This is how the Eastern Conference regular season will play out in 2024-25 from 1 to 15 ... according to The Stein Line 100

The results are in from our recent community survey seeking a top-to-bottom forecast of the East's regular season standings

Thank you, friends.

I invited readers of The Stein Line to help me compile the first Community Preseason Predictions for the Eastern and Western Conference in the history of this publication. I set 100 respondents as the goal for each conference to create a deep, strong panel for each 1-to-15 ladder that would be unveiled as The Stein Line's official preseason forecasts for East and West.

You delivered.

We had to keep the West file open a little longer than expected to get there, but we indeed reached triple digits in both conferences. Our trusty tabulator Deven P. then did the truly hard work by going through every submission to make it a layup for me to assemble the respective ladders.

Teams got 15 points for each first-place vote, 14 points for each second-place vote ... all the way down to one point for every 15th-place vote.

So ...

Boston's whopping 78 first-place votes were worth 1,170 points in this system. Miami's 71 eight-place votes were worth 568 points. Washington's 50 15th-place votes were worth — you guessed it — 50 points.

With training camps leaguewide just days away, then, here is how we as a village project the East's 1-to-15 regular season to play out:

1. Celtics (1,484 points)

2. Knicks (1,367)

3. 76ers (1,317)

4. Bucks (1,186)

5. Magic (1,056)

6. Pacers (1,050)

7. Cavaliers (993)

8. Heat (813)

9. Hawks (623)

10. Raptors (558)

11. Bulls (490)

12. Hornets (450)

13. Pistons (369)

14. Nets (194)

15. Wizards (170)

Some process notes and reflections:

🏀 We repeat: Boston was picked to win the East by (whoa) 78 of 100 voters.

🏀 The area of greatest uncertainty: Nos. 5-7 in the East. Cleveland had the most votes to finish sixth (38) as well as seventh (35) and ultimately landed at No. 7 based on its overall score. Orlando and Indiana were separated by a mere six points in fifth and sixth for the smallest margin anywhere on the ladder.

🏀 As for my own ballot, well, I have to listen to the people and concede that I am probably guilty of an overreach at the top. I think that the newly crowned champions are going to miss Kristaps Porziņģis more than they want to believe — will we see KP back on the floor before 2025? — and I also can admit to getting swept up in Jayson Tatum's summer of struggle ... but it takes real gumption to pick against the Celtics to repeat as the East's regular-season champs. Even if you loved the Knicks' offseason, as we clearly did, Boston did win the conference by a ridiculous 14 games last season. Scroll down to Numbers Game to refresh on how far back in league history you have to rewind to find a conference race that lopsided.

This was my 1-to-15 East ladder in the original story published on Aug. 19 seeking your votes:

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

Be sure to come back next Tuesday for the West breakdown. And thanks once again, Deven P., for your dogged tallying.

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LED Life

One of my life goals going forward is to install a Times Square-style or Vegas-sportsbook-inspired ticker across the top of at least one wall in my home office.

In the interim? I do have a Tidbyt.

And I am pleased to report that my Tidbyt — which, for the uninitiated, is essentially a clock-sized desktop ticker device (click here for my original review from July 2023) — is clearly ready for the NBA season.

It always brings a smile to my face when I glance to the right side of my desk and see a notification for the two TNT games on Ring Night on Oct. 22 (Knicks at Celtics, followed by Timberwolves at Lakers) flash across the screen.

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Numbers Game

🏀 16

Boston's 14-game runaway to seize the top seed in the East last season at 64-18 was the most lopsided lead for a conference winner (ahead of 50-32 New York) since Golden State's 16-game cushion on Seattle in 1975-76.

🏀 30

I unfairly shortchanged Denver in one respect in my piece Monday: The Nuggets did sign Dario Šarić in free agency as well as Russell Westbrook; my initial version said Westbrook was Denver's only significant offseason addition. Šarić, 30, joined the Nuggets' frontcourt rotation on a two-year $10.6 million deal.

🏀 30

Nikola Jokić turns 30 on Feb. 19. Jamal Murray, who just landed a four-year contract extension worth nearly $210 million, turns 28 on Feb. 23.

🏀 56

At age 56, Hall of Famer Gary Payton has been named men's basketball head coach at the College of Alameda community college.

🏀 3

Lonzo Ball, whom we wrote about last week in our interview with the Bulls' Nikola Vučević, is trying to recover from three separate surgeries on his left knee.

🏀 8

The Grizzlies last season became just the eighth team in league history to tumble from a 50-win season directly into a 50-loss season. My fellow Substacker

Justin Kubatko

recently wrote a piece on Memphis and the other seven teams to experience such a slide:

From the Penthouse to the Outhouse

🏀 33-112

It had been a long time since I had really looked at the Major League Baseball standings until I got the itch Sunday. Have you been paying closer attention than me? The Chicago White Sox, owned by the Bulls' Jerry Reinsdorf, entered Tuesday's play at (yikes) 33-112.

🏀 10-7

The White Sox need an 10-7 finish just to tie the worst 162-game season in MLB history. The Detroit Tigers (really don't remember this, either) went 43-119 in 2003. I haven't watched a single inning of White Sox baseball this season but I feel rather safe in saying they're not going to close with that sort of flourish.

🏀 60

Every other franchise in the American League, for the record, has won at least 60 games this season. Do any White Sox season-ticket holders/fans read this Substack and have the will to share with us what this season has been like to sit through 33-112?

🏀 13

Tristan Thompson, who re-signed with the Cavaliers last week, is entering his 13th NBA season ... 11 of them with Cleveland.

🏀 25

Last January, Thompson was suspended for 25 games without pay for violating the league's anti-drug policy after testing positive for the growth hormone ibutamoren and SARM LGD-4033, which is commonly used by bodybuilders and weightlifters for muscle enhancement.

🏀 8

The Lakers announced Monday that Christian Wood will be re-evaluated in eight weeks after undergoing a surgical procedure on his left knee. Wood last played on Feb. 14 after undergoing an arthroscopic procedure on the same knee in March.

🏀 24

Only 24 days to go until the Celtics and Nuggets duel in a two-game exhibition series in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 4 and Oct. 6.