NBA win totals for the Detroit Pistons and the rest of the league
By Duncan Smith
Southeast Division
Orlando Magic
Record: 35-47
I’ll say this for the Orlando Magic: They aren’t afraid to make a trade. They don’t usually win them, but by God they’ll give it a shot. The Detroit Pistons in particular put them through the ringer this past season, sending them Brandon Jennings and Ersan Ilyasova in exchange for Tobias Harris. Then the Detroit Pistons shipped Jodie Meeks to the Magic in exchange for a future second-round draft pick.
Jennings was not retained and is now a member of the New York Knicks, Ilyasova was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder as part of a package for Serge Ibaka, and Jodie Meeks may not be ready for the start of the season.
The trade of Harris was ostensibly to clear cap space for a big free agent splash, and they ended up spending that money on Jeff Green, Bismack Biyombo and former Detroit Pistons’ point guard D.J. Augustin. Not great.
They did upgrade at coach, however. They brought in former Indiana Pacers‘ head coach Frank Vogel, and his addition might be the single thing Magic fans can feel good about this offseason.
Miami Heat
Record: 35-47
The Miami Heat had another rough offseason. Dwyane Wade is gone, off to the Chicago Bulls. Chris Bosh is a big unknown for the coming season and it’s hard to predict what to expect from him. As a result, my projection assumed 45 games from Bosh (an admittedly arbitrary number) and went from there. If he plays more, it stands to reason the win totals will rise accordingly.
Last season’s surprise rookie breakout, Josh Richardson, is set to miss the next six-to-eight weeks after partially tearing his MCL about a week ago in an offseason workout. With no Wade and no Richardson at the shooting guard spot until at least the middle of November, enter premiere offseason acquisition Dion Waiters. He’ll get some run while Richardson recuperates.
There isn’t a whole lot to be excited about with the Heat going into this season, and if Bosh can’t come back, there’s nothing to be excited about.
Washington Wizards
Record: 37-45
There’s trouble in the Washington Wizards‘ paradise. John Wall tends to not be a big fan when he thinks inferior players are getting paid more than him (ask Reggie Jackson), so he seems to not be thrilled at Bradely Beal‘s five-year $127 million deal.
Of course, we’ve all had coworkers we thought were unreasonably elevated or we just didn’t like, and things still go just fine. It probably won’t affect much. Both players are aware they don’t get along, and that will be that. If things go south early for the Wizards though, expect the narrative to replace reality.
The Wizards fired Randy Witten this offseason and hired Scott Brooks in his place. It may have been a bald-faced effort to sway Kevin Durant to come home to Washington. If so, it failed miserably.
We have yet to see how Brooks coaches without multiple top-five talents like Durant and Russell Westbrook on his roster, so this new test will give us the truest idea of just what he brings to the table as a coach.
He’ll have Markieff Morris to deal with. That should be fine.
Charlotte Hornets
Record: 44-38
The Charlotte Hornets might be one of the harder good teams to pin down. They’re down a competent reserve guard in Jeremy Lin, they’re down Al Jefferson. They did add Roy Hibbert though, which can’t even be considered a parallel move at center.
A lot of what happens with the Hornets will hinge upon Michael Kidd-Gilchrist‘s health. He suffered two devastating right shoulder injuries last season. Questions about his ability to stay healthy hold the Hornets back a bit in the win projections.
Kemba Walker will have an important role to play this season. He had a career year, scoring 20.9 points per game and shooting a career-high of 37.1 percent from behind the arc. While MKG’s health is important, Walker remains the most important key to this Hornets’ team.
Atlanta Hawks
Record: 44-38
The Atlanta Hawks will start the season down a big man in Al Horford, and up a new big man in Dwight Howard. The Hawks parted ways with Horford in a bit of a weird sequence in which they signed Howard and then made some efforts to reunite with Horford, but it was too late. The big man was on his way to the Boston Celtics.
They also moved Jeff Teague to open the path for Dennis Schroder, who will likely be a downgrade at point guard. Throw in some likely tension due to the Hawks trying and failing to trade Paul Millsap, and you may have a team ready to decline a notch or two from their 48 win performance a season ago.
Not much, mind you. Just a four-win decline to 44 wins.
Next: Atlantic Division