Wizards W-L Predictions for the 2017-18 season

[MOrgil]

52 wins

[payitforward]

Every other team in the East has improved, & we've gotten worse. But, it's all chance anyway, so I predict 62 wins.

(Can we do this thread for real when the season is closer?)

Did every other team really improve? I don't know how you can see it that way. I know you think Cleveland won the Boston trade so Boston improved too? Did Cleveland get better immediately despite probably not having Isaiah Thomas for a good chunk of the season? Will they play Jae Crowder at PG?

Did Toronto improve in spite of losing Patrick Patterson, PJ Tucker & Cory Joseph and adding only CJ Miles? Did Indiana improve despite losing Paul George? How about Atlanta despite losing Paul Millsap & Dwight Howard? Will Chicago be better without Jimmy Butler and your boy Rajon Rondo? What about Detroit by swapping out both Marcus Morris & Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and only getting Avery Bradley back?

Milwaukee will be better with further development by Giannis Antetokounmpo & a full season of Khris Middleton. Jabari Parker may or may not help depending on his willingness to play D.

Charlotte looks to have improved simply by having Dwight Howard & Cody Zeller eat all of the C minutes. Still don't love the lack of offensive skill and shooting but they'll be formidable.

Philly has definitely improved but they are counting on two rookies not to mention the health of Joel Embiid. Everything would have to work out of them to make the playoffs but they'll be more competitive and I'd expect at least a respectable push towards the 8th seed this year.

Miami is a question mark to me. They had career years from journeyman in Dion Waiters & James Johnson. Are those guys capable of duplicating that level of play going forward? Justise Winslow is at a crossroads. Kelly Olynyk will be interesting for them but I don't think it moves the needle. Miami isn't as good as their run in the middle of last year and not as bad as they were at the beginning.

I guess maybe I should have used green font....?

Then again, I did stimulate you to a team by team analysis!

[HoopsMalone]

49-33, but...


I've got you guys as the 2nd best team in the Eastern Conference in terms of playoff strength (behind Cleveland) but if Isaiah can't play it's a very winnable series.

Your depth was an absolute nightmare last year and a slight uptick to "not completely inept" makes a big difference.

I think Boston got weaker and the Wiz would have defeated them last year if not for the Morris injury.

Toronto is a regular season team.

In all honesty I think Charlotte is the most likely non-Cleveland team to beat you in the playoffs. Their starting 5 is statistically one of the best units in the game and can hang with Washington's closely enough that their improved depth could be the equalizer.

But realistically, barring injuries this is the Wizards year to make noise. Unfortunately I can't see them being competitive with golden State or SAS.

GSW could probably sustain an injury to their big 4 and still matchup well with the wizards


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[Dat2U]

Every other team in the East has improved, & we've gotten worse. But, it's all chance anyway, so I predict 62 wins.

(Can we do this thread for real when the season is closer?)

Did every other team really improve? I don't know how you can see it that way. I know you think Cleveland won the Boston trade so Boston improved too? Did Cleveland get better immediately despite probably not having Isaiah Thomas for a good chunk of the season? Will they play Jae Crowder at PG?

Did Toronto improve in spite of losing Patrick Patterson, PJ Tucker & Cory Joseph and adding only CJ Miles? Did Indiana improve despite losing Paul George? How about Atlanta despite losing Paul Millsap & Dwight Howard? Will Chicago be better without Jimmy Butler and your boy Rajon Rondo? What about Detroit by swapping out both Marcus Morris & Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and only getting Avery Bradley back?

Milwaukee will be better with further development by Giannis Antetokounmpo & a full season of Khris Middleton. Jabari Parker may or may not help depending on his willingness to play D.

Charlotte looks to have improved simply by having Dwight Howard & Cody Zeller eat all of the C minutes. Still don't love the lack of offensive skill and shooting but they'll be formidable.

