ESPN ranks Hornets 5th in Eastern Conference

[OmegaAtrocity]

I honestly don't think Washington will be a ton better than they were last year. The problem is, unless MKG really turns up his aggressiveness. and has became a much better shooter, we can't exploit their glaring weakness. Paul Pierce can't guard the 3 very well at all anymore. Look at how he did in Brooklyn last season, they had to stretch him to the 4 for that team to really be effective. The Wizards got much deeper, but their starting lineup is worse.

[LofJ]

MKG is certainly working on his shot, but I agree that simply being aggressive will go a long way towards making people respect him offensively. Whenever he comes out confident and aggressive he has shown us he can score, he needs to do it more consistently though. If he starts doing that Clifford damn well better design our our offense to be less dependent on Jefferson. Our dependence on him to score screwed us against Miami. We're going to need both Lance and MKG to stay aggressive offensively though for Clifford to feel comfortable making that change. Balanced scoring and good defense is how you win in the playoffs.

Edit: Also, I want the Raptors more than anyone else in the playoffs. Their fanbase has become borderline delusionally cocky, I would love to be the team to knock them off their pedestal.

[yosemiteben]

I honestly don't think Washington will be a ton better than they were last year.

Nene missed 30 regular season games last season. If he can be healthy all season then that is a significant improvement. That's a big if though, it's been like three full seasons since he had a healthy season.

Between him and Varejao, Brazil has really put out some injury prone bigs.

[Hornet Mania]

Yeah, people are probably a little high on the Wizards in general. I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that Wall/Beal are legit young stars with pedigree in a conferencing mostly lacking them and they beat a wounded Chicago team in the playoffs. Everyone forgets they got handled by the Bobcats twice as the season wore down. They were lucky to fall ass-backwards into a nice seed which saved them a thumping from Lebron that would have terribly exposed them just as it did Charlotte.

Pierce is not going to move the needle much, Ariza had a career year in search of that big contract and I really doubt Pierce can match that level of production in the midst of his continued decline. Nene is annually injured, if that happens again and it's for a lengthy span they're probably not topping 45 wins regardless. Worst of all, their coach is imo possibly the worst in the league. Same with the GM. I like Wall and Beal, and I think Washington fans deserve a break after all the bad luck the franchise has endured (in addition to changing from an awesome name to a minor-league baseball moniker), but the media is jumping on the bandwagon way too fast.

50 wins would be a really nice accomplishment for these guys, just like it would be for us, not an expectation. No one in the East aside from Cleveland/Chicago deserves to say they will certainly win 48 games. Too many question marks for them all to disprove.

[LofJ]

Toronto won 48 games last year, and as much as I'm starting to dislike their fanbase I don't see many reasons to think they won't meet or top that win total this year. They play in the worst division in the NBA. I also think it's wishful thinking to assume that Nene is going to miss a lot of games. Washington really improved the depth of their frontcourt this offseason so Nene won't be forced to play as many minutes.

[HornetJail]

Toronto won 48 games last year, and as much as I'm starting to dislike their fanbase I don't see many reasons to think they won't meet or top that win total this year. They play in the worst division in the NBA. I also think it's wishful thinking to assume that Nene is going to miss a lot of games. Washington really improved the depth of their frontcourt this offseason so Nene won't be forced to play as many minutes.

Nene already doesn't play starter minutes. Nene is a lock to miss at least 15 games every season. He's never been healthy over the course of his career and now he's old.

Toronto had a great run, but they overachieved last season, and by quite a bit. The only way they top their win total is if Valanciunas and Ross make big strides next year, which is definitely possible. They are coming back with the same roster as last year, while the teams below them: Chicago, Charlotte, Washington, Atlanta, even Detroit are near locks to be better than they were last year.

[JDR720]

Im not sure Toronto is any better than they were last season, the only players they added is Lou Williams and 2 Brazilian scrubs.

I expect the Knicks to be better and contend with the playoffs, the Nets should still be a good team and the C's and 76ers will still be tanking so thats about 6 easy wins right there.

The Wiz have a deep frontcourt, but i don't like their perimeter depth at all, sure they have Beal and Wall but the backups is a 38 year old PG and a spot up shooter and their SF depth is bad also, PP is going to be 37 when the season starts so he wont be able to play a lot and the backups is a D-League guy and the other is a guy that did worse than Jeff Taylor last season.

[TheKingofSting]

Im not sure Toronto is any better than they were last season, the only players they added is Lou Williams and 2 Brazilian scrubs.

I expect the Knicks to be better and contend with the playoffs, the Nets should still be a good team and the C's and 76ers will still be tanking so thats about 6 easy wins right there.

The Wiz have a deep frontcourt, but i don't like their perimeter depth at all, sure they have Beal and Wall but the backups is a 38 year old PG and a spot up shooter and their SF depth is bad also, PP is going to be 37 when the season starts so he wont be able to play a lot and the backups is a D-League guy and the other is a guy that did worse than Jeff Taylor last season.

I am a little concerned with the D Fish experiment by the Knicks but they have the talent to sneak in the playoffs.

[MasterIchiro]

Las Vegas has the Hornets at 45.5 wins, a very small bump from last season's final total but good for 5th in the East. The teams ahead are Cavs, Bulls, Raptors, Wizards. The Knicks win total is ahead of the Pistons.

Knowing what I know about this team, if I could afford to lose 20K I'd bet 20K on the over.