The CSL

So I did this during my 3 year stint in the NLL with a lot of success and was surprisingly fairly accurate each year (barring the occasional 1 or 2 outlier teams) I don't expect to do as well here as I did there due to many new owners and dds3 seems to be a bit more random. All of the wins add up to 1230 to ensure accuracy. What are your season predictions?


Atlantic
My pick for the toughest division in the league. There is an all-star to superstar level player on every team. The division is more wide open than it has ever been.

Boston Celtics
Season Prediction 56 26
Boston looks to continue their run as the top team in the Altantic and once again will have a few new starters to break in. Boston has slipped some in recent years where they were once a top two team in the east and is now battling to remain in the top 4. Dennis has been talking up Bradley Beal all offseason, can he become the star that Dennis says he will? He is going to need him to be.
Toronto Raptors
Season Prediction 46 36
Finally fully healthy the Raptors will be looking to get back into the playoff picture in an increasingly difficult division/conference. I may be giving Chili too much respect to put them 2nd here as I am not a fan of their backcourt but their front court easily makes up for it. Regardless, the Raptors could easily finish 2nd or last in this division.
Brooklyn Nets
Season Prediction 45 37
Most improved team? I think so as this team is now loaded with scorers and quality defenders. Depth will be a question and how quickly Jaboo can get this team to mesh. If he can do it quickly they could easily give Boston a run for the top spot.
Philadelphia 76ers
Season Prediction 44 38
There is more talent on this team than to be 4th in the division, but year in and year out and Sixers always start off slow before turning it on. If the Sixers get it going early they will be a 50+ win team, but if not they could be on the outside looking in come playoff time.
New York Knicks
Season Prediction 31 51
Daniel once again leaves a team high and dry and screws them over. Fortunately this time the Knicks still have their superstar, something the Hawks could not say. There is a lot left to know about the new Knicks gm and if he can put their stars in a position to win. This team will be one of the larger wildcards this year and could easily see them be in the high 20s to upper 40s for win. Easily the toughest team to predict this year.

Central
The kings of the East. Once again the two top teams out of the East and top 5 of the entire league will come out of the central division. But outside of Detroit and Chicago there is a lot left to be desired.

Detroit Pistons
Season Prediction 63 19
Mr. Consistent is what we should rename Emplep, that or Buffalo Bills reincarnated. Similar to Boston the Pistons once again made some large changes to their roster. Typically, when you arguably have the best team in the league you would like to make small tweaks to shore up a weakness. Instead the Pistons annually make huge moves, eventually one of them will backfire. Hopefully this will not be the year.
Chicago Bulls
Season Prediction 61 21
Shockingly Marcos only made one minor trade this offseason. Has he lost his touch or are others catching on to his tricks? I know the lack of moves wasn't for a lack of effort and he was close to a few. But honestly, do they really even need to make any trades? While I am not a fan of their bench their SL could rival any team in the league.
Milwaukee Bucks
Season Prediction 34 48
Another team that got screwed over by the dumb and dumber brothers. Despite winning the first title of CSLs history, I would easily classify Goikiri as one of the more overrated GMs in the league and would rival Stockton as one of the worst traders. So what does Goikiri do once he actually makes a trade that people commend him on? He quits. At least the Bucks have Lebron, even if he is over the hill with a salary of 1/3 the league cap.
Indiana Pacers
Season Prediction 32 50
The Pacers are in rebuild mode and do have two nice players to build around with Lillard and Love. The main question is, how will the Pacers improve from here? They don't have their pick, there isn't much cap flexibility, and outside of their top two there isn't much to write home about. I look forward to seeing how Matty shapes this team.
Cleveland Cavs
Season Prediction 25 57
I think Rizzo will find himself near the bottom once again as they continue to be a year or 2 away as DePaula and Qui continue to develop. There are some nice pieces on the team and they could go in any direction. There was a lot of talk that Irving might have been on his way out but supposedly there were no offers that met Rizzos high demands. If things turn south could we hear Irvings name on the trade block once again?

Southeast
Weakest division in the East and in the running for weakest division in the league. Could easily have only one playoff team out of the Southeast. This is Orlando's to lose and the only