It's no coincidence that all three point guards led their teams to the conference finals. How hectic this summer of transactions grows could hinge on what rival contenders conclude about Indiana and New York, based on their analysis of this Eastern Conference finals. For instance, the Nuggets' zone presented plenty of problems for Oklahoma City in the second round, and Minnesota will likely mimic that technique in the conference finals. Consider Indiana, which is in the conference finals in back-to-back years despite not having a top-5 draft pick since the 1980s. That's ultimately the point of this exercise: While only four teams are still playing in the 2024-25 NBA season, the other 26 teams can learn from their examples.