Predict the Next 10 Games

[James_Raptors]

@ Brooklyn
@ Cleveland
@ Indiana
vs Charlotte
@ Philadelphia
vs Washington
vs Brooklyn
vs Cleveland
vs Indiana
@ Charlotte

I'm "one of those" who will often give teams who play each other twice within a short span of time, the 1-1 split.
The weird thing about this upcoming10 games, is that within that period (and counting the 76'ers game we just played) we play Brooklyn, Cleveland, Indiana, Charlotte and the above mentioned Philly. The only one-off is that Wizards game.

I'm giving us (2-0):
-the next Philly game
-Wizards

Split at best, with a chance to get swept (2-2):
-1-1 vs Cleveland

Split at the worst, with possibility of sweep (2-2)
-1-1 vs Charlotte
-1-1 vs Brooklyn
-1-1 vs Indiana

A guaranteed 5-5 record at the worst, which I would deem as a disappointment.
Sweeping 1 of the lowly Bobcats, Nets or Pacers shouldn't be a reach, so let's now up that record to 6-4.
I'd say 6-4 is barely acceptable and 7-3 or better would be considered a success.

Devil's advocate:
-We just lost to Philly, so losing again isn't some reach. (0-1)
-Cavs are 7-3 and have won 4 straight like ourselves. They're getting healthier, and it's not absurd to think they could win both games. (0-2)
-If the above happens we'd really have to mop the floor with the those 7 remaining games going a bare minimum 6-2.

Considering I predicted us ending the season 50-32, I'm going to continue being an optimist, and predict a 7-3 or better next 10 games and possibly sneaking into the top 4 in the EC.

[Clutch0z24]

Don't really care tbh because beating up on bad teams or teams that are missing alot of their key guys is fools gold of a team for me....Easy schedule so we prolly get a few Ws here but im not going to be impressed. Don't think this team can hang with teams that are actually good or teams that are healthy Which makes me kind of uninterested atm....If we actually beat good teams this season and look like a team that could make a playoff run ill be more inclined to get excited but i havn't seen it this season so far.

[Los_29]

If I'm being super negative, Cleveland and Philadelphia are probably just better than the Raptors. That's three losses there.

You would then look for teams with a lot of size, big wings and/or shifty guards. Charlotte and Indiana fit that description, so you could maybe imagine going 2-2 against those two teams. If that's the result, that would be incredibly disappointing. Schedule could not have been easier to start this season.

We've actually had one of the hardest schedules to start the season (i.e., first 10 games). But now it gets a looooooot easier. We need to capitalize!

If we lose to Charlotte and Indiana because of their size, Bobby needs to be held accountable for not acquiring a center.

Maybe by SOS, but I look at the circumstances (no Mitchell, Garland, Allen against Cleveland; no Trae Young against Atlanta; no Ja Morant against Memphis; Milwaukee on a road b2b) and think the difficulty has been overstated.

Every team plays back to backs. We’ve had two of them already. Also haven’t had our starting center for nearly half of our games.

[Troubadour]

We've actually had one of the hardest schedules to start the season (i.e., first 10 games). But now it gets a looooooot easier. We need to capitalize!

If we lose to Charlotte and Indiana because of their size, Bobby needs to be held accountable for not acquiring a center.

Maybe by SOS, but I look at the circumstances (no Mitchell, Garland, Allen against Cleveland; no Trae Young against Atlanta; no Ja Morant against Memphis; Milwaukee on a road b2b) and think the difficulty has been overstated.

Every team plays back to backs. We’ve had two of them already. Also haven’t had our starting center for nearly half of our games.

I'd argue we're maybe better without Poeltl at this point.

[Pointgod]

6-4. I can’t see us beating a fully healthy Cavs team. And then there’s always the random loss to a team we should beat. 7-3 should be the goal but coming out of this stretch with 6 or 7 wins is a good sign.

[billy_hoyle]

I'm hoping for 7-3.

[MiamiSPX]

8-2

[LoveMyRaps]

Maybe by SOS, but I look at the circumstances (no Mitchell, Garland, Allen against Cleveland; no Trae Young against Atlanta; no Ja Morant against Memphis; Milwaukee on a road b2b) and think the difficulty has been overstated.

