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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Blazers offseason grade: B+ http://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/243214/2016-NBA-Offseason-Review-Northwest-Division
Not to mention that once these guys gelled and got used to each other, they finished at a 33-17 clip.
Released early, so he could show other teams what he has in summer league with us to hopefully get picked up.
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.
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.
