Bucks/NBA 2023-24 Prediction Thread - Locks at 6:00 P.M. TONIGHT

[MickeyDavis]

We'll lock this up Tuesday night when the season kicks off.

Be as general or specific as you want. Give your predictions on the Bucks and/or the league in general.

Last year we did everything right with the regular season. Conservative with injuries, lots of load management. We finished the year with the number 1 seed AND a healthy team. And then a Giannis injury/bounced by a play-in team.

So I'm giving little credence to the regular season. It's a 6 month grind, a marathon. I'd still like the highest seed possible of course. But playing well in April + a healthy team is the main goal for me.

Giannis and Dame's games complement each other greatly. BUT it will take some time for them, and the rest of the team, to figure it out. Each will have to alter their game somewhat. Giannis was first in usage last year, Dame 4th. There's only one ball. Get these 2 on the same page and look out league. But I expect some growing pains. I expect a mediocre start. Khris will be eased back in (only 11 minutes in his only preseason game). Bobby and Payne are injured although neither appears serious.

I'm open minded about Griffin. I'll wait until we get into the regular season to form judgments. And there will be plenty of 20/20 hindsight takes. Especially the "WHY DIDN'T HE MAKE ADJUSTMENTS" take. I'll admit I'm nervous that we botched the hire. Time will tell.

It appears as if Beasley will be the initial 5th starter to start the season. We'll probably have a pretty broad rotation for awhile. I expect MarJon, AJJ and AJG to get plenty of opportunities. With the award threshold at 67 games I expect Giannis and Dame to end up right around 70 games played, barring injuries. The 67 doesn't really apply to anyone else. Mids could fall below that. Brook has been an ironman sans his back surgery season. His old man game holds up well. It's been awhile since we've had some young promising talent. Maybe they flame out but Horst has done a good job filling out the roster.

The safe thing to do is have low expectations and hope to be surprised. It's hard win a championship. Tons of things have to fall in place. That said, I think anything short of a championship is a disappointment. A big disappointment. The window is wide open, the time is now. The Bucks WILL win their third title.

As for the rest of the league, I'm pretty excited to see Wemba play. The Spurs open at Dallas on ESPN Wednesday night. I'm also excited to see Holmgren play. And to see if both of them can hold up to an 82 game season. Scoot is another rookie I think will be really good right away.

You hope to see players make a jump from season 1 to 2 as they figure things out. Excited to see Banchero, Smith, Murray and Ivey in that regard. Curious to see if Johnny Davis is a bust (I suspect he is). Davis is now out with an elbow injury.

Interested in seeing Beal with the Suns. CP3 with the Warriors. See how Denver does as the returning champ. Kyrie with a full season in Dallas. The Celtics with Jrue. The Harden drama. Hopefully Ja gets his **** together, he's a fun player to watch. Can Zion play a full season? He's averaged 38 games.

I'll go with the Bucks at 54-28 after a slow start.

The west is tough. Denver is still very good. Suns and Warriors have some age/durability concerns. When healthy they will both be very good. Can the Kings take the next step? I'm going with the Kings to survive the west. And the Bucks take them out in the Finals. In 6 of course.

[dbrodz7]

52 wins, 3-seed, conference finals loss in 7, Giannis wins his third MVP.

I think Giannis has more bounce after the knee is feeling better, the games limit is going to keep out there more with him feeling better, the extra space is going to up his efficiency, and he is fed up with the national media doing sh*t like not putting him any of the all defensive teams. I think he is out to send a message in the regular season this year.

I agree they might start slow and that is why they won't end up as the one seed.

EDIT: Switching to the two seed here.

[jschligs]

56-26, 1st in east. Finals. The Homer in me wants to say champs but the West has some talent too.

Giannis 2nd in MVP. Khris averages 21ppg. AJJ all rookie 1st team.

[sidney lanier]

I don't think a first-year head coach is likely to coast in the regular season.

60-22
1st in East
Beat Phoenix in 6 again.
Giannis second ring.
Robin Lopez wins most improved. (just seeing if anybody is reading this)

[Daver]

As for me you all know me im always for getting the 1 seed especially this year cause i think the Cs are going ro be realky good
They won 58 last year with no midds or dame team is healthy.Cant for the life of me think why they should win less when you add more.
Celts added 2 new starters and looked really good in PS so im not going to use the start slow cause we got dame excuse.
Anything less than a ECFs appearence will be a huge letdown.
I to hope AG wasnt a mistake we will quickly see if he features giannis more than dame n continues to let giannis be the primary ball handler while dame watches.
Excited but very cautiously optmistic that the bucks will have a 60 plus win season n a chip at the end

[MVP2110]

As for me you all know me im always for getting the 1 seed especially this year cause i think the Cs are going ro be realky good
They won 58 last year with no midds or dame team is healthy.Cant for the life of me think why they should win less when you add more.
Celts added 2 new starters and looked really good in PS so im not going to use the start slow cause we got dame excuse.
Anything less than a ECFs appearence will be a huge letdown.
I to hope AG wasnt a mistake we will quickly see if he features giannis more than dame n continues to let giannis be the primary ball handler while dame watches.
Excited but very cautiously optmistic that the bucks will have a 60 plus win season n a chip at the end

I actually agree that if they are trying to win there is no reason to win less than 60, barring injury of course. That said I'm not sure they will go all out to win and I could care less if they do, seeding doesn't matter to me so I'd love to get young guys PT and try things out schematically.

