NBA Eastern Conference rankings 1-15 for new season

The NBA’s Eastern Conference has been clearly inferior to the Western Conference from the moment Michael Jordan called his second retirement after the 1998 Finals. That might finally flip this year. While the West is still home to the league’s top two title contenders in our preseason poll, the East feels stronger 1-10 entering the season for the first time since MJ won his sixth ring in Chicago.

There’s no doubt that the New York Knicks are the team to beat in the Eastern Conference come playoff time. Will that hold during the regular season? The Knicks won 53 games last year, good for the No. 3 seed in the conference. They didn’t find greatness until the playoffs, then put together one of the most dominant championship runs ever.