Even if we get the 5th seed, I gauruntee not one "expert" will pick us to beat the Clippers. With this team, I think that's a good thing.
Fivethirtyeight's robot algorithm thinks similarly, putting both Memphis and Portland at 43-39 to end the season; we own the tiebreaker, so we'd be fifth. They have Dallas as the team on the outs, actually. http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-nba-picks/
Good find. It feels weird that the bottom half of the western playoff bracket will have such poor records. Very top heavy this year.
San Antonio and Golden State make the bottom of the West look worse. It's just math. Someone has to lose. Interesting tidbit: that site has had us locked into 43-38 since our scorching hot week after the All-Star Game.
Playing the Warriors, Spurs and Thunder just twice instead of the 3 or 4 times Western teams do is enough to account for the slight edge the bottom half of the East bracket has over the bottom half of the West.
Watched a lot of the Denver Memphis game last night. Surprised the Grizz kept it as close as it was. I got to say Jokic is impressive. Big size, defensive instincts, inside presence, can shoot threes, decent foot speed for being 7 foot. Basically everything we ever hoped Meyers could become yet he's only a rookie. Will Barton has had a hell of a season. What a disaster of a trade. We could really use him this season, and in the future. Might end up being a Jermaine O'Neal situation in a few years.
Yeah, looking at some of their key games, I think DAL is out, too. Probably all comes down to who wins the UTH/DAL game. Will this be the first time Dirk hasn't been in the POs? I wish HOU would miss out, but that's not gonna happen. http://www.sportstwo.com/threads/playoff-run-key-games.297969/
I think they missed it after they won a title and Cuban let starters walk in free agency, traded for crack addict Lamar Odom. edit; they snuck in that year but missed it the following season when Stotts left.
I was on the Jokic bandwagon when he was projected to go late-second. At 18, he had a very developed game. He has shown flashes of being an elite passer for a center. Very Marc Gasol-like. Their rookie PG otoh looks meh, at least so far. Unless he develops a jumper I see Jarrett Jack as his ceiling.
I hope we never do another trade with the Nuggets as long as I live. Olshey gets taken whenever he calls them up.
Bartón is just so much more dynamic than Crabbe. He'd easily be our third best player right now. It'd be like having ADHD Ginobli off the bench.
Yao Ming is a Hall-Of-Famer? Questionable. According to Jalen Rose he was voted in by an international committee. Rose didn't agree with the decision, I'm not sure I do either.
So... once? He did that trade thinking about winning now. The very thing people WANT their GMs to do. He did NOT expect 4 of the 5 starters to leave. 1 or 2? Sure. But a Wes injury, LMA turn-coating? No. If you are able to keep perspective and live in the real world, maybe you can understand. Because you still are not. The trade was fine. Peoples lack of understanding of the trade is what's sad. And it's a travesty you can't realize that.
Could the Warriors win out? What if the Spurs rest players in those two games? If they win out they would be 75-7...holy shit