Philly has definitely improved but they are counting on two rookies not to mention the health of Joel Embiid. Everything would have to work out of them to make the playoffs but they'll be more competitive and I'd expect at least a respectable push towards the 8th seed this year.

Miami is a question mark to me. They had career years from journeyman in Dion Waiters & James Johnson. Are those guys capable of duplicating that level of play going forward? Justise Winslow is at a crossroads. Kelly Olynyk will be interesting for them but I don't think it moves the needle. Miami isn't as good as their run in the middle of last year and not as bad as they were at the beginning.

I guess maybe I should have used green font....?

Then again, I did stimulate you to a team by team analysis!

Lol I was probably in one of my moods lol. So what are your real thoughts on the rest of the East? I'd love to know.

[NatP4]

I can't see them winning 50 games with the bench they are going to be using. it's not like Sloan/Frazier/Meeks/Scott are going to magically turn into impact subs.

on the other hand, Mahinmi could be somewhat healthy, Satoranksy could become an impact sub, Oubre could make the leap and Brooks could commit to playing small ball and they could win 60 games and get the top seed....

i'm gonna go with 49 wins

[FAH1223]

45 wins.... with #45 being retired in the rafters

[MikeTheKid]

47 wins

[diaboliQ_Mo]

IIRC, 2 yrs ago I said 52 wins and at the end of the season felt real miserable. But I still do it this year. Fifty effing two wins!

[closg00]

If Bron does leave for the Lakers in 2018, Holy Shyt, we can contend for the East at-least.

[dangermouse]

If Bron does leave for the Lakers in 2018, Holy Shyt, we can contend for the East at-least.

Barring teams like Milwaukee improving, or another super team forming somehow, you'd have to like our chances of being a perrenial ECF team and possible Finals team.

[CobraCommander]

52 wins... i would go more but I'm worried about Miami and Philly

[payitforward]

Did every other team really improve? I don't know how you can see it that way. I know you think Cleveland won the Boston trade so Boston improved too? Did Cleveland get better immediately despite probably not having Isaiah Thomas for a good chunk of the season? Will they play Jae Crowder at PG?

Did Toronto improve in spite of losing Patrick Patterson, PJ Tucker & Cory Joseph and adding only CJ Miles? Did Indiana improve despite losing Paul George? How about Atlanta despite losing Paul Millsap & Dwight Howard? Will Chicago be better without Jimmy Butler and your boy Rajon Rondo? What about Detroit by swapping out both Marcus Morris & Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and only getting Avery Bradley back?

Milwaukee will be better with further development by Giannis Antetokounmpo & a full season of Khris Middleton. Jabari Parker may or may not help depending on his willingness to play D.

Charlotte looks to have improved simply by having Dwight Howard & Cody Zeller eat all of the C minutes. Still don't love the lack of offensive skill and shooting but they'll be formidable.

Philly has definitely improved but they are counting on two rookies not to mention the health of Joel Embiid. Everything would have to work out of them to make the playoffs but they'll be more competitive and I'd expect at least a respectable push towards the 8th seed this year.

Miami is a question mark to me. They had career years from journeyman in Dion Waiters & James Johnson. Are those guys capable of duplicating that level of play going forward? Justise Winslow is at a crossroads. Kelly Olynyk will be interesting for them but I don't think it moves the needle. Miami isn't as good as their run in the middle of last year and not as bad as they were at the beginning.

I guess maybe I should have used green font....?

Then again, I did stimulate you to a team by team analysis!

Lol I was probably in one of my moods lol. So what are your real thoughts on the rest of the East? I'd love to know.

The East looks pretty awful, doesn't it?

I think Cleveland will be better; I think Boston will be worse. Chicago is down the drain. Philly could be surprising if 1 or more of the young'uns takes hold, & both Amir Johnson & Redick are at their last year levels.

For Toronto to stay where it was, the young kids will have to step up, Noguiera in particular. Signing Ibaka at a huge salary was an idiotic decision.

