RealGM

We've done this the last few years, time to start again now that all offseason moves are done:

Rules:

Please list your predicted win total. if you choose a range ill take the average. I've also added some fun props for discussion.

Prokorov: 51
ESPN: 45
Vegas: 43
Odds Shark: 43


Props (optional)


Team MVP:
Scapegoat of the team:
Most disappointing player:
Most surprising player:
Most improved player on the Nets:
Rookie of the year:

Bold predictions:

Wins: 51

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: Kenny
Most disappointing player: Kurucs
Most surprising player: Temple
Most improved player on the Nets: Prince
Nets Rookie of the year: Claxton

Bold predictions:
Kyrie will finish top 5 in MVP, Dinwiddie will be an all-star

Wins: 49

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: Kenny(deservedly so)
Most disappointing player: Allen
Most surprising player: Nwaba
Most improved player on the Nets: Prince
Nets Rookie of the year: Claxton

Bold predictions:
Caris first time all star, Dimwiddie 6th man of the year, Kyrie plays 70 games, KD comes back to play the last 20 games, Nets make ECF

Wins: 53 (50-win pace before KD, 60-win pace after he suits up)

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: Harris (not fair, but I can see defenses keying on him to slow us, and his poor outings correlating to our losses)
Most disappointing player: Allen (also not fair, he'll benefit long-term from DJ's presence as will we, but I don't think he'll take benching well initally)
Most surprising player: Temple (sneaky-good offensive player, versatile if unspectacular defender, knack for making winning plays)
Most improved player on the Nets: LeVert (17/5/5 and defensive ace)
Nets Rookie of the year: Claxton (he can be at least a Jared Jeffries one day, outside shot at Bosh lite territory)

Bold predictions:
Kyrie will be the league MVP (33/6/8/2/1 on 48/41/86, he will beast and most other MVP talents are splitting usage)
LeVert and Prince will be plus-defenders and -rebounders
Our team ORTG will be over 114
Our team DRTG will be below 110
Durant will return in late February! We will play all season like we know he's going to return!

Wins.....43....

MVP....Kyrie

Scapegoat.....I'll go with Joe also.

Most disappointing player......Pass

Most surprising....Nwaba.....He's hungry and he is going to bring it.

Most improved....Jarrett Allen

Rookie.....Claxton or Claxton......

Bold prediction.....Crazy trade at deadline for a 3rd star.

Wins: 48

MVP : Kyrie

Scapegoat : Dinwiddie

Most disappointing player : Allen

Most surprising : Nwaba, Prince and Claxton

Most improved : Prine

ROY : Claxton

DPOY : Nwaba

Bold prediction :
We will have 3 All stars- Kyrie, Levert, Dinwiddie.
Kyrie will be top 5 MVP
Levert and prince will be in the most improved conversation
Dinwiddie will be top3 6MOY
Coach Atkinson will be top 3 in COY
Jordan will be top 5 ni rebounding
Joe Harris will lead the league in 3 pt percentage
Claxton will be 2nd all NBA rookie team
Nwaba will be 2nd defensive player team.
We will reach the ECF

46 wins (Range: 44-48 wins)

Team MVP: Kyrie
– Best player on the team until KD comes back.

Scapegoat of the team: Kenny Atkinson
– This is easy...If we don’t meet expectations, it will all (right or wrong) be placed on the shoulders of Kenny.


Most disappointing player: [1a/1b] Caris Levert/Jarrett Allen
– Both of these players are critical to our success as a team, but since Levert is in his 4th year, we’ll expect more from him.

Levert’s improvement will have a greater impact on what our ceiling is for this season than Allen’s. If he doesn’t improve, he’ll get the most blame.

At the same time, if Levert does improve and Allen doens’t, he will get the most blame, especially considering that he’s next inline for an extension. We’ll be debating how much he’s worth.



Side note explaining why DeAndre isn't my pick here:

Most surprising player: Garrett Temple or Henry Ellenson
– Even if Allen and Levert improve, we expect them to do so. Outside of massive leaps, I think I have a good understanding of how each player plays except for Temple and Ellenson. Any good play we get out of them will be surprising, since the former is probably the most disliked signing on the team and the latter wasn’t celebrated.

