2020-2021 W/L Prediction Thread

[Hornet Mania]

It's a bit late to do this since we've already got one game under our belts, and that game is also probably going to skew the prognostications in a negative direction, but I still like to read all of your expectations for the season each year

Remember, it's a 72 game regular season so adjust your totals accordingly!

I'm going with 32-40, which was my prediction before last night's game.

I think we'll see improvement overall from last year, a season where we probably end up with 30ish wins if not for the shutdown, and of course Hayward will add to our competency if healthy. How do we only improve by 2 wins with the addition of Hayward + growth? The rest of the East, and our division in particular will be noticeably improved. I think the team has a chance to steal the last spot in the play-in tournament, but they'll be right on the edge so it's also possible we miss it by a hair.

Other misc. predictions:

-The rookies Ball and Carey will look like crap (or not play) the first couple of months but by April they will have shown marked improvement.
-Neither Rozier or Graham is traded, in fact there will be no trades of consequence at all.
-Both the Martins earn solid spots in the rotation by season's end, Cody for his defense and Caleb for his outside shooting.
-Monk doesn't ever get it together (sorry, hope I'm wrong about this one)
-The team becomes a stealthy League Pass favorite for their high pace and flashy passing/dunks.
-Things will look uglier at the beginning than at the end due to the layoff and many new faces

[MasterIchiro]

30 wins 42 losses

If Devonte' simply repeats his 2019-2020 campaign we can hang with most teams. Our young and terrible bench and pathetic center situation will result in more losses than wins in competitive games.

I believe Graham is a better player this year. He's added midrange and seems more aggressive getting to the rim and finishing. His floater has improved.

Hayward - Rozier - Devonte' will keep us in games. If we can acquire Miles Turner for surplus at the 4, we can concentrate on the perimeter while Turner protects the rim. On offense, imagine Turner actually catching the ball and finishing or hitting threes. I don't think his contract at 17.5 million is super valuable and if Oladipo returns to form the Pacers will want to clear cap space to retain him at the max and steer away from the tax in the coming years Turner is contracted.

We look like a completely different team with 4 above average pros instead of just 3. And it would get Zeller and Biz off the court which is addition by subtraction.

[amcoolio]

Zeller out for probably a month or two and PJ sabotaging by being out of shape means we are looking at a top 5 pick. We have absolutely no rebounding or interior D

[BigSlam]

28 wins
44 losses

Hayward is second tram all NBA.

Melo is second team all rookie.

PJ wakes up in late Jan and finishes the season really, really well.

Miles flirts with a 20ppg average.

Vernon hardly sees the court all season.


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[Chapelchilla]

26-48. Bad but entertaining.
Zeller getting hurt and PJ not doing the work this offseason result in a terrible start. The early schedule is Really tough too.
We should finish Pretty well though as the young legs and Zeller returnIng add firepower with an easier schedule coming up in March.
This is Probably just what we needed anyway, a high pick is likely forthcoming. Next year we will have more money and talent with high picks and further development from the young guns.
Next year- winning record
2022 - actually good

[Liver_Pooty]

28-44

Washington will take 3 plus weeks to get in absolute 100% game shape which is absolutely pathetic and hurts us badly.

[Robot Rock]

24-30 wins seems likely. Maybe Borrego can develop a rookie. Early returns on Year 2 of PJ make me forget Steve Clifford’s not up here.

[HornetJail]

24-48 is my knee-jerk reaction to how awful we looked on opening night and the expectation that we're probably headed for a losing streak without Cody. I was expecting 32-40 prior to the season, but I expected this team to beat Cleveland easily.

[fatlever]

22-50

melo not on 1st or 2nd team - becomes only 3rd player in past 6 seasons to shoot under 30% on 100+ FGA (rozier is one of the other 2).

melo stats in 20mpg (50 gms)
7ppg
3.5rpg
4apg
2.5tpg
29.5fg%

leading scorers
hayward 21.0
rozier 18.0
graham 16.5
bridges 11.0
pj 10.0

[CuseMayne]

Sticking with my 36-36 prediction.

YOLO

[luciano-davidwesley]

24-48
Double as many losses as wins feels about right with PJ not looking to have improved or gone backwards possibly. Devonte has also been worked out a bit.

[James Gatz]

23-49

We win a few games right at the end of the season to hurt our lottery chances though.

[Soul Rebel]

An important stretch is coming up and I noticed that the upcoming 31 days should determine our direction and expectations, moving forward.

