Predict the Wizards Record '24-'25 season

[queridiculo]

22.5 wins?? I'm having what the Vegas odds makers are smoking.

17-65 second to last in the EC.

[montestewart]

Going for the lucky 13 wins, last in the East, last in the league.

[dckingsfan]

Wins

22.5 - Las Vegas
22 - BearlyBallin
21 - CCJ
20.5 - Bally's
20 - dckingsfan
19 - 9 and 20, Hibachi_0
18 - payitforward
17 - TGW, gesa2, queridiculo
16 -
15 - AFM
14 - J-Ves, Endless Loop
13 - montestewart
12 - nate33
11 - Frichuela
10 - bsilver

ECF

13th - BearlyBallin
14th - Las Vegas, payitforward, dckingsfan, AFM, Hibachi_0, queridiculo
15th - J-Ves, nate33, 9 and 20, gesa2; bsilver, Frichuela, Endless Loop, montestewart

League

27th - Las Vegas
28th - dckingsfan, BearlyBallin
29th - payitforward, 9 and 20, AFM, Hibachi_0
30th - J-Ves, nate33, gesa2; bsilver, Frichuela, Endless Loop, montestewart

[Rafael122]

22 wins, 14th in the East (because I think BKN will be worse), 29th in the league.

[Frichuela]

These LEBRON guys are rightly predicting a 30th spot for the Wiz, however not sure what they are smoking to forecast 26 wins...

Read on Twitter

[willbcocks]

16

[trast66]

16 wins, 15th in east, 30th in league.

[Dark Faze]

16 wins

[nate33]

These LEBRON guys are rightly predicting a 30th spot for the Wiz, however not sure what they are smoking to forecast 26 wins...

Read on Twitter

Yeah, this is assuming WAY more parity than the league typically sees in any given year. It's probably looking at the actual potential of each roster assuming everyone's goal is to win as many games as possible. The reality is that bad teams commit to developing young talent over winning even early in the season; and late in the season, they actively tank by exaggerating veteran injuries and trading away useful vets.

[penbeast0]

With Jared Butler resigned, I figure that's worth 4 games in the standings (calm down Nate, I'm kidding). So . . . 21 wins.

[Nigel Tufnel]

19 wins. There are some other bad teams.

[doclinkin]

What are you guys talking about. Why would the front office be on notice?

Ted knows they need to tank

You can tank with dignity, or you can tank and be the laughingstock of the sports world. Which do you think Ted would rather be?

No way. Ted loves his draft picks. Ticket sales will be driven by whomever we select. If we get good play from two or more of Bub, George, Bilal or Sarr then the FO gets even more time. If we land Cooper Flagg or Ace Bailey then any record, no matter how bad, is vindicated and celebrated as smart play. The 'laughingstock' would only be if the lotto gods hopscotched other teams over us and we lost out on a true franchise player. That said the 2026 draft also looks juicy. Wtih a complete overhaul of the arena, I think Ted is committed to a literal rebuild. We just have to have flashes of excitement and time our ascension to the re-opening of the building. If that all works out then Winger/Dawkins can write their own checks.

[TGW]

What are you guys talking about. Why would the front office be on notice?

Ted knows they need to tank

You can tank with dignity, or you can tank and be the laughingstock of the sports world. Which do you think Ted would rather be?

No way. Ted loves his draft picks. Ticket sales will be driven by whomever we select. If we get good play from two or more of Bub, George, Bilal or Sarr then the FO gets even more time. If we land Cooper Flagg or Ace Bailey then any record, no matter how bad, is vindicated and celebrated as smart play. The 'laughingstock' would only be if the lotto gods hopscotched other teams over us and we lost out on a true franchise player. That said the 2026 draft also looks juicy. Wtih a complete overhaul of the arena, I think Ted is committed to a literal rebuild. We just have to have flashes of excitement and time our ascension to the re-opening of the building. If that all works out then Winger/Dawkins can write their own checks.

Ok, so what if all the draft picks look like shxt, the Poole/Kuzma combo are frequent visitors of Shaqtin the fool, and they end up picking #5? I guarantee TL won't be pleased with that, regardless of the spin.

[doclinkin]

I'm defying Vegas this year. 23 wins.

I think folks are underestimating the black hole gravity of the tank this year. There will be teams that commit early and hard to losing. The battle for the bottom will be real and intense. Teams that are feisty with young players actually trying to win can harvest low hanging fruit. There will be a lot of low dangling teams on the schedule this year.

Teams that will likely commit fully to the tank:

Nets, Bulls, Jazz, Pistons, Blazers, Hornets (under new management).

If a single-star team takes an injury, then teams like the Hawks, Spurs, Warriors, Nuggets and Pacers are likely also to take strategic rest breaks and re-set this year with tactical load management and experimental line-ups. Especially cap strapped teams with smart management like the Nuggs and W's. Joker and Stef can rest a year. Reload.

