i think we're going to see a bunch of teams in the 37-44 win range. alot of teams will be bunched up and the race for the final 3-4 playoff spots will be between alot of teams.

Posted by Masterplan:

Posted by nixluva:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by nixluva:

I think it would be a major failure not to be above .500 this year.

I'm holding you to that.

SO! I stand by everything i've ever said and i've already gone on record that I expect this team to be over .500. I think somewhere around 46-48 wins is on target. Like any other human, including Hollinger I could be wrong and have been wrong before. I do however, feel very confident that this team will be much improved. I don't think it's such a big deal to say that this team would have to improve on last year by 7-11 wins as DJ brought out. I feel this team was better than it's final record last year anyway.

Also you have to take into consideration the growth this team was only naturally going to have from the start of last year to this point. This is not the same team that LB ran into the ground. They have confidence now and trust me that's gonna make a difference. Let's just look at Nov. this year. They've got 15 games:

11/2 @Cavs
11/4 TWolves
11/6 Nuggets
11/9 Magic
11/11 Heat
11/13 @Suns
11/14 @Clips
11/16 @Kings
11/17 @Nuggets
11/20 Warriors
11/21 @ Pistons
11/24 Bulls
11/26 Jazz
11/29 @Celtics
11/30 Bucks

If they go only 7-8 that would put them ahead of last years pace and like last year I expect them to improve a bit as the season goes along and they get used to playing with Zach. I think that even with the improvement in the Atlantic they should be right in the mix all year.

barring injuries

Correction: barring injuries to anyone on the Knicks, including the dancers.

The one thing I think is that everone is overrating Orlando. I think that Grant Hill was more integral to that team than most recognize. And Tony Battie is out for a while with shoulder surgery. And Darko is in Memphis.

If I had to pick 4 teams that should be locks, they would be (in no particular order and barring injuries):

Boston
Cleveland
Detroit
Chicago

Followed by:

Miami
NJ

Next:

Toronto
Wash

Up for grabs:

Orlando
NJ
NY
Milwaukee

We shall see...we shall see.