Welcome to our ninth annual Summer Forecast!
In the next couple of weeks, we'll share our early projections for every team, and predict the rookie of the year, MVP, best newcomers, NBA champion and much, much more.
Today, we kick things off with a look at the 2016-17 Eastern Conference standings. For our results, we surveyed our ESPN Forecast panel on each topic.
Let's go!
Projected East standings
1. Cleveland Cavaliers
Proj. record: 57-25
Last season: 57-25
The Cavaliers cruised to 57 wins last season and will face an even lighter challenge in the East this season, according to our forecast.