NBA Podcast: 2013-14 Complete Eastern Conference Predictions

The Miami Heat are no longer alone as the class of the Eastern Conference.

Yes, they're the defending champs and favorites to three-peat for a very good reason. No, they probably don't even need the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage to accomplish their playoff goals.

On the other hand, the Indiana Pacers have already gone toe-to-toe with Miami the past two years, and the matchup only appears to be getting more difficult with each passing season.

Then, Derrick Rose is back for a reinforced Chicago Bulls team. The Brooklyn Nets are scary on paper and could be even more so in reality. The New York Knicks and rest of the playoff field are as deep as the conference has seen in a decade.

So who's in and who's out, and where are they winding up?

NBA Lead Writer Jonathan Wasserman joins assistant editors Ethan Norof and Joel C. Cordes for the latest episode of Basketball by Association.

(If the embedded player fails to load, you can find the full episode here.)

We'll preview the key storylines for the entire conference while predicting the outcome and final standings, and we're especially interested to hear your take on the situation in the comments section!

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Want more team-by-team NBA season previews? Find the latest here. Basketball by Association cast members and pro-hoops analysis can be found at Bleacher Report's Court Vision blog.