Can Karl-Anthony Towns help Knicks topple Celtics? Analyzing the NBA’s Eastern Conference

The Eastern Conference may not be the stronger of the two NBA conferences, but its intrigue level rises above the West going into the season.

The Boston Celtics are the defending NBA champions. The New York Knicks had a loud offseason following their best season in quite some time. The Philadelphia 76ers added Paul George to help Joel Embiid capture that elusive trip to the NBA Finals. What does Year 2 of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard look like? The young Orlando Magic feel primed to turn another corner. We could go on and on.

Here to discuss how the East might shake out this season, The Athletic’s Celtics writer Jay King and Knicks writer James L. Edwards III give their thoughts and predictions on the offseasons and what things could look like.

Which top-six seed from a season ago improved the most this offseason?

Edwards: Whether or not you believe New York’s recent trade for Karl-Anthony Towns made the franchise better, the Knicks — and Sixers— are the only teams at the top of the East who made significant changes in hopes of reaching the NBA Finals. The defending champs didn’t make any big upgrades. Neither did Milwaukee, Cleveland or Indiana.

Orlando signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and that was one of my favorite moves of the summer. However, given that the Knicks added Towns and Mikal Bridges, even at the expense of depth, they feel like the safest choice.

I believe New York and Boston have the two best starting lineups in the NBA. The Celtics’ depth is a bit more proven, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that ends up being the difference between the two teams at the end of the season.

King: I would put the 76ers into the mix of improved teams atop the East. Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Joel Embiid should fit together on paper. If Embiid lost as much weight over the offseason as he claims, he will have a chance to hold up physically through the playoffs in a manner he has never achieved before. And if he can do that, Philadelphia will be as dangerous a challenger to Boston as any other team in the East.

New York wins the most improved award, though. I wouldn’t have said that a week before the Towns trade, but the Knicks eliminated a potential Julius Randle problem (would he really fit with this roster?) by turning him and Donte DiVincenzo into an answer to their glaring hole at center. As well as DiVincenzo played last season, New York, with a surplus of guards, could stand to lose him. Towns will open the court for Jalen Brunson, whose herky-jerky game doesn’t need much space anyway, and give the Knicks some much-needed size. I’m curious to see how they will morph whenever Mitchell Robinson returns from a foot injury, but their five-out attack should keep the scoreboard operator busy. Before sliding over to power forward to make way for Rudy Gobert, Towns regularly ranked as one of the league’s most effective offensive players at the center position. Not many big men can shoot like he does.

Who are the Celtics’ biggest threat to dethroning them as the best team in the East?

Edwards: It’s between the Knicks and 76ers for me.

As I said previously, New York might — I said “might,” Boston fans — have the best starting lineup in basketball. Jalen Brunson averaged 28.7 points last season with, at times, inadequate spacing around him. Now, the Most Valuable Player candidate has the best spacing unit around him that he’s ever had. Bridges and OG Anunoby are possibly the two best wings in the NBA who have never made an All-Star game. Towns is the best shooting big man in basketball. And Josh Hart is the ultimate glue guy.

Philadelphia, though, does still have, arguably, the most dominant player in basketball when healthy in Embiid. Paul George will be a good complement to Embiid and, as last season showed, he’s still playing at a very high level. And, oh, Tyrese Maxey continues to get better and better.

Both teams have key players with not-great injury histories, and I’m not sure which team is better suited to withstand a significant injury or two.

If you’re making me pick one, I’ll go with New York not only due to what I think Brunson will do this season, but also because Bridges, Anunoby and Hart are as good of a wing rotation as you can get in the NBA.

King: It’s the 76ers. As great as the Celtics’ starting lineup is, one potential vulnerability is the lack of a bruising big-man defender. That’s why, when they played Philadelphia early last season, they used Jrue Holiday on Embiid. The bizarre matchup worked for a small stretch but couldn’t be trusted to last throughout a seven-game series.

The Celtics’ potential weakness was never tested because they didn’t run into Embiid, Nikola Jokić or Antetokounmpo during the playoffs. But that weakness is there, lurking, and I’d love to see how they would strategize against one of those guys. Towns wouldn’t lean on them in the same manner. The Knicks are built more like Boston and, if the Celtics are healthy, I’m not convinced any team will beat them at their own game. I’m still not ready to write off the Bucks, but their core is old, their supporting cast is flawed and they need a lot to go right to reestablish themselves as a chief contender.

Let’s go to the bottom of the East. Which Play-In team do you think is most likely to grab a top-six seed?

Edwards: I answered this in a roundabout way already by saying the 76ers are as big of a threat as the Knicks to take down Boston. So, they’re my pick.

Philadelphia, despite finishing with the same record as Indiana last season, ended up with the No. 7 seed. The 76ers only got 39 regular-season games out of Embiid and still finished 12 games above .500. I do think George and Caleb Martin are upgrades over Tobias Harris and Buddy Hield. Another year of Maxey should do everyone some good. Also, Andre Drummond backing up Embiid was a nice move around the margins.

