What is your path to the playoffs?

[2k15]

Playing off of Jeremy's quote a couple of days ago, if the Nets were to make the playoffs, who do you think we would have to beat out? What's your path to the playoffs?

I'll start it off. It looks pretty tough. I can easily see Detroit and 76ers get in over us.

http://imgur.com/NR85PxN

[2k15]

1. Cleveland Cavaliers Kyrie Irving J.R. Smith Lebron James Kevin Love Tristan Thompson
2. Washington Wizards John Wall Bradley Beal Otto Porter Markieff Morris Marcin Gortat
3. Toronto Raptors Kyle Lowry DeMar DeRozan C.J. Miles Serge Ibaka Jonas Valanciunas
4. Boston Celtics Isaiah Thomas Terry Rozier Gordon Hayward Jae Crowder Al Horford
5. Milwaukee Bucks Malcolm Brogdon Khris Middleton Giannis Antetokounmpo Jabari Parker Thon Maker
6. Miami Heat Goran Dragic Josh Richardson Justise Winslow James Johnson Hassan Whiteside
7. Charlotte Hornets Kemba Walker Nicolas Batum Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Marvin Williams Dwight Howard
8. Brooklyn Nets Jeremy Lin D’Angelo Russell Allen Crabbe Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Timofey Mozgov
9. Philadelphia 76ers Markelle Fultz J.J. Redick Robert Covington Ben Simmons Joel Embiid
10. Detroit Pistons Reggie Jackson Avery Bradley Stanley Johnson Tobias Harris Andre Drummond
11. New York Knicks Frank Ntilikina Tim Hardaway, Jr. Carmelo Anthony Kristaps Porzingis Willy Hernangomez
12. Atlanta Hawks Dennis Schroder Kent Bazemore Taurean Prince Ersan Ilyasova Dewayne Dedmon
13. Indiana Pacers Darren Collison Victor Oladipo Bojan Bogdanovic Thaddeus Young Myles Turner
14. Orlando Magic Elfrid Payton Evan Fournier Terrence Ross Aaron Gordon Nikola Vucevic
15. Chicago Bulls Kris Dunn Zach Lavine Dwyane Wade Nikola Mirotic Robin Lopez

Word version

[reelsgm]

The path to the playoffs is ending the regular season with a better record than at least 8 other teams in the EAST.

Don't care who those other 8 teams are - don't care whether they are actively tanking or not - don't care whether they have devastating injuries to their second best player or not - just beat 8.

Nets make playoffs 2017-18 - from there it becomes a more interesting question because with Lin and KA having time to prepare against one team for a full series - anything can happen.

[2k15]

The path to the playoffs is ending the regular season with a better record than at least 8 other teams in the EAST.

Don't care who those other 8 teams are - don't care whether they are actively tanking or not - don't care whether they have devastating injuries to their second best player or not - just beat 8.

Nets make playoffs 2017-18 - from there it becomes a more interesting question because with Lin and KA having time to prepare against one team for a full series - anything can happen.

I mean, I agree. At the end of the day, this is a math question (is # of net wins greater than the # of wins of 7 other teams).

But based on the rosters as they stand today and your knowledge of the various teams, who do you think we can beat out? It's just for fun.

[reelsgm]

Well for the most part the top 6 teams are set, barring unforeseen catastrophic injury to key players. Lin remains healthy the entire season as he did his first 6 seasons.

You are overly optimistic on Charlotte for they a) still don't have a bench which has been critical to terrible seasons 3 of last 4 seasons (incl. last); b) Dwight Howard enters as the ENTITLED hero expecting that his old Coach Steve Clifford rolls-back-time to make him the centerpeice, when that does NOT happen then D12 takes it out on everyone in the entire organization making a toxic stew. CHA misses playoffs again.

[2k15]

Well for the most part the top 6 teams are set, barring unforeseen catastrophic injury to key players. Lin remains healthy the entire season as he did his first 6 seasons.

You are overly optimistic on Charlotte for they a) still don't have a bench which has been critical to terrible seasons 3 of last 4 seasons (incl. last); b) Dwight Howard enters as the ENTITLED hero expecting that his old Coach Steve Clifford rolls-back-time to make him the centerpeice, when that does NOT happen then D12 takes it out on everyone in the entire organization making a toxic stew. CHA misses playoffs again.

I think Hornets is a good team that had injury and depth issues which I think they dealt with by adding D12 and Monk. I agree that they're not top tier east team but I think they can make a run for it.

