2017-2018 Wins Total
Now it’s easy to talk about the NBA playoffs, but the tough part is piecing how many wins this team will land, and how many wins it will take to land into the 2018 NBA Playoffs. Let’s build on some knowns.
Daily Knicks
We know that a depleted NBA roster Philadelphia 76ers team played 20 wins – 30 losses in 2017. projected, that is a 33 win -49 loss season in 2017. Now, let’s add wins to that. Robert Covington fell to injury in the last eight games. He stays healthy, which adds three wins. Joel Embiid stays healthy, and the team won seven of nine games in Januarly 2017. Let’s factor that down, and commit another 10 wins to the team. That leaves this team at 46-36, situated well enough to land as the fifth seed of the 2018 Playoffs.
Method II
But lets look at it from another angle. Let’s compare the 76ers starting five to the starting five of current playoff teams. The key of course is Joel Embiid’s scoring, but the top five on this roster will each play pivotal roles. On one hand, compare these projections to the rosters of the Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers, or the Milwaukee Bucks, and the argument can be made that the 76ers players are a better group of five. On the other hand, even the roster of the Atlanta Hawks seems to come up short against the Sixers roster.
Next: Philadelphia already has the 2017 Rookie of the Year: Ben Simmons
It’s not until you examine the duo powered rosters of the Washington Wizards and the Toronto Raptors that comparisons seem to slide in favor of the other teams. In fact, the team most comparable is that of the Boston Celtics, whose Isaiah Thomas scored in high 20’s while the rest of team’s starters plunked in 10 plus points. So from that standpoint, the team would likely win between 43 and 49 games.