Author Topic: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction  (Read 1469 times)

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Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« on: July 21, 2018, 02:23:21 PM »

Offline Chef Parish

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Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2018, 02:49:21 PM »

Offline greece66

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2018, 08:22:29 AM »

Offline Surferdad

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
Agreed on both points.

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2018, 09:12:07 AM »

Offline tazzmaniac

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers. 

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2018, 09:49:03 AM »

Offline greece66

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers.

Toronto had 7 wins more than Philly last season, and they just got Leonard and D. Green for DeRozan. Don't you expect the gap to get even greater?


Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2018, 09:49:53 AM »

Offline Erik

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He has another article where he ranks the top 10 players in the east and Ben Simmons is #5 smh. I don’t know how these people can do this with a straight keyboard.

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2018, 09:55:00 AM »

Offline Surferdad

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers.

Toronto had 7 wins more than Philly last season, and they just got Leonard and D. Green for DeRozan. Don't you expect the gap to get even greater?
Yup, and I think tazz is under-rating the value of Toronto's deeper bench.  That alone will help them get more regular season wins which improves the odds of therm having more homecourt advantage than Philly in the playoffs.  Then figure in injuries (Philly was somewhat fragile the past 2 seasons) and that bench is going to be really valuable.

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2018, 10:41:43 AM »

Offline tazzmaniac

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers.

Toronto had 7 wins more than Philly last season, and they just got Leonard and D. Green for DeRozan. Don't you expect the gap to get even greater?
Yup, and I think tazz is under-rating the value of Toronto's deeper bench.  That alone will help them get more regular season wins which improves the odds of therm having more homecourt advantage than Philly in the playoffs.  Then figure in injuries (Philly was somewhat fragile the past 2 seasons) and that bench is going to be really valuable.
Putting aside the questions of his recovery from his current injury, Leonard isn't a paragon of health.  He's played 1 more season than AD but actually played a few less games.  Green isn't that good and he, Ibaka and Lowry, to an extent, are on the decline.  They also have a new head coach who hasn't been an NBA head coach before.  I also don't think people are factoring in growth for the Sixers young players.  I do think Toronto will finish with around 5 more wins during the regular season due to their deeper roster but I think the Sixers may be the better playoff team.  The Raptors don't have an answer for Embiid whereas the Sixers can throw Covington, Simmons and Chandler at Leonard. 

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2018, 10:43:35 AM »

Online Moranis

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers.

Toronto had 7 wins more than Philly last season, and they just got Leonard and D. Green for DeRozan. Don't you expect the gap to get even greater?
I believe Toronto is better than Philadelphia as well, however I don't think the gap is necessarily all that large as I fully expect the Sixers players to all improve and don't expect much improvement from the Raptors aside from a few bench players (like OG).  In addition they have a first time new head coach.  On the other hand, Simmons, Embiid, and Saric are all going to get better.  If Fultz figures it out and starts at "PG" (which is a real possibility), he will also get a lot better.  Covington should remain about the same and even if Redick regresses a bit he will still be able to shoot.  If Covington is in fact moved to the bench, he would be the best bench player on either team.  Chandler is easily a better addition than Green.  The Sixers still have nice depth on their bench as well because along with Covington and Chandler they still have McConnell, Johnson, Korkmaz, and added Smith, Shamet, Bolden, and Muscala.

Toronto on the other hand has an entire starting lineup that has already reached it peak and guys like Lowry, Ibaka, and Green have already starting to regress.  Valanciunas is what he is and then you have Leonard who is returning from injury.  Assuming he is back to full health and engaged, he is obviously a big improvement over DeRozan, but this notion that the Raptors are significantly better than the Sixers seems strange to me.  At least during the regular season when the old guys can't show up every night and veterans often lose interest.  Now in the playoffs when you have the best player in the series and guys like Lowry can show up more consistently I'd favor the Raptors, though it wouldn't shock me if they lost to the Sixers.

EDIT: what tazz said.
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Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2018, 12:04:55 PM »

Offline celticsclay

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
Agreed on both points.

Same here. The raptors getting smoked by Cleveland has really led to them being undervalued on here. Ironically the 76ers getting a gentlemens sweet at the hands of our team missing its two best players seems to have been wiped from a lot of posters memory

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2018, 02:23:25 PM »

Offline hwangjini_1

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers.

Toronto had 7 wins more than Philly last season, and they just got Leonard and D. Green for DeRozan. Don't you expect the gap to get even greater?
Yup, and I think tazz is under-rating the value of Toronto's deeper bench.  That alone will help them get more regular season wins which improves the odds of therm having more homecourt advantage than Philly in the playoffs.  Then figure in injuries (Philly was somewhat fragile the past 2 seasons) and that bench is going to be really valuable.
Putting aside the questions of his recovery from his current injury, Leonard isn't a paragon of health.  He's played 1 more season than AD but actually played a few less games.  Green isn't that good and he, Ibaka and Lowry, to an extent, are on the decline.  They also have a new head coach who hasn't been an NBA head coach before.  I also don't think people are factoring in growth for the Sixers young players.  I do think Toronto will finish with around 5 more wins during the regular season due to their deeper roster but I think the Sixers may be the better playoff team.  The Raptors don't have an answer for Embiid whereas the Sixers can throw Covington, Simmons and Chandler at Leonard.
your central position here seems to be that kawhi's health is a question mark, hence philly has an edge.

