13 games over their Vegas projected 27.5? There goes a good Lottery pick while not making the playoffs. NBA Purgatory..... I hope who they have develops but they need another Star/Superstar and that comes much easier for teams like Portland through the Lottery than via Free Agency. If they win 35-40 this season, they will be in the Playoffs next year but won't approach contender status like they will if they develop players and still get a top 3-5 Lottery pick. THAT team could be very good in a hurry while without another Star, they make the playoffs and climb as high as 3rd or 4th.
How many lottery picks do we need? We have like 5 of them already, and none older than 25. Sure we can use someone like Ben Simmons but even if we had the worst record in the league the chances of actually securing the #1 pick is low. I'd rather win. If Portland wins 40 games this season, they're well on their way.
538 has us winning 38 or 39 games based on their total guess at utilization. More honed in models have us winning more, if we can keep up our production. Pelton's taking a flyer on us, because he's local, but there's something here most people who aren't neck deep in analytics don't see.
Yeah we managed to cram a three-year rebuild into a single summer, if you're looking at young lotto picks.
Unless 538.com predicts the Golden State Warriors will win 34 games, their predictions will exceed the 1230 total wins in the NBA. https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/3qapl8/unless_538com_predicts_the_golden_state_warriors/
I disagree...the Blazers won the 77 championship the hard way without a superstar and 2 stars... Teamwork, chemistry, and hunger win championships
To maybe help the question... how many lotto picks do you need on one team to sift through to find a second and possibly 3rd star?
