2021-2022 Playoff Predictions

[ebrian]

Wow I'm really liking the optimism for the Raptors. I hope I'm wrong but here's my list:

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

1. Utah
2. Phoenix
3. Golden State
4. Lakers
5. Denver
6. Dallas
7. Portland
8. Minnesota
9. Clippers
10. Memphis
11. New Orleans
12. OKC
13. San Antonio
14. Houston
15. Sacramento

[The Great One]

Patrick Williams is an intriguing 2-way player and does looks like a guy who could break out. Wasn't really paying attention to him until T-Rex started hyping him up, so I followed him in Summer League this year and he's got some Kawhi'esqe-ness to his game.

I've been sayin it since last year that the closest thing to Kawhi is Pat Williams.

I can tell that some here are not familiar with the Bulls. Their 2nd and 3rd best players last year were Thad Young and Coby freakin White. They would've easily made the playoffs last year if Zach didn't get Covid and missed 3 whatever weeks. Now they have Vucevic, DeRozan, Ball and sophomore Pat Williams.

[The Great One]

Bulls have some sneaky good players. Patrick Williams will be a great role player (he's hurt right now). But he's got a little Barnes in his game.

Pat Williams and Scottie Barnes are two completely different players. Their game is so different. The only similarities they have is they both came from FSU. If Williams reaches his potential he's going to be a major star.

[GOLDBLUM]

I thikn we could possibly beat the bulls in a 7 gamer at full strength.

Bold statement.

[TrueTorontoFan]

Bulls is a regular season team, it’s not like Derozan just woke up and learn how to play defense and shoot threes. He will be playing a position (SG/ SF) assigned to guard the likes of Jalen Brown, Jimmy Butler, Middleton, James Harden LMAO. Unless Billy Donovan would hide him like all the coaches who coached him before guarding a lesser talented player.

On the flip side of that, he would once again have nightmares playing back in the East, be guarded by his arch nemesis Jalen and Jimmy

Lol

I thikn we could possibly beat the bulls in a 7 gamer at full strength.

[TrueTorontoFan]

waaaay too early.

[The Claw Reborn]

Even the Hall of Famer Coach can transform him to be a decent defender….Pop had him guarding a tier 3 player….lol

[The Claw Reborn]

Bulls is a regular season team, it’s not like Derozan just woke up and learn how to play defense and shoot threes. He will be playing a position (SG/ SF) assigned to guard the likes of Jalen Brown, Jimmy Butler, Middleton, James Harden LMAO. Unless Billy Donovan would hide him like all the coaches who coached him before guarding a lesser talented player.

On the flip side of that, he would once again have nightmares playing back in the East, be guarded by his arch nemesis Jalen and Jimmy

Lol

[golden]

Bulls have some sneaky good players. Patrick Williams will be a great role player (he's hurt right now). But he's got a little Barnes in his game. Caruso is overrated because of the Lakers, but he's still pretty good. Really good defender.

Vooch, DeMar and LaVine are elite scorers but poor defenders. But collectively could do well. They have the talent and depth to get to the top of the East, at least in the regular season. It's the playoffs where they might struggle because you can game plan against their lack of defense.

This season will be fun. So much parity in the East. I could see a good team not making the playoffs. Like the Celtics or the 76ers.

Patrick Williams is an intriguing 2-way player and does looks like a guy who could break out. Wasn't really paying attention to him until T-Rex started hyping him up, so I followed him in Summer League this year and he's got some Kawhi'esqe-ness to his game.

[planetmars]

Bulls have some sneaky good players. Patrick Williams will be a great role player (he's hurt right now). But he's got a little Barnes in his game. Caruso is overrated because of the Lakers, but he's still pretty good. Really good defender.

Vooch, DeMar and LaVine are elite scorers but poor defenders. But collectively could do well. They have the talent and depth to get to the top of the East, at least in the regular season. It's the playoffs where they might struggle because you can game plan against their lack of defense.

This season will be fun. So much parity in the East. I could see a good team not making the playoffs. Like the Celtics or the 76ers.

[S.R.]

