10. Portland Trail Blazers Projected wins: 43.8 This projection is for nearly three more wins than the 41 the Blazers actually had last season, but if things play out exactly as RPM forecasts (they won't), that wouldn't be enough to get Portland to the playoffs. Such is the challenge of the Western Conference this season, with at least 10 legitimate postseason contenders. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...otals-standings-every-nba-team-2017-18-season
4. Minnesota Timberwolves Projected wins: 50.1 Statistical projections have been known to overrate the Timberwolves by betting on the come, including last season's seemingly conservative 37-win projection from RPM. (Minnesota won just 31 games, albeit with the point differential of a 38-win team.) With Jimmy Butler joining budding stars Karl-Anthony Townsand Andrew Wiggins, this time feels different. RPM doesn't even project the Timberwolves to defend particularly well (20th in defensive rating); this projection is largely a testament to the league's second-best offensive projection.
7. Denver Nuggets Projected wins: 47.2 The Nuggets finished a game behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth and final West playoff spot last season, and the addition of All-Star forward Paul Millsap -- plus budding star Nikola Jokic starting at center from day one -- makes Denver a favorite to reach the postseason this time around.
All we have added is two rookies, while trading away our best three point shooter (statistically.) If we're done for the summer, I'm not sure we're going to do much better next season, especially if Nurk can't stay healthy. This team is a joke without Nurkic.
Will someone with ESPN insider please tell me what they said in 2016? Here's the link, but I can't open it. http://www.espn.com/nba/insider/sto...otals-standings-every-nba-team-2016-17-season How far off were they in their predictions?
I think we've gotten better, not signed Paul Milsap better but better. I still hope we make another consolidation trade of front line players and bring a more established 3rd guard than Napier, assuming Stotts doesn't change his mind to giving him a decent chance next year
7. Portland Trail Blazers Projected wins: 44.5 (Summer Forecast: 46-36) After reaching the second round of the playoffs and adding Festus Ezeli and Evan Turner this offseason, the Blazers hope to take the next step in their development. RPM sees them as about the same team as 2015-16, when they won 44 games but finished fifth in a weaker West. I don't have Insider, but Rasta gave this neat link in some thread a few weeks ago. It looks like they were too high on the Portland team that entered the season, but the Nurkic addition ended up getting them close.
Found this surfing. It tells how you can read insider articles for free. Does it work? http://realcavsfans.com/community/i...to-read-espn-insider-articles-for-free.28802/ It says this: "Click on the link, and when you do, go to the address bar and find the "action=" and delete everything after it and hit enter. Insider for Free. Works for all of them, just find the action="
I agree with their top 3. GS, Houston, SA Minnesota at 4? Ahead of OKC? No way unless there is an injury to Westbrook The next 6 for me (for the remaining 4 spots) is a crap shoot. I think Minnesota, Clippers, Denver, Portland, Utah, New Orleans are too close to call. Injuries will be the deciding factor. Someone will get hurt, they always do. But yeah we could miss the playoffs. The west is deeper than even last year.
The three teams that are hard to peg are Utah, Minnesota, and Denver. How will losing Hayward affect the Jazz? How will adding Butler and Teague affect the Wolves? How will adding Millsap affect the Nuggets? It's really hard to say. Also, how far will the Clippers drop without Paul? I think they're out of the playoffs.
Very interested in see how this affects the Clippers. I assume it will hurt them a lot. They also lost JJ and Crawford. On paper their ESPN depth chart looks like shit. Beverly starting at SG? http://www.espn.com/nba/team/depth/_/name/lac/la-clippers
At least @HCP is finally going to be right with his prediction. Minn will make the playoffs this year... He was only 2-3 years off
5-10 in the west is pretty fluid to me. Like every other year, injuries and players outperforming/not meeting expectations are going to determine where those teams fall. With that said, 44 wins sounds about right for a median outcome.
If Nurk stays healthy, that is pretty accurate. If he goes down for any substantial period of time, and we are complete garbage
That's about right if we are done making moves this offseason... the model is not built to predict player development. Now if we add Melo, we probably move into top 4 in the West
