RealGM

Surprises as of today

EC teams doing better than expected: IND and WSH, both in the top 6
EC teams doing worse than expected: MIA and BKN in 11th/12th place

western conf - UT and POR much better; GS worse

it's early

dobrojim wrote:Surprises as of today

EC teams doing better than expected: IND and WSH, both in the top 6
EC teams doing worse than expected: MIA and BKN in 11th/12th place

western conf - UT and POR much better; GS worse

it's early

Yeah, it's early.

If you go by SRS (schedule-adjusted point differential), the East looks about like what you would expect:



Milwaukee ranks a bit low thanks to a blowout loss without Giannis, and Chicago ranks a bit higher than expected. But for the most part it checks out.


When using SRS instead of win/loss record, the West doesn't look quite as wildly out of synch with predictions either. The outperformance by Utah and Portland aren't quite as dramatic, and the underperformance of Golden State and Minnesota is less dramatic as well. But it's definitely more surprising than the East:

The next 5 games for the Wiz include, count em, 3 games against MIA.
This could be very interesting in terms of whether either team changes
its current trajectory much.

dobrojim wrote:The next 5 games for the Wiz include, count em, 3 games against MIA.
This could be very interesting in terms of whether either team changes
its current trajectory much.

Miami is pulling a stealth tank. They are smart enough to lose one or more games against the Wiz. Look for questionable line-ups and sticking too long with ineffective players.

If we win > 1 game against MIA, I would find that suspicious.

Given the (league) money at stake, if one believed in conspiracies, VW is going to LAL.

dobrojim wrote:Given the (league) money at stake, if one believed in conspiracies, VW is going to LAL.

Only if they trade LeBron for a lotto pick. New Orleans owns the LA pick this year, from the Unibrow trade.

I agree with Nate33. The record is a complete mirage. We've lucked out against injured teams while our Porzingicorn has been mostly healthy. The leaps from the young guys hasn't happened - at least not yet. We're still a mid-30s win team.

doclinkin wrote:

dobrojim wrote:The next 5 games for the Wiz include, count em, 3 games against MIA.
This could be very interesting in terms of whether either team changes
its current trajectory much.

Miami is pulling a stealth tank. They are smart enough to lose one or more games against the Wiz. Look for questionable line-ups and sticking too long with ineffective players.

Miami isn't tanking. They never do. They just find talent later in the draft and/or convince top free agents to join them.