24/25 Predictions

[OakleyDokely]

Team Predictions:

Record: 33-49
Conference Rank: 10th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): lose in play-in
Longest Win Streak: 4
Longest Losing Streak: 7
Offensive Rank: 15
Defensive Rank: 25
Draft position prior to lottery: 8th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: Barnes
RPG Leader: Poeltl
APG Leader: Quickley
BLK Leader: Barnes
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: Quickley
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Mogbo
Biggest Good Surprise: Dick
Biggest Disappointment: Mitchell
Best Bench Player: Olynyk
First Player(s) Traded: Boucher
Best Dick Jersey Swap: Huerter

[Duffman100]

Team Predictions:

Record: 30-52
Conference Rank: 11th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): Nope
Longest Win Streak: 5
Longest Losing Streak: 13
Offensive Rank: 18
Defensive Rank: 28
Draft position prior to lottery: 7th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barrett
PPG Leader: Barrett
RPG Leader: Poeltl
APG Leader: Barnes
BLK Leader: Barnes
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: Quickley
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Walter
Biggest Good Surprise: Brown
Biggest Disappointment: Ochai
Best Bench Player: Olynyk
First Player(s) Traded: Brown
Best Dick Jersey Swap: Suggs

[kwajo]

Team Predictions:

Record: 40-42
Conference Rank: 8th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): lose in play-in
Longest Win Streak: 5
Longest Losing Streak: 6
Offensive Rank: 18
Defensive Rank: 16
Draft position prior to lottery: 11th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: IQ
PPG Leader: RJ
RPG Leader: Poeltl
APG Leader: IQ
BLK Leader: Jakob
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: Dick
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Ja'Kobe
Biggest Good Surprise: Brown
Biggest Disappointment: Boucher
Best Bench Player: Olynyk
First Player(s) Traded: Boucher
Best Dick Jersey Swap: Missi

[TDotAllStar]

Team Predictions:

Record: 29-53
Conference Rank: 12th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): No
Longest Win Streak: 3
Longest Losing Streak: 6
Offensive Rank: 21
Defensive Rank: 16
Draft position prior to lottery: 9th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: IQ
PPG Leader: Barnes
RPG Leader: Poeltl
APG Leader: IQ
BLK Leader: Jakob
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: Dick
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Ja'Kobe
Biggest Good Surprise: Ja’Kobe
Biggest Disappointment: Boucher
Best Bench Player: Brown
First Player(s) Traded: Brown

[TorontoBarneys]

Barnes might actually be the RPG leader depending on how heavily they use him down low. I hope he's not the PoA defender this season.

[Zeno]

Team Predictions:

Record: 36-46
Conference Rank: 9th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): lose in play-in
Longest Win Streak: 5
Longest Losing Streak: 9
Offensive Rank: 12
Defensive Rank: 27
Draft position prior to lottery: 10th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: Barnes
RPG Leader: Barnes
APG Leader: Barnes
BLK Leader: Barnes
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: Quickley
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Walter
Biggest Good Surprise: Dick
Biggest Disappointment: Mitchell
Best Bench Player: Olynyk
First Player(s) Traded: Boucher
Best Dick Jersey Swap: Bona

[mustardtiger]

I think it’s reasonable to expect some improvement on last year based on consistency of roles and Darko having more experience and a better sense of what he has. Also it’s likely one or both of Barnes and RJ takes a step forward. While it’s certainly possible the wheels fall off and we are a bottom 3 squad given our tough schedule to start the year, it’s more likely we scrap and claw and are fighting around 8th-12th and at least within striking distance of a play in game. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect 2 play in game wins though, so best case scenario is maybe to win one play in game from a 9-10 seed. Which isn’t terribly valuable and yeah a tank is probably preferred, however it’s not zero value either to build some confidence and show some linear growth for the BBQ core. I guess I’m predicting they finish 9th and win one play in game and lose the second. Most people either way won’t be happy with that, but it should be at least semi interesting to watch.

