Bold Predictions for 2017-2018

[_tijo_]

With camp starting up, and media day done, I didn't see a bold predictions thread. I have some for the Hornets, and some for the NBA.
Disclaimer: I'm truly an idiot about this stuff, so it's just to show how stupid I am. These are seriously terrible.

Hornets
- Dwight will generally be a disappointment, and we will all be chirping that Cody should start by December. Cliff will remain loyal to his boy though.
- Frank will push for a starting spot, and by the end of the year, be viewed as the third most important player on the Hornets along with Kemba and Monk. If he's not starting by the end of the year, they will make changes to the roster to make sure he starts next year.
- Kemba will struggle early on adjusting to Dwight and not having Cody's screens. He will try and put too much on himself, and then miss the second half of the year with a knee.
- Monk will struggle on D initially, and won't get many minutes for the first month. He will be pressed into service with Kemba's injury, and get torched by other PGs. But it will help him grow, and eventually we'll be optimistic about him being a Westbrook-like scoring point. There will be a whole Kemba vs. Monk debate.
- Lamb will be traded at the deadline with MCW's expiring contract, for a backup PG. Like Jeremy Lin.
- Bats will still look lackadaisical on D, and make terrible decisions with the ball with 3 minutes to go in close games.
- Marv will be viewed as an important locker room guy, but most of us will say he shouldn't start by the end of the year.
- Sadly, we'll all give up on MKG this year.
- We will be in the race for one of the last playoff spots, and mostly blame Kemba missing half the year. Also we'll blame Dwight. 1st round exit to Boston in a sweep.
- Bacon won't see time at all. He'll be on the Greensboro shuttle.
- And lastly, Cho will not be extended. We'll get someone more terrible who will try and play hardball with Kemba.

NBA
- Philly will still not be good, and will still lose lots of player minutes to injury. Young Okafor gets traded for an expiring and a 2nd round pick.
- Brooklyn will get the 8th seed in the East.
- Milwaukee will trade Jabari for a PG. They will make the ECF.
- Harden will get more annoyed at CP3 than he did with Dwight, since CP3 will handle the ball.
- GS will have a major injury to either Steph, KD, or Klay. It won't matter.
- The 8th seed in the East will have 36 wins.
- The 8th seed in the West will have 49 wins.
- East playoff teams: Cavs, Celts, Milwaukee, Washington, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte, Brooklyn
- ECF: Cavs over Milwaukee
- West playoff teams: Golden State, San Antonio, OKC, Houston, Portland, Minnesota, Nuggets, Memphis
- WCF: GS vs San Antonio
- Finals: GS over Cavs

[HoopsMalone]

Actually, I think that's an extremely good write up. I agree with most of your points at least to a certain extent if not completely.

I think harden will be happy to have a little help but that's really an interesting pairing given that cp3 is abrasive. That he is on a one year deal we will definitely get some drama stories being leaked whether real or imagined

Sent from my SM-N920V using RealGM mobile app

[geraldwallace]

Well you guys are depressing

[Hornet Mania]

-Kemba will make his second consecutive All-Star appearance

-Dwight surprises people by having a positive impact, but he's no more than the player he was last year in Atlanta (good defense, elite rebounding, bad offense), overall his image will be mildly rejuvenated and he will be recognized as a high-end role player.

-Malik Monk will start slow, but Cliff won't nail him to the bench as long as other rookies, lack of options will see to that. Monk and Kemba will elate us with highlights, but also be awful on the defensive end, Lillard/McCollum-lite.

-45 wins, 5th seed in the East.

[Bassman]

I was on the "glass half empty" prediction with this team last preseason. Today, I have a lot of optimism for this year. Paint me nuts, but I think it becomes that convergence of many pieces coming together into a good team. Dwight will emerge as a valuable player. Not dominant, but a guy with impact. Not as confident in Batum, but he has to play a little better than last year. Kemba scares me, but if healthy, will give teams fits. MKG will be a strong glue guy but may drift to the bench by mid-season if Monk is a force. I do think Monk will show some amazing flashes and win some games. Frank will be stronger, better, and also win some extra games for us. Cody is even more solid, Bacon is a pleasant surprise contributor, and we make a big trade by the deadline to take our shot at a division title.

