The Bucks are actually starting to gain some momentum. They are still 6-9 but now up to the 10th seed (play-in range) and the way the East is set up, they are a winning streak away from basically vaulting to a Top-5 spot.
Sixers are doomed though.
Idk about the Pacers, I thought they'd be a Top-5 seed but they just look very inconsistent and it's the same with Haliburton. Hard to gauge them.
Cleveland, New York and Boston seem to be the rightful Top-3 and I view those two as our biggest threats in the East currently. Originally thought it'd be NY, IND and PHI (if healthy)
Why are the Sixers doomed? As bad as they've been playing and with all the missed time due to injuries, they are only 4 games out of 6th place.
I don't think they're doomed, but their margin of error is shrinking every loss. I was talking to my friend who is a Philly supporter trying to cheer him up and I was looking at it a different way. If we assume they need at least a .500 to make the play-in, they need to win 37 of 64 games which is around a 58% win rate. Certainly doable, if they can somehow gel together, remain healthy and build chemistry in the 4-odd months left. But they really can't drop too many more games against these so-called non-playoff teams. We would have to see a step change in their trend of performance. Maybe that step change is when a) Embiid, PG and Maxey are all healthy and they are able to incorporate McCain into that team as a support player, rather than him being the volume scorer he is right now, and b) their cast of backups like Gordon, Martin, and Oubre become the significant contributors they expected at the start of the season.
You don't get ruled out in November but they're losing time of building habits, developing chemistry, all that stuff that championship teams (supposedly) need a season to build. All the little things that make it so that when you get to the playoffs you're operating largely on reflex and anticipating what your teammates are going to do rather than having to think about things.
Disclaimer: I'm assuming based on history that you will need around a 40 win season to at least get into the play in. The East is looking very egalitarian right now, so maybe a team will get in with 35 wins