[WuTang_CMB]

Team Predictions:

Record: 31-51
Conference Rank: 12th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): No
Longest Win Streak: 3
Longest Losing Streak: 8
Offensive Rank: 22
Defensive Rank: 25
Draft position prior to lottery: 7th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: Barnes
RPG Leader: Poeltl
APG Leader: IQ
BLK Leader: Barnes
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: IQ
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: JKW
Biggest Good Surprise: Dick (starting and putting up some numbers)
Biggest Disappointment: Lots of things
Best Bench Player: Brown
First Player(s) Traded: Brown

[Indeed]

Team Predictions:

Record: 27-55 (without tanking at season end)
Conference Rank: 12th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): no
Longest Win Streak: 4
Longest Losing Streak: 12
Offensive Rank: 14
Defensive Rank: 27
Draft position prior to lottery: 5th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: Barrett
RPG Leader: Poeltl
APG Leader: Quickley
BLK Leader: Poeltl
STL Leader: Mitchell
3P Leader: Brown / Quickley
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Jamal Shead
Biggest Good Surprise: Walter
Biggest Disappointment: Agbaji
Best Bench Player: Brown
First Player(s) Traded: Brown

[YogurtProducer]

Team Predictions:

Record: 35-47 (Note - this is if we don't tank. I don't know if 35 wins is really a number we will finish as if the season looks bleek 25-30 games in I think by years end we likely are tanking so shamelessly we end up with 25)
Conference Rank: 11
Playoffs (if yes, how far): No
Longest Win Streak: 4 games somewhere in this stretch in March - March - IND, CHI, ORL, ORL, UTA, WAS, WAS
Longest Losing Streak: 7 games early in Nov - LAL, SAC, DEN, SAC, LAC, LAL, MIL
Offensive Rank: 15
Defensive Rank: 20
Draft position prior to lottery: 7th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: RJ
RPG Leader: Barnes
APG Leader: Barnes
BLK Leader: Poeltl
STL Leader: IQ
3P Leader: IQ
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Walter
Biggest Good Surprise: RJ maintains it
Biggest Disappointment: Barnes? I feel like this might be a 19/8/7 type year before the real blow up next year. Not really a disappointment, but I can see pitchforks coming.
Best Bench Player: Brown or Dick - whoever does not start
First Player(s) Traded: Brown
Best Dick Jersey Swap: Jalen Hurts - Eagles

[DG88]

Team Predictions:

Record: 30-52
Conference Rank: 11th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): Just miss Play-In
Longest Win Streak: 3
Longest Losing Streak: 8
Offensive Rank: 20
Defensive Rank: 23
Draft position prior to lottery: 8th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: Barrett
RPG Leader: Poeltl
APG Leader: Quickley
BLK Leader: Barnes
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: Quickley
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Mogbo
Biggest Good Surprise: Brown
Biggest Disappointment: Mitchell
Best Bench Player: Brown
First Player(s) Traded: Brown
Best Dick Jersey Swap: Suggs

Probably end up around 30 wins with a chance at the Play-In. First 41 games are a slaughter house. But we win a few more games in the second half as we face more tanking teams. Offense will still be an issue with our lack of 3 point shooting proficiency and half court creation. Though I think the flow and process will be better than last year. Defense will be another issue. Yes we added more defensive players through the draft but those are rookies. Davion Mitchell alone won't pull us up that much defensively. Our bench lacks scoring punch and we still lack size. Should be an interesting year to see how much they improve.

[DelAbbot]

This is going to be the glory days of Tampa

[PhilBlackson]

In short I’m expecting a fairly wasted season ie/ make the PlayIn, be in the late lottery and just miss on a couple of great prospects for a mid one this board will swear has potential to be an all-star then spend the next several years fantasizing about some miracle Kawhi like trade while we get handed embarrassing Playoff exits for several years until we nervously wait to see if Scottie will in fact bolt to Miami (and does lol) - the end

I guess that’s more 25’ and beyond lol…only partially joking but this draft is going to be a defining one for the foreseeable future.

