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NBA Playoffs Seeding Predictions for the 2016-17 NBA Season

By Weldon Jones

May 22, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) shoots as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) defends during the second quarter in game three of the Western conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
May 22, 2016; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) shoots as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant (35) defends during the second quarter in game three of the Western conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 25, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Toronto Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll (5) and forward Luis Scola (4) and forward James Johnson (3) watch from the bench during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game five of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 116-78. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
May 25, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Toronto Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll (5) and forward Luis Scola (4) and forward James Johnson (3) watch from the bench during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game five of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. The Cavs won 116-78. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

2. Toronto Raptors

The Raptors were in the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs last year. It would be crazy to believe they would drop to a lower seed this year. In Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas, and Demarre Carroll the Raptors have a core they can improve upon. Last years Toronto Raptors won 55 games and made an Eastern Conference Finals appearance.

In fact, this team pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers to 6 games. This year a lot of things will be working the favor of the Raptors. Kyle Lowry seems to only be getting better. The same sentiment could be used for DeMar DeRozan. Demarre Carroll should be healthy by now so that will definitely help this team towards locking in the second highest seed in the east. The raptors lost Bismack Biyombo. However, they picked up Jared Sullinger and drafted a promising big in Jakob Poetl.

With some new talent on the roster and recurring players who are projected to show improvement (Cory Joseph, Norman Powell, Delon Wright, and Terrence Ross) the Raptors will easily take the second spot in the East as it is not very top heavy. Dwayne Casey has shown his ability to teach this team to win and play with purpose.

This leads to improvement year in and year out. The numbers of the Franchise players (Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan) should continue to get better and they will have less pressure on them during the regular season this year. The bench depth has improved and that only makes getting wins easier. Barring major injuries we should see Toronto finish the season in the top two as we did last year.

Next: Eastern Conference Seed no.1: Cleveland Cavaliers

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