Hollinger's Raptors prediction: 35-47, 10th in East

kirbs · Post #61 » by **kirbs** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:15 pm

It's silly to dump on him now when the season hasn't even started. If you think he's way off, bookmark the thread and dump on him six months from now when he's been proven wrong.

Fairview4Life · Post #62 » by **Fairview4Life** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:16 pm

People are criticizing the article which is perfectly legitimate to do right now. Not in 6 months.

But yes, I'm sure we'll all rush back in 6 months to criticize him when the Raps don't win a lot, or a little, or a medium number of games.

Air Canada · Post #63 » by **Air Canada** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:16 pm

Hollinger isnt the most reliable person for these type of predictions

KRANG · Post #64 » by **KRANG** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:22 pm

I don't think this season should be judged on wins and loss numbers.

If we're a little under .500, at or around the end of December, it's not the end of the world. We need to see this season like a wave in the ocean. Starting off slowly, but gaining momentum as it progresses. Hopefull playing our best basketball a couple weeks befor the all-star break, then going on a run after that.

Last year we came out WAY too geared up, with hearts pumping and heads going a mile a minute. As soon as some minor controversies came up, this team broke, and they broke hard.

So win loss numbers aren't as important as being in a position to go on a run post all-star break.

kirbs · Post #65 » by **kirbs** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:27 pm

Fairview4Life wrote:People are criticizing the article which is perfectly legitimate to do right now. Not in 6 months.

But yes, I'm sure we'll all rush back in 6 months to criticize him when the Raps don't win a lot, or a little, or a medium number of games.

Well, if you criticize the article right now and they do end up winning around 35 games, you'll look pretty stupid. Of course, no one will bump the old thread and everyone will just pretend it didn't exist.

CeltsfanSinceBirth · Post #66 » by **CeltsfanSinceBirth** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:38 pm

Hollinger's a moron, just like the rest of the ESPN crew of supposed "insiders". Hollinger's worse than the other guys though, because he relies on his little stats to prove his point. I don't think he's ever laced up a pair of high-tops in his life. I'm sure he's gone through his fair share of calculators though.

I recall back in 2008, he wrote an article before the playoffs about how the Celtics would steamroll all the way through to a championship, and then pointed to regular season stats to prove his point. Then of course, the Celts stumbled through the first and 2nd rounds. By the time they made it to the Finals, Hollinger flip-flopped on his earlier prediction and predicted that the Lakers would win in 6 games. And by the time the Celtics won game 2, ESPN had removed Hollinger's prediction from their website.

Prediction - this article will be removed by the time the Raps win their 20th game (well before the All-Star break)

Reignman · Post #67 » by **Reignman** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:41 pm

kirbs wrote:
Fairview4Life wrote:People are criticizing the article which is perfectly legitimate to do right now. Not in 6 months.

But yes, I'm sure we'll all rush back in 6 months to criticize him when the Raps don't win a lot, or a little, or a medium number of games.

Well, if you criticize the article right now and they do end up winning around 35 games, you'll look pretty stupid. Of course, no one will bump the old thread and everyone will just pretend it didn't exist.

The way Hollinger backed up his statement, you couldn't really say anything if the Raps won 50 games, 25 games or anything in between. He basically said we can win anywhere from 25 to 50 games and then drops us into 10th. Since this is his profession, I'd expect something a bit more concrete from John.

For eg, the majority of the board thinks this team will win anywhere from 40 to 50 games. Most think we'll land between 4th - 6th seed. Now even that prediction leaves quite a bit of room for error, but atleast it's a bit more narrowed than what this guy did, and this is his job.

Post #68 » by **YogiStewart** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 8:43 pm

i always get Hollinger and John Derringer confused.
both, at times, are equally relevant

Fairview4Life · Post #69 » by **Fairview4Life** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:04 pm

kirbs wrote:
Fairview4Life wrote:People are criticizing the article which is perfectly legitimate to do right now. Not in 6 months.

But yes, I'm sure we'll all rush back in 6 months to criticize him when the Raps don't win a lot, or a little, or a medium number of games.

Well, if you criticize the article right now and they do end up winning around 35 games, you'll look pretty stupid. Of course, no one will bump the old thread and everyone will just pretend it didn't exist.

Nope. Just like if some random fan came out and said "San Antonio is going to win 12 games this year" and didn't justify their opinion at all. If their big 3 get hurt in game one and they win 12 games this year, that doesn't make people who called the idiot fan an idiot look stupid. It makes the idiot fan a lucky random guesser this one time.

