ESPN Win Projections 2016-17 Season.....

[theprunetang]

Not sure about wins, but based on positions.....
jazz are too high
Clips should be 3
Rockets are too high
Denver is too high
Memphis is too low
Portland should be 5th

of course injuries always screw the predictions up

I agree with all of this, but I would put Portland 4th after Warriors, Spurs, and Clips. After that I would put OKC, Memphis, Dallas, then Jazz/Houston in a dead heat for the 8th seed.

 

[theprunetang]

I agree with all of this, but I would put Portland 4th after Warriors, Spurs, and Clips. After that I would put OKC, Memphis, Dallas, then Jazz/Houston in a dead heat for the 8th seed.

And I honestly hate putting the Mavs as the 7th seed and really don't like their roster going forward, but they have enough veteran pieces to stick around as a 7th or 8th seed. They are treading water at this point.

In the other hand, I think Portland and Clippers battle down to the wire for the 3rd and 4th seeds.

 

[JDC]

Tier 1: Warriors
Tier 2: Spurs, Clippers, Rockets, Jazz, Blazers
Tier 3: Mavericks, Grizzlies, Thunder, Timberwolves
Tier 4: Nuggets, Suns
Tier 5: Pelicans, Kings, Lakers

 

[Nhawz]

We are going to be #2 in the west. If we play like we did in the second half of last season and in the playoffs, we are contending this year. Right it down, take a picture, I don't give a fuuucckkk!

 

[Wizard Mentor]

39-43

which is 5 lower than we actual got.

My New Stat: Real, Real Plus Minus.
RPM picks young, emerging teams about 5 wins too low, so the Blazers RRPM = RPM + 5, which matches last season.

So the Blazers RRPM is 49 wins, which according to ESPN will be 3rd in the West. I can live with that!

 

[Blazer4ever]

http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...otals-standings-every-nba-team-2016-17-season

View attachment 10006

WEST
1-Warriors 66
2-Spurs 54
3-Jazz 47
4- Clips 46
5-Rockets 45
6-OKC 45
7-Portland 44
8-Denver 40
9-Memphis 39
10-Sac 37
11-Minny 37
12-Nola 37
13-Dallas 34
14-Phoenix 29
15-Lakers 24

View attachment 10007

Discuss........

Put us in 3rd place

 

[Blazer4ever]

Also, Memphis if they're even relatively healthy, should be ranked much higher

 

[KingSpeed]

Funny how you all underestimated Blazers last year and now think ESPN is doing it.

 

[BonesJones]

Funny how you all underestimated Blazers last year and now think ESPN is doing it.

I thought you were done with this rhetoric bullshit lmao

 

[BonesJones]

Funny how you all underestimated Blazers last year and now think ESPN is doing it.

Granted, ESPN underestimated us last year, and many of us said so (they were predicting 20ish wins, I was saying 35..)

 

[theprunetang]

Funny how you all underestimated Blazers last year and now think ESPN is doing it.

True, but there are some big differences. Last year was tough to predict because it was the first year after big changes to the roster. It is hard to know how an entirely new team would gel and how new players would develop. But, we now have a year of knowledge to base these guesses off of. I see a team with a mostly new and young roster get to the second round of the playoffs and then add some important new pieces in the off-season, and I would predict that team to climb up the standings the next year, not tread water. More fuel to the fire.

 

[Haakzilla]

O/U @ 49.5

 

[julius]

WEST
1-Warriors 66
2-Spurs 54
3-Jazz 47
4- Clips 46
5-Rockets 45
6-OKC 45
7-Portland 44
8-Denver 40
9-Memphis 39
10-Sac 37
11-Minny 37
12-Nola 37
13-Dallas 34
14-Phoenix 29
15-Lakers 24

Discuss........

I'm not sure how the Rockets are a better team, or the Thunder. Same with Utah.

I think 1-3 are set (Warriors, Spurs and Clippers) and the Blazers should be the lead horse for 4th.

 

[BBert]

O/U @ 49.5

Over

 

[Chris Craig]

I agree with all of this, but I would put Portland 4th after Warriors, Spurs, and Clips. After that I would put OKC, Memphis, Dallas, then Jazz/Houston in a dead heat for the 8th seed.

