Despite a bunch of offseason moves to bring in some high-caliber players, at least one Vegas oddsmaker still sees the Indiana Pacers as a middling team in the Eastern Conference.
Bovada naturally has the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers as the favorite to win the conference, with the rising-darling Boston Celtics and already-proven Toronto Raptors rounding out the top three.
Then come the Atlanta Hawks, which lost Al Horford (to the Celtics) and Jeff Teague (to the Pacers) this summer but picked up Dwight Howard. They are followed by the new-look Chicago Bulls, which have added Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo to replace the departing Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose.