Who is the biggest threat to the Golden State Warriors? Just how heated will the competition be for playoff spots in the Western Conference, and are there eight playoff-caliber teams in the East?
To help answer these questions and more, here's an early look at 2017-18 NBA projections using ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM).
Last season, these projections correctly forecast that the Houston Rockets would have home-court advantage in the first round, the Denver Nuggets would challenge .500 and the New York Knicks would stay in the lottery.