How's that for optimism?

[JDR720]

MKG will make at least 10 threes.

Frank is 3rd leading scorer.

Cody finally gets a nose job.

[JforJeff]

MKG will make at least 10 threes.

Frank is 3rd leading scorer.

Cody finally gets a nose job.

[HornetJail]

- Kemba's improved efficiency and even higher numbers across the board will actually earn him the league wide credibility he's deserved for years.

- 52 wins. We're long overdue for a season where things go our way - no major injuries, and no reliance on hopeless players that don't belong in the league. We're about to find out what that's like.

- But we can't be completely be free of injury. In the brief 5-10mpg of game time Dwight and Cody will share, Dwight will accidentally break Cody's nose at least once while going for a rebound.

- Monk will show major Devin Booker/Bradley Beal/Klay Thompson potential and we will clamor for him to start in a small-ball lineup with MKG at the 4. Monk will break the franchise records in points by a rookie (currently Zo/Chapman with 37) and 3s in a game by anyone (currently 8 by Batum, Troy, and Ben **** Gordon) in one fantastic game that will cause this entire board to lose itsmind.

[fatlever]

Fats not-sold-bold, mostly pessimistic predictions

One of Clifford or Cho will be fired at the end of the season for not making out of 1st round
One of MKG, Marvin, Frank, Cody will be traded – my money is on MKG, praying its not Cody
Dwight will have worst FG% since at least his 2nd season
MKG will average least minutes & points since his 2nd season
Lamb will set career high in minutes & points
Kemba will miss Cody’s screens, resulting in dip in points/FG%
Monk will not make the Rookie game
Monk will average less than 10ppg w/ a FG% in the mid 30s
Hornets will have to make a trade at some point for another point guard (see point #2)
Stone will not be on the roster in March
Hornets win 40-43 games, 7th/8th seed, lose 1st round playoffs in 5 games
There will absolutely be a Dwight/Cody controversy at some point in the season
Batum will play slightly better than last season, but still not on par with contract

[HoopsMalone]

With camp starting up, and media day done, I didn't see a bold predictions thread. I have some for the Hornets, and some for the NBA.
Disclaimer: I'm truly an idiot about this stuff, so it's just to show how stupid I am. These are seriously terrible.

Hornets
- Dwight will generally be a disappointment, and we will all be chirping that Cody should start by December. Cliff will remain loyal to his boy though. Not sure we made it out of October for this one



- Frank will push for a starting spot, and by the end of the year, be viewed as the third most important player on the Hornets along with Kemba and Monk. If he's not starting by the end of the year, they will make changes to the roster to make sure he starts next year.

- Kemba will struggle early on adjusting to Dwight and not having Cody's screens. He will try and put too much on himself, and then miss the second half of the year with a knee.
- Monk will struggle on D initially, and won't get many minutes for the first month. He will be pressed into service with Kemba's injury, and get torched by other PGs. But it will help him grow, and eventually we'll be optimistic about him being a Westbrook-like scoring point. There will be a whole Kemba vs. Monk debate.
- Lamb will be traded at the deadline with MCW's expiring contract, for a backup PG. Like Jeremy Lin.
- Bats will still look lackadaisical on D, and make terrible decisions with the ball with 3 minutes to go in close games.
- Marv will be viewed as an important locker room guy, but most of us will say he shouldn't start by the end of the year.
- Sadly, we'll all give up on MKG this year.
- We will be in the race for one of the last playoff spots, and mostly blame Kemba missing half the year. Also we'll blame Dwight. 1st round exit to Boston in a sweep.
- Bacon won't see time at all. He'll be on the Greensboro shuttle.
- And lastly, Cho will not be extended. We'll get someone more terrible who will try and play hardball with Kemba.

