NBA win totals for the Detroit Pistons and the rest of the league

Atlantic Division

Brooklyn Nets

Record: 17-65

The Brooklyn Nets were bad last year, winning just 21 games. Don’t expect them to reach that lofty total again this season. They did bring in Jeremy Lin, Luis Scola and Greivis Vasquez, which is cool. They also added Randy Foye, which isn’t bad.

That’s not to say this is any better a team. The Nets have a revamped front office with San Antonio Spurs’ alumni Sean Marks running things, so they’ll be good eventually. Unfortunately, since they don’t own their own sure-to-be lottery pick this year, it won’t be this year.

The future is bright, but not the immediate future, and it’s only bright because one imagines that an executive who has worked with Gregg Popovich couldn’t help but pick up a tremendous amount of basketball wisdom.

Hopefully these things bear out, because it’s the only thing the Nets and their fans have to pin their trust in.

Philadelphia 76ers

Record: 19-63

So close to 20 wins, but not quite there.

Unfortunately, 20-win seasons are earned, not given. A year removed from one of the worst seasons in NBA history with a 10-72 record, they were almost as bad as the Warriors were good. Needless to say, that’s a feat and a half.

The Sixers are better this year, needless to say. They should have Joel Embiid back, finally. Ben Simmons is rumored to be the second coming. Dario Saric has finally made the long trip across the ocean. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot is well-thought of. Sergio Rodriguez and Jerryd Bayless will possibly be upgrades at the point guard position.

They’re going to be fun this year. One of the most fun sub-20-win teams ever. They’re going to be good enough to almost double their win total from a year ago.

That’s going to have to be enough for this season, Sixer fans.

New York Knick

Record: 43-39

While the top two and bottom two teams in this division may swap places in these projections, the New York Knicks are pretty much a mortal lock for dead center in the Atlantic. The Knicks will be much improved from last season’s 32-50 record, but not by as much as many of their fans think they will be.

They added Derrick Rose, Justin Holiday, Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah. Kristaps Porzingis is another year older and wiser, and Carmelo Anthony won’t have to be the first, second and third option on offense on a constant basis like he has for the majority of his Knicks’ tenure.

They also added Brandon Jennings to back up Rose. He’s a big favorite to start more than a few games this year as Rose is going to miss his fair share of games as usual.

This team would have been a destroyer of worlds back in 2010, but it’s going to struggle against the elite teams in the NBA this season. They’re a playoff team, but they’re in the lower half of the bracket.

Toronto Raptors

Record: 51-31

The Toronto Raptors bring back the band for another go this season, minus Bismack Biyombo. They didn’t make many moves this offseason other than a late signing of Jared Sullinger.

The Raptors had a great season, winning 56 games and pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers to six games in their first ever trip to the Eastern Conference Finals.

They struggled mightily in the first two rounds however, and it was my fondest hope that the Detroit Pistons could claim the seven seed so they could meet the Raptors. I still believe the Pistons beat the Raptors in a seven game series at that point in the season.

The absolute best case scenario for the Raptors is a redo of last season. They don’t match up with the Cavs well, and for them to have the kind of regular season they had in the first place they needed unusual levels of health from both DeMar Derozan and Kyle Lowry.

Mind you, that health didn’t extend to last year’s premiere free agent signing, DeMarre Carroll. The Raptors will need a healthy season out of Carroll after he only appeared in 26 regular season games.

Boston Celtics

Record: 52-30

The Boston Celtics were really good last year, winning 48 games, and for the majority of the season it was hard to tell exactly why. The fashionable option was to just credit Brad Stevens, which to be fair is probably the actual reason.

There may be more clearly seen seasons for them to be good this year. They’ve added Al Horford via free agency at a cost of $113 million over four years, and they drafted Jaylen Brown with the third overall pick. Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter are all a year older and a year matured under Stevens, who is sure to be the biggest asset in the Celtics organization.

There’s no way the Celtics aren’t good this season thanks to their depth and coaching, so the only question remaining is HOW good will they be? I believe them to be the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, behind only the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Mind you, the gap between the Cavs and Celtics at one and two is much larger than the gap between the Celtics and the Raptors at two and three, but if things break right for Boston they should solidify that spot.

Next: Central Division