Here's what you should do. Actually read what Hollinger wrote. Then you'll maybe understand why people are criticizing his "prediction".

dawn_wan · Post #70 » by **dawn_wan** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:22 pm

He may got JJ position wrong, but I am thinking along the same lines as he.

With all the new pieces to the puzzle of the Toronto Raptors there's just no telling how well they will mesh to form a formidable team. The way I see it is that they will either be pretty darn good or shamefully horrible. If they play well, stay relatively healthy and Jay Triano can keep them motivated this should be an entertaining team to watch, and those are pretty big IF at this time of the off season. By January we should have a pretty good idea of what this Raptors team is about.

Volcano · Post #71 » by **Volcano** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:23 pm

Even if it doesn't work out, I'd say we're better than 2 wins over our injury prone team last year.

SharoneWright · Post #72 » by **SharoneWright** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:39 pm

Aren't "insiders/experts" supposed to provide analysis that leads to a conclusion/opinion?

Just because you wrote some words, doesn't mean you've actually said something.

Or is talking out of you ass enough at espn?

Mattd97 · Post #73 » by **Mattd97** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:55 pm

SharoneWright wrote:Aren't "insiders/experts" supposed to provide analysis that leads to a conclusion/opinion?

Just because you wrote some words, doesn't mean you've actually said something.

Or is talking out of you ass enough at espn?

+1. why is everyone saying stuff about how its a tough team to judge, and no one can say for certain how theyll do. thats the same with EVERY team in EVERY sport EVERY year. thats why its fun to follow and why casinos make big money off sports gambling. its why you play the games. hes an analyst for espn! its his job to predict stuff by looking at stats, chemistry, past performances, projections, etc etc etc. anyone can say 'there are new people, they could win 50 or could win 25" - its his job to look at the facts and decide which he thinks will happen based on the supposed expertise that got him that cushy job.

yk24 · Post #74 » by **yk24** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:23 pm

Well ... he predicted us to go .500 after our division championship season. He was right.

underdog33 · Post #75 » by **underdog33** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:30 pm

well it's better to under rate us than to over rate us... i think

BigShotBob13 · Post #76 » by **BigShotBob13** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:37 pm

Fairview4Life wrote:Haha, solid prediction? Are you kidding? It's the complete opposite of solid. Anything could happen. He didn't even make a prediction really. He predicted high, low, and middle, and won't be surprised with whatever does end up happening.

This is what he did last year as well. I can't stand his sitting on the fence attitude. If his that's what his stats say, say it. Don't give the reader a wishy-washy anything can happen "prediction" so you can appear to be some sort of expert to the reader.

D-Wins-RingsIMO · Post #77 » by **D-Wins-RingsIMO** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:39 pm

how many ppl who are ripping him to shreds right now emailed the past summers when he predicted our teams to not do well?

When everyone was dreaming of 2nd round and winning the division for a 2nd year and saying Boston had no depth and was a joke .... yet Vegas put our O/U at 40.5 and Hollinger was expecting a step back.

How many ppl stepped up then?

Hopefully he looks like a fool. But surely if he's right again, 99% of you are going to pretend you didn't work yourself into frothing at the mouth over this.

ProjectChester · Post #78 » by **ProjectChester** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:50 pm

what ay doosh

mtamasi · Post #79 » by **mtamasi** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:55 pm

dagger wrote:I read his whole story, and frankly, it's dumb from top to bottom. For example, why should Andrea Bargnani's extension - which doesn't kick in until next year - merit four critical paragraphs on the finances of it in an assessment of this season?

But I love this part - he can't figure out why Kris Humphries was under-utilized last season. I kid you not. He can't figure out why Humphries didn't play for three months. And he thinks Jermaine O'Neal was a better players last season than Turkuglu.

In fact, let me throw this question out to the audience: Whom would you rather have next year, O'Neal, Marion or Turkoglu? The Raps could have had any of the three and opted for the last player, at much greater expense. He's certainly more durable than O'Neal and may age better than Marion, but on a per-minute basis he was the worst player of the three last season.

...

Humphries was strangely underutilized despite strong production in Toronto, but if they weren't playing him anyway, it's tough to view his departure as a huge loss.

Strangely? How about he had a broken leg, you moron!

That's what i mean, he doesn't follow them. didn't see that in the article because i don't read his stuff anymore, but good find nonetheless.

A_wildstabatanything · Post #80 » by **A_wildstabatanything** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:02 pm

I don't actually read Hollinger's articles, but the stats I've collected indicate that most of the people who do don't take them seriously and think he comes off as a douche.