RealGM

Polling each fan forum to get their take on the upcoming season

44

We improved our bench but lost Pierce. Wall, Beal, and Porter should show incremental improvement at the very least and our older players, mainly Nene, should be less productive. I feel the team is slightly improved overall but so is the rest of the east, equaling to a few less wins than last year.


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55

43

44

I think they will be better than last year because:

1) I think Witt gets that he needs to play an S4
2) Nene will be a better backup than Seraphin by a wide margin
3) Sessions >> Miller to start the season
4) Beal/Porter will improve
5) Depth at wing will be just as good as last year

So, I think we will win more than 44. I am taking into account that

1) Pierce is a loss - hoping that his attitude rubbed off and his lack of presence will not cause regression
2) Temple and Butler played out of their collective heads for a short period of time

But I don't see them as a 50 win team yet... but maybe

The loss of Pierce, hot shooting for 2 months of butler/temple and decline of nene/gooden should be staved off by developments Porter, Beal and possibly Hump, along with the offensive abilities of Jared and perhaps Alan...overall I think it reasonable to assume about the same level of "success" (if one can define treadmill as success) barring massive leaps in Beal and porter. I actually expect a considerable level of increase in play from Porter, he seems to be a much more cerebral player then Beal...who is mid range chuck mcgoo until he proves otherwise. Also, assuming we get the same Sessions as last season that might bump us up to 48-49 win territory.

No Seraphin would also help improve the season outlook.

This is confusing. We usually do our official annual predictions thread much later in the year, after the preseason. This will have to be our unofficial predictions thread.

I'm drinking some Kool Aid this year. I expect a big improvement out of Beal and Porter, and I really think that moving Humphries behind the 3-point line will make a difference. Also, I think the impact of Paul Pierce last year has been overstated because he had so much swag in the playoffs. In the regular season, he was really just a 3&D player whose D was a little suspect. I don't think Dudley will be much of a downgrade. I predict 49 wins.

So going by RealGm votes:

Cleveland 60 (only 1 vote) (I'd say under about 55)
Chicago 50-54 (I'd give them 50, they played good even when Rose was out. )
Toronto 50-54 (Patterson and Jonas in the back court Carroll was a nice addition)
Miami 50-54 (Wade, Bosh, Stat and Lou are all injuries waiting to happen. If they can stay healthy throughout the season then 50-54)
Atlanta 50-54 (Carroll swapped for THJ does Thabo come back healthy? Didn't know they lost Pero - not good)
Milwaukee 45-49 (Nice young Squad moving up, but Monroe on defense )
Indiana 45-49 (losing West and Hibbert hurts more than people think, Hill and Turner replace them. Turner's looking good)
Celts 45-49 (over achieved winning 40-42, I don't see an improvement even with A.J. I.T should start, looked good late in the season)
New York 40-44 (dependent on Better defense improves wins, offense will be slow until All-Star break. Melo must stay healthy)
Washington 40-44 (Nene's getting old (32), dropped from 15ppg-11 and 7.5Rpg-5.5, Same with Gortot. Played pretty good in the P.O)
Charlotte 40-44 (losing Lance and gaining Batum - not bad. Can MKG, Walker, and Zeller step up?
Detroit 40-44 (Losing Monroe hurt, Ilyasova replaces him in the starting lineup.
Orlando 30-34 (Nothing lost, nothing gained, take that back they lost a defender in O'Quinn)
Brooklyn 30-34 (Brook has been injury Prone, Losing D. Will could be a good thing and a bad thing, Andrea Bargnani = bad thing)
Philly 25-29 (Outside of Okafor, Noel, and Embrid, name 3 players on their roster- Go

52 wins is my guess. I agree with Nate, I think Beal and Porter both take major steps forward. I think Beal becomes an All Star and Porter becomes a quality starter. I expect more of the same from Gortat. I think Dudley, Neal, and Anderson will give us Pierce's production by committee. Probably give us more actually. And I think Wall will continue to incrementally improve, solidifying himself as the second best player in the conference and one of the three best PGs in the game.