NBA
- Philly will still not be good, and will still lose lots of player minutes to injury. Young Okafor gets traded for an expiring and a 2nd round pick.
- Brooklyn will get the 8th seed in the East.
- Milwaukee will trade Jabari for a PG. They will make the ECF.
- Harden will get more annoyed at CP3 than he did with Dwight, since CP3 will handle the ball.
- GS will have a major injury to either Steph, KD, or Klay. It won't matter.
- The 8th seed in the East will have 36 wins.
- The 8th seed in the West will have 49 wins.
- East playoff teams: Cavs, Celts, Milwaukee, Washington, Toronto, Miami, Charlotte, Brooklyn
- ECF: Cavs over Milwaukee
- West playoff teams: Golden State, San Antonio, OKC, Houston, Portland, Minnesota, Nuggets, Memphis
- WCF: GS vs San Antonio
- Finals: GS over Cavs

[HornetJail]

- Kemba's improved efficiency and even higher numbers across the board will actually earn him the league wide credibility he's deserved for years.

- 52 wins. We're long overdue for a season where things go our way - no major injuries, and no reliance on hopeless players that don't belong in the league. We're about to find out what that's like.

- But we can't be completely be free of injury. In the brief 5-10mpg of game time Dwight and Cody will share, Dwight will accidentally break Cody's nose at least once while going for a rebound.

- Monk will show major Devin Booker/Bradley Beal/Klay Thompson potential and we will clamor for him to start in a small-ball lineup with MKG at the 4. Monk will break the franchise records in points by a rookie (currently Zo/Chapman with 37) and 3s in a game by anyone (currently 8 by Batum, Troy, and Ben **** Gordon) in one fantastic game that will cause this entire board to lose itsmind.

The bolded part of #2 didn't even last a week. Luckily with Batum coming back, we didn't dig ourselves too deep a hole while he was out.

[mrknowitall215]

Fats not-sold-bold, mostly pessimistic predictions

One of Clifford or Cho will be fired at the end of the season for not making out of 1st round

Clifford may have quietly been relieved of his duties behind closed doors already

One of MKG, Marvin, Frank, Cody will be traded – my money is on MKG, praying its not Cody

I think it would be wise to cut bait with one of these players, preferably Kaminsky. It remain to be seen if Cho will pull off one of his signature diligently unilateral trade acquisitions at the February deadline that we've become accustomed to

Dwight will have worst FG% since at least his 2nd season

So far so true. Dwight is indeed currently shooting his worst FG% at .535% since his 2nd season in the NBA at 20 years of age

MKG will average least minutes & points since his 2nd season

MKG is currently averaging the least minutes he's had since his 2nd season and although close but not quite the least points since his 2nd season

Lamb will set career high in minutes & points

So far so true

Kemba will miss Cody’s screens, resulting in dip in points/FG%

So far so true

Monk will not make the Rookie game

Unfortunately, so far so likely to be true

Monk will average less than 10ppg w/ a FG% in the mid 30s

So far so true

Hornets will have to make a trade at some point for another point guard (see point #2)

So far so true, but whether or not Cho follow suit remains to be seen

Stone will not be on the roster in March

This is very likely to become true. He's barely on the roster outside of contractual obligations right now in January

Hornets win 40-43 games, 7th/8th seed, lose 1st round playoffs in 5 games

Remain to be seen

There will absolutely be a Dwight/Cody controversy at some point in the season

Remain to be seen. Probably would be more foreseeable at this point had Zeller not gotten injured for a lengthy amount of time so soon into the season

Batum will play slightly better than last season, but still not on par with contract

So far Batum has been playing miserably below last season, but he has a track record of looking like night and day from the beginning to the end of the season so there's still enough time for him to reverse his current fortunes into a better statistical season than last

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

The pessimism in this thread was much more on target, sadly.