Despite the Detroit Pistons’ impressive record, many NBA executives believe the Eastern Conference remains wide open heading into the playoffs, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst.
Around the league, decision-makers see multiple teams with legitimate chances to emerge, largely because every contender carries noticeable weaknesses.
One Eastern Conference general manager said as many as “six or seven” teams could realistically come out of the conference once the postseason begins.
Another unnamed executive suggested the pressure is especially high this year, noting that several organizations could face major consequences if they fail to reach the conference finals.
“There’s two to three teams that are going to have some real fallout if they don’t make the conference finals,” that team president said.
“That’s the case every year, I know, but there’s not a lot of honeymoons going on in the East.”