I think Philadelphia will be better than both the Pacers and Cavaliers this season and end up with a top-four seed at worst.

King: I feel confident saying it won’t be the Bulls, who have embraced a rebuilding process at last. The obvious answer here is the 76ers, who should leap out of the Play-In Tournament if they can stay reasonably healthy. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Heat also vault out of the Play-In and into the top six. They would need Jimmy Butler on the court consistently, but could get a boost from promising youngsters Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jović.

Which bottom-seven team in the East improved the most?

Edwards: I mean, it’s Detroit, right? The Pistons should be at least 10 games better than the 14 wins they got a season ago. However, I also thought last season couldn’t be worse after winning just 17 games during the 2022-23 campaign. Somehow, I was very wrong.

And before you go and say, Oh, here goes the old Pistons writer, John Hollinger agrees with me, too! Everyone thinks he hates Detroit.

Why did I pick the Pistons, you ask? Well, the bar is very low with 14 wins. Also, Cade Cunningham came off of what was essentially a lost second season due to a shin injury that required surgery (he only played in 12 games) to put up All-Star-ish numbers in Year 3. He grew his game in the worst situation possible. He’s a real player. This offseason, the Pistons added solid veterans who rarely miss games in Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. — injuries have plagued the Pistons in recent seasons. Cunningham now has shooters around him with the addition of those vets, Simone Fontecchio and Isaiah Stewart. Fontecchio was a sneaky-good addition at last year’s trade deadline. He only was able to play in 16 games after coming over from Utah due to a foot injury, but he averaged 15.4 points while shooting 42.6 percent from 3 when he did play. The defense was solid, too.

Detroit has decent depth this season, should be pissed off after last year and, in Cunningham, a potential star player.

Also, the bottom of the East is really, really bad.

King: Am I delusional to think the Charlotte Hornets won’t be totally hopeless? A starting lineup of LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, Grant Williams and Mark Williams isn’t horrible! They will have a new energy with the addition of head coach Charles Lee. I’m almost into the idea of a significant Charlotte improvement?

The right answer is the Pistons, though. Partly because of how bad they were last season. Partly because they added some legitimate rotation players. They won’t be good, but they won’t chase the wrong type of history either. Cunningham should remind everyone why he was such a highly-regarded prospect.

Who will be the worst team in the East?

Edwards: Brooklyn.

The Nets are the only Eastern team that appears to be playing “Capture The Flagg” from the start of the season. No one has a clue what Ben Simmons will look like or if he’ll play more than 20 games. I like Nic Claxton, but he’s not saving this thing. I like Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith, too, but I wouldn’t be surprised if neither is on the roster after the trade deadline. Cam Thomas is an experience. The 35-year-old Bojan Bogdanović is a bucket, but he’s been dealing with injuries as of late and just had offseason surgery that has lingered into the start of camp.

Maybe Brooklyn will be OK defensively with Claxton, Dorian Finney-Smith, Johnson and Simmons – assuming he can stay healthy to start the season – for 30 games or so, but it feels like the Nets are going to shut this whole operation down early.

King: The Wizards.

As dreadful as the bottom of the conference is, the Wizards are in a class of their own. Jordan Poole was a walking lowlight during his first season away from Golden State. Teenager Alexandre Sarr, the second pick in the draft, shot 19.1 percent from the field during summer league. I can’t imagine he’ll walk into the NBA as a helpful player, but his draft status will ensure he receives consistent minutes anyway. Malcolm Brogdon is probably wondering what he did to deserve a season in Washington following a campaign in Portland. In Brogdon, Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valančiūnas, the Wizards do have a few veterans worthy of an NBA rotation spot, but an accumulation of youthful mistakes is forming around them.

Shout out to Toronto, though. You know a team is headed for a long year when its starting center openly admits winning is no longer the priority. Salute to Jakob Poeltl the truth-teller.

Call your shot: What will the Eastern Conference standings be by the end of the regular season?

Edwards: 1. Celtics, 2. Knicks, 3. 76ers, 4. Bucks, 5. Magic, 6. Cavaliers, 7. Heat, 8. Pacers, 9. Hawks, 10. Pistons, 11. Raptors, 12. Hornets, 13. Bulls, 14. Wizards, 15. Nets

King: Before giving my standings prediction, I just want to mention the Magic who we have ignored. They’re going to be good! Maybe really good! Especially if Paolo Banchero and/or Franz Wagner learn how to shoot.

Sorry for failing to hype you up earlier, Orlando. You deserve better from us.

Anyway…

1. Celtics, 2. Knicks, 3. 76ers, 4. Magic, 5. Pacers, 6. Bucks, 7. Cavaliers, 8. Heat, 9. Hawks, 10. Pistons, 11. Hornets, 12. Raptors, 13. Bulls, 14. Nets, 15. Wizards

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(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; top photos: Stephen Maturen, Sarah Stier, Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)