"The West got tougher so the Blazers will lose more" is a terrible argument.

[riverman]

Be careful tossing around this common sense FAMS.

you getting nostalgic for those #23 wins again? last year the Thunder were supposed to eat our lunch!

 

[oldfisherman]

The NBA according to HCP.

Every team will lose more games, except the Lakers.

The combined regular win/lose record for the entire NBA will be 920 wins vs 1520 loses.

The Lakers will go 81/1. The one loss will be due to James resting one game to heal an eye injury.

James will pop an eye blood vessel while having an intense mind blowing orgasm with HCP's wife.

 

[gatorpops]

To tell you the truth, I think we lose more games this year, the competition is only part of it. I think Nurk being out and the fact that there are so many new players is probably more of a factor. Going to take a bit for that chemistry to kick in. Other teams will have to deal with their chemistry issues as well.....and guess what happens while this is happening.....more losses. Everybody is gonna be losing. I love it.

Everybody is going to be losing......
Unfortunately the NBA is set up so someone must win- no ties! Maybe established stars that have a six or seven year history will do best?

 

[Hoopguru]

All the talk is about how the Clips, Lakers, Denver&Houston are going to fight for the WC #1 seed. Im going out on a limb with Portland taking the #1 seed.
Also biggest gainer on the West will SacTown, they will beat out Lakers for 6 seed.

 

[BonesJones]

I don't believe that the argument is that we'll lose more games solely because the west got tougher, but simply that that is one of a group of reasons to expect a worse record, along with Nurk being out for an extended stretch, presumed growing pains of young players thrust into significant roles, significant loss of roster continuity, belief that the overall record against the east was somewhat flukey, lack of Meyers' all-league towel-waving, etc.

Now, it's possible that none of those concerns impact the record, but it's not "illogical" to believe they might.

Both things could be true and were still wouldnt be overachieving by going 29-23 against the West.

 

[BonesJones]

This is key.

The underlying assumption that @BonesJones is making is that we'll be as good or better than last year as a roster.

-Our bench is totally different, we have fewer shooters (Curry/Leonard), worse wing defense (Aminu/Harkless), and a different locker room (ET's absence). We're gonna be relying heavily on Zach and Simons who are both largely unproven, and Nurkic's absence could finally catch up to us.

We could just as easily be worse. All this is speculation obviously, but could happen.

I'm not even making that assumption. I'm arguing the logic in isolation. It doesnt apply to the same team who underachieved against the West.

 

[BonesJones]

I don’t believe anybody is saying that Portland is the ONLY team who is going to lose more. Thats the whole point. There isn’t one super team anymore. There are 6 really good teams, thus why people think there will be more loses. I don’t have pie charts or graphs, just some common sense that when there are MORE quality teams, MORE loses are going to happen. Not that we are worse than last season, just tougher comp is all.

So what do you think our record against the West will be?

 

[riverman]

So what do you think our record against the West will be?

You're asking the HCP to think? The reason he's a great photographer is that he just points and shoots....thinking would probably make him lose that edge!

 

[wizenheimer]

The reason he's a great photographer is that he just points and shoots

that's the very thing his wife complains about

 

[riverman]

that's the very thing his wife complains about

I get a commission for keeping him distracted...but apparently he hit his target at least twice!

 

[James lamphear]

I don't really look at last season what we did or didn't do. This is brand new season so we don't know exactly what teams will do we can speculate by looking at the roster but until we play the game then we know who does what this season.

 

[BonesJones]

I don't really look at last season what we did or didn't do. This is brand new season so we don't know exactly what teams will do we can speculate by looking at the roster but until we play the game then we know who does what this season.

But if someones saying the "West got tougher" theyre using last year (how the West was) and comparing it to this year (how the West is now). This thread is in response to that.

 

[borim69]

This season coming up reminds me of the NBA in the 80's and 90's. The Pistons, Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, Blazers, Jazz, Spurs, Bulls, Pacers all were contenders during that time. It looks like we might have some good basketball coming up.