Every team plays back to backs. We’ve had two of them already. Also haven’t had our starting center for nearly half of our games.

I'd argue we're maybe better without Poeltl at this point.

That's simply not true.

Maybe a reduced role but him being available is crucial to the success of this team.

Would love to hear your argument(s) as to why you believe that though?

[Los_29]

Maybe by SOS, but I look at the circumstances (no Mitchell, Garland, Allen against Cleveland; no Trae Young against Atlanta; no Ja Morant against Memphis; Milwaukee on a road b2b) and think the difficulty has been overstated.

Every team plays back to backs. We’ve had two of them already. Also haven’t had our starting center for nearly half of our games.

I'd argue we're maybe better without Poeltl at this point.

Now that’s silly. Poeltl is a good NBA center.

[kalel123]

6-4 is minimum barring injuries.

Could be worse depending on how things go with Poeltl as sad as that is to say.

[Morris_Shatford]

I opted for 41 - 41 for our record and I will opt for 5 - 5 now!

[Troubadour]

Every team plays back to backs. We’ve had two of them already. Also haven’t had our starting center for nearly half of our games.

I'd argue we're maybe better without Poeltl at this point.

That's simply not true.

Maybe a reduced role but him being available is crucial to the success of this team.

Would love to hear your argument(s) as to why you believe that though?

Poeltl can't move right now, so I think they're better without the guy who can't move.

[Troubadour]

Every team plays back to backs. We’ve had two of them already. Also haven’t had our starting center for nearly half of our games.

I'd argue we're maybe better without Poeltl at this point.

Now that’s silly. Poeltl is a good NBA center.

He has been good, but I need to see him move reasonably well for a few games in a row before I assume he's the same guy this season.

[MiamiSPX]

Also big LOL at anyone saying Charlotte was going to be better than us (I swear I saw this over the summer). Just a disaster of an organization, who has finished over .500 twice in the last decade. May seem early for me to be saying this, but history and a poorly run franchise is on my side. I feel quite comfortable laying odds that they will be among the worst 3 teams in the conference.

[Johnny Bball]

It'll be 5-5. It'll be due to the C issue we've always had

Which teams do you see us losing to?

Cleveland, Charlotte and Philly. Allen and Mobley will be a problem for us even if we're full strength. Charlotte and Mark Williams can be an issue if he's healthy and heavily played. Then Phila with Embiid and I guess Warford now.

We need another 7 footer to back up Poeltl. I feel like father time came early for him and these back issues are here to stay. If we're tactical and play him 20 mins a game instead of sitting out some nights maybe we'll do better.

I also think this hinges on whether CMB can be a stretch 5 for us and can find a way to rebound. I don't feel like he's being used enough by Darko.

Darko has also been an underwhelming coach. He's wins when he should be focused on losing and vice versa. The main thing he needs to stop doing is playing Dick and Agbaji. They can develop in practice.

Yeah, Mark Williams plays for Phoenix.

[Zeno]

8-2.

[Thaddy]

8-2.

If we can get 10 games over 500 before the all star game we'd essentially have 50 wins in the season. That would easily be a top 6 seed.

[JShuttlesworth]

You look at this upcoming schedule and it's hard not to see a path to going 7-3 or 8-2, but I would be pretty surprised if that was the outcome, because I'm sure the Raptors will blow a game or two during this stretch.

@ Brooklyn - W
@ Cleveland - L
@ Indiana - W
vs Charlotte - W
@ Philadelphia - L
vs Washington - W
vs Brooklyn - W
vs Cleveland - L
vs Indiana - W
@ Charlotte - L

The two games against Cleveland I'm going to pencil in as L's. Then two random L's to Philly and Charlotte

I'm going with 6-4. Anything worse than 6-4 would be pretty bad here.

[Jerry Lucas]

I'm going with 7-3, but 10-0 seriously wouldn't shock me.

It's all really weak opponents on paper except Cleveland and Philly, but the Cavs are on the 2nd half of a back-to-back both times, and the Philly game could be a revenge game (which we won't be on the 2nd half of a back-to-back for).

[Jadoogar]

that's a really weak schedule. I'm expecting 7-3 but we're the raptors so i'll predict 6-4. Anything worse than that is a real cause for concern.