Moderators: bwgood77, Qwigglez, lilfishi22
MrMiyagi wrote:Lob to DA for the win
bwgood77 wrote:We have played the 28th toughest schedule
bwgood77 wrote:I used to look at Sagarin ratings all the time, though mostly for college.
Los Soles wrote:bwgood77 wrote:We have played the 28th toughest schedule
Schedule's definitely been soft, including a lot of home games. But our point differential is better than our record, so...
This Suns team is not blowing my mind. But it's good enough defensively to stay in most games, and win easily against weak teams. The West doesn't seem like the uber-conference it's been in recent years, at least depth-wise. Houston & Memphis have been...weird. And I'm not sure what to make of Dallas yet either.bwgood77 wrote:I used to look at Sagarin ratings all the time, though mostly for college.
Yeah, Hollinger is my go-to for NBA ratings like this, but nothing posted yet this season.
dantley4prez wrote:why is the Warriors' strength of schedule so bad? those teams have had to play the Warriors, which makes them and look worse than they would if they were playing a team of natural mortals, none of which were grown in a lab and taught how to shoot by aliens from the 31st century.
bwgood77 wrote:dantley4prez wrote:why is the Warriors' strength of schedule so bad? those teams have had to play the Warriors, which makes them and look worse than they would if they were playing a team of natural mortals, none of which were grown in a lab and taught how to shoot by aliens from the 31st century.
Yes, and naturally the best teams will have played easier schedule as the season goes on because of the simple fact that they don't have to play themselves, but it's just kind of odd it turned out those teams have played the easiest schedules...maybe the NBA wanted to set up more marquee big time matchups near the end of the year.
dantley4prez wrote:hmmm.....i've been debating the bottom 4 of the playoff field for the last couple of days.
Houston is off to an uncharacteristic start, but check out Harden's shooting numbers. They're atrocious. when you take into account his high volume, it's even worse. he's leading the league in missed field goals. what's more outrageous; that the Wolves will have a better record than the Rockets, meaning that Rubio, Towns, Wiggins and LaVine stay healthy, or that Harden finds his stroke?
so i'm marking the Rockets in no lower than the 8th seed.
most room to fall: Mavericks. Deron is underrated, Wes is a real question mark because of the ACL, and Nowitzki because of his age. we may start to see him fade closer to 13 PPG by the end of the season. the roster is so thin that if any of those three were to miss two weeks, it could ruin their entire season. i like guys like Dwight Powell, but the rest of the roster is a big fat question mark. Parsons is hit or miss, Villanueva is hit, miss, or miss, Pachulia's not a great rim protector or interior defender. true fact: the Mavericks have the 2nd worst strength of schedule. it seems most likely that they have the most room to fall.
good chance to outperform: Blazers. They really haven't had enough time to mesh. It's a drastically different squad than last year. In particular, Aminu, Plumlee and Davis have been way better than I expected per minute. they've lived up to the roles they have. i had a feeling McCollum just needed the playing time; his offensive production has been very good. their frontcourt is the weakest part of the team, but they have some tradeable assets. i wouldn't be surprised to see them make a move by the deadline.
Wolves: i'll have to be convinced that Andrew Wiggins isn't going to disappear for solid chunks of games. is he a game closer? can Towns lower his foul rate? if not, i have hard time seeing them in the playoffs.
Nuggets: room to grow with Mudiay. Barton is starting to break through. Gallo is the unquestioned #1 option. not a playoff team, but might sneak up to 10th or 11th.
Pelicans: what happened? no Tyreke, i guess.
Grizzlies: to me, the simplest explanation is that Zach Randolph is showing his age. Gasol hasn't been the world beater he was last year, either. it's possible that the Grizzlies' formula, which they've used since 2009, is running out of juice. not everybody can be the Spurs. that said, if i had to guess they'll finish somewhere between 8th and 10th.
top 4 in the West is set.
my guess at the bottom 4 playoff teams, no particular order: Suns, Jazz, Rockets, Mavericks
DRK wrote:Good thing for our team is we usually play better against good teams.
Years90Suns wrote:The Suns are among just the best four teams in defensive and offensive eficiency, yet we are the only ones that have a much poorer record and who have not played against good teams (except for the Bulls) yet.
Years90Suns wrote:The Suns are among just the best four teams in defensive and offensive eficiency, yet we are the only ones that have a much poorer record and who have not played against good teams (except for the Bulls) yet.
bwgood77 wrote:Difference in net rating from last year to this year..
[tweet]https://twitter.com/johnschuhmann/status/668080554299006977[/tweet]
Los Soles wrote:Wow.
Clips have lost 6 of 8, and now they're get SHELLACKED at home -- to someone not the Warriors, Cavs, or Spurs. Looks like their studs are playing, so...what the hell???
Come to Jesus time after this? Are they imploding??
Man, 6 of last year's 8 West playoff teams are NOT what they were a season ago.
