness of Jay Z, the bright lights of Brooklyn, and a handful of young talent can help attract more free agents to Brooklyn. Growth and development is the most important thing. While they have a promising young back court in Russell and Caris Levert, they are hoping that rookie Jarrett Allen can turn into a dominant post player and be a major front court player. My prediction for the Nets is they aren't able to sign either Porter or Caldwell-Pope and end up winning 24-28 games next season.
Miami Heat
Last Year's Record - 41-41
Draft Additions - Bam Adebayo
Free Agent Additions - None Yet
Free Agents on Roster Currently - Dion Waiters, James Johnson, Willie Reed, Udonis Haslem, Luke Babbitt
If any team in the Eastern Conference is poised to make a major leap in the 2017-2018 NBA Season, it may just be the Miami Heat who just barely missed out on a playoff spot. The Miami Heat are doing everything in their power to sign Gordon Hayward away from the Utah Jazz, who stated that they are confident that he returns, and the Boston Celtics whom are hoping to reunite Hayward with his college coach Brad Stevens. Signing Hayward would be a huge addition for the Heat that would make them contenders for the 2-4 seeds in the East. Combining Hayward with one of the best, young Centers in the league in Hassan Whiteside and a formidable back court of Goran Dragic and Tyler Johnson, the Heat could definitely win 50 games this upcoming season. Also regarding Hayward, even though the Jazz can offer an additional fifth year and more money to Hayward compared to the Heat and Celtics, Florida has no state income tax so even with the one less year in which Miami can offer, overall, Hayward would make more money in Miami (a tad bit confusing). If Miami can lock up Hayward, which in my opinion, I think they will, their next challenge will be filling out their roster with veteran minimum type players. The signing of Hayward would more than likely mean the end of Dion Waiters in Miami as he is expected to get a salary increase. The Kings, Bulls, and Knicks are rumored to want to meet with Waiters and reports are that the Lakers met with him this past weekend. Losing Waiters means that the Heat are going to have to find some consistent shooting off the bench, with Wayne Ellington as their only reliable three point threat. Arron Afflalo, Reggie Bullock, and Omri Casspi are just a few names that could be rumored soon to fill that void once the top-tier free agents are signed. Lastly, watch out for Bam Adebayo, the rookie from the University of Kentucky who had an impressive NBA Summer League debut this past weekend. The Heat are likely trying to mold Bam into an Alonzo Mourning type guy and Juwan Howard, the assistant coach for the Heat, will be an instrumental part in the development of Adebayo who could have a big rookie year.
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