b_line
Well-Known Member
I think Hollingers playoff odds https://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds are a pretty good predictor of the actual record we will have at the end of the season. This should be something we follow. Currently, it has us finishing tied with LA Lakers and Orlando tied for the third worst record, and the bottom ten look like this:
1. Milwaukee
2. Philly
T3. Utah, Lakers, Orlando
6. Cleveland
T7. Sacramento, Boston
T9. Brooklyn, Detroit
Of those teams, Brooklyn, Detroit and Cleveland seem like they want to be in the playoffs. The two teams that are not ashamed of their tank seem to be Orlando and Milwaukee. Utah, Boston, and Philly seem to be confused about what they want to do with their lives, and no one knows what Sacramento and the Lakers will do at this point.
If I had to guess, I would put Utah in the top five of tanking teams, which would mean at the very worst, we would get the 8th pick, but that would mean that three teams outside of the top five jumped into the top 5. So to reiterate what has been said like 9 million times already, we need to be worse!
One reason I do think we will be worse than our record over the last 22 games (11-11, I believe) is because we have been winning a lot of close games, and our point differential is horrendous. Point differential is a pretty good indicator of what a team actually is. I heard on a podcast that the Jazz actually have the point differential of a team that should have gone like 5-17 in the last 22 games.
The other variable is if the Jazz make some trades. If we trade away Jefferson or Marvin, that means Kanter will have to start playing a lot, and Favors and Kanter will need some time to figure out how to not play horribly together, meaning our record will probably go back to stinking again.
1. Milwaukee
2. Philly
T3. Utah, Lakers, Orlando
6. Cleveland
T7. Sacramento, Boston
T9. Brooklyn, Detroit
Of those teams, Brooklyn, Detroit and Cleveland seem like they want to be in the playoffs. The two teams that are not ashamed of their tank seem to be Orlando and Milwaukee. Utah, Boston, and Philly seem to be confused about what they want to do with their lives, and no one knows what Sacramento and the Lakers will do at this point.
If I had to guess, I would put Utah in the top five of tanking teams, which would mean at the very worst, we would get the 8th pick, but that would mean that three teams outside of the top five jumped into the top 5. So to reiterate what has been said like 9 million times already, we need to be worse!
One reason I do think we will be worse than our record over the last 22 games (11-11, I believe) is because we have been winning a lot of close games, and our point differential is horrendous. Point differential is a pretty good indicator of what a team actually is. I heard on a podcast that the Jazz actually have the point differential of a team that should have gone like 5-17 in the last 22 games.
The other variable is if the Jazz make some trades. If we trade away Jefferson or Marvin, that means Kanter will have to start playing a lot, and Favors and Kanter will need some time to figure out how to not play horribly together, meaning our record will probably go back to stinking again.