[deeps6x]

In short I’m expecting a fairly wasted season ie/ make the PlayIn, be in the late lottery and just miss on a couple of great prospects for a mid one this board will swear has potential to be an all-star then spend the next several years fantasizing about some miracle Kawhi like trade while we get handed embarrassing Playoff exits for several years until we nervously wait to see if Scottie will in fact bolt to Miami (and does lol) - the end

I guess that’s more 25’ and beyond lol…only partially joking but this draft is going to be a defining one for the foreseeable future.

Agree with all of this.

Tank commander: Bruce Brown.

[OakleyDokely]

Even if the Raps make the play-in, they're still likely to hold a top 10 pick.

The teams that the Raps can realistically finish above are BRK, CHA, WAS, DET, CHI, ATL, POR, SA, UTA. And finishing above all these teams is no guarantee. There are a lot of teams that will finish around .500 or above. Even being a play-in team should still produce a pretty high pick given all the party in the league right now.

[ciueli]

Even if the Raps make the play-in, they're still likely to hold a top 10 pick.

The teams that the Raps can realistically finish above are BRK, CHA, WAS, DET, CHI, ATL, POR, SA, UTA. And finishing above all these teams is no guarantee. There are a lot of teams that will finish around .500 or above. Even being a play-in team should still produce a pretty high pick.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather see this team rebuild with a top 5 pick instead of a top 10 pick. There are a few recent drafts where the quality of the prospects really fall off right around 9-10, and even if there was a blue chip prospect or two left it wasn't necessarily clear who it was.

2021 and 2022 drafts are good examples of this. 2021 drops off right after 8 (Franz Wagner), with Davion Mitchell, Ziaire Williams, James Bouknight, and Joshua Primo as the next 4 players taken. Sengun and Jalen Johnson were still on the board but weren't drafted until 16 and 20 respectively. The 2022 draft was stacked 1 through 7, Jalen Williams wasn't taken until 12 and Jalen Duren 13, but they are surrounded by a bunch of disappointments like Dyson Daniels, Jeremy Sochan, Johnny Davis, Ousmane Dieng, and Ochai Agbaji.

Sadly we will probably wind up drafting 9-10 after losing in the play-in, the only things I see that could save us from that fate is an unexpected string of injuries or extreme luck in the lottery.

[Indeed]

Even if the Raps make the play-in, they're still likely to hold a top 10 pick.

The teams that the Raps can realistically finish above are BRK, CHA, WAS, DET, CHI, ATL, POR, SA, UTA. And finishing above all these teams is no guarantee. There are a lot of teams that will finish around .500 or above. Even being a play-in team should still produce a pretty high pick.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather see this team rebuild with a top 5 pick instead of a top 10 pick. There are a few recent drafts where the quality of the prospects really fall off right around 9-10, and even if there was a blue chip prospect or two left it wasn't necessarily clear who it was.

2021 and 2022 drafts are good examples of this. 2021 drops off right after 8 (Franz Wagner), with Davion Mitchell, Ziaire Williams, James Bouknight, and Joshua Primo as the next 4 players taken. Sengun and Jalen Johnson were still on the board but weren't drafted until 16 and 20 respectively. The 2022 draft was stacked 1 through 7, Jalen Williams wasn't taken until 12 and Jalen Duren 13, but they are surrounded by a bunch of disappointments like Dyson Daniels, Jeremy Sochan, Johnny Davis, Ousmane Dieng, and Ochai Agbaji.

Sadly we will probably wind up drafting 9-10 after losing in the play-in, the only things I see that could save us from that fate is an unexpected string of injuries or extreme luck in the lottery.

I don't think we will be in the play-in, and last year indicated that we can have dropped to the 6th pick.
The biggest concern I have is that the Raptors seems to draft better with another 1st round pick in the early 20s, so having another pick seems to be crucial for a rebuild.

[sofargone]

Team Predictions:

Record: 36 wins
Conference Rank: 10th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): lose in play-in
Longest Win Streak: 5
Longest Losing Streak: 5
Offensive Rank: 18
Defensive Rank: 23
Draft position prior to lottery: 9th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: Barrett
RPG Leader: barnes
APG Leader: barnes
BLK Leader: Barnes
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: Quickley
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: walters
Biggest Good Surprise: davion
Biggest Disappointment: ochai
Best Bench Player: Olynyk
First Player(s) Traded: Boucher
Best Dick Jersey Swap: sharpe

[PhilBlackson]

Even if the Raps make the play-in, they're still likely to hold a top 10 pick.

