These guys did no research whatsoever. Dont even list Papa the Greek as a bench player? That dude is gonna play 25-30 minutes per game. They also dont list TD at all. He will play 15-20 minutes per night. Arguably the top two bench players on the team and they dont even get mentioned? Terrible...
You do realize there's a difference between sports and political polling right? Literally all Nate Silver does (which was successful) was aggregate various polling data and adjust for different external factors. So if he's figured out the 'you're going to have this record, at this time' then low and behold, there's no need to even play.
Seems like every sports writer is trying to out-do the next guy in proving how utterly boneheaded they are. I've read like 3 or 4 predictions now that have Rockets winning 45 or less games. We won 54 freaking games last year in a West that was just as stacked as it is for this year. I'm sorry but the stupidity is astounding. And it's as if no one saw Harden's D this summer or paid attention to Howard's production last year. And they act like Lin and Asik played 82 games 35 mpg for us last year.
I'm a big fivethirtyeight proponent. With that being said, they need to rethink how they do their preseason model. GS being #1 is laughable and should raise a red flag for this model.
It's not their best analysis. How does Ariza not have a plus for defense when that is ostensibly his best talent? Why are Curry and Lillard not dinged for defense? Why is Westbrook considered injury prone when he bounced back from a major knee injury in record fashion and regained his dominant form? Jameer Nelson really projected to be 2.3 WARP? And boy that's a lot of red on the Grizzlies roster for them to be ranked above Portland and Houston. It's not their best analysis.
They are crazy down on Terry also. The dont give him anything but RED. Also, Canaan isnt proven or anything but is he really a pile of dog pooh? Canaan is a step up from Lin. There is no doubt in my mind.
It is clear that Harden has become a whipping boy. The national media cant get negative analysis of him out there fast enough. They are in love with wafer thin and and injury waiting to happen Steph Curry but hate on the solidly built Harden. It is just a weird phenomenon.
We did not really improve the team compared with last year. Looking at the roster, it is not that exciting. You want some mix of superstars and young promising stars to keep the cost down. Okay, so Rox has 2 "superstars" (but compared with superstars in the 90s, 00s, none of the two Rox superstars are as good), but no young promising stars. It is just not that a combination of players.
Yeah, right. You think people will rate highly some unproven players or rookies? Any managers who count on rookies to save themselves will surely lose their jobs, and these rookies are 1st year players from Europe.
True, just boring though. The roster does not give you much confidence. plus, Howard is no Shaq or Hakeem, Harden is no young MJ or young Kobe. Both of them have significant holes in their games, in the 90s, none of them would be counted as tier 1 superstars. They need help, and they do not have. Any seed below 4 is just another wasted season. Well, let's hope for the best.
Also, this isn't really a sports writer giving you his thoughts/predictions/hype. It's simulation results using a specific set of inputs. That's it.
