RealGM

With MIN holding Top Ten protection on their pick next season, I'm wondering what teams you see out there that we should clearly be better than? What teams are at about our level?

I'd also like this thread be used as a place to link in pre-season prediction from national sites.

USA Today, Wolves #22 (9th worst)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketba ... titialskip

At best I could see the wolves making the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed, at worst 25-30 wins.

Pretty fair assessment. I don't think Miami will rise back up the ranks that fast, but Wade was pretty impressive at the olympics. Bit harsh on the Knicks...

...will be interesting to see which teams seasons are ruined with injury, hopefully the Frail Blazers

wow I'm not hating or trying to hate on Portland but what have they done to earn #5??? if they only count offseason moves I could see where the writer is coming from but on the other hand BOS, LAL and SAS shouldn't be among the top4 places then.
why are the Blazers ahead of proven PO-teams such as Detroit or the Cavs??

I would be fine if they were around #8-12 but not so high.

They have young, improving players and have added Rudy Fernandez and Greg Oden. It's not hard to get.

and I also see where you are coming from but to me it seemed like the writer wanted to give an outlook on the records the teams will have or which seed they'll get after regular season and I really can't see the Blazers being ahead of the Pistons.

unless of course Greg Oden is a HOF center from the early beginning, averaging 20-10-3 and playing lockdown D from day 1. which is not impossible but not very likely.

Worm Guts wrote:They have young, improving players and have added Rudy Fernandez and Greg Oden. It's not hard to get.

Yes but the emphasis should be on young. I don't doubt they can be a top 5 team but 3 of their core players haven't played a single minute in the NBA yet. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

As for us, I'm going to be hopeful and say we will be out of the bottom ten this year.

I agree. While they have the potential to improve more than any team in the league, they had about the same record that we did over the second half of the season (16-26 vs 17-26). Absolutely everything would have to go right to make such a big turnaround with young players.

C.lupus wrote:

Worm Guts wrote:They have young, improving players and have added Rudy Fernandez and Greg Oden. It's not hard to get.

Yes but the emphasis should be on young. I don't doubt they can be a top 5 team but 3 of their core players haven't played a single minute in the NBA yet. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Big, dominant centers can make a huge impact as rookies. Shaq's Magic and David Robinson's Spurs both improved by 20+ games their rookie season. Maybe Oden isn't in that class, but if he is top 5 isn't out of the question.

we're gonna win 38-42 games... mark my words...