Patsfan1081 wrote:dalton749 wrote:I'm expecting somewhere in the 52 wins range.
I think many people are forgetting that we have yet to see a healthy Lowry play with ibaka in the lineup, so that should essentially be seen as an offseason addition.
Losing the corpse of Carroll should be seen as a plus, and miles can replace most of what Ross used to provide.
The key thing here is that Powell will finally be getting big minutes, and that's a huge win. A core of Lowry/derozan/Powell/ibaka is good enough to beat up on a weak east.
I also think delon wright will show to be an improvement over Joseph through out the season. Toronto loves the two pg lineups, and wright has the size to effectively defend shooting guards, as well as the play making ability to allow Lowry to play off ball, where he is very effective.
Siakam might be the X factor on this team. If he can replace a decent amount of what Patterson provided, Toronto will battle for the 1 seed again.
I don't see them winning more games than last season, all these scenarios you're stating are on the premise of decent improvement from every player on the roster. You have teams like Washington and Boston with better young talent, I don't see them catching up in that department. Powell for one might have put up better numbers as a starter but overall from his rookie to soph season despite the minutes increase his numbers/efficiency weren't better, especially his outside shooting. We also did see Ibaka and Lowry play togetherer in the playoffs, Lowry worries me the most as he's getting up there in age and Casey plays him so many minutes. His first game back from injury last season he played 42 minutes, trading away Joseph and not brining in a equal replacement doesn't lessen the strain at all. They'll most likely have to remain extremely healthy to keep up with some of the better eastern teams, It's going to be difficult. I'd say 47 wins and 4th or 5th place finish in the east behind Cleveland, Boston, Washington, while in the mix with Milly and Miami.
I don't think we need to see improvement from anyone but the young guys who are stepping in. Around the same level as last year from Lowry,derozan,Powell,ibaka,Jv, and miles should be good for 50 wins in the weak east
Powell had a slump mid year when he was asked to become the main shot creator off the bench after the ross trade, otherwise he was very solid.
Playoffs isn't exactly the time for two key players to get comfortable playing together, that **** happens in the regular season which they didn't have.
Delon wrights career numbers thus far are better than what Joseph provided last year, but he started the year with shoulder surgery and wasn't going to steal the spot from the hometown kid. Jospeh was moved because wright is fully capable of doing the job, and in my opinion will do it better.
Siakam is the only one who concerns me in filling the role that's there, but he has certainly improved from last year when he started half of the season and then went and dominated the dleague enroute to a championship down there. Surely he can do something decent against bench players.
Even Vegas pegged them at 45.5 wins this season, and they aren't homers like I am.
