Offseason's Over: Regular Season Prediction Time

[Shabazz]

If Chandler Parsons can stay healthy and get back to playing like he was 3 years ago, they'll be solidly in the middle. New coach too tho, but I can't imagine much changing in terms of system/style.

But when has he ever stayed healthy?

Also, their best player is a 7-footer coming off a foot injury that can be a death sentence for big men's careers.

Obviously, any of these teams could fall off with injuries, but the Grizz were 7th last season even with crushing injuries. They play an effective style of basketball for their players, and they 45 wins is enough to put a team in the middle of the pack these days. I think they can get 45.

They limped to the finish line. No pun intended.

[O_Gardino]

Here are the Suns training camp predictions.

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2016/ ... -suns-goal

I don’t want to put a number on it, but I think we will win a lot more than 23 games. Maybe something like 26 and a half.

Top 5, even higher, in the Western Conference. I believe in it.

I think this team realistically is a playoff team.

Now, it is extremely rare for a team to increase it's win total by 20 games, which is what it will probably take to make the playoffs. But the players take last season as an anomaly and base their predictions on the prior two seasons. In other words, they feel the Suns were a 40 win team that made improvements over the summer.

[O_Gardino]

There's a lot of other interesting stuff in that article. The writer assumes we will be going small and that both Len and Chandler will have to sacrifice minutes. Bledsoe predicts that Ulis and Barbosa will both make an impact.

McD talks about needing to have enough talent that you don't have to get the max potential out of Bledsoe, etc and hope to with stand injuries. "You need talent". The writer takes that another to level, saying it isn't good team building to "pre-placate the players with clear roles."

Of course, I've been in strong disagreement with the way we are building all summer. I believe in planning for success, not for failure.

If you happen to have a season as beset by injuries and sulking as we had last season, well, you are going to have a bad season. It's not possible to sign enough talented players to make the playoffs with a year like that. And in a bad-luck year like that, I would rather have a high pick than play a bunch of middling talent and limp into the 10th spot in the west. Besides, if you think your backup is as good as your starter, that probably means your starter isn't very good. Especially if you are talking about your 3rd string backup, like we are this season.

[JCSunsfan]

Here are the Suns training camp predictions.

http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2016/ ... -suns-goal

I don’t want to put a number on it, but I think we will win a lot more than 23 games. Maybe something like 26 and a half.

Top 5, even higher, in the Western Conference. I believe in it.

I think this team realistically is a playoff team.

Now, it is extremely rare for a team to increase it's win total by 20 games, which is what it will probably take to make the playoffs. But the players take last season as an anomaly and base their predictions on the prior two seasons. In other words, they feel the Suns were a 40 win team that made improvements over the summer.

Well. Our players think we are a good team. And the case could be made that last season was an anomoly. Injuries to Bledsoe and Knight. Chandler started the season injured. The incredible distraction that was Markieff Morris. This year we have Booker and Barbosa. Tele produced, but I am not sure he produced any wins. That's the rosey view, but so many things can go wrong.

[Superbone]

Tele produced, but I am not sure he produced any wins.

Well, he did hit two game winners.

[SDC]

playoffs.

[Mori Chu]

I don't think we got much better. If one is to predict us making the playoffs, I guess it would have to come down to other Western teams getting worse. The West is very top-heavy (WARRIORS) but you could make a case that the last 2-3 spots are up for grabs. But it always seems that way at the start of the year, but as things go on, the teams start to settle themselves into position.

I don't think we will make the playoffs. We would have to make an almost historic jump upward in wins. I know we had some injuries and excuses last year, but really we had most of our guys at full strength. We just have the wrong group of guys. To make the playoffs we would have to see a huge leap from Booker, as well as seeing a healthy Bledsoe for most of the year, harmony in our currently confusing rotations for both guards and forwards, a productive Jared Dudley, a reinvigorated Tyson Chandler and/or a leap from Len, ... It's just asking a lot.

What's more, I don't -want- us to make the playoffs. I want them to play the young guys and experiment with different lineups and figure out what works, not push veterans into heavy minutes to try to make an ill-fated playoff push. If we make it in as the 8th seed, we'll just get absolutely demolished by the Warriors.

[O_Gardino]

I don't think we got much better. If one is to predict us making the playoffs, I guess it would have to come down to other Western teams getting worse. The West is very top-heavy (WARRIORS) but you could make a case that the last 2-3 spots are up for grabs. But it always seems that way at the start of the year, but as things go on, the teams start to settle themselves into position.

I don't think we will make the playoffs. We would have to make an almost historic jump upward in wins. I know we had some injuries and excuses last year, but really we had most of our guys at full strength. We just have the wrong group of guys. To make the playoffs we would have to see a huge leap from Booker, as well as seeing a healthy Bledsoe for most of the year, harmony in our currently confusing rotations for both guards and forwards, a productive Jared Dudley, a reinvigorated Tyson Chandler and/or a leap from Len, ... It's just asking a lot.

What's more, I don't -want- us to make the playoffs. I want them to play the young guys and experiment with different lineups and figure out what works, not push veterans into heavy minutes to try to make an ill-fated playoff push. If we make it in as the 8th seed, we'll just get absolutely demolished by the Warriors.

I agree with the spirit of your post, but that bold sentence is just silly.

