Raptors 2014/2015 WINS!!!!

[yabadabayolo]

Damn the east looks strong. This might be the strongest it's ever been in a long time

[octothorp]

I really feel like we stay about the same or a slight drop-off in wins from last year. And honestly, that wouldn't bother me; to me this is going to be a status-quo year where the priority was not taking a step backwards in a difficult free agency season. Now it's all about internal growth and that big chunk of cap space (or expiring trade bait) for next summer.

[raptors999]

1.Bulls- 57 (actual offence options(Nikolic+McDermott) this year+D.Rose+Pau)
2.Pacers-50 (They are talented but prone to dropping if things don't go right at the start)
3.Raptors- 48 (Same solid winning attitude. Bench deeper. Can take out the weak teams consistently. Tougher east)
4.Hawks- 48 (They would have been 3rd last year. Good additions)
5.Cavs-47 (LeBron ++ needs work)
6.Wizards-46 (Pierce + playoff experience)
7.Heat-45 (Asking Bosh to be the man. Good but not great)
8.Hornets-44 (Still building)

Lots of questions

Sounds about right except Bulls winning 55+ ( injuries will hurt) and Heat over Charlotte.

[Jclaw]

There's another thing I may not have taken in to account. We keep mentioning the moves that other teams have made to improve (some big, some small) that may add a few wins to their total. While we have only made small tweaks the big move we made came last year. This team played nearly a quarter of a season last year as the Rudy Gay Raptors. That team lost 2/3rds of their games. The new and improved raptors managed to get to 48 wins even with that start. Sure that may have been a poor start against good teams but we're definitely talking about a new team post trade. That projection alone should offset the fact that we will be playing stronger teams this year. Bring on the 50 wins! By the time I'm done rethinking this, I'm going to be on board with the 82-0 call made earlier.

[GoingBig]

1.Bulls- 57 (actual offence options(Nikolic+McDermott) this year+D.Rose+Pau)
2.Pacers-50 (They are talented but prone to dropping if things don't go right at the start)
3.Raptors- 48 (Same solid winning attitude. Bench deeper. Can take out the weak teams consistently. Tougher east)
4.Hawks- 48 (They would have been 3rd last year. Good additions)
5.Cavs-47 (LeBron ++ needs work)
6.Wizards-46 (Pierce + playoff experience)
7.Heat-45 (Asking Bosh to be the man. Good but not great)
8.Hornets-44 (Still building)

Lots of questions

[ahoang]

So you don't think the Raptors will win their division next season?

I'm hopeful that they will, but I think we're discounting NYK and BK too much, but to be fair I don't see a big gap from 3-8

I think we're underestimating the Eastern conference as a whole, but this could be me worrying about all the moves made by other teams this offseason and not giving us enough credit.

[The Great One]

I don't like this new trend. At the start of last season everybody pegged us as a #8-#10 seed team fighting for the last playoff spot and now it's like we're a lock for the Atlantic division.

Last year was no fluke, but there was a lot going in our favour;a relatively healthy squad, DD and Lowry playing lights out, underachievement from division rivals Knicks/Nets, overall lack of a competitive and balanced conference.

Miami, Indy, Toronto, Chicago, Washington, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Atlanta.
The 8 teams that made the playoffs last year. Outside of Miami, each team has being marginally better or worse.
Cleveland, Detroit, New York, Milwaukee
Teams that missed the playoffs last year, but should be in the playoff mix this year.

Honestly the East is looking like a crap shoot outside of Cleveland.
I hope I'll have to eat my words, but I see us somewhere around 6th seed

So you don't think the Raptors will win their division next season?

[ahoang]

I don't like this new trend. At the start of last season everybody pegged us as a #8-#10 seed team fighting for the last playoff spot and now it's like we're a lock for the Atlantic division.

Last year was no fluke, but there was a lot going in our favour;a relatively healthy squad, DD and Lowry playing lights out, underachievement from division rivals Knicks/Nets, overall lack of a competitive and balanced conference.

Miami, Indy, Toronto, Chicago, Washington, Brooklyn, Charlotte, Atlanta.
The 8 teams that made the playoffs last year. Outside of Miami, each team has being marginally better or worse.
Cleveland, Detroit, New York, Milwaukee
Teams that missed the playoffs last year, but should be in the playoff mix this year.

Honestly the East is looking like a crap shoot outside of Cleveland.
I hope I'll have to eat my words, but I see us somewhere around 6th seed

[mcHAPPY]

I think Hibbert is a bigger question mark than Stephenson.

Roy is mentally weak.

If he comes back like he ended last season, pacers are gone.

If I were Larry bird I'd consider trying to trade for sanders.

Sanders has issues but sulking and a lack of confidence are not two of them.

[white men can't jump]

OMG YES!!!! Like I don't understand why people aren't getting it. Raptors most likely will win their division so they can't be lower than the 4th seed. I think we get fourth seed. You have Chicago and Cleveland the one of Washington, Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami will get third (I say Wizards get it) and then we win our division and get 4th

IT's really hard to judge seeding at the top. At the moment, it seems a central team is most likely to take top seed....but after that?

Chicago, Cleveland and Indiana all have question marks that could cause bumps along the road (especially Indiana at the moment with uncertainty about Stephenson). Still think one of them finishes on top, but maybe one or both of the others struggle more than expected.

Washington, Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami are all good teams, but how good is tough to judge. Washington will probably start the season with worse depth and probably D, but everyone is expecting organic growth from their core. It's hard to know how much better/worse all these teams got. Atlanta looks to be better, but their hot start last year was also when all other teams were shitting the bed. Competition could be tougher from the get go.

In general, this competition aspect makes things fuzzy. Being from the stronger division doesn't make you a better team...After all, teams in the Southeast and Central will be beating up on each other. In the Atlantic though, Toronto could have the chance to beat up on everybody else. So being in the weaker division could help Toronto's record, and being in the stronger divisions could hurt other teams a bit in the standings.

Anyway, think things are pretty wide open. Still think top seed is unlikely for Toronto, but as high as 2nd seems plausible.

[GLF]

The amount of people on this thread that don't understand the concept of division winners is ridiculous.

Chicago, Cleveland and Indiana CAN'T all be top 3 teams. It's actually impossible.

OMG YES!!!! Like I don't understand why people aren't getting it. Raptors most likely will win their division so they can't be lower than the 4th seed. I think we get fourth seed. You have Chicago and Cleveland the one of Washington, Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami will get third (I say Wizards get it) and then we win our division and get 4th

[Sam17]

Too Early to Tell but

1.Cavs-
2.Bulls-
3.Pacers-
4.Wizards-
5.Hawks-
6.Raptor
7.Hornets
8.Heat

Raptors would be 4th in this case cause division winners get a top 4 seed

[Bonus Jonas]

The amount of people on this thread that don't understand the concept of division winners is ridiculous.

Chicago, Cleveland and Indiana CAN'T all be top 3 teams. It's actually impossible.

[Matt.Johnson]

Too Early to Tell but

1.Cavs-
2.Bulls-
3.Pacers-
4.Wizards-
5.Hawks-
6.Raptor
7.Hornets
8.Heat

[imanshumpert]

I think the Raps will likely win around the same amount of games. We got better and deeper but the conference is also stronger now.

People are joking if they have Cleveland winning less than 50 games. This is LeBron we're talking about. While developing chemistry will be an issue. He won 61 games in 2009-10 with Mo Williams, Hickson, Andy V and an oft-injured, 37 year old Shaq.

I have Cleveland as the #1 seed if Rose isn't healthy. Indiana will take a step back with Lance gone.