[Prokorov]

Playing off of Jeremy's quote a couple of days ago, if the Nets were to make the playoffs, who do you think we would have to beat out? What's your path to the playoffs?

I'll start it off. It looks pretty tough. I can easily see Detroit and 76ers get in over us.

http://imgur.com/NR85PxN

I dont think its beating anyone out. we need to get to 40 wins to have a shot. how do we do that? Only way i see it:

1) Russell has to have a huge break out year 3. something along the lines of harden. 20+/5+/5+
2) Lin has to stay healthy and shoot as well as he did from three last year or better.
3) We need carroll to bounce back to atlanta form
4) RHJ and Levert need to take a big stride. Levert from three and RHJ needs to take the next step to all-nba defense
5 Mozgov needs to give us 8/10 with solid D
6) Crabbe/Harris/Dinwiddie/whitehead all need to all be elite backups
7) Acy needs to be good from three as a stretch big, mozgov needs to add the three
8) Allen enes to give us 15-20 mpg over average or better NBA defense
9) no injuries to starters
10) We get lucky/play well in 1 possession games

to me if all 8 of those things happen we can win 38-42 games. as bad as the east is i dont think we get in with less then 38 wins.

[Prokorov]

1. Cleveland Cavaliers Kyrie Irving J.R. Smith Lebron James Kevin Love Tristan Thompson
2. Washington Wizards John Wall Bradley Beal Otto Porter Markieff Morris Marcin Gortat
3. Toronto Raptors Kyle Lowry DeMar DeRozan C.J. Miles Serge Ibaka Jonas Valanciunas
4. Boston Celtics Isaiah Thomas Terry Rozier Gordon Hayward Jae Crowder Al Horford
5. Milwaukee Bucks Malcolm Brogdon Khris Middleton Giannis Antetokounmpo Jabari Parker Thon Maker
6. Miami Heat Goran Dragic Josh Richardson Justise Winslow James Johnson Hassan Whiteside
7. Charlotte Hornets Kemba Walker Nicolas Batum Michael Kidd-Gilchrist Marvin Williams Dwight Howard
8. Brooklyn Nets Jeremy Lin D’Angelo Russell Allen Crabbe Rondae Hollis-Jefferson Timofey Mozgov
9. Philadelphia 76ers Markelle Fultz J.J. Redick Robert Covington Ben Simmons Joel Embiid
10. Detroit Pistons Reggie Jackson Avery Bradley Stanley Johnson Tobias Harris Andre Drummond
11. New York Knicks Frank Ntilikina Tim Hardaway, Jr. Carmelo Anthony Kristaps Porzingis Willy Hernangomez
12. Atlanta Hawks Dennis Schroder Kent Bazemore Taurean Prince Ersan Ilyasova Dewayne Dedmon
13. Indiana Pacers Darren Collison Victor Oladipo Bojan Bogdanovic Thaddeus Young Myles Turner
14. Orlando Magic Elfrid Payton Evan Fournier Terrence Ross Aaron Gordon Nikola Vucevic
15. Chicago Bulls Kris Dunn Zach Lavine Dwyane Wade Nikola Mirotic Robin Lopez

Word version

I like the hawks. extremely well coached and i think going from howard to dedmon will have an overall net positive effect. im really high on dedmon. im also big on prince and collins looks like a great fit. i think they will get the 7 or 8 seed as a team everyone writes off after the howard trade but they made some sneaky good moves.

kincks are going to be terrrrrible.

[reelsgm]

Well for the most part the top 6 teams are set, barring unforeseen catastrophic injury to key players. Lin remains healthy the entire season as he did his first 6 seasons.

You are overly optimistic on Charlotte for they a) still don't have a bench which has been critical to terrible seasons 3 of last 4 seasons (incl. last); b) Dwight Howard enters as the ENTITLED hero expecting that his old Coach Steve Clifford rolls-back-time to make him the centerpeice, when that does NOT happen then D12 takes it out on everyone in the entire organization making a toxic stew. CHA misses playoffs again.

I think Hornets is a good team that had injury and depth issues which I think they dealt with by adding D12 and Monk. I agree that they're not top tier east team but I think they can make a run for it.

D12 is content for first 2wks of season - then he becomes a locker room menace after he realizes Clifford sold him a bill of goods. Monk is a rookie and MCW running an offense, even a bench offense? Ramon Sessions didn't play that bad as last season's bench leader but CHA hated him for what he could not do, which is keep leads intact or mount a comeback when starters left a deficit - now they place their hopes in guys significantly worse than Sessions.