Atlanta looks awful. The Pacers can't possibly be as good as last year. The Knicks could actually improve -- but not enough.

The Bucks, Hornets, Pistons & Heat should improve over last year.

We have a shot at the ECFs -- not b/c we're so good, but b/c everyone else is so bad.

[Meliorus]

52 wins... i would go more but I'm worried about Miami and Philly

Miami yes, Philly no. Fultz is gonna be one of the most net negative players (on high usage) in the league.

[europeanfan]

There's 2 main variables : Mahinmi's health/form and Kelly Oubre's progression

If Mahinmi is healthy and Oubre take advantage of the Morris injury to take a step forward then : 56 wins.

If same old thing as last year then probably 46 wins (last season had some amazing but "lucky" comebacks that could have gone either way).

I'll take the average of the 2 : 51 wins. But in my heart I stopped trusting Brooks so...

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Now that we have "the Cat" for the seventh of his nine lives, I may have to revise up my win prediction.

I'm with PIF. 83 wins

[montestewart]

Should we this thread as the official prediction thread, or start an "Official" thread? We should start compiling predictions soon.

[queridiculo]

Not really sure what to make of this team yet.

I'm waffling somewhere between 42 and 52 wins, but a lot of it will depend on how the Wizards start out of the gate and whether they'll be able to avoid the injury bug once more.

Meeks is scorching hot right now and if he can bottle up some of the preseason heat for the season Washington may finally have the spark of the bench that they've been lacking for the past few seasons.

Given the lack of alternatives being without Morris to start things off is going to be a challenge but it might just force Porter into the 4 role much sooner than I had anticipated for him so that's a plus.

I've been on the pessimistic side the past few years so put me down for 52-30 and the 2nd seed in the East.

[montestewart]

OK, dckingsfan usually does this, but to get this rolling, here's an initial prediction list. I'll double check/update this evening. Some of the predictions looked a little facetious or waffled between two totals, so I didn't record them. Make sure to check what I recorded or update before the season starts. If you're revising a prediction, try to note that in the post so I don't put you down for multiple predictions.

54 - Wizardspride
53 - dangermouse
52 - MOrgil, diaboliQ_Mo, CobraCommander, queridiculo
51 - J-Ves, europeanfan
50 - Sluggerface, Tricky_Kid
49 - HoopsMalone, NatP4
48 - CCJ
47 - MikeTheKid
45 - FAH1223
42 - long suffrin' boulez fan

[Mojo Amok]

I'm chiseling 52 wins in the slate based on chemistry, continuity and the more questionable prospect of enough guys on the bench putting things together for that to not be a calamity like it was last year.

A sober top down examination of the individual bench pieces isn't overly flattering, but I'm projecting based on a decent bit of scrap and there's enough guys with a shot at performing that the odds of a few of them actually doing so looks respectable. Satoransky, Meeks and Oubre in particular have looked good to me in preseason for assorted reasons. Mahinmi hasn't looked great in games, but he's lean and I have a fair bit of faith in a healthy Yawn.

Satornasky pulling off a modestly below average offensive season is actually a pretty good rotation player when accounting for his defense, so long as he isn't a total liability spotting up. Meeks easily looks poised to match some of the better seasons he's had. Oubre has seemed to just constantly be around the ball in preseason and looks like a legit breakout threat, but even if he doesn't outright take it to another level, there doesn't seem to be any chance for anything less than incremental improvement.

Overall it could be a decent bench, but with the backup forward slots looking questionable right now. Ideally, Oubre wins a starting slot and Morris gets to drop the jailhouse rock on backups when he comes back.

I don't see any way that they register a top 5 offense given the competition, but they were 7th last year in ORTG and the defense certainly has the potential to be better than 19th. If they could pull off the 6th to 8th rated offense and then maybe 12th or so defensively that should be good for low 50's in wins.

[JWizmentality]

53 wins. They should at least manage that in this conference.

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