TBH, I'm not sold on the Bulls roster construction and fit. Lavine and DeRozan are too much duplication and high-usage, and then when you toss in Vucevic. Not exactly sure how that offense is going to work against teams other than the Cavs. Not sure if they have enough reliable 3-pt shooting to space the floor. Also, most people feel they won't be able to defend a chair and have little versatility on that end.

And I totally agree with your Billy Donovan assessment. If not for CP3 landing in OKC, Billy Donovan would be back in college. The man had elite talent to work with and left that organization in a place where feel they have to shamelessly tank to rebuild.

I'd peg them at ~40-45 wins depending on how the team gels and injuries. Feels like a "B-list" name recognition team that BC would put together.

Nah, that Bulls team is better than any Raptors team BC put together. Vooch and Lavine are current All-Stars, DeRozan is a 31 year old 4x All-Star (and producing better than he did in most of his AS years, look it up), and Ball is a very good 23 year old guard who keeps improving.

The BC version would be one of these guys, a couple overpaid vets nowhere near this level, a couple Euro players we hadn't heard of, and a bunch of other scraps. He never pulled together 3-4 guys at this level on the same team. The best BC team (06-07, 47 wins) had one All-Star and a bunch of spare parts. That was BC's first full season and his peak with the Raptors as far as single season results. Damn, we talked ourselves into a lot of shitty rosters in that era.

Bulls aren't the sexy pick in the analytics era but they'll win games anyway. It is a list of B level stars though, it's kind of funny.

[golden]

And then you doubled down on bad faith arguments by comparing to a team that tanked with covid and every game on the road. Also, I never said Pascal and FVV are great. They're not. Lavine might be a great SCORER. But he isn't a great player.

Anyway, this is the year, right? He's surrounded by former all stars and good young players. This is the year where I will surely eat crow, if he's as good as you guys say.

TBH, I'm not sold on the Bulls roster construction and fit. Lavine and DeRozan are too much duplication and high-usage, and then when you toss in Vucevic. Not exactly sure how that offense is going to work against teams other than the Cavs. Not sure if they have enough reliable 3-pt shooting to space the floor. Also, most people feel they won't be able to defend a chair and have little versatility on that end.

And I totally agree with your Billy Donovan assessment. If not for CP3 landing in OKC, Billy Donovan would be back in college. The man had elite talent to work with and left that organization in a place where feel they have to shamelessly tank to rebuild.

I'd peg them at ~40-45 wins depending on how the team gels and injuries. Feels like a "B-list" name recognition team that BC would put together.

[KeonClark]

Not his fault he had to play for 2 joke organizations: not just bad ... next level incompetent. And then there's the whole Jim Boylen era. What do you think Lavine's W-L record looks like if he's drafted by the Raps? Kevin Garnett was a perennial first round exit player and now he's a HoF'er because he left a bad organization.

Worst strawman type of argument there is. I mean, the 35-win Pascal/FVV Raptors era didn't exactly set the NBA on fire last year.

And then you doubled down on bad faith arguments by comparing to a team that tanked with covid and every game on the road. Also, I never said Pascal and FVV are great. They're not. Lavine might be a great SCORER. But he isn't a great player.

Anyway, this is the year, right? He's surrounded by former all stars and good young players. This is the year where I will surely eat crow, if he's as good as you guys say.

[DanH]

I don't think people here realizes how good LaVine is. Dude put up Steph Curry MVP numbers last year.

LaVine was very good, put up a 95th percentile (~ top 20) +3.5 EPM impact last year. Incredible year from him. Top 40 in ESPN's RPM (+2.5). Very good player, especially given his struggles earlier in his career.

Steph Curry in his MVP seasons put up RPMs of +11.4 and +10.9. Last year, Curry put up a +7.2 to lead the league. Absolutely no one puts up "Steph MVP" numbers, let alone LaVine.

[The Great One]

Lavine put up 27.5 PPG on 31% USG with 64% TS%. That's about as great as scoring gets in the NBA.

TBH, Lavine is exactly what this Raptors team needs at SG.

I don't think people here realizes how good LaVine is. Dude put up Steph Curry MVP numbers last year.