[2k15]

Playing off of Jeremy's quote a couple of days ago, if the Nets were to make the playoffs, who do you think we would have to beat out? What's your path to the playoffs?

I'll start it off. It looks pretty tough. I can easily see Detroit and 76ers get in over us.

http://imgur.com/NR85PxN

I dont think its beating anyone out. we need to get to 40 wins to have a shot. how do we do that? Only way i see it:

1) Russell has to have a huge break out year 3. something along the lines of harden. 20+/5+/5+
2) Lin has to stay healthy and shoot as well as he did from three last year or better.
3) We need carroll to bounce back to atlanta form
4) RHJ and Levert need to take a big stride. Levert from three and RHJ needs to take the next step to all-nba defense
5 Mozgov needs to give us 8/10 with solid D
6) Crabbe/Harris/Dinwiddie/whitehead all need to all be elite backups
7) Acy needs to be good from three as a stretch big, mozgov needs to add the three
8) Allen enes to give us 15-20 mpg over average or better NBA defense
9) no injuries to starters
10) We get lucky/play well in 1 possession games

to me if all 8 of those things happen we can win 38-42 games. as bad as the east is i dont think we get in with less then 38 wins.

I guess beating out isn't the right word. I guess the exercise here is doing a preseason ranking of where the teams are, assuming that there will be a pretty strong correlation between that and where they end up at the end of season - there are going to be injuries, under/over performances and you can include those probabilities in the ranking. One of the reason I have the Sixers relatively low is because I think the talent is there but injury risk is high and also rookie years for Fultz and Simmons.

[2k15]

Well for the most part the top 6 teams are set, barring unforeseen catastrophic injury to key players. Lin remains healthy the entire season as he did his first 6 seasons.

You are overly optimistic on Charlotte for they a) still don't have a bench which has been critical to terrible seasons 3 of last 4 seasons (incl. last); b) Dwight Howard enters as the ENTITLED hero expecting that his old Coach Steve Clifford rolls-back-time to make him the centerpeice, when that does NOT happen then D12 takes it out on everyone in the entire organization making a toxic stew. CHA misses playoffs again.

I think Hornets is a good team that had injury and depth issues which I think they dealt with by adding D12 and Monk. I agree that they're not top tier east team but I think they can make a run for it.

D12 is content for first 2wks of season - then he becomes a locker room menace after he realizes Clifford sold him a bill of goods. Monk is a rookie and MCW running an offense, even a bench offense? Ramon Sessions didn't play that bad as last season's bench leader but CHA hated him for what he could not do, which is keep leads intact or mount a comeback when starters left a deficit - now they place their hopes in guys significantly worse than Sessions.

I still refuse to believe D12 is as bad as media portray him to be. Maybe I am in denial.

[Prokorov]

Playing off of Jeremy's quote a couple of days ago, if the Nets were to make the playoffs, who do you think we would have to beat out? What's your path to the playoffs?

I'll start it off. It looks pretty tough. I can easily see Detroit and 76ers get in over us.

http://imgur.com/NR85PxN

I dont think its beating anyone out. we need to get to 40 wins to have a shot. how do we do that? Only way i see it:

1) Russell has to have a huge break out year 3. something along the lines of harden. 20+/5+/5+
2) Lin has to stay healthy and shoot as well as he did from three last year or better.
3) We need carroll to bounce back to atlanta form
4) RHJ and Levert need to take a big stride. Levert from three and RHJ needs to take the next step to all-nba defense
5 Mozgov needs to give us 8/10 with solid D
6) Crabbe/Harris/Dinwiddie/whitehead all need to all be elite backups
7) Acy needs to be good from three as a stretch big, mozgov needs to add the three
8) Allen enes to give us 15-20 mpg over average or better NBA defense
9) no injuries to starters
10) We get lucky/play well in 1 possession games

to me if all 8 of those things happen we can win 38-42 games. as bad as the east is i dont think we get in with less then 38 wins.

