The Leonard addition to Toronto is being overrated. He isn't going to catapult that team into another level. He's not that significant an upgrade.
Phlly's rating is based more on projection than production. That was not a particularly good team last year, but people are expecting major improvement from Simmons and Embiid, and are expecting Fultz to be a player.
In the end, if the Raptors keep Leonard for the season, and teams in the Eastern Conference don't make any more major moves, Toronto should be Boston's closest challenger this season, but Boston should take them out in 5 come playoff time.
I think we will now see exactly how good Kawhi is.
He’s a consensus top-5 players, but he’s not the type that will go out and put up a monster triple-double or 50-point game. He’s consistent and does all the right things, but does he have the ability to take over games offensively?
We only know him in Pop’s system and he was given appropriate credit, but he still needs to prove he can do it with any coach and with any team (like a LeBron or Durant can).
That said, they gave up a top-25 player for him. And when you get into that elite territory, the difference between them gets smaller and smaller (top 100 player is not as close to a top 50 player as 50 is to 25, 50 to 25 not as close as 25 to 10, etc etc).
I’d definitely put them second behind the Celtics in the East, ahead of the Sixers. Just about every night they will have the best player on the floor and a deepish team, which is a recipe for a tough out. Milwaukee should be in the 3-4 mix as well.