Currently (1/28/21) sitting 12th in the East (.389)
- 2 games out of the cellar & 2 games out of the 6th spot in the East
- 25th overall in the league

- We have 17 games scheduled over the next 31 days - 11 Home & 6 Away.
- Between 2/3/21 & 2/20/21, we play 9 out of 10 games at home (4 at home, 1 away, 5 at home)
- 3/3/21 is the last game of the first half of the schedule
- All-Star Break is March 5-10th.
- 30 games will remain between ASG and the end of the season. 2nd half of the season begins on March 11th.

On the surface, we should know who we are and who we are not by February 20th. 32 games will have been played by this point and even though Covid has minimized home court, a 10-game stretch with nine of those at home should be taken heavily into consideration.

March 25th is the trade deadline too, so hopefully Mitch, JB and MJ will map out our plans over the All Star Break and figure who stays, who goes and our potential postseason or draft path.

[amcoolio]

I say we go 6-11 in the next 17. We just don't have the firepower that even a team like Cleveland does.

Also if Hayward misses any sort of time we are boned.

PJ Washington and Graham regressing has really hurt us. We counted on them to be good this year.

[Hornet Mania]

I say we go 6-11 in the next 17. We just don't have the firepower that even a team like Cleveland does.

Also if Hayward misses any sort of time we are boned.

PJ Washington and Graham regressing has really hurt us. We counted on them to be good this year.

6-11 sounds about right, even including some surprise wins. The schedule is rough.

Indy/Milwaulkee/Miami/Philly/Utah/Portland all look like probable losses and that's just our next six games. Then you have Memphis/San Antonio/GSWx2/Phoenix/Denver/Portland and Utah again the next few weeks after.

I'm just going to try not to get too discouraged by the Ls, those are simply better teams.

[DY_nasty]

I mean, yeah, we had to have a winning record coming into this stretch.

I didn't see us making the playoffs even with Hayward though.

[JMAC3]

Borrego is sadly coaching for his job through this next stretch. We should have a much better record than we do now based on our schedule, but we did not handle business.

No way the Knicks should have a better record than us, or Thunder or Grizzlies with how many guys they have been missing. I know we do not have Nets type talent, but we also aren't devoid of it or devastated by injuries (covid). If he does anything less than impress then I would not be shocked if he is let go.

[Soul Rebel]

1 week later and we have gone 3-1 over the first 4 games of this 17 game stretch. Much like the NFL season, we have essentially finished the first quarter of our stretch with impressive wins over MIL & IND.

Currently sitting in "no mans land" at the 12th overall pick in the draft. 8th spot in the East. 10-12 overall record.

4.5 games out of the cellar and 3.5 out of 2nd place.

Upcoming week's schedule:

Fri vs. Utah
Sun vs. Washington
Mon vs. Houston
Wed @ Memphis

[Soul Rebel]

1 week later and we have gone 3-1 over the first 4 games of this 17 game stretch. Much like the NFL season, we have essentially finished the first quarter of our stretch with impressive wins over MIL & IND.

Currently sitting in "no mans land" at the 12th overall pick in the draft. 8th spot in the East. 10-12 overall record.

4.5 games out of the cellar and 3.5 out of 2nd place.

Upcoming week's schedule:

Fri vs. Utah
Sun vs. Washington
Mon vs. Houston
Wed @ Memphis

Looks like a 2-2 stretch over these past 4 games puts us at 12-14 overall.

1st place in the SE division by percentage points over ATL and 7th in the East. 5.5 games out of the cellar still and sitting at 16th overall in the draft.

Eight days (5 games) remaining before we head out west for a brutal road trip to the ASB.

[Soul Rebel]

A bit of an abbreviated week with the Covid mess forcing two postponed games, and injury issues to PJ, GH and DG....

2-1 since the last post, putting us at 14-15 overall, 1.5 over ATL in the SE and 7th overall seed in the East. 1 game out of 4th place and 6 games out of last in the East.

Our 6 game in 11 nights westward adventure begins this week. Monday @ the hottest team in the league who are coming off a loss on Friday. GS will also be looming as they for sure want revenge for last night's debacle. Gotta believe Steph will drop 50 on us.

Mon 2/22 @ Utah
Wed 2/24 @ PHX
Fri 2/26 @ Golden St.
Sun 2/28 @ Sacramento
Mon 3/1 @ Portland
Wed 3/3 @ Minnesota
***ALL STAR BREAK***

Buckle up Bugs fans, we're about to see what we are truly made of over the next week-and-a-half. On paper, it looks like a 2-4 road trip, but who knows what will happen the way this year has gone.