Most improved player on the Nets: Nic Claxton
– This is more based on hope than anything. One of my hot takes/conspiracy theories is that I have a feeling that the Nets chose Claxton because they’re not as high on Allen as they used to be. While Allen is more athletic, Claxton is more skilled. If Claxton is able to adjust to the speed of the game and keep up athletically, I’ve got a feeling that Allen’s days could be numbered. (Again, this is a super hot take/deep conspiracy theory.)


Rookie of the year: Nic Claxton

Bold predictions: Nic Claxton’s improvement will force us to debate whether we give Allen a big extension or view Claxton as our future starting center. (I think the chances of this happening are very slim, but you asked me to be bold lol.)

46 wins.

I'm going 45. Of course barring some wild trade.

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: Kenny/Allen/LeVert
Most disappointing player: DJ, Temple.
Most surprising player: Clax, Musa
Most improved player on the Nets: Prince
Rookie of the year: Clax

Bold predictions: 48 wins.

50 wins

48 wins

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat: Kenny/Allen
Most disappointing player: Allen/DJ
Most surprising player: Musa
Most improved player: Musa

I'm late but its only been 1 game so hoping I can participate.

Wins: 47

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: Allen
Most disappointing player: Prince
Most surprising player: Nwaba
Most improved player on the Nets: Levert
Nets Rookie of the year: Claxton

Bold predictions:
Levert will make the all-star team

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: Kurucs
Most disappointing player: Jordan
Most surprising player: Musa
Most improved player on the Nets: Prince
Nets Rookie of the year: The only rookie on the team

+++Most polarizing player: Dinwiddie (#s will be there, but I fear he'll keep moving deeper into hero ball/sticky hands Dinwiddie)

Bold predictions:
Kyrie is a top 5 MVP candidate.

Wins: 50

Team MVP: Kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: No clue
Most disappointing player: Kurucs - he regresses for the first 50-60 games before turning it on right before the playoffs start
Most surprising player: Nwaba
Most improved player on the Nets: Prince
Nets Rookie of the year: Claxton (does Musa still count?)

Bold predictions:
Dimwiddie 6th man of the year, Caris 1st time All-Star, Kyrie plays 66-72 games, KD comes back to play the last 12 games and will look 90% of what he was right away before reaching 100% during several key games in the playoffs on a time restriction, Nets make it to Game 7 Eastern Semis against Sixers (toss up who wins)

36 wins

Team MVP: kyrie
Scapegoat of the team: kyrie irving
Most disappointing player: jarrett allen
Most surprising player: taurean prince
Most improved player on the Nets: caris levert
Rookie of the year:claxton

37 - 47 wins.

That's what I figured before the season started, but felt somehow reluctant to actually comment that, given all the boundless optimism from others around here at the time. Now that the season is shaping up in line with my lower-end expectation, I'm thinking maybe I wasn't so crazy.

Besides the current problems we're seeing right now, I'm just not sure the team has the overall talent to compete with the better playoff teams. For example, it's wonderful that Marksinson did such a great job finding and developing gems in the rough like DWid, Harris, Allen, & LeVert. They're all overachieving based on their original draft positions, and that's great. Thing is, outside of LeVert, that doesn't necessarily mean they're better than average NBA players. It just means we got the most bang for our 30¢ instead of the original buck that King & Prokhy frittered away long ago.

Also, while I agree you have to move forward, take some chances with new talent, and make smart contract choices, the loss of Ed Davis, RHJ and Dudley may have a bigger impact than originally suspected. Davis is looking both more effective and a far better contract than DJ, RHJ is the team's missing defensive stopper and sparkplug off the bench, and Dudley is the smart player and veteran badass that every team needs. Their yearly salaries are all pretty reasonable, too, and would have added up to almost the same as DJ's $10M/yr salary.

I think this team is going to have to put in a lot of hard work to reach that upper limit (47 wins), and will probably have to get lucky with injuries, as well.