yet, as stated it seemed to be an incomplete argument. if you can cast doubt on the health of kahwi, you can certainly raise questions on the health and durability of embiid (63 games last year) perhaps even simmmons. and fultz?

nor does your argument refute the points brought up by other posters concerning the gains by toronto and the losses of personnel by philly.

i see toronto as the better team. so, now let's wait and see.  ;D
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Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #11 on: July 22, 2018, 10:23:25 PM »

Offline bellerephon

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I think too many people are looking past Toronto around here. They have been pretty good for years, it was always Lebron that they couldn't get past. They are probably better now with Leonard, and with Lebron out west they have as good a chance as anyone of getting to the finals. I think the Celts are better, but it's not crazy to think the Raptors can make a run to the finals.

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2018, 12:13:58 AM »

Offline tazzmaniac

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers.

Toronto had 7 wins more than Philly last season, and they just got Leonard and D. Green for DeRozan. Don't you expect the gap to get even greater?
Yup, and I think tazz is under-rating the value of Toronto's deeper bench.  That alone will help them get more regular season wins which improves the odds of therm having more homecourt advantage than Philly in the playoffs.  Then figure in injuries (Philly was somewhat fragile the past 2 seasons) and that bench is going to be really valuable.
Putting aside the questions of his recovery from his current injury, Leonard isn't a paragon of health.  He's played 1 more season than AD but actually played a few less games.  Green isn't that good and he, Ibaka and Lowry, to an extent, are on the decline.  They also have a new head coach who hasn't been an NBA head coach before.  I also don't think people are factoring in growth for the Sixers young players.  I do think Toronto will finish with around 5 more wins during the regular season due to their deeper roster but I think the Sixers may be the better playoff team.  The Raptors don't have an answer for Embiid whereas the Sixers can throw Covington, Simmons and Chandler at Leonard.
your central position here seems to be that kawhi's health is a question mark, hence philly has an edge.

yet, as stated it seemed to be an incomplete argument. if you can cast doubt on the health of kahwi, you can certainly raise questions on the health and durability of embiid (63 games last year) perhaps even simmmons. and fultz?

nor does your argument refute the points brought up by other posters concerning the gains by toronto and the losses of personnel by philly.

i see toronto as the better team. so, now let's wait and see.  ;D
My central position is that I think the Sixers starting 5 is better than the Raptors starting 5.  I think the Raptors will finish 2nd in the regular season due to their better, deeper bench.  However in the playoffs I think the Sixers may have the edge.  How are the Raptors going to defend Embiid? 

Re: Sportskeeda: East Race Prediction
« Reply #13 on: July 23, 2018, 01:09:26 AM »

Offline gouki88

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Interesting post.


IMO Hornets at 7 is a tad optimistic.


But my greater disagreement is Toronto at 3 and Philly at 2. Toronto has a significantly better roster.
I have Toronto at 2 but just slightly.  How does Toronto have a significantly better roster? 
From a starting lineup perspective, I'm taking the Sixers.  Their starting 5 had the best net rating in the league.  Embiid will feast on Valanciunas and whoever the Raptors backup C will be.  The Toronto bench should be better and deeper.  In the playoffs when the rotations shorten, I might give the edge to the Sixers.

Toronto had 7 wins more than Philly last season, and they just got Leonard and D. Green for DeRozan. Don't you expect the gap to get even greater?
Yup, and I think tazz is under-rating the value of Toronto's deeper bench.  That alone will help them get more regular season wins which improves the odds of therm having more homecourt advantage than Philly in the playoffs.  Then figure in injuries (Philly was somewhat fragile the past 2 seasons) and that bench is going to be really valuable.
Putting aside the questions of his recovery from his current injury, Leonard isn't a paragon of health.  He's played 1 more season than AD but actually played a few less games.  Green isn't that good and he, Ibaka and Lowry, to an extent, are on the decline.  They also have a new head coach who hasn't been an NBA head coach before.  I also don't think people are factoring in growth for the Sixers young players.  I do think Toronto will finish with around 5 more wins during the regular season due to their deeper roster but I think the Sixers may be the better playoff team.  The Raptors don't have an answer for Embiid whereas the Sixers can throw Covington, Simmons and Chandler at Leonard.
your central position here seems to be that kawhi's health is a question mark, hence philly has an edge.

yet, as stated it seemed to be an incomplete argument. if you can cast doubt on the health of kahwi, you can certainly raise questions on the health and durability of embiid (63 games last year) perhaps even simmmons. and fultz?

nor does your argument refute the points brought up by other posters concerning the gains by toronto and the losses of personnel by philly.

i see toronto as the better team. so, now let's wait and see.  ;D
My central position is that I think the Sixers starting 5 is better than the Raptors starting 5.  I think the Raptors will finish 2nd in the regular season due to their better, deeper bench.  However in the playoffs I think the Sixers may have the edge.  How are the Raptors going to defend Embiid?
Embiid isn't really the problem though. He averaged 23/14 against us and we crushed them.

Philly couldn't stop rookie Jayson Tatum from lighting them up, even when he was shooting poorly from 3. How the heck will they stop Kawhi Leonard (assuming he's healthy)?
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