Coaching and chemistry makes a difference. The Cavs fired their head coach and have some friction in their backcourt/redundancy in the front court, Cleveland has a winning history in the Lotto so they are patient if the team decides to re-shuffle with trades and turn a mediocre season into a re-set button in the lottery.

Doc Rivers has shown an ability to underwhelm with star-heavy teams. If either star is out for any length of time the wheels may come off on the Bucks and opting out of competing may look like a smart strategy.

Here we can still tank even without trying. We have roster construction issues, no stars, heavy usage from inefficient vets, and we will rely on youth playing heavy minutes.

However we no longer can count on easy losses behind the undersized overwhelmed front court defenders that earned us our miserable record early last year. Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallinari were our centers. They are out of the league. With them in heavy rotation we bottomed out in rebounding while Wes Jr tried to resurrect his small ball center/Princeton offense sets from the Hibachi era. And Big Dan was bouncy and active but has always gotten shoved around in rebounding. We were significantly better after trading for Bags and Holmes. Now we add a truly excellent rebounder in Valanciunas. On defense as well as offense. We are unlikely to be dead last on the boards.

Likewise we can't lean into heavy minutes playing two gremlins in the back court. We have a long and active back-court defense with high energy players who may hit a wall mid-season, but will have fewer possessions where they have to defend for more than 24 seconds. Teams won't simply shoot over the heads of our dwarfish back court. We have genuine giants patrolling the perimeter for us this year. They will accidentally defend better than Tyus Jones' best intentioned efforts. This is even more significant if the refs call games as they did the 2nd half of last year, where physical play on the perimeter was overlooked and defenders were allowed to mug the ballhandlers.

On offense, the team strategy of uptempo pace initiated by whomever has the ball works better if you can actually snatch a rebound after a miss. We will tire out some teams and catch a few who see the Wizards on the schedule as a night for load management. Youth wants to run all game every game. Veterans need to conserve effort. Our bench is captained by a head coach who was promoted for his ability to encourage players to defend and give heavy effort in all 4 quarters. He's not going to let up on that end, even if he has no real idea on what X's and O's he wants to draw up at the other end. Doesn't matter. He's emphasizing offensive rebounding, and we have the horses to play that game. If we miss we may get a reset button.

This team will work hard and irritate teams that are less energetic. Bub will chirp. Kispert will hit shots. George will make smart reads and smooth shots. Our front court trio of centers will smear defenders with heavy screens. IF Brogdon comes back then every minute he replaces Poole will be a + in the box score stats. If we suck it will be because of other teams' superior talent. Their guy is better than our guy. No shame in that. I just don't see this team coasting or sulking. Kuzma and Poole will still jack bad shots and make poor decisions.

23 wins minimum.
27th overall.
No worse than 13th EC.
Brooklyn will be worse. At least one team in the East will tank smarter, and our young pups will snatch a few wins late in the year against West Coast tankers.

After Kuzma is traded Kispert gets some votes for MIP. Bub gets a few for ROTY.

[mhd]

14 wins

[JWizmentality]

9 wins. 10 if we trade Kuzma and Poole by February.

[JAR69]

18 wins, 14th in East, 28th in league

I feel a lot of what doc is saying, and some of it may come to pass. But I also think there will be injuries (real and imagined) and trades to take away anyone making a positive contribution (other than kids). The tank will be strong in this one.

[Winkins]

Put me down for 19 wins.

[dckingsfan]

Put me down for 19 wins.

Great first post - keep posting!

[dckingsfan]

Wins

26.4 - Team Lebron
23 - doclinkin
22.5 - Las Vegas
22 - BearlyBallin, Rafael122
21 - CCJ, penbeast0
20.5 - Bally's
20 - dckingsfan
19 - 9 and 20, Hibachi_0, Nigel Tufnel, Winkins
18 - payitforward, JAR69
17 - TGW, gesa2, queridiculo
16 - willbcocks, trast66, Dark Faze
15 - AFM
14 - J-Ves, Endless Loop, mhd
13 - montestewart
12 - nate33
11 - Frichuela
10 - bsilver
9 - JWizmentality

ECF

13th - BearlyBallin, doclinkin
14th - Las Vegas, payitforward, dckingsfan, AFM, Hibachi_0, queridiculo, Rafael122, JAR69
15th - J-Ves, nate33, 9 and 20, gesa2; bsilver, Frichuela, Endless Loop, montestewart, trast66

League

27th - Las Vegas, doclinkin
28th - dckingsfan, BearlyBallin, JAR69
29th - payitforward, 9 and 20, AFM, Hibachi_0, Rafael122
30th - J-Ves, nate33, gesa2; bsilver, Frichuela, Endless Loop, montestewart, trast66