Who do you expect to under perform?

[zeebneeb]

Relative to their own fans' expectations, Orlando and NY.

I'll agree with this. I understand being excited but have the ability to step back, and take a look at it critically.

I also believe, relative to their fan bases expectations, they will absolutely under perform.

[Patches Perry]

Typically the over-achievers from last season, so I'd guess Portland and Boston are good bets to under-achieve. It's all relative to expectations, so over-achieving produces unrealistic expectations, and unrealistic expectations produce disappointment. I hope I'm wrong because I actually like both teams quite a bit, especially Boston.

[yoyoboy]

Portland for sure. Also, Chicago, New York, and Orlando.

[BasketballFan7]

Orlando.

The defense will be nasty if they get the scheme down, but they won't have the offense to make a significant difference. If Vuc gets traded, a Payton / Fournier / Gordon / Ibaka / Biyombo lineup is going to be tragic on one end of the court.

Before the Orlando fans chime in, I realize that Vogel will attempt to not have such an inept offensive group share the floor for too much time.

[SK21209]

Orlando.

The defense will be nasty if they get the scheme down, but they won't have the offense to make a significant difference. If Vuc gets traded, a Payton / Fournier / Gordon / Ibaka / Biyombo lineup is going to be tragic on one end of the court.

Before the Orlando fans chime in, I realize that Vogel will attempt to not have such an inept offensive group share the floor for too much time.

I agree. I think they'll be better but with so much parity in the East a couple of teams are bound to underperform. I'm not really sure what the front office's vision for this team is.

[Froob]

Milwaukee and Orlando probably. They seemed to get hyped up every year. Coaching may have held Orlando back, guess we'll see.

[KGboss]

Chicago. That rotation will be crap. Sorry chi fans.

[Nowitness]

Will be interesting to see how Atlanta does swapping Horford for Dwight to me, out West, it seems like for one reason or another, Utah keeps not reaching the level of hype people give them, we'll see if it sticks this year.

[RipCity71252]

Memphis.

Seems like a lot of people like them as a top 4 seed with Marc back and the Parsons addition, but they are a roster full of serious injury worries and not enough people are talking about how unproven their depth is right now.

[DaKnicksAreBack]

Cavs - championship hangover

[Wolf_Cry]

If I was a betting man, I would go with the Wolves. Trust me, the basketball gods will curse us with with a couple of season injuries, make Thibs lose the rest of his hair, and make Glenn Taylor wish he had sold the franchise when he had a chance.

[MrBaynes]

Durant, not that he will perform poorly, I just feel for some reason that everyone has him going in there and being 1b to Steph's 1a. With the amount of talent they have I could easily see Steph being 1a, and KD/Klay/Draymond being 2a/2b/2c.

[DaKnicksAreBack]

If I was a betting man, I would go with the Wolves. Trust me, the basketball gods will curse us with with a couple of season injuries, make Thibs lose the rest of his hair, and make Glenn Taylor wish he had sold the franchise when he had a chance.

Thibs sercures the wolves will be competative imo

[Wolf_Cry]

If I was a betting man, I would go with the Wolves. Trust me, the basketball gods will curse us with with a couple of season injuries, make Thibs lose the rest of his hair, and make Glenn Taylor wish he had sold the franchise when he had a chance.

Thibs sercures the wolves will be competative imo

I hope so, but he hasn't dealt with a curse as strong as the Wolves' organization.

[Syd-TK3]

Boston, Chicago/Pacers

[3Diamantidis]

The wizards. Again.

[GimmeDat]

Depends wildly on your expectations, which appear to deviate a lot depending on who you ask.

I will say, if people are high on Portand following last season, they're going to struggle to replicate what they achieved last season. Not to say I don't like what they're doing over there, but it seemed like one of those typical over-performances. They were amazing in the post-season.

[crazy_me_87]

Cavs - championship hangover

Imho thats very unlikley. Not with Lebron on the Team. He will push them.

I think any hangover effect is propably balanced out by the fact that they will profit immensly from a full healthy Training Camp under Lue.
Also Dunleavey and Birdman are tough veterans.. they too will work against any hangover effect.

They won a title learning Lue's System on the fly.. now they have all Training camp.
They will be significantly better.

[crazy_me_87]

I think GSW will underperform in relation to expectations for several reasons:

1.
They will be alot more Iso heavy and less "strenght in numbers" with KD on board. And while that may help in certain Playoff Situations it also means they will be more dependant on their core 4 than ever. If 2 of them have a bad night they will be beatable.

2.
While KD is a solid defender he is not as versitaile as Barnes was. He cant defend strong PFs
Overall they lost alot of Defense in Barnes and Bogut.. Iggy is a year older.. and Curry has been exposed as defensive weak link.
Teams will relentlessly attack Curry. Zaza is nice but was never a Defensive Anchor like Bogut was.
I highly doubt their defense will be anything more than "ok" They will rely on outshooting anybody even more than last year. And while that will work on many nights.. they likley wont win alot of Games with Defense.

3.
Last year they won alot of Games by sheer terrifying their Opponents. They played the Mental Game exeptionally well.
Now while KD makes them even scarier on paper.. every Team knows now.. they ARE beatable.

4.
Their Players are not marathon tank-freightrains... We will see if they can make it to a 3rd Finals.


I think they will win 65 Games .. but compared to the Hype many will see that as underperforming.

And oh boy if they dont win the title....

[jumpstart]

Dwayne Wade. Chicago is going to turn against him so fast.