[Mori Chu]

I know we missed Bledsoe for several games, but I didn't see a team that was one Bledsoe away from making the playoffs. And I don't really count Tyson's later injury as real. I bet he would have played if we had any prospect of being good by that point in the year.

[Superbone]

I know we missed Bledsoe for several games, but I didn't see a team that was one Bledsoe away from making the playoffs. And I don't really count Tyson's later injury as real. I bet he would have played if we had any prospect of being good by that point in the year.

And the Markieff Morris situation obviously had no effect on the team's performance. Wait... You didn't watch much of last season, did you?

[carey]

I know we missed Bledsoe for several games, but I didn't see a team that was one Bledsoe away from making the playoffs. And I don't really count Tyson's later injury as real. I bet he would have played if we had any prospect of being good by that point in the year.

Eric missed 51 games! Knight missed 30. Warren missed 35. The only person you could qualify as missing several would maybe be Chandler who missed 16.

[Superbone]

I know we missed Bledsoe for several games, but I didn't see a team that was one Bledsoe away from making the playoffs. And I don't really count Tyson's later injury as real. I bet he would have played if we had any prospect of being good by that point in the year.

Eric missed 51 games! Knight missed 30. Warren missed 35. The only person you could qualify as missing several would maybe be Chandler who missed 16.

Oh, come on now! Let's not let facts get in the way.

[ShelC]

We'll win around 34-38 games.

[In2ition]

I think the Suns could very well double their win total from last year, that is if they stay healthy this season. I'm optimistic and hope that the guard rotation works out. I'm hopeful that some of the new young bigs take strides, and that Alex gets over the hump on the mental side of playing center in the league. I am also optimistic on the new offense and TJ getting things figured out. With all that said, I still wouldn't mind seeing the Suns get a big pass first pg in the draft next year...Lonzo Ball. It feels like a great passing pg is what this team needs to keep everyone involved and become more efficient on offense. Besides that, he's big enough to not be taken advantage of by mismatches created from time to time.

[Ring_Wanted]

If none of the PF kids produce this year the chances are slim even if Bledsoe and Knight are healthy, although an in shape Dudley was still a big plus off the bench for Milwaukee.

As long as the team keeps turning the ball over and resort to hero/kamikaze ball we still aren't a winning team.

Booker has to actually live up to the hype.

Rebounding was already solid and I can see more intensity on defense with the new coach, but we remain an offensively challenged team unless something big changes. We need to figure out Len-Chandler.

I want Knight as part of an offense (would rather it be a second unit), but never the main focus by default.

Reliable 3pt shooting is not assured at all.

Wouldn't like to see a first game of the season with Bledsoe-Knight-Booker at the 1-2-3, although bringing Booker off the bench would be nuts. Give Warren the nod already.

[Shabazz]

I think the Suns could very well double their win total from last year, that is if they stay healthy this season. I'm optimistic and hope that the guard rotation works out. I'm hopeful that some of the new young bigs take strides, and that Alex gets over the hump on the mental side of playing center in the league. I am also optimistic on the new offense and TJ getting things figured out. With all that said, I still wouldn't mind seeing the Suns get a big pass first pg in the draft next year...Lonzo Ball. It feels like a great passing pg is what this team needs to keep everyone involved and become more efficient on offense. Besides that, he's big enough to not be taken advantage of by mismatches created from time to time.

I'll take Markelle Fultz, please.

[Mori Chu]

Not all missed games are equal. Some of our guys sat or didn't come back late in the season because we were already so far out of playoff contention. I agree with all of your points about the Kieff distraction and so on, and I agree that we didn't play to our potential last year. I just don't think injuries really led to our missing the playoffs, and I don't think we have added enough talent/health/whatever to make the playoffs this year. I still think we are going to win in the low 30s in terms of number of games, and I'm okay with that. 1-2 more years of building assets and improving are probably what we need.

[JCSunsfan]

I think the impact of Kieff on the team last year was huge. That said, I think we need to move Archie. He is not nearly the distraction that Kieff was, but it is clear that he is not happy. Just look at all the training camp photos. Clearly uncomfortable. I ask him to go to d-league and show what he can do so another team can pick him up.

[LazarusLong]

I don't expect playoffs from this team. If they are competitive and interesting to watch, that's fine by me.
I think the coaching team of Watson and Triano could reap some dividends.

What I'd like to see:

* continued development by Booker, e.g., better defense.

* injury-free season for TJ so he can show what potential he has. That meets commitment to playing time for him by the coaching staff

* Len as center. He's not a power forward. Not. by. any. stretch. of. the. imagination.

* reasonable playing time for Ulis, if he can handle it. He's probably the best true pg on the team.

* bring Tucker back slowly and evaluate all the young guys in the mean time.

* management should see what it can get in usable assets for Tucker and Goodwin.

[carey]

I don't expect playoffs from this team. If they are competitive and interesting to watch, that's fine by me.
I think the coaching team of Watson and Triano could reap some dividends.

What I'd like to see:

* continued development by Booker, e.g., better defense.

* injury-free season for TJ so he can show what potential he has. That meets commitment to playing time for him by the coaching staff

* Len as center. He's not a power forward. Not. by. any. stretch. of. the. imagination.

* reasonable playing time for Ulis, if he can handle it. He's probably the best true pg on the team.

* bring Tucker back slowly and evaluate all the young guys in the mean time.

* management should see what it can get in usable assets for Tucker and Goodwin.

I agree with all of this.

Final record: 37-45.