Tyreke Evans is one of the new members of the Indiana Pacers after signing a one-year deal in free agency. It was a move that the Pacers feel will help them compete for a chance to win the Eastern Conference. Count Evans in as one of the people who think the Pacers can win the East this season.

In an interview with James Herbert of CBS Sports, Evans explained why he feels the Pacers can win the Eastern Conference and make a run to the NBA Finals.

“We talked about it in the meeting the first time we met. We all feel like we can be No. 1. We feel like the East's open. A lot of people know Boston is good, but we feel like we can beat any team and compete with any team. Our mindset every night is to go out there and just play with heart, knowing that we can win the game. We don't look as nobody, no team, as better than us. That's what I like about this team. We go with the mindset that we can compete with anybody we're playing and we can win any game if we play hard.”

Quite a few teams in the conference have expressed very similar feelings following LeBron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers.

Indiana was one of the biggest surprises in the NBA last season. After dealing with the Paul George trade in the offseason, no one thought the Pacers would come close to the playoffs. Following a 48-win season, the Pacers were also able to push James and the Cavaliers to seven games in the first round of the playoffs.

Heading into the 2018-19 NBA season, the expectations are high for the Pacers. Nate McMillan has his team believing that the sky is the limit and Indiana is finally back to being a basketball city.

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Evans will be asked to step up in a big way this season. Lance Stephenson was allowed to walk in free agency in order to sign him. Indiana thinks that Evans will be a major upgrade for the second unit.

Last season with the Memphis Grizzlies, Evans averaged 19.4 points to go along with 5.2 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game. He shot 45.2 percent from the field overall and knocked down 39.9 percent of his 3-point attempts.

If Evans can reproduce those numbers in Indiana this season, the Pacers are going to have a shot to compete with the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, and Philadelphia 76ers to win the East.