The Chicago Bulls have struggled to start this season, but are they the worst team in the Eastern Conference?

Here's how that half of the league stacks up in BullsRoundtable's first power rankings of the 2026-27 season:

I'll give the Pistons the tiebreaker over Boston because of their head-to-head win in the season opener, in which Detroit rallied from a 22-point second-half deficit. Backup center Paul Reed has been good while Jalen Duren is out due to a hamstring strain.

Bulls fans have seen firsthand how lethal Boston's long-range attack can be, as the Celtics defeated Chicago by a significant margin twice this week. Jayson Tatum is showing no signs that he's playing on a surgically repaired Achilles, which limited him most of last year.

The Tyrese Maxey-VJ Edgecombe-Jaylen Brown-LeBron James-Joel Embiid experiment is off to a strong start so far, although only Maxey has played in all six games. Philadelphia's lone loss is to the Pistons and the 76ers have wins over the Cavaliers and the reigning champion Knicks.

The Cavaliers defeated the Timberwolves in overtime, despite a 47-point game from Anthony Edwards. Cleveland's two losses have come by a combined 11 points to the 76ers and the Hawks, and the trio of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and James Harden has been solid to begin the year.

Toronto thrashed the Bulls by 43 points in the opener, and the Scottie Barnes-Kawhi Leonard duo appeared set for a run of defensive dominance. But Leonard played just two games before knee swelling ruled him out for three to four weeks. The Raptors split a pair of games against the Magic this week and were blown out by the Wolves.

Atlanta has three good wins so far over the Magic, the Hornets (by 47 points) and the Cavaliers. The Hawks have lost three of their last four, though those were to a 5-1 Houston team twice and the Heat.

New York's coronation after winning the title didn't begin as it had hoped, although the early schedule has been loaded. The Knicks have played five games against teams that made the playoffs last year, and although they needed a comeback to defeat the Bulls, I believe this is still a very good team.

Trae Young and Anthony Davis have been as advertised for the Wizards, whose three losses have come to the Cavaliers, Raptors and Hornets. Washington did have a chance to win all three of those games late, and No. 1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa has been great since he debuted two games ago.

The Hornets have the league's worst scoring offense so far, though they've been without several of their projected top scoring options, like Kon Knueppel, Coby White and Grant Williams. Brandon Miller is averaging 24.5 points per game after signing a massive contract extension this offseason.

Paolo Banchero has been limited to two games because of a high-ankle sprain, and Orlando has yieled mixed results. The Magic suffered defeats in three of their first four games — two of which were by more than 20 points — before beating Toronto on Friday.

The Heat have won two straight since starting 0-4 with very clunky offensive play. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo haven't quite worked as a pairing yet, though the last two wins over Atlanta and Indiana have been encouraging.

The Pacers started well with wins in two of their first three games, but Indiana has now dropped three in a row and Tyrese Haliburton is dealing with a hamstring strain. Indiana's entire season hinges on his health.

This pick may be controversial, seeing as the Nets have yet to win a game. But Brooklyn also hasn't had the same lows that Chicago and Milwaukee have. The Nets lost by one point in overtime to the same Celtics team that clobbered the Bulls twice and fell to the Cavs by four. If the Nets remain winless next week, they'll drop, but Brooklyn has flashed promise.

Chicago ranks last in the NBA in net rating: 25th on offense and 29th on defense. The Bulls have trailed by 15 points in every game but one this year and are the league's worst shooting team at just 28.1% from deep. Caleb Wilson has been electrifying, but Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey have disappointed as the best returning players from last year's roster. The season is long, but the non-Wilson Bulls have supplied few redeemable moments.

The Bucks rank last here by virtue of their head-to-head loss to the Bulls. Milwaukee's lone win came over the Pacers, who I am comfortable saying are not the East's worst team right now. Three of the Bucks' four losses have been by double digits.