We're 7-7. We've beaten Atlanta, Detroit, and Toronto. Dumpy's assessment, and I agree with him, was that we're only going to improve as the season goes on. We're young, people are figuring out their roles, people are coming back from injury- maybe a trade happens and we shore up the SF or PF spot. My own prediction was that we'd win 32 or 34, and I'd be really really happy with something near 40, but as long as Carter and Devin stay healthy- this is a feisty team that's much better than the sum of its parts, which is always fun to watch and to root for.
I wouldn't say 50 wins is impossible but there's a slim chance of that happening. Injuries always happen. The rookies are bound to hit the rookie wall sometime, and we're depending on them pretty heavily right now. The East is tough this year, and teams like Miami, New York, Detroit, etc. are in the process of building chemistry right now and will be better once they do. The Nets are a great underdog team and have a shot at making the playoffs, something that seemed impossible to many Nets fans (including me) before the season started. 8th seed with the necessary amount of wins will be more than enough for me.
50 wins is imposible, they have huge holes in their starting sf and pf. It makes it really hard to win when simmons and yi both of them have bad games. If they can get a SF who can average 15 ppg but also have games where he can score 20 points that will really take some pressure of Devin Harris. As for their defense it reeks, and its not going to get much better with all the young players they have. Therefore unless a major move is made i still say 40 wins would be maximum.
Well here's the annual, "Can we win 50 games this year?!" question. Seems like we asked ourselves this question for the last 3 years while screaming out "yes" before we even finished the question. lol well maybe now that we're not expecting it, it will finally come true. BUT.... no.
I say 40 wins. Only way we can get to 50 is if Yi learns to be consistent on both sides of the ball and stay out of foul trouble. Bobby is who he is a marginal starter that can hit a shot once in a while and play decent defense. Dave D mentions how Ryan is a good barometer of the team but Ryan is getting his minutes because of Yi's foul trouble. I believe that if one of the forward spots plays better then we'll have that balance needed when defenses take devin or vince out of their games on some nights. Bobby has reached his ceiling and is declining so I think it all rests on Yi and his ability to cope with the NBA game. He has all the skills as well as basketball IQ but his mental toughness and focus wanes when he gets frustrated over the fouls. As the season goes on I expect him to mature and gain confidence because his talent and feel for the game are too good for him to not be a decent starter, his ceiling is high but he needs to be more focused.
Not impossible, but even as the team improves, some of the younger players might hit "the wall" in the second half of the season... I'd be happy with 42 wins...
My original prediction preseason was 37-42. I am on the cusp of upping that to 41-47. If the Nets could make a significant trade for a wing player the caliber of Mike Miller without giving up Boone or any of their top 9 players, I would not rule out 50. I fully believe that Lopez is for real and that Yi will continue to improve. As long as Boone gets back and remains healthy enough to limit Lopez's minutes, so he doesn't burn out too quickly, I see no reason that this team will not be much better and more consistent in February than it is now, especially defensively. They are deep and have some redundancy to insulate against minor injuries, the obvious exceptions being Vince and Devin.