I guess beating out isn't the right word. I guess the exercise here is doing a preseason ranking of where the teams are, assuming that there will be a pretty strong correlation between that and where they end up at the end of season - there are going to be injuries, under/over performances and you can include those probabilities in the ranking. One of the reason I have the Sixers relatively low is because I think the talent is there but injury risk is high and also rookie years for Fultz and Simmons.

if we are just going by ranking rosters id have something like:

cleveland
boston
toronto
washington
milwaukee
miami
atlanta
charlotte
detroit
philly
Indy
Knicks
Orlando
Nets
Bulls

i think the knicks have massive potential to be the worst team, but they still have legit nba talent with carmello and godzingas. orlando isnt good but they also have more talent/depth. Indy i think is an older version of us with less guys who will make mistakes. i can see indy being worse then us too though. the last 5 teams i think you could really shuffle any way.

To me, who is the legit NBA starter on this team? the closest is Lin/Levert. like last year we basically have 13 bench players. an most of those are minimum guys or rookies or guys with injuries (lin coming off hamstring, crabbe foot surgery, levert foot issues, allen hip injury, carroll knees).

there are so many factors for us. hard to predict. but just going on as it stands roster talent i think we go 11-15

[Prokorov]

I think Hornets is a good team that had injury and depth issues which I think they dealt with by adding D12 and Monk. I agree that they're not top tier east team but I think they can make a run for it.

D12 is content for first 2wks of season - then he becomes a locker room menace after he realizes Clifford sold him a bill of goods. Monk is a rookie and MCW running an offense, even a bench offense? Ramon Sessions didn't play that bad as last season's bench leader but CHA hated him for what he could not do, which is keep leads intact or mount a comeback when starters left a deficit - now they place their hopes in guys significantly worse than Sessions.

I still refuse to believe D12 is as bad as media portray him to be. Maybe I am in denial.

i think for year 1 its enough of a change of scenery for him to help you win games.

as much BS as howard brings

he made the playoffs 6 straight years in orlando (every year after his sophmore year)
He made the playoffs all 3 years in houston
he made the playoffs his 1 year with the hawks

LA they missed the playoffs by 1 game. and that was with an injury and him and kobe really going at it,

he is still such a force rebounding/defending/finsihing he is going to help you win for a year or so before it goes south

[2k15]

I dont think its beating anyone out. we need to get to 40 wins to have a shot. how do we do that? Only way i see it:

1) Russell has to have a huge break out year 3. something along the lines of harden. 20+/5+/5+
2) Lin has to stay healthy and shoot as well as he did from three last year or better.
3) We need carroll to bounce back to atlanta form
4) RHJ and Levert need to take a big stride. Levert from three and RHJ needs to take the next step to all-nba defense
5 Mozgov needs to give us 8/10 with solid D
6) Crabbe/Harris/Dinwiddie/whitehead all need to all be elite backups
7) Acy needs to be good from three as a stretch big, mozgov needs to add the three
8) Allen enes to give us 15-20 mpg over average or better NBA defense
9) no injuries to starters
10) We get lucky/play well in 1 possession games

to me if all 8 of those things happen we can win 38-42 games. as bad as the east is i dont think we get in with less then 38 wins.

I guess beating out isn't the right word. I guess the exercise here is doing a preseason ranking of where the teams are, assuming that there will be a pretty strong correlation between that and where they end up at the end of season - there are going to be injuries, under/over performances and you can include those probabilities in the ranking. One of the reason I have the Sixers relatively low is because I think the talent is there but injury risk is high and also rookie years for Fultz and Simmons.

if we are just going by ranking rosters id have something like:

cleveland
boston
toronto
washington
milwaukee
miami
atlanta
charlotte
detroit
philly
Indy
Knicks
Orlando
Nets
Bulls

i think the knicks have massive potential to be the worst team, but they still have legit nba talent with carmello and godzingas. orlando isnt good but they also have more talent/depth. Indy i think is an older version of us with less guys who will make mistakes. i can see indy being worse then us too though. the last 5 teams i think you could really shuffle any way.

To me, who is the legit NBA starter on this team? the closest is Lin/Levert. like last year we basically have 13 bench players. an most of those are minimum guys or rookies or guys with injuries (lin coming off hamstring, crabbe foot surgery, levert foot issues, allen hip injury, carroll knees).

there are so many factors for us. hard to predict. but just going on as it stands roster talent i think we go 11-15

if i was totally honest, i dont think we make the playoffs based on who we have on roster today. but im higher on the nets than you. i think we can make a play for the 9-11 range. i agree that knicks are going to be pretty bad. i also am not that high on indy or magic.

