Gasol’s and Conley’s health is fragile, and that can sway maybe 5 to 10 spots. Plus they lost a key player in Evans.
I don’t see a ton of separation from say the bottom 9 or 10 teams Suns, Kings, Mavs, Grizzlies, Hawks, Bulls, Magic, Nets, Knicks (no Porzingas to start the year), maybe Hornets and even Cavs (those players were fit to surround Lebron’s talents. They could easily fall apart). Maybe a few teams like the Bulls, Magic, and Mavs (I think they could have the biggest jump in this group) will surprise.
It could be similar to last year where there was a bunch of teams at the bottom of league around the same pace until late in the year where teams started to separate. I recall at one point last year there were several teams right around 18 wins including the Lakers before they pulled away.