With the NBA offseason in full swing, basketball news has been relatively light as of late. The NBA news is dominated with questions like "Would Michael Jordan beat Lebron James in a 1-on-1 Game?" and "Who will represent the USA in 2016?". With the recent release of the NBA schedule and the end of free agency however, fans can now speculate as to how their respective teams will do in the season.  

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In the East, the goal for any contending team is clear: find a way to beat Lebron James.

For the past 5 NBA seasons, nobody in the East has been able to figure out what it'd take to beat Lebron James, and this season the question is more or less the same. While teams like the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks continue to rise and the Brooklyn Nets and the New York Knicks currently in free fall, the picture in the East is not as clear as it is in the West. 

Standings:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers (63-19)

2. Atlanta Hawks (57-25)

3. Chicago Bulls (55-27)

4. Miami Heat (50-32)

5. Washington Wizards (47-35)

6. Toronto Raptors (46-36)

7. Milwaukee Bucks (46-36)

8. Indiana Pacers (44-38)

9. Detroit Pistons (41-41)

10. Boston Celtics (39-43)

11. New York Knicks (37-45)

12. Charlotte Hornets (36-46)

13. Orlando Magic (31-51)

14. Brooklyn Nets (30-52)

15. Philadelphia 76ers (20-62)

Key questions for the Eastern Conference in the 2015-2016 season:

Can anyone stop the Cavs?

Last season, Lebron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers 2 games away from their first NBA Championship without the assistance of the 2nd and the 3rd best players on his team, PG Kyrie Irving and PF Kevin Love. If he can lead a team to the finals just by his own sheer will, there's not much hope for the rest of the conference to take him out. He dismantled the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, and the Atlanta Hawks with the help of a limping Kyrie Irving and Matthew Delavedova, so there's no telling what he can do with a fully healthy team. 

With Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving returning to the fold, it's up to the other teams in the East to stop Lebron from getting his 6th straight finals appearance, the most consecutive finals appearances since Bill Russells' Celtics. They recently got back streaky shooter J.R. Smith and hope to re-sign Tristan Thompson to a long term deal. As long as they can keep Lebron happy and satisfied, expect them to cruise through the regular season and explode onto the season in the playoffs as a dominant force to be reckoned with.

Are the Miami Heat ready for a resurgence?

The Miami Heat had a nightmare last season. They knew that losing Lebron James would mean that they would have to scrap their way back into the playoffs, but they didn't expect to lose PF Chris Bosh for the entire season due to a heart condition. While he was gone however, C Hassan Whiteside exploded into a solid NBA player and the Heat added key pieces like PG Goran Dragic and SG Justin Winslow. 

A starting line-up of Dragic/Wade/Deng/Bosh/Whiteside is easily good enough to be a top 4 seed in the East, and Heat fans are coming into this season optimistic that their team is going to have moderate success post-Lebron James. That is of course, if they don't get hit by the injury again. Dwyane Wade hopes to captain this team to new heights this season.

Who will bounce back from their injury best?

The Eastern Conference sorely missed a large amount of players due to the injury bug, and it completely reshaped the conference. Teams like the Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, and the Miami Heat would have all been gunning for a playoff spots had their key players Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Brandon Jennings, and Chris Bosh respectively had not gone down due to injury,

They're coming back this season, and one wonders what kind of impact they'll have on their team. Paul George's Pacers were a game away from the NBA finals the season before and were hoping to capitalise on their success before Lance Stephenson and George's leg went the other direction. Stephenson played abysmally for Hornets before being traded to the Clippers, who hope that last season was just a fluke. Carmelo Anthony's Knicks had a nightmare season but they hope to bounce back with their list of solid pick ups, which primarily involves Kristap Porzingis. Porzingis hopes to be the answer to some of the Knick's problems. As for the Pistons, they were on a hot streak after dropping Josh Smith and were closing in on the 8th seed before Brandon Jennings went down for the season. They recently inked Reggie Jackson to a 5-year, $80 million contract, and hope that they have the right pieces to make it to the playoffs next season. 

Tags NBA news, cleveland cavaliers, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, detroit pistons, Charlotte Hornets, orlando magic, philadelphia 76ers