Spurs will be better than Kings and Pelicans. Spurs will be top 10 defense this year. And that wins games.
1. Lakers
2. Suns
3. Nuggets
4. Jazz
5. Blazers
6. Warriors
7. Mavericks
8. Clippers
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9. Grizzlies
10. Kings
11. Pelicans
12. T-Wolves
13. Spurs
14. Thunder
15. Rockets
Spurs will be in the 20-29 win range imho. I'm thinking 26-56
Spurs will be better than Kings and Pelicans. Spurs will be top 10 defense this year. And that wins games.
I see them bottom 5 in offense however unless DJ, White or Keldon all bring some new junk to their offensive games.
I say about the same as last year. We’ll make the play-in tournament (will there still be one?) but miss the playoffs.
Just enough wins to get Pop his record and not one more.
Exactly. We have no idea if he'll keep his word in the interview saying "Lonnie, White, DJ, Devin" will all play -i'm paraphrasing. He is certainly inferring they will all start and see decent minutes. Also that the ball will not stick. It was his offense that had Aldridge and Derozan hogging the ball so he has zero cred. 2014s offense was designed by Duncan, not Grandpa.
If he does stay out of the way and Spurs run, i fully believe .500+ is possible.
Put it this way. Kings were 30th in defense last year.
It’s hard to see us be worse than Minn, OKC, Houston, and Sacto. So like 12th in the West? And there will be 4 teams worse than us easy in the East. Toronto, Orlando, Detroit, Cleveland. Puts us at the 10th pick
Best case scenario is the Wolves youth actually learn how to play ball, but they are led by Towns so that’s nothing to bet on. Also Sacto is gonna have to get their together and Fox has a break out year. So 8th pick at best.
**edit** I can’t addbut you get the point I’m trying to make
Yes. But they could be competing utmost for the play-in if White and Murray are healthy throughout.
I think the 32 wins Dex threw out there is a good over/under number.
I’ll have to check where Vegas has us.
One thing is for sure, we’ll be the whitest team in the league.
One thing is for sure, we’ll be the whitest team in the league.
No team trying to win games in the Tanking Era will ever win only 10:games.
Vegas only cares about evening out the bets so that the losers pay the winners. Put it this way: millions of casuals dropping their hard earned ducats on bets determine the Vegas line. BSPN has pretty much conditioned them to disregard the Spurs. I’d take The Vegas line, and add maybe 20% more wins to account for the re ed casual fan bias. If the Vegas line were to be 32, I’d expect another 6 or 7 wins.
Good piece by Zach Lowe - https://www.espn.in/nba/insider/stor...-spurs-go-here .. He thinks that the Spurs' defense would be their trump card. If they are really good (Top 5ish), they will fight for the play-in, anything less would result in positioning for the upper lottery. I suspect they will be in the 10-12 conversation again this year and if White breaks out even further, will be in the play-in.
That is about the way it should turn out unless the Thunder and the Rockets stop tanking and try to improve. Both teams have players that are better than our best players, at least as of last year. But they get tanking to get superstars and playing young and unseasoned players lots of minutes is the best way to make the team compe ive in the future. I see them partially tanking. As for Grizzlies, Kings, Pelicans, and T-wolves, barring injuries, they should be ashamed of themselves if the Spurs leapfrog them with this roster and make the playin or the 8th seed. And the Kings should lose a draft pick or be forced to pick the last pick in the first round if they end up in the lottery yet again.
Each of those lottery teams listed ahead of us will have their realization, and then tank hard once it’s apparent that they won’t make the playoffs. The spurs will, at the minimum, make the play in, simply because no other teams want to.
Oh, and the Blazers are rated way too high. They are as flawed a concept as the mid-range Spurs. Going nowhere powered by two small guards.
I agree. They make the playoffs, but they are closer to a 7th or 8th seed. Mavs probably pass them and the Warriors definitely pass them. Jazz have the best record with an early playoff exit. Nuggets are the best team and I predict they make the finals. Suns also drop to 3rd. I see the regular season end: Jazz then Nuggets, then Suns, then Lakers, Warriors, Mavericks, Blazers, and Clippers. Jazz are built to win in the regular season because they have a deep bench. Nuggets have the most talent in my opinion, when everyone is healthy. Suns, Lakers, and Warriors likely have the most variability where they could end interchangably, but I think 3-5 will be how they end up in some order. The Mavs just don't have the talent outside of Luka to better than 6th. Blazers aren't that good, but better than Kawhi-less Clippers, though I anticipate that Kawhi will be back before the playoffs making the Clippers a dangerous first round team and ensuring they make the playoffs.
Hoping for lots of Forbes DNPs.
I don't have ESPN Insider so I couldn't read that entire Lowe article-- why does he think they have a shot at a top 5 defense? McDermott replaces DeRozan as one of the very few guys who might actually make the D worse, and Walker, KJ, and Forbes still rate as negative defenders... I just don't see it.
I agree with this, these Spurs will finish with a better record than last year. My hope, like many of us, is we see at least a watered down version of the “beautiful game”, maybe call it the “beer goggle game”
I don't see the defense being good enough when there's probably 40-50 minutes a game of Forbes and McDermott. Two of the worst in the league with Forbes possibly worst of all.
Walker and Johnson aren't that great either. And while Vassell is good, how many minutes could be get with Forbes and McDermott around?
I couldn't read it either, but Murray, White, Vassell, Samanic and Poeltl could be the best defensive 5 in the league (they would need to work on their spacing on offense). But Forbes, McDermott and Walker as backups are 3 of the 6 worst defenders in the league according to RAPTOR.
It's hard to project, since the Spurs will almost certainly make at least one trade. They are not nearly as talented as they were last year, so they should be expected to lose more games, but they'll likely be in the 30s if they keep Thad.
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