In years gone by, when privileged franchises could stack superstars three deep on their rosters, there were a handful of teams who could realistically hope to make the Finals. We called those teams contenders, and they were easy to identify because there were rarely more than a half-dozen of them to be found throughout the league each season.
Things have changed. Thanks to the restrictive nature of the second apron, stockpiling superstars is no longer a feasible roster building strategy. Say what you will about its economic impacts, the second apron has delivered on its underlying premise of promoting parity across a broader spectrum of franchises.
In the East alone, there are as many as eight different teams who can reasonably claim contender status. We investigate this laundry list of wannabe Finals participants along with Jayson Tatum’s shocking* player ranking behind the paywall.
(*Shocking is a relative term.)
