There's no doubt the Bulls look good and DeRozan has been a beast lately. But man, are the Bulls actually going to finish with a Top-3 seed in the East or will they fall a bit later this season? Same with Cleveland, a team hovering between the 3-5 seeds but have remained there for the most part.
Nearly halfway into the season so this isn't some "small sample size" either. Could make the East very interesting. I don't think many expected the Bulls, Cavs and Wizards to all keep it up after their hot starts but so far only the Wiz have fallen a bit and even they are still an 8 seed currently.
The Bulls are absolutely going to finish in the top 5, but then they are going to get beaten and beaten badly in the playoffs and everyone is going to wonder what happened, when the simple reality is, they are built to be a regular season team and not a playoff team. They will basically be the DeRozan led Toronto Raptors i.e. a deep team that can handle the grind of the season better then most teams, but come playoff time when rotations shorten, their lack of a real superstar will be a gigantic hole they won't be able to overcome.
Cavs will start to fall off, but should make the playoffs after their start. They are young and young teams often have that mid-season swoon, especially since very few of the key players on that team have even gone through a full 82 game schedule. Garland, Mobley, and Allen is a very nice trio though and are an excellent building block. Plus, they still have Markkanen, Okoro, and whatever happens with Sexton. Cavs are in a very good place long term. This is not going to be their year though, but making the playoffs could be a nice learning experience, much like the Grizzlies last year.
