Knicks Can Lead Eastern Conference

The New York Knicks are going into the upcoming season with extremely high expectations in the Eastern Conference.

With Tyrese Haliburton out for the year, the Indiana Pacers aren't expected to repeat as the Eastern Conference champs. The Boston Celtics will be without Jayson Tatum for a good chunk of the year as well, jeopardizing their placement as an elite team in the East.

This leaves the Knicks as one of the top contenders to reach the NBA Finals out east in the upcoming season.

"The Knicks added Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele, two rotation players who may or may not be able to contribute meaningful minutes in the playoffs. They will help during the regular season, when the Knicks had as few as six reliable players at points last season, and that should assist them in their pursuit of a top seed in the East, but neither new player meaningfully alters New York's playoff ceiling," Yahoo! Sports contributor Ben Rohrbach wrote.

"It is also unclear if firing head coach Tom Thibodeau and replacing him with Mike Brown will mark any overall improvement. The offense should benefit, and everyone in the rotation should have fresher legs for the playoffs, but will the Knicks have the same grit under Brown? They still boast the same seven-man rotation that led them to the Eastern Conference finals, and that should be plenty to navigate this East."

The team the Knicks should be challenged by the most is the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won 64 games this past season.

That being said, the Knicks could match up well with the Cavs given their size on the wing.

It remains to be seen how well the Knicks will do next season, but they should be expected to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference all year long.