Can the Cavaliers, Knicks dominate a potentially wide-open East? The WOE meter answers

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On this day, in 1901, Chuck Taylor was born. He was a professional basketball player, is believed to have created the first basketball clinic and designed the renowned Converse shoe that was shockingly used for basketball for far too long. But damn if it doesn’t still look iconic.

Wide-Open Spaces

Is the East truly up for grabs next season?

It’s hard to ignore what happened in the Eastern Conference playoffs. No, I’m not talking about the Heat losing by 92 points in their two home games against the Cavaliers in the first round. I’m talking about Achilles injuries to Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton putting a weird dark cloud over what still ended up being a really fun postseason the NBA should otherwise revel in.

Once Tatum went down, the conversation turned to how wide-open the East could become. Teams saw what the Pacers did in their march to nearly winning a title and had to think they could emulate such a run, even if it’s a little foolish to believe you can wave a magic wand and just immediately create culture.

Then, Haliburton went down with his Achilles injury, leaving the East even more wide-open than what we thought when Tatum went down.

Let me introduce you to the Wide-Open East meter – or the WOE meter, for short. With one of the most precise formulas known to the human mind, we’re able to measure these East teams on a highly scientific emoji scale of 1-to-5. One emoji means you should probably just scout AJ Dybantsa for the 2026 draft, and five means you could be the new Pacers.

No offense to the Nets, Hornets or Wizards, but we know your plans. The East is not that open:

Cavaliers (64-18): I keep leaving every postseason thinking they need to make some changes. But maybe this version of the Eastern Conference is the one for them to bully.  WOE Meter: 👀👀👀👀👀

Celtics (61-21): It will depend on how much the Celtics feel the need to further gut the roster to save some money while Tatum is rehabbing his injury (more on that below). But this should still be a competitive team. WOE Meter: 🤔🤔🤔

Knicks (51-31): I would imagine the Knicks are running back the same roster. They’re hoping a new coach will hide how thin the bench is, but this team is still good enough to win the East. WOE Meter: 🗽🗽🗽🗽🗽

Pacers (50-32): It’s asking a lot for the Pacers to not be fully affected by Haliburton’s absence, but perhaps T.J. McConnell has been the true heir to the LeBron James era this entire time. WOE Meter: 🚗🚗🚗

Bucks (48-34): More people are expecting them to move Giannis Antetokounmpo than move the needle. WOE Meter: 🦌🦌

Pistons (44-38): I don’t know if there is a big splash for the Pistons to make this summer, but next season seems like a prime opportunity to take advantage. They have a good identity of toughness and a lot of talent. WOE Meter: 💪💪💪💪

Magic (41-41): That Desmond Bane trade puts a healthy Magic team right in the thick of what we’re talking about. Would it really shock you if I came back from the future and told you they won the East? WOE Meter: 🪄🪄🪄🪄🪄

Heat (37-45): I just don’t see a move this summer that truly puts them back in the mix. WOE Meter: 🌡️🌡️

Hawks (40-42): I’m not doing the Hawks thing anymore … not until they prove it’s worth actually considering. WOE Meter: 🐦🐦

The Bulls (39-43) have started acquiring some young talent, but that talent isn’t ready to make waves just yet. WOE Meter: 🐂🐂

Raptors (30-52): This is a sneaky little option here. It would take a lot of things going right with them, but I do think a healthy Raptors roster is a lot better than the 30 wins they notched last season. WOE Meter: 🦖🦖🦖

76ers (24-58): Hey, remember these guys? Now stop me if you’ve heard this before, but what if they’re healthy? What if Joel Embiid is back? What if the third pick in the draft is a dynamo right away? What if Paul George isn’t podcasting? Sneaky candidate here. WOE Meter: 🔔🔔🔔🔔

The Last 24

Haliburton’s injury scare is as bad as we feared

🤔 Not-so-open? Since the Thunder own the West, any hopes for opponents competing might be a thing of the past.

💰 Get paid. Daniel Gafford is nearing an extension with Dallas. It would be worth $54 million over three years. 

📺 Small markets? Game 7 of the NBA Finals was quite popular. It was the league’s most-watched game in six years. 

🤯 What is happening? We had people go to Fanatics Fest so you didn’t have to. This feels like a fever dream of chaos.

📈 Prospect pool. John Hollinger went deep on his top 75 prospects for this week’s NBA Draft. 

