The 2015/16 Eastern Conference Predictions Thread

[RepTdot]

too early predictions:

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Atlanta
4. Toronto (Div winner again)
5. Miami
6. Milwaukee
7. Washington
8. Indiana (Paul George affect)
9. Boston
10. Detroit
11. Brooklyn
12. Charlotte
13. Orlando
14. NY
15. Philly

[Euro Slow Car]

*Beep beep*

Uros's picks are in. He sees the East shaking out as follows...

1. Krka
2. Zlatorog Laško
3. Maribor Nova KBM
4. Helios Suns Domžale

...but says there's no way Krka or any of the EC teams are taking out Šentjur (Tajfun). His explanation: "Too many lousy Croats on Krka. This no good, no good."

While I can't say I condone what can most generously be described as ethnocentrism underlying this prediction, readers should know that Uros is right about these things more often than he's wrong. Putting your Euros on anyone other than Krka in the East and Šentjur (Tajfun) for the Slovenian title is basically throwing your Euros away. Uros never throws away his Euros!

*Vrooooooooooooooom*

*Beep beep*

Uros has revised his earlier prediction, having just texted me the following: "Helios has accelerated its rebuild with the signing of Croatian Marjan Cakurin. For those who don't "govorijo slovensko" (editor's note: that's Slovenian for "speak Slovenian"), Cakurin last rocked it in Karko, where averaged 15.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 33 Croatian A-1 league games. I've got Helios finishing second in the East now, and I'm getting some nice action on this in Maribor. (editor's note: Maribor is to Slovenia what Vegas is to America)

Call your bookies quickly, folks, and change those bets! Uros is rarely wrong!

*Vrooooooooooooom*

[MixxAOR]

too early predictions:

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Atlanta
4. Toronto (Div winner again)
5. Miami
6. Milwaukee
7. Washington
8. Indiana (Paul George affect)
9. Boston
10. Detroit
11. Brooklyn
12. Charlotte
13. Orlando
14. NY
15. Philly

Divisions don't matter anymore.

[raptors999]

Divisions don't matter anymore.

Except when betting in Slovenia

[BrydenB]

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Atlanta
4. Washington
5. Miami
6. Toronto
7. Milwaukee
8. Indiana
9. Boston
10. Detroit
11. Brooklyn
12. Charlotte
13. Orlando
14. NY
15. Philly

[Cody73]

My list (I'm ready for the hate, guys)

1. Cleveland (Beast of the East)

2. Chicago (Slow start, strong finish)

3. Toronto (New depth, but not enough to put us elite yet)

4. Milwaukee (Monroe and healthy Parker tear it up)

5. Atlanta (Depth is now all on guards, and is Thabo new starter?)

6. Washington (Dudley is a great add, but not enough)

7. Miami (Bosh and who else?)

8. Boston (Still needs time)

9. Indiana (Will be fighting, but just miss.)

10. Orlando (Sleepers.... but still need time ala Celts)

11. Charlotte (None of the moves they make work, and the whole team suffers)

12. Detroit (SVG could be looking at coaching elsewhere shortly)

13. Brooklyn (Fall off a cliff and finally begin a rebuild)

14. New York (Nice new additons, but no bench)

15. Philadelphia (MUST TANK FOR MORE BIGS. NEED ALL 5 CENTER LINEUP)

[raptors999]

Orlando may surprise. They've been under performers but with Skiles they'll win games. Everyone will eventually quit on him but they'll win games

[JawsGT]

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Atlanta
4. Washington
5. Miami
6. Toronto
7. Milwaukee
8. Indiana
9. Boston
10. Detroit
11. Brooklyn
12. Charlotte
13. Orlando
14. NY
15. Philly

I like this list. The Miami, Toronto, Milwaukee, Washington group will be tight IMO, and any could slot in the 4-7 range. It will be interesting to see how Chicago and Atlanta cope with the changes they've made. Chicago with coaching obviously, and Atlanta with Splitter at C, Horford finally playing PF, and Millsap at the 3 i guess.

