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1. Bucks
2. Nets
3. Celtics
4. Miami
5. Raptors
6. Wizards
7. Hawks
8. 76ers - Ben Simmons injury

Allow me.

1.Milwuakee Bucks
2.Boston Celtics
3.Miami Heat
4.Brooklyn Nets
5.Toronto Raptors
6.Philadelphia Sixers
7.Indiana Pacers
8.Atlanta Hawks

I just don’t see how two terrible defensive teams like the Hawks and Wiz, who still project to be bottom 8 defenses this coming season, are suddenly going to vault past a Pacers team who finished 3rd and 6th in defensive efficiency the past 2 seasons.

A lot of fans generally recognize offensive skill and improvement with teams but fail to analyze the other half of the game properly. So good offensive teams end up overrated and good defensive teams underrated.

The_Hater wrote:I just don’t see how two terrible defensive teams like the Hawks and Wiz, who still project to be bottom 8 defenses this coming season, are suddenly going to vault past a Pacers team who finished 3rd and 6th in defensive efficiency the past 2 seasons.

A lot of fans generally recognize offensive skill and improvement with teams but fail to analyze the other half of the game properly. So good offensive teams end up overrated and good defensive teams underrated.

I think it's fair to suggest there may be some uncertainty on IND. New coach, "star" player wanna be there/maybe not, Turner was likely on the trade block - how does he respond, still the odd fit between their bigs, etc.

kg01 wrote:

The_Hater wrote:I just don’t see how two terrible defensive teams like the Hawks and Wiz, who still project to be bottom 8 defenses this coming season, are suddenly going to vault past a Pacers team who finished 3rd and 6th in defensive efficiency the past 2 seasons.

A lot of fans generally recognize offensive skill and improvement with teams but fail to analyze the other half of the game properly. So good offensive teams end up overrated and good defensive teams underrated.

I think it's fair to suggest there may be some uncertainty on IND. New coach, "star" player wanna be there/maybe not, Turner was likely on the trade block - how does he respond, still the odd fit between their bigs, etc.

People forget that Dipo only played 19 games last year and played very poorly when he did. If he comes back at a decent level that’s going to be a plus, not a negative.

Also, Dipo has recently said on the record that he wants to stay with the Pacers.

Wizards, Pacers, Hawks, & Magic will be fighting for 7-10 seeding (aka play-in tournament)

1. Bucks
2. Nets

3. Celtics
4. Miami
5. 76ers/Wizards (can't decide)
6. Wizards/76ers (can't decide)

7. Raptors

8. Hawks

The_Hater wrote:

kg01 wrote:

The_Hater wrote:I just don’t see how two terrible defensive teams like the Hawks and Wiz, who still project to be bottom 8 defenses this coming season, are suddenly going to vault past a Pacers team who finished 3rd and 6th in defensive efficiency the past 2 seasons.

A lot of fans generally recognize offensive skill and improvement with teams but fail to analyze the other half of the game properly. So good offensive teams end up overrated and good defensive teams underrated.

I think it's fair to suggest there may be some uncertainty on IND. New coach, "star" player wanna be there/maybe not, Turner was likely on the trade block - how does he respond, still the odd fit between their bigs, etc.

People forget that Dipo only played 19 games last year and played very poorly when he did. If he comes back at a decent level that’s going to be a plus, not a negative.

Also, Dipo has recently said on the record that he wants to stay with the Pacers.

Alls I'm saying is it's "fair" to posit there may be some uncertainty there. Is Sabonis healthy yet, btw?

basketballRob wrote:

LloydFree wrote:

spanishninja wrote:Atlanta is way better than Orlando now

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On paper, it seems like that. But Orlando is well coaches and plays defense. But you may be right, because I think they're going to miss Augustine a lot more than people think.

Hopefully Cole Anthony and Chuma play big this year.