I'll guess 55 wins, but we win the ship. There is absolutely no reason this team shouldn't win it all if Giannis & Dame are healthy. Regular season doesn't matter but in the postseason I expect alot from this team

[Daver]

As for me you all know me im always for getting the 1 seed especially this year cause i think the Cs are going ro be realky good
They won 58 last year with no midds or dame team is healthy.Cant for the life of me think why they should win less when you add more.
Celts added 2 new starters and looked really good in PS so im not going to use the start slow cause we got dame excuse.
Anything less than a ECFs appearence will be a huge letdown.
I to hope AG wasnt a mistake we will quickly see if he features giannis more than dame n continues to let giannis be the primary ball handler while dame watches.
Excited but very cautiously optmistic that the bucks will have a 60 plus win season n a chip at the end

I actually agree that if they are trying to win there is no reason to win less than 60, barring injury of course. That said I'm not sure they will go all out to win and I could care less if they do, seeding doesn't matter to me so I'd love to get young guys PT and try things out schematically.

I'll guess 55 wins, but we win the ship. There is absolutely no reason this team shouldn't win it all if Giannis & Dame are healthy. Regular season doesn't matter but in the postseason I expect alot from this team

If no 1 seed then 2 i would always prefer a game 7 at home against lets say the celts than playing game 7 there.For the bucks seeds dont matter n thats to bad meant alot to denver as it should HC advantage all the way through.
I hope they take the RS seriously enough where at least they will be the 2 seed if they win 58 minimum n still are the 2nd seed then hats off to the Cs then cause they earned it.
Im going 59-23 will be disappointed if healthy if thry dont get that and will become critical of AG

[12 Point Buck]

64-18

[Ron Swanson]

57-25

Championship

Anything less with a healthy Dame/Giannis is a failure and Griffin should get the axe.

[H2tObes]

We got Dame hahahaha

Chip

[Daver]

We got Dame hahahaha

Chip

Hopefully hes used right if so chip if its the same BS O we had last year with giannis doing what he shouldnt be doing n dame becoming a glorified allen by watching 1 on 5 then no no chip

[German Athens]

62-20

Championship

We start the year off a little slow with a little too much my turn-your turn offense, with Khris being the nice exception. Khris pushes the team to play more unselfishly, and he quickly becomes the x-factor connecting player.

Giannis and Dame start to form a stronger bond and learn to amplify each other mid season. The bucks look like an absolute juggernaut for 3 months. The energy and focus starts to curtail towards the end of the season and they lose a few. The board panics and has flashbacks to the 2020 season before the stoppage. People start to turn on griffin because his aggressive D is giving up a lot of open threes and the team isn’t playing with the same urgency.

The playoffs start, and they completely dominate the first two rounds, sweep and then a 5 game win. The bucks play the Celtics in the conference finals and win in 6.

Finals: bucks vs nuggets and it goes to 7 games in an absolutely legendary series. Bucks win. Jokic still seen as the best player in the world, but it’s damn close, and the narrative is that he pushed the bucks who had two superstars to 7 games while being the lone superstar ignoring that Murray went toe to toe with Dame. Overall the debate between Giannis and Jokic grows, and becomes a prominent talking point. The race tightens between the two, with the analytic crowd giving more respect to Giannis than in prior years, and the former player/game watching crowd giving more respect to Jokic than in prior years. People view Giannis as a better offensive player than they realized and Jokic as a better defender than they realized.

Giannis finals mvp, mvp, 1st team all defense, 1st team all nba
Dame second team all nba
Brook second team all defense

[H2tObes]

We got Dame hahahaha

Chip

Hopefully hes used right if so chip if its the same BS O we had last year with giannis doing what he shouldnt be doing n dame becoming a glorified allen by watching 1 on 5 then no no chip

chip

[Dick Tate]

Bucks and Celtics both win 60+. No one else in the conference touches 50.
Bucks sweep Miami, then sweep Knicks, then Khash out the Celtics in 6.
Dame hits 50 in game 6 of the finals and KD fails to send it to game 7 when he checks his feet to make sure he’s behind the line, then bricks the shot.

[Bucknado]

Bucks will overcome Suns in highest scoring finals ever.

[Daver]

Bucks and Celtics both win 60+. No one else in the conference touches 50.
Bucks sweep Miami, then sweep Knicks, then Khash out the Celtics in 6.
Dame hits 50 in game 6 of the finals and KD fails to send it to game 7 when he checks his feet to make sure he’s behind the line, then bricks the shot.

Cavs won 50 last year they will win 50 again they have improved also in the off season

[DutchManDanFan]

60 wins at least. Otherwise it's a disappointment.
Must win championship. If we don't someone has to ask Giannis some serious questions why he failed again.

[Prez]

It’s weird, if you had told me right after the Dame trade that MarJon, Dre, AJ all looked like legit rotation guys and even TyTy showed some promise I’d probably have predicted 65-17 or something lol.

Strangely it’s the clunkiness of Giannis trying (or frankly *not* trying hard enough) to fit in that makes me want to go lower. There’s crazy talent on this team but their ceiling depends on 34 actually doing the things he said he would in that training camp interview and proving it wasn’t just fun pre-season fluff.

I’ll go 54-28, 2nd seed. Slow-ish start as they figure it out, and maybe a slow-ish close to the RS as they rest a bit for the playoffs, but they maul teams towards the middle.

Barring injuries, championship over Denver in the finals.

[CharityStripe34]

Between 52-58 wins, maybe a second seed. If healthy, should be a Finals appearance.

[FrieAaron]

I'll go 57 wins. Think we have a slower first 15-20 games of the season then have a couple really good runs over the last 60ish.