The teams that the Raps can realistically finish above are BRK, CHA, WAS, DET, CHI, ATL, POR, SA, UTA. And finishing above all these teams is no guarantee. There are a lot of teams that will finish around .500 or above. Even being a play-in team should still produce a pretty high pick.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather see this team rebuild with a top 5 pick instead of a top 10 pick. There are a few recent drafts where the quality of the prospects really fall off right around 9-10, and even if there was a blue chip prospect or two left it wasn't necessarily clear who it was.

2021 and 2022 drafts are good examples of this. 2021 drops off right after 8 (Franz Wagner), with Davion Mitchell, Ziaire Williams, James Bouknight, and Joshua Primo as the next 4 players taken. Sengun and Jalen Johnson were still on the board but weren't drafted until 16 and 20 respectively. The 2022 draft was stacked 1 through 7, Jalen Williams wasn't taken until 12 and Jalen Duren 13, but they are surrounded by a bunch of disappointments like Dyson Daniels, Jeremy Sochan, Johnny Davis, Ousmane Dieng, and Ochai Agbaji.

Sadly we will probably wind up drafting 9-10 after losing in the play-in, the only things I see that could save us from that fate is an unexpected string of injuries or extreme luck in the lottery.

I don't think we will be in the play-in, and last year indicated that we can have dropped to the 6th pick.
The biggest concern I have is that the Raptors seems to draft better with another 1st round pick in the early 20s, so having another pick seems to be crucial for a rebuild.

Last year really isn't an indication of anything...

A) Teams that trade 2 of their best 3 players in the middle of the season often collapse just from the lack of chemistry/training camp and time for guys to pick up on an entire system on the fly which just off top makes for messier/poorer play. That will not be the case this season...these guys will not only have an off season to continue to improve individually but also again now have the time to actually learn the system, build some continuity in practice etc

B) Almost our entire starting lineup was injured for the final 1/4 of the season, with our best player (Scottie ofc) out for the remainder of the season, our best defender (Poeltl) out for the remainder, then our next 2 best players missed probably 3/4 of that time with personal tragedies (IQ & RJ) AND.....our swingmen that were filling out the rotation (Gary & Brown) were both in & out of the lineup which also led to a 15+ L streak......how can we possibly bank on ALL of that happening?!

Oh and..

C) We actually have a backup PG (maybe 2) both who help our POA defence, plus Fernando to add some depth behind Yak PLUS of course even if it's minor improved depth, we'll see what Ja'Kobe, Mogbo, Shead can give us but I'd expect more than what we got out McDaniels, Nowell etc lol

Couple this with BKN trading away their best player, ATL trading away their 2nd best & CHI losing arguably their best player too (DD) AND defender (AC)...all 3 teams who we should leapfrog....I think we're pretty much dead set on that PlayIn target with CHA as the other team UNLESS we trade Poeltl asap or have a serious injury to one of our best players (SB, IQ or JP).

If you compare our team's record w/ Scottie/Yak than without, they go from Wizards bad to what people are saying...a PlayIn team type of record.

[ForeverTFC]

Team Predictions:

Record: 32-50
Conference Rank: 11th
Playoffs (if yes, how far): n/a
Longest Win Streak: 3
Longest Losing Streak: 6
Offensive Rank: 14
Defensive Rank: 23
Draft position prior to lottery: 7th

Player Predictions:

MPG Leader: Barnes
PPG Leader: IQ
RPG Leader: Barnes
APG Leader: IQ
BLK Leader: Barnes
STL Leader: Barnes
3P Leader: % Dick, 3PM IQ
Team MVP: Barnes
Best Rookie: Walter
Biggest Good Surprise: Walter
Biggest Disappointment: Barrett (I think expectations are way too high, so this is relative)
Best Bench Player: Brown
First Player(s) Traded: Brown
Best Dick Jersey Swap: Suggs