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The magic were a pretty bad team last srason and have pretty much the kept the same team with exception of the lost to DJ. So I don't know how they are better than Washington or ATL who have improved.

lol this year is going to be the best EAST ever since i follow NBA (07-08)

1 Nets 54-18

2 Bucks 52-20
3 Heat 50-22
4 Boston 48-24

5 76ers 45-27
6 Raps 42-30
7 Wizards 40-32

8 Hawks 36-36
9 Indy 35-37

10 Magic 31-41
11 CH 30-42

12 Bulls 25-47
13 Pistons 21-51
14 Cavs 20-52
15 NY 10-62

1-Bucks
2-Heat
3-Nets
4-76ers
5-Celtics
6-Raptors
7-Pacers
8-Hawks
9-Wizards

Harcore Fenton Mun wrote:

Blaze4G wrote:I think you're projecting. Smart is not sensitive and shouldn't be compared with what you think would hurt your feelings.

Raps being away from their home court although no fans is also going to affect them. They have one of the strongest home court advantages. But if you just want to deflect then I'll leave it at that. See you at the end of the season. Sig bet?

Yeah, it is going to effect us...just not in the regular season.

However, dangling Smart for a second might end up effecting you all year. We still have depth, you don't.

Next time you should listen instead of calling me a troll.

Blaze4G wrote:

Harcore Fenton Mun wrote:

Blaze4G wrote:I think you're projecting. Smart is not sensitive and shouldn't be compared with what you think would hurt your feelings.

Raps being away from their home court although no fans is also going to affect them. They have one of the strongest home court advantages. But if you just want to deflect then I'll leave it at that. See you at the end of the season. Sig bet?

Yeah, it is going to effect us...just not in the regular season.

However, dangling Smart for a second might end up effecting you all year. We still have depth, you don't.

Next time you should listen instead of calling me a troll.

Hahaha. Still looking for the depth this season. Cant find it.

Haven't seen some ridiculous troll thread from some Raptor fans recently. Raptors having a bad season shut them up.

SnoopDub wrote:

Blaze4G wrote:

Harcore Fenton Mun wrote:Yeah, it is going to effect us...just not in the regular season.

However, dangling Smart for a second might end up effecting you all year. We still have depth, you don't.

Next time you should listen instead of calling me a troll.

Hahaha. Still looking for the depth this season. Cant find it.

Haven't seen some ridiculous troll thread from some Raptor fans recently. Raptors having a bad season shut them up.

Lol agreed. My team ain't doing well but I didn't set my expectations very high. If you listen to some of their fans cough metalkid you would have thought they were a major contender for the chip. No matter what good reasoning and logic I use they refuse to take it into account.

Blaze4G wrote:

SnoopDub wrote:

Blaze4G wrote:
Next time you should listen instead of calling me a troll.

Hahaha. Still looking for the depth this season. Cant find it.

Haven't seen some ridiculous troll thread from some Raptor fans recently. Raptors having a bad season shut them up.

Lol agreed. My team ain't doing well but I didn't set my expectations very high. If you listen to some of their fans cough metalkid you would have thought they were a major contender for the chip. No matter what good reasoning and logic I use they refuse to take it into account.

While a lot of Raptors fans thought the team would be much better, it's not like they are near as bad as their record suggests. Their point differential, NetRTG and expected W/L record all look to be that of a .500 or better team. Still worse than I predicted (I thought they'd be a ~40-win team and battling for "home court advantage"), but they have just had a ridiculous amount of bad luck in close games (7-20 in games decided by 10 points this season despite being 32-13 in such games last season with 4/5 of the same closing players) and COVID hit at the worst possible time (during an easy stretch where they should have been strong favourites in 4 of 6 games in which they lost all). By the time Siakam+FVV+OG were back, Toronto had fallen to 17-23 then lost the poorly officiated game against Utah (41-14 FTA disadvantage) by 3 points.

Since then, they've ultimately thrown the season. Lowry has missed 7 of 8 games while FVV has also missed 4 straight, leaving the rookie Flynn as the team's only PG. They've also played the last few games with 8 available players (injuries+COVID+ejection/suspension) and look to be severely undermanned again with Siakam resting + FVV/Lowry+Watson+Harris also all out still.

It wouldn't surprised me if they continued to tank and finish with ~25 wins, but it also wouldn't surprise me if they go on a bit of a run. Just a really weird season where there is so much uncertainty with just about every team, but Toronto has definitely been near the top with their disadvantages and inconsistent play.

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