Why do People think Detroit can get 38+ wins?

[Blkbrd671]

On GB

Sh* you not


viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1595981

[DETermination]

Stupid is as stupid does

[ImHeisenberg]

It's the off season, so there's going to be irrational hope. Avery Bradley was a nice upgrade at SG, but people seem to be overlooking that we made a pretty massive downgrade at either SF or PF, whichever position Harris doesn't end up playing most of his minutes at.

There's also the general acceptance that Jackson is going to be as good as he was two years ago. I think that's overly optimistic as well. Even when he was healthy two years ago, he wasn't a particularly willing passer and ball mover, and it looked worse last season when he'd still dribble the air out of the ball, even though better scorers were flanked all around him.

Then, the added fact that Drummond hasn't given any indication that his lazy disengaged play from last season won't carry into next year. At least Reggie showed up for Bradley's introduction conference, Dre just shot out a generic one-liner on twitter.

We'll see how it shakes out. The east is so pathetically weak. If RJ comes back at 85% of what he was two years ago, and willingly moves the ball, and Drummond gets out of his funk and finally exerts a little effort on defense, we can pretty comfortably get into the playoffs.

There are 5-6 teams tanking in the east. That's effectively five or six teams trying to give you 3 to 4 wins next season. So, you figure 20-24 wins can come pretty easily, even though we lost to tanking teams pretty regularly.

[hoophabit]

Why are people so incredulous at this projection? I get it that some are convinced that Reggie might as well be put down, but if he is able to play effectively 38+ shouldn't out of the question. To be fair, there are so many changes this year that guessing the record is even more difficult than usual.

[El Chivo]

we made a pretty massive downgrade at either SF or PF.

Losing a 41% fg, 33% fg3 forward who stops the offense and plays average defense isn't a massive downgrade. It's an opportunity, instead.

[vic]

people with a basketball IQ realize a few things:
- Iso Morris was a hindrance to passing and offensive efficiency (though his defense was good)
- Avery Bradley was Boston's best player
- Reggie is due for a bounceback year if he's healthy
- 4 teams out of the top 8 in the east lost their best player

[foolinc]

Why is this thought silly? The prediction isn't if the Pistons are going to be a better team. It is whether or not they'll end up with at least one more win next year. The quality in the East became worse, primarily in our own division.

[Kilo]

All depends on Reggie's health. But Galloway is a huge improvement over Beno even if Reggie does miss a lot of time. Kennard better be better than Hilliard. And then we need internal growth from Stanley Johnson and Henry Ellenson to make up for Morris loss.

[jakebernat]

Jon leuer and the Stanimal are big time X-factors this year. If leuer can sustain the level of play he showed in the first half of last season, he's probably a better piece than Morris anyways.

If Stanley can take that next step forward playing in his appropriate positions by committing himself defensively (should have no problem there,) improving his jump shot, and playing within himself, he too will be a better piece than Morris.

That being said, I'm cautiously optimistic about the fact that we may have just improved at 3 out of 5 starting positions.

[BIG BEN'S FRO]

I think we can best 38 wins for the sole reason that we keep trying once everyone else decides to tank, so they last 20 games or so we can usually tear up the bad/tanking teams instead of just the bad ones. That usually is enough to get us into a late draft pick and keep us on the treadmill.

[flow]

Why not?

38 is a pretty low bar. We just won 37. Are we going to be even worse this season?

[bstein14]

I think we win 40 and make the playoffs as the 8th seed. Not because we're good but because there are enough other bad teams in the East that we will likely go 10-20 vs the West and 30-22 vs the East.

[MotownMadness]

I actually think we are going to be much better this year. Not sure how we got worst, especially when just about every piece we added is shooting around 40% from 3

[Snakebites]

I have absolutely no idea why anyone cares what's being said on the General Board.

Someone posted that with nothing supporting their view and its not even getting a lot of support. Who cares.

[theBigLip]

Vegas has us at 40.5 wins, so going over 38 not only seems possible, but likely.

As many have mentioned, a lot will come down to RJ. I also think our team D needs to get a lot better. We did improve our shooting this offseason so that should help.

[Alexander]

This season was one of the most disappointing in recent memory so I'm actively choosing to believe there's nowhere to go but up.

[ChuckVanBrown]

38 wins seems more than reasonable. We won 37 last year, and the East (especially the central division) is much weaker. Our roster also appears more balanced on paper. At this point, I'd have us pegged as a 6-9 seed, with BOS, CLE, TOR, WAS and MIL in the top 5, and DET, MIA, CHA and maybe PHI fighting for the remaining spots.

[Invictus88]

I don't see how we do worse than last year where we got 37 wins and virtually everyone played worse than expected?

AB is likely to produce as well as KCP did last year.

The east got even weaker this year too.

Does the loss of Morris really translate to that many more losses given the depth we have at 3/4 ? That's the only thing I see that's even debatable...

[BadMofoPimp]

Pistons will get over 38 wins, guaransheed!

[Bakuto]

3 teams in the East lost their best player and are very very likely to fall out of the playoff race by a heavy margin because they did so.

Our win total in theory should increase solely because of that.