Hollinger forecast: Raptors 22-60 (could be worst)

[WhatsaTDot]

I really dont see us being that bad. We ll win 30 games for sure.

I said 25-30 in the other prediction thread at the beginning of the season. If they didnt have so many injuries i think they could have gotten to 25. Nice bump.

Maybe you can find one where you pick 15 wins and another where you predict 35, then you'd have all your bases covered

[5DOM]

Btw, how did he do with other teams?

[kwamebargnani]

lol I thought I was reading a recent article.

[Randle McMurphy]

I said 23 wins. Hoped for less, but you can't always get what you want.

[Prestige]

25-27 is my prediction either way we're getting a high pick this year and we'll use it one Kyrie Irving

I don;t know why people keep jerking off over a guard ranked 9th by DraftExpress. And Duke point guards often make poor pros.

Sorry, if we get a high pick, we have to go BPA. PERIOD!

[sanity]

20 wins, 30 wins, absolutely no difference in my eyes other than the first having a better crack at a more talented prospect

[Mascot]

What was his Cleveland prediction?

Found it

OK, this is gonna hurt. Clearly, the Cavs are not what they once were. But in the short term, at least, the Cavs won't be terrible. In fact, they could contend for a playoff spot. Cleveland is solid at all five starting positions and has a coach with a track record of convincing ragtag groups like this one to punch above their weights. Additionally, ownership has shown its willing to spend if the Cavs need an extra piece or two later in the season.
Cleveland has a couple of remaining strengths that Scott would do well to highlight. First, his guards can make 3s, and that will space the floor for scoring forwards like Jamison, Hickson and Powe. Second, this still should be a decent defensive team, especially with Varejao anchoring the middle.
The key players are Sessions and Powe. Sessions was one of the league's most underrated players in Milwaukee but didn't play nearly as well for the Timberwolves last year. In Cleveland, his pick-and-roll skills are going to be needed because the Cavs don't have one-on-one scorers. He'll be particularly valuable if he can defend 2s well enough to pair with Williams for extended minutes in the backcourt, as that would take the Cavs' shakiest offensive player (Parker) out of the mix.
As for Powe, Cleveland's frontcourt depth is a major question mark, but if he can come back healthy and play the way he did for Boston, he'll make a huge difference.
With all that said, they'll need everything to break right in order to make the postseason. More likely, they won't have the offensive firepower to do it. If it plays out that way, it's possible they'll cut bait and start shopping assets like Williams and Jamison somewhere along the way.
Prediction: 29-53, 5th in Central Division, 13th in Eastern Conference

[J-Roc]

Hollinger is as trustworthy as Stephen A Smith.

[Too Late Crew]

My take on the predictions bwlow:

It's insider, but here's a summary

1. Raps biggest strength is shooting, biggest weakness is interior D.- 1/2 right Biggest weakness yes..biggest strenght I don't know if we have one2. Surprised Jay and BC still around. Says defence usually reflects level of motivation, and Jay's motivator skills on par with "Muzak"

3. Hardly mentions Weems, DeRozan-NA4. Still thinks Amir Johnson is making $34 million, ergo is overpaid.

5. Thinks Ed Davis overrated because his numbers didn't translate well in Hollinger's draft rater.-WRONG
6. Had one bit of bad luck - opponent FT % was highest in league, full percentage point ahead of league average. Cost Raptors about 54 points.-NA

7. Shame of last year's failure is that the Bosh-Bargnani offensive duo was really good. Offensive was good even though Turk bombed and DD got "inexplicable" amount of minutes.-RIGHT been saying that for a long time yet many still cried about offense and ignored league worst defense
8. Sees nothing special in Kleiza's translated Euroleague stats, says they are on par with what he did in Denver. So he's overpaid, too.- RIGHT9. Says Raps may prefer to let Bosh TPE expire rather than eat into next season's cap space.

10. Liked Hedo trade, Anderson trade was benign, so was Marco for Wright.-RIGHT

11. Sees same strengths, weaknesses as last year. 1/2 right same weaknesses with Bosh gone the strenghts went bye bye
12. Forecasts lots of lopsided losses. Without Bosh, offence will fall to around league average while defence will continue to be one of the worst. 1/2 right defense was horrible but offense fell well past average

Overall I'd say he did pretty well for a guy who "doesn't watch raptor games"

In fact the only one he got wrong where he was pessimistic was Ed. The other ones he got wrong shooting offense etc he was actually being too OPTOMISTIC which pretty well flys in the face of all those who claim he has some kind of deep seated hate for Toronto

[StartingBench]

You can nitpick little things all you want, but overall he's right.

He doesn't hate the Raptors, the Raptors just plain suck. The truth hurts.

[Thelonious]

That's a pretty rich pickup from Hollinger. Have the rules changed? Can we now lift five consecutive paragraphs from an Insider article? How about six?

Who cares? Hollinger is overpaid, according to my system.

[roundhead0]

What was his Cleveland prediction?

Found it

OK, this is gonna hurt. Clearly, the Cavs are not what they once were. But in the short term, at least, the Cavs won't be terrible. In fact, they could contend for a playoff spot. Cleveland is solid at all five starting positions and has a coach with a track record of convincing ragtag groups like this one to punch above their weights. Additionally, ownership has shown its willing to spend if the Cavs need an extra piece or two later in the season.
Cleveland has a couple of remaining strengths that Scott would do well to highlight. First, his guards can make 3s, and that will space the floor for scoring forwards like Jamison, Hickson and Powe. Second, this still should be a decent defensive team, especially with Varejao anchoring the middle.
The key players are Sessions and Powe. Sessions was one of the league's most underrated players in Milwaukee but didn't play nearly as well for the Timberwolves last year. In Cleveland, his pick-and-roll skills are going to be needed because the Cavs don't have one-on-one scorers. He'll be particularly valuable if he can defend 2s well enough to pair with Williams for extended minutes in the backcourt, as that would take the Cavs' shakiest offensive player (Parker) out of the mix.
As for Powe, Cleveland's frontcourt depth is a major question mark, but if he can come back healthy and play the way he did for Boston, he'll make a huge difference.
With all that said, they'll need everything to break right in order to make the postseason. More likely, they won't have the offensive firepower to do it. If it plays out that way, it's possible they'll cut bait and start shopping assets like Williams and Jamison somewhere along the way.
Prediction: 29-53, 5th in Central Division, 13th in Eastern Conference

That's actually a decent prediction. The Cavs lost key players due to injuries and the you could tell that the vets packed it in fairly early and have been mostly coasting along. Without that they probably could have been closer to the 30-win mark.

[miruss2001]

(though I like Thorpe too, he always tends to be biased in favour of the guys he works out).

See his scouting report of Alabi for evidence of that fact.

[Hypz]

Wow, that asshat was right.

[mikero]

Biggest strength is shooting? I though the Raps were the worst three point shooting team in the NBA.

Fastbreak is probably the team's only strength...

[RapsFanInVA]

He predicted us correctly back to back years now. Let's keep hating anyway.

[TheDoctor]

Quite ok with letting these guys play their way to 22 wins.

Still ok with it.

[ImOnFire15]

Interesting.

[Tenacious_C]

He predicted us correctly back to back years now. Let's keep hating anyway.

+1