[Prokorov]

I guess beating out isn't the right word. I guess the exercise here is doing a preseason ranking of where the teams are, assuming that there will be a pretty strong correlation between that and where they end up at the end of season - there are going to be injuries, under/over performances and you can include those probabilities in the ranking. One of the reason I have the Sixers relatively low is because I think the talent is there but injury risk is high and also rookie years for Fultz and Simmons.

if we are just going by ranking rosters id have something like:

cleveland
boston
toronto
washington
milwaukee
miami
atlanta
charlotte
detroit
philly
Indy
Knicks
Orlando
Nets
Bulls

i think the knicks have massive potential to be the worst team, but they still have legit nba talent with carmello and godzingas. orlando isnt good but they also have more talent/depth. Indy i think is an older version of us with less guys who will make mistakes. i can see indy being worse then us too though. the last 5 teams i think you could really shuffle any way.

To me, who is the legit NBA starter on this team? the closest is Lin/Levert. like last year we basically have 13 bench players. an most of those are minimum guys or rookies or guys with injuries (lin coming off hamstring, crabbe foot surgery, levert foot issues, allen hip injury, carroll knees).

there are so many factors for us. hard to predict. but just going on as it stands roster talent i think we go 11-15

if i was totally honest, i dont think we make the playoffs based on who we have on roster today. but im higher on the nets than you. i think we can make a play for the 9-11 range. i agree that knicks are going to be pretty bad. i also am not that high on indy or magic.

its just so much unknown. just Russells play alone makes a big difference. if he makes the jump to a 20/5/5 guy on 38% from deep thats worth quite a bit. then throw in levert/RHJ development. what we get from allen/mozgov.

we are talking maybe a 10-12 win swing based on how all of that shakes out

[DeRoma]

Playing off of Jeremy's quote a couple of days ago, if the Nets were to make the playoffs, who do you think we would have to beat out? What's your path to the playoffs?

I'll start it off. It looks pretty tough. I can easily see Detroit and 76ers get in over us.

http://imgur.com/NR85PxN

I dont think its beating anyone out. we need to get to 40 wins to have a shot. how do we do that? Only way i see it:

1) Russell has to have a huge break out year 3. something along the lines of harden. 20+/5+/5+
2) Lin has to stay healthy and shoot as well as he did from three last year or better.
3) We need carroll to bounce back to atlanta form
4) RHJ and Levert need to take a big stride. Levert from three and RHJ needs to take the next step to all-nba defense
5 Mozgov needs to give us 8/10 with solid D
6) Crabbe/Harris/Dinwiddie/whitehead all need to all be elite backups
7) Acy needs to be good from three as a stretch big, mozgov needs to add the three
8) Allen enes to give us 15-20 mpg over average or better NBA defense
9) no injuries to starters
10) We get lucky/play well in 1 possession games

to me if all 8 of those things happen we can win 38-42 games. as bad as the east is i dont think we get in with less then 38 wins.

If all 8 of those happens, I think we will be a 45 win team.

Clv has to also improve his shot selection

[DeRoma]

But I agree with all of those point in order for this team to be pretty good


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[vincecarter4pres]

It's hard to predict all 8 teams because injuries happen, but I'm going to take a crack at it assuming no major injuries on paper for anyone, but accounting for some random minor ones for everyone.

1. Boston - See them as the top Eastern seed again. Yeah it takes time to gel, yeah they lost a couple pieces, but they drafted Tatum, whose NBA ready and Brown is a year older. Hayward's being slept on, he's deadly and possibly hasn't peaked.

2. Cleveland - Kyrie drama and all, they're primed for another big season and if they get the proper pieces back for Irving, watchout.

3. Washington - Steady rising, young, hungry, determined. Need to add depth though, would easily be one of the teams most effected by injury.

4. Milwaukee - They take the next step and have less injury issues.

5. Philly - Lot of question marks, but if healthy and their young stars can coexist, this is the team to watch. Embiid is a monster.

6. Toronto - I think they peaked and I see major regression. And not to do what I said I wouldn't, buy I see a Lowry injury in there future. Something lingering like Lin had.

7. Charlotte - Bounce back year. They're nothing special, but they're well coached, added Dwight and are better then a sum of their parts. Maybe 43 wins.

8. Either Brooklyn or NYK if they trade for Irving - We will have a really surprising year if healthy and still have a trick up our sleeve before camp. If Irving teams up with Porzingod, they sneak in past us.