[Mapko]

Mine:

1. Cleveland (will have the full squad back plus Mo Williams for additional guard depth)
2. Miami (Chris Bosh's blood clot cost them probably 6-7 games alone last year - and they've added Dragic, Winslow, and Gerald Green, and may well trade for more from Denver)
3. Toronto (we added playmaking, defense and perimeter shooting in gobs via free agency while not losing anything terribly dramatic)
4. Chicago (they are still Chicago, but I think Hoiberg will need a season to really become a true NBA-level coach)
5. Washington (added shooting and defense, which is what they needed)
6. Milwaukee (not quite ready to make the leap - but very close)
7. Atlanta (still a good team, but Tiago Splitter doesn't address their rebounding needs greatly enough, the Tim Hardaway trade is questionable, and the loss of Carroll hurts them a lot)
8. Boston (were a good defensive team, and just added much more credible bigs - weak draft, though)
9. Charlotte (if there's a team that jumps up into the playoffs unexpectedly, it's them)
10. New York (made smart signings for good players at decent value - but it's not enough and the triangle isn't gonna work)
11. Indiana (will need at least one season to truly become the new, smaller team they are now - but should start contending again sooner rather than later)
12. Orlando (will become better defenders under Scott Skiles; still need scoring and don't have nearly enough)
13. Detroit (SVG needs to work dark magic to make these guys contend)
14. Brooklyn (this is the season where this team just collapses)
15. Philadelphia (still in rebuild)

I'm more or less OK with top 8, though I would not be shocked if 1 of Orlando or Detroit does not sneak in top 8 (likely at the expense of Boston).
Miami at 2? You are kidding? Bosh is best at leading his teams deep in playoffs or championship iff he has good side kicks (Like Lebron or Wade). I'm sorry, but this Wade & Dragic are not quite as good.
Miami was out of playoff picture (in lousy East) earlier in season when most of East was bad with healthy Bosh.
As for Raps -3 seems a bit to optimistic with number of changes. Once Masai "steals" us a new PF (I'm confident by start of the season), anything goes.

[milesbudokai]

Rough prediction of potential win ranges against other Eastern teams:

Cleveland 1-3 to 0-4
Miami 2-2 to 1-3
Chicago 3-1 to 1-3
Washington 3-1 to 2-2
Milwaukee 3-1 to 2-2
Atlanta 4-0 to 3-1
Boston 4-0 to 2-2
Charlotte 3-1 to 2-2
New York 4-0 to 2-2
Indiana 4-0 to 3-1
Orlando 4-0 to 3-1
Detroit 4-0 to 3-1
Brooklyn 4-0 to 3-1
Philly 4-0 to 4-0

After dividing down to 52 games against the East (since we'll only play three games against some of the non-Atlantic teams), that's a range of 44 wins (high end) to 28 wins (low end) against the East. (It's probably a bit higher than that since we're guaranteed to play four games against all of the Atlantic division teams, who are generally worse.) If you want to split the difference and assume the middle range, that's 36 wins against the East. At that point we would only need 14 wins against the West (out of 30) to hit 50 wins.

Anybody saying "we're a .500 team at best this year" is being overly pessimistic. We have better perimeter defense and better perimeter shooting, which were two of our biggest issues last year, and we still stack up favourably against most of the East.

We're not going 4-0 against Indiana, Atlanta or Boston. Detroit is also much better and Milwaukee will give DD and Lowry fits all year with their length. They have so much versatility on their roster. I see us winning around 30 games in the East and and 16 games against the West. Our identity of DD and Lowry being the "guys" hasn't changed and they'll still shoot 40% FG. Our bench has also weakened considering we're now relying on Ross to be our sixth man. 46-36 record 6th in the East and a first round out against Chicago/Miami is my prediction

[YoungGunRaptor]

1) Cleveland
2) Chicago
3) Miami (if starting 5 stay healthy)
4) Toronto
5) Washington
6) Milwaukee
7) Atlanta
8) Orlando/Detroit
9)Brooklyn/Detroit


Wont even bother with the rest. I hope NY is 15th though lol

[ebrian]

Here's mine, late to the game as always:

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Miami
4. Atlanta
5. Washington
6. Toronto
7. Milwaukee
8. Boston

9. Orlando
10. Charlotte
11. Indiana
12. Detroit
13. Philadelphia
14. Brooklyn
15. New York

[Cody73]

All of you.


We can't finish lower than fourth if we win our division.

[raptors999]

All of you.


We can't finish lower than fourth if we win our division.

they changed that rule, didnt they?

[MACK11]

All of you.


We can't finish lower than fourth if we win our division.

Not anymore