Atlantic Division
Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers lost two key pieces of their recent success in Jimmy Butler and J.J. Redick, but they were able to re-sign Tobias Harris and acquired Al Horford to make up for it.
Coupling Horford with the continued growth of Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, one has to assume that they will be just as good as last season (51-31 and a 2-0 sweep of Phoenix), if not better.
I would like to think though that the Suns would be able to steal a game – and obviously there is always the chance that because of injuries or Philly meets Phoenix in a back-to-back situation that they can – but let’s assume that no matter what, Philadelphia is the better team and will be able to pull off the sweep.
At least picture this though: an improved Deandre Ayton v Joel Embiid matchup after an Embiid dominance of the rookie last season.
Embiid probably get’s the better of the two in both matchups again, but I would expect that there is significant improvement on Ayton’s part in Monty’s new system.
Plus Ricky Rubio and Devin Booker combined will be a fun to watch against the young and uber-talented Ben Simmons.