[Roy Tarpley]

It's hard to predict all 8 teams because injuries happen, but I'm going to take a crack at it assuming no major injuries on paper for anyone, but accounting for some random minor ones for everyone.

1. Boston - See them as the top Eastern seed again. Yeah it takes time to gel, yeah they lost a couple pieces, but they drafted Tatum, whose NBA ready and Brown is a year older. Hayward's being slept on, he's deadly and possibly hasn't peaked.

2. Cleveland - Kyrie drama and all, they're primed for another big season and if they get the proper pieces back for Irving, watchout.

3. Washington - Steady rising, young, hungry, determined. Need to add depth though, would easily be one of the teams most effected by injury.

4. Milwaukee - They take the next step and have less injury issues.

5. Philly - Lot of question marks, but if healthy and their young stars can coexist, this is the team to watch. Embiid is a monster.

6. Toronto - I think they peaked and I see major regression. And not to do what I said I wouldn't, buy I see a Lowry injury in there future. Something lingering like Lin had.

7. Charlotte - Bounce back year. They're nothing special, but they're well coached, added Dwight and are better then a sum of their parts. Maybe 43 wins.

8. Either Brooklyn or NYK if they trade for Irving - We will have a really surprising year if healthy and still have a trick up our sleeve before camp. If Irving teams up with Porzingod, they sneak in past us.

I agree with all this except Philly. They have lots of talent but theyre still playing lots of rookies and injuries are the default for them unless proven otherwise. I'd put Miami in there based on last years record and veteran play. People seem to sleep on Dragic and Whiteside...and Waiters!

[Karate Diop]

It's hard to predict all 8 teams because injuries happen, but I'm going to take a crack at it assuming no major injuries on paper for anyone, but accounting for some random minor ones for everyone.

1. Boston - See them as the top Eastern seed again. Yeah it takes time to gel, yeah they lost a couple pieces, but they drafted Tatum, whose NBA ready and Brown is a year older. Hayward's being slept on, he's deadly and possibly hasn't peaked.

I think Boston will get the #1 seed as long as IT is 100%. Also I've gone back and forth on this but... Is Tatum really "NBA ready"? His isolation game is, but off-the-ball he's certainly not ready and how many non-big rookies make a significant impact on defense? (Just playing Devil's advocate here, because while Tatum's game was tailor made for summer league - there are still some questions about how he'll translate to not being the focal point of an offense... Lebron was NBA ready, even Melo was NBA ready courtesy of his post-game, Tatum? Not so sure...)

2. Cleveland - Kyrie drama and all, they're primed for another big season and if they get the proper pieces back for Irving, watchout.

Agreed. The Cavaliers with or without Kyrie are easily the best team in the East but as they showed last year they're not playing for regular season wins.

3. Washington - Steady rising, young, hungry, determined. Need to add depth though, would easily be one of the teams most effected by injury.

Beal's health will determine where they land in the standings. Washington is the one darkhorse candidate I can see overcoming the Cavs - it'll take some lucky breaks but when things click (as they did for 3 quarters against Boston in quite a few games) this team REALLY clicks.

4. Milwaukee - They take the next step and have less injury issues.

Probably the most promising team in the East solely because of Giannis. It's a shame Parker can't stay healthy...

5. Philly - Lot of question marks, but if healthy and their young stars can coexist, this is the team to watch. Embiid is a monster.

Call me a hater but I don't see the being healthy...

6. Toronto - I think they peaked and I see major regression. And not to do what I said I wouldn't, buy I see a Lowry injury in there future. Something lingering like Lin had.

I think they have major issues brewing, most notably with their coach who far too often seems like he's in way over his head.

7. Charlotte - Bounce back year. They're nothing special, but they're well coached, added Dwight and are better then a sum of their parts. Maybe 43 wins.

I love Charlotte... But I think Dwight Howard will negatively impact them. They played their best ball with Zeller at center. Kaminsky was also tremendous in his starts at center, so much so that I wonder if his real NBA position is as a center and not a power forward - Dwight is going to be a road block to long term progress)

8. Either Brooklyn or NYK if they trade for Irving - We will have a really surprising year if healthy and still have a trick up our sleeve before camp. If Irving teams up with Porzingod, they sneak in past us.

Last year the team took a ton of threes but didn't have players who can hit them. This year the team will take a ton of threes but have players who can hit them WITH VOLUME. So while I'm pumped for that... I'm equally as negative about our defense. Just not seeing it.