54 wins.

I'm pretty bullish on this team.

Mainly because of the added fire power off the bench.

Those votes show how unrealistically pessimistic this fan base is, and how unrealistically optimistic the fan bases of Toronto, NY, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, and Indy are.

EDIT: forgot to add Miami to the second list. There ain't a chance in hell they're winning 50 games this season. Adding a rookie and some bench players isn't going to cause a 13 win bump.

nate33 wrote:This is confusing. We usually do our official annual predictions thread much later in the year, after the preseason. This will have to be our unofficial predictions thread.

I'm drinking some Kool Aid this year. I expect a big improvement out of Beal and Porter, and I really think that moving Humphries behind the 3-point line will make a difference. Also, I think the impact of Paul Pierce last year has been overstated because he had so much swag in the playoffs. In the regular season, he was really just a 3&D player whose D was a little suspect. I don't think Dudley will be much of a downgrade. I predict 49 wins.

Agree it's too early. EG could have more moves, possibly including a consolidation move that could add a more proven S4. The team could show strong evidence of gelling in its new form as the season approaches, or there could be a key injury prior to the season.

Right now, my skeptical Wizards PTSD says 43 wins. The ages of Nene and Gortat, thinness up front when opposing teams play big, the loss of Pierce's presence on the team (I'm thinking more the psychological effect in the regular season), and the full season reversion to norm for Temple and Butler are primary reasons for anticipating a step back. Wall, Beal, Porter dramatically advancing their games could more than offset this, but I'm not ready to assume that, nor am I ready to believe Wittman will rapidly and successfully implement a floor-spreading small ball offense for the full season (preseason could tell us a lot about that, especially if Humphries arrives with a solid-looking 3 Pt shot).

Not a final guess, but even at 43 wins, I could see the team rising to the second round again, depending on matchup. They've proven to be a tough group, and regardless of their numerical advances, Wall is a veteran now, and Beal and Porter are pretty mature for their ages. I don't think of the core as young but more entering their prime.

So according to RealGM the Wizards are going to fight for the final playoff spot with the Knicks, Hornets and Pistons

Oh kay.

42 wins

Wizards finished the season 17-23. I don't believe in Wittman and Grunfeld.

stevemcqueen1 wrote:Those votes show how unrealistically pessimistic this fan base is, and how unrealistically optimistic the fan bases of Toronto, NY, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, and Indy are.

EDIT: forgot to add Miami to the second list. There ain't a chance in hell they're winning 50 games this season. Adding a rookie and some bench players isn't going to cause a 13 win bump.

I think this board is realistic while the rest of realgm is hopelessly optimistic. It pleases me to be part of the least homerific place on this site.


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I think some of you guys are overrating Pierce, and underrating the hell out of Anderson/Dudley who are both incredibly solid players. This team isn't going to finish under 44 wins.

47 wins

Sluggerface wrote:I think some of you guys are overrating Pierce, and underrating the hell out of Anderson/Dudley who are both incredibly solid players. This team isn't going to finish under 44 wins.

Agreed. And also underrating the likely growth of Beal/Porter. The only way we'll be worse than last year is if Wall gets hurt. That's an annual caveat for any team built around one star player.

J-Ves wrote:

stevemcqueen1 wrote:Those votes show how unrealistically pessimistic this fan base is, and how unrealistically optimistic the fan bases of Toronto, NY, Boston, Chicago, Charlotte, and Indy are.

EDIT: forgot to add Miami to the second list. There ain't a chance in hell they're winning 50 games this season. Adding a rookie and some bench players isn't going to cause a 13 win bump.

I think this board is realistic while the rest of realgm is hopelessly optimistic. It pleases me to be part of the least homerific place on this site.


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So you think it's realistic for the team to finish with fewer wins than the past two seasons? Why? The justification given in that post is that Nene is aging and regressing and so is Gortat.

- Nene is like our fifth or sixth most important player at this point.
- Gortat is not regressing. He's been highly reliable.