Memphis will be better than OKC...and Dallas will be worse than the Jazz but better than the rockets

 

[Trackjack]

I going with 51 win and battling clippers for 3.

 

[H.C.]

WEST
1-Warriors 66
2-Spurs 54
3-Jazz 47
4- Clips 46
5-Rockets 45
6-OKC 45
7-Portland 44
8-Denver 40
9-Memphis 39
10-Sac 37
11-Minny 37
12-Nola 37
13-Dallas 34
14-Phoenix 29
15-Lakers 24


Memphis pending Gasol's health will be a top 4 seed again.
Parsons is an x-factor that could push them to contender if he actually can get and stay on the court.
With the same group Memphis had a 2-1 lead on the eventual champion warriors 2 years ago. Loosing the lead due to health.
Will they stay healthy? Given their age/injury history I doubt it.

What I don't understand is Utah being top three and the favorites to win the Northwest division.
Iso Joe - will do what he always does.. Isolate and chuck.
Boris Diaw - only plays good on the Spurs. Rest of the time he's ass. I mean shit even the Bobcats didn't want him.
George Hill - is prolly the only respectable vet that can do something on the court.
Exum - can't throw a rock in the ocean.
These three players + getting Exum back is supposed to equal 3rd in the west?
All but 1 of those guys is as inconsistent as Utah's best player Hayward.
Give me a break. Utah might hold people top 90. But that won't do any good if they are near the bottom in offense again. 26th or something last year.


At least people finally got off the Pelicans bandwagon.
If the Clippers don't start off hot, they might get blow up.
Good thing there is no D in Rockets.

 

[illmatic99]

George Hill is trash. He's a bottom 10 PG in the league. Indy couldn't get rid of him fast enough.

Yet he now moves to Utah and people suddenly love the guy.

Baffling.

 

[illmatic99]

Guys, this prediction is based solely on stats. Point differential is a major factor in their equation, and ours wasn't all that high last year. Utah actually had the 5th highest point differential last year at + 1.8. We were at +0.8.

But the flaw in that stat really isn't captured in the article here. UTA still finished under .500 and 4 games behind us, and cannot win close games because they don't have a go-to guy. We have two. Their diff last year was inflated by blowout wins against lesser competition. They still haven't addressed that go-to guy issue with their additions.

ESPN did subjective predictions earlier http://www.sportstwo.com/threads/espn-preseason-projections.303027/

And ranked us 4th.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Blazers offseason grade: B+

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/243214/2016-NBA-Offseason-Review-Northwest-Division

 

[BonesJones]

True, but there are some big differences. Last year was tough to predict because it was the first year after big changes to the roster. It is hard to know how an entirely new team would gel and how new players would develop. But, we now have a year of knowledge to base these guesses off of. I see a team with a mostly new and young roster get to the second round of the playoffs and then add some important new pieces in the off-season, and I would predict that team to climb up the standings the next year, not tread water. More fuel to the fire.

Not to mention that once these guys gelled and got used to each other, they finished at a 33-17 clip.

 

[BBert]

Shabazz Napier and Jake Layman are back of the bench type of additions, but they both have the potential to be minor upgrades on Brian Roberts and Cliff Alexander who they replace.

I guess I missed that the Blazers cut Alexander this summer?

 

[Orion Bailey]

I guess I missed that the Blazers cut Alexander this summer?

Released early, so he could show other teams what he has in summer league with us to hopefully get picked up.

 

[Eastoff]

Blazers offseason grade: B+

http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/243214/2016-NBA-Offseason-Review-Northwest-Division

We're the only long term grade below a B for the division. Funny

 

[BonesJones]

We're the only long term grade below a B for the division. Funny

Yeah I don't understand that. I don't understand how Hill, Johnson, and Diaw is better for Utah long term than us getting Turner and Ezeli.

 

[e_blazer]

We're the only long term grade below a B for the division. Funny

This seems to reflect the notion that having no cap space next summer is a bigger negative than having tradeable assets on the roster. Relying on free agency hasn't been an effective mode of operation for the Blazers in the past, so I don't know why they think it would be in the future.