How Raptors compare to Eastern Conference rivals entering new NBA season

Another season of Toronto Raptors basketball is upon us.

The league tipped off Tuesday with a pair of tasty Western Conference matchups but most teams, including the Raptors, begin their 2023-24 campaigns on Wednesday.

Whether you’re optimistic or not about how their season will go, the Raptors have 14 other rivals to contend with in the Eastern Conference as they look to lock up one of the six guaranteed playoff spots — or at least another play-in berth with a top-10 showing.

Here’s a look around the East to see how the Raptors compare to the rest of their conference.

Top teams: Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks

To put it bluntly, the Raptors simply aren’t in this class.

The Bucks and Celtics are both expected to compete for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Blessed with a mixture of MVP-calibre top-end talent (Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum) and ridiculously high-level secondary and tertiary star power (Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton), this is a level of talent the Raptors just can’t compete with.

Of course, this is the NBA, and an insane trade could come around that could change everything about the Raptors mid-season, and there’s also the possibility of injuries derailing the Bucks and Celtics. Don’t bank on it, though. It would probably be best to believe the top two spots in the East aren’t attainable.

Teams that figure to be slightly better than the Raptors: Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers

If everything goes right for the Raptors, they could certainly be in the mix along with this quartet of teams, but by the looks of things right now, you have to give them all the edge over what Toronto’s offering – yes, even the Knicks.

The Cavaliers look like the team most likely to take the next leap and enter true contender status after adding Max Strus to their young core of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Knicks are bringing back basically the entire roster that saw them finish fourth in offensive rating last season and win their first playoff series in 10 years (over Cleveland).

As for the Heat, let’s not forget they’re coming off a season that saw them earn another trip to the NBA Finals, and even though they ended up striking out on Lillard, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are still major forces to contend with.

And then there’s the 76ers. On paper, this should be a team with real championship aspirations. The problem, however, is James Harden is once again asking out of his situation, and no one knows if new head coach Nick Nurse will finally be able to squeeze out the real potential of this squad of perennial underachievers.

There’s opportunity here for the Raptors against these teams, but don’t be surprised if they're below this pack.

Teams that should be around the same level as the Raptors: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers

These three teams plus Toronto were all around the same level last year and unless there’s some kind of major breakout from any of them, expectations are it will be a case of deja vu in 2023-24.

There’s certainly a chance the Raptors could decisively overtake these teams should a player like Scottie Barnes truly take that star turn, but the same could be said of the Hawks with Trae Young and Dejounte Murray breaking out in a big way. Tyrese Haliburton could also become a true superstar with the Pacers or Zach LaVine could finally take that next step and become the running mate DeMar DeRozan deserves in Chicago.

Essentially, all of these teams are probably going to need some major internal improvement to be bumped up another tier in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers are the most likely to do so because of how young Haliburton and others like Canadian duo Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard are, but it’s not like that improvement will just happen overnight.

The Raptors are every bit as good as this trio of teams and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if they ended up being better than them when the season’s all said and done.

Teams that should be worse than the Raptors: Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards

The Raptors are better than all of these squads. Period.

There’s certainly some potential with what the Magic are building with reigning rookie of the year Paolo Banchero. The Hornets and Pistons have exciting young talent that could help their respective teams pick up some wins should they remain healthy, but let’s be real here, the Raptors are better – by a fair margin – than the Magic, Hornets and Pistons.

And if the Raptors can’t finish ahead of the Nets and Wizards – a pair of teams that just pulled the plug on their competitive windows and are in full rebuild mode – then this is going to be a very long season in Toronto.