2022-23 NBA Preseason Media Poll: Who Will Win The Eastern Conference?
A new NBA season is upon us and with it comes speculation about what will happen over the next few months.
Who will win this season's awards? Which teams will finish with the best and worst records? Who has the best chance to make the All-Star Game for the first time in their career?
Fastbreak on FanNation polled 21 different NBA media members, some who cover the league as a whole and some who cover an individual team, asking them these specific questions and gathering their results.
Below are the results for who NBA media members believe will end up winning the Eastern Conference and advance to the NBA Finals during the 2022-23 NBA season:
Media Members Pick To Win The Eastern Conference:
Milwaukee Buck - 11 Total Votes
It seems like Giannis Antetokounmpo is getting better and better each and every NBA season and aside from being one of the favorites to win the Most Valuable Player award this upcoming season, his team is one of the favorites to make and possibly win the 2023 NBA Finals.
The Milwaukee Bucks are surely going to finish with one of the best records in the league once again during the 2022-23 season and many tend to think that they will end up winning the Eastern Conference, as they received 11 votes in our preseason media poll.
Not only is Antetokounmpo a major factor in this, but Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton are also two major reasons why the Bucks have a chance to once again contend for a title. Holiday remains one of the best on-ball defenders in the entire league and Middleton’s value to his franchise was shown when the Bucks failed to defeat the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
With basically their entire roster returning from last season, as well as veteran Joe Ingles joining the team, the Milwaukee Bucks are primed for success late in the season. Not to mention, Giannis Antetokounmpo will likely be in the running for the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards.
The Eastern Conference is stacked this season and one of the other teams that will be contending at the top next to the Bucks are the Philadelphia 76ers, led by their own MVP candidate in center Joel Embiid. Being the top vote-getter in our preseason MVP media vote, Embiid has a chance to have a very special season and in doing so, he could propel the 76ers to being the best team in the East.
James Harden is healthy and beginning to look like the James Harden of old throughout the preseason, Tyrese Maxey is ready to take his game to a new level and the additions of both P.J. Tucker and De’Anthony Melton are going to prove huge for this franchise. The Sixers had arguably the best offseason in the league in terms of adding what they have been missing and now, they find themselves with a prime opportunity to possibly win the Eastern Conference this upcoming season after receiving five total votes to do so in our poll.
As for the final two teams receiving votes, the Brooklyn Nets led by All-Stars Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons received three votes and the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics received just two votes.
A lot of this likely is a result of Ime Udoka being suspended for the season by the team, but the Celtics are still an elite-level defensive team when fully-healthy and both Jayons Tatum and Jaylen Brown are still coming into their own as superstars in this league. Now having Malcolm Brogdon and Blake Griffin as well, the Celtics finally have the bench depth that they have been so desperately needing.
The Eastern Conference has the makings of being a complete juggernaut for all 82 games and right now, it is really hard to definitively say who has the upper-hand in terms of possibly making the NBA Finals.
Complete voting results from 2022-23 NBA Preseason Media Poll:
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Most Valuable Player
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Rookie of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Most Improved Player
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Sixth-Man of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Coach of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
- Who Will Finish With The Worst Regular Season Record?
- Who Will Finish With The Best Regular Season Record?
- Which Team Will Win The Eastern Conference?
- Which Team Will Win The Western Conference?
- Which Team Will Win The 2023 NBA Finals?
- Who Is Most Likely To Be A First-Time All-Star During The 2022-23 NBA Season?