💫 Immediate stardom? Christian Clark explains why Cooper Flagg should be a rare impact player “the first day he steps” into the league.

🎧 Tuning in. Today’s “NBA Daily” discusses a few key NBA Draft questions.

The Basketball 100

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A Head-Scratcher

Celtics send Holiday back to Blazers

We had a trade come in last night, with the Celtics sending Jrue Holiday to the Trail Blazers for Anfernee Simons and two second-round picks. We’re going to get into that – check out my trade grades for more on this deal! – but first please indulge me in a little internet chaos.

A fun conspiracy theory to think about is that, back in the fall of 2023, Blazers general manager Joe Cronin really wanted to stick it to the Heat. It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s internet sensationalism, but there was some weird stuff happening online between the Heat and Trail Blazers fan bases. Damian Lillard wanted out of Portland and had Miami as one of his preferred destinations. That seemed to rub Cronin and the Blazers wrong, which sparked ample arguing between those aforementioned fans. Also, some of the local media got involved, but that’s a topic for another day.

As we remember, Lillard ended up getting moved to Milwaukee to join up with Antetokounmpo. Holiday was part of the package Portland received. He never played a second for the Blazers because he was traded to the Celtics a few days later. It’s fun to believe Cronin did that to make life more difficult for a Heat organization that had been battling Boston for years. And they were getting the better of the Celtics too, but adding Holiday to the mix was going to be too much.

Fast forward two seasons, and it looks like Holiday is headed back to Portland. Two questions come to mind for this trade: 1) Why? 2) Are they just going to move him again?

Assuming Holiday picks up a $37.4 million player option for 2027-28 when he’s 37 years old, he has $104.4 million over three years left on his deal. That’s a lot of money for a guy who just had one of his worst seasons in a 16-year career. He battled injuries, missed 20 games and has now missed 63 games over the last four seasons. If he was healthy and a bit younger, this would make more sense. But I’m not sure he will be as available as his contract should demand, nor have the necessary trade value to move him for assets. This isn’t 2023.

As for Simons, he adds a scoring punch and can be a good outside shooter to a Celtics team looking to trim some money off the books and make up for the loss of Tatum next season. Simons is going into the final year of his deal, but he’ll fit pretty well next to Derrick White and Jaylen Brown. We just need to see a lot of defensive improvement from him.

One more question: Why did Portland have to give up draft picks here? This whole thing is baffling. Don’t forget to read those grades!

Mock It!

Will gambling on Ace Bailey work for anybody?

Sam Vecenie dropped his latest mock draft yesterday, and the Ace Bailey situation has become utterly fascinating. The Rutgers product and his camp have decided to play hardball with their pre-draft process and cancel some workouts/meetings. The idea is for them to control what they can control in an effort to get him to a preferred basketball destination. I guess that doesn’t feel like Philadelphia, if we’re reading some tea leaves?

Almost two weeks ago, I did a little mock draft exercise to throw chaos into the mix. And I wondered just how far Bailey could drop. His dream landing spot to me is Washington (drafting sixth overall) because I think he could actually thrive with the Wizards’ young core. Does he have some version of Tracy McGrady within him waiting to develop? Or is that a wild comp that will never fit?

If you’re looking to draft a high-scoring player to develop, do you want an explosive athlete like Bailey, who needs to iron out some decision-making? Or do you go for someone like Tre Johnson (out of Texas), who can be a smooth shooting guard that fills it up coming off screens? Where do executives value these two players the most?

Bailey would probably be best-advised to avoid the Hornets, as they haven’t quite proven their new management and ownership have turned over any new leaves. That franchise still feels like a mess. If Bailey falls past Washington, I would imagine Brooklyn has to seriously look at him at eight. The Nets are playing the slow build as they start accumulating young talent in the draft. Bailey as a potential star in Brooklyn definitely makes sense. I can’t imagine he falls beyond that slot.

After Cooper Flagg (from Duke) and Dylan Harper (Rutgers’ other stud prospect), Bailey does seem to have the highest ceiling, although plenty of people are in love with V.J. Edgecombe and are wondering if he was too unselfish at Baylor. Maybe there’s an even more dynamic player waiting to be unleashed on the NBA there. Maybe it is Johnson. It could be Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears. This is why the NBA Draft is so fun. You can just throw hypotheticals at yourself all day long and ruminate on what might be.

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( Photo: David Richard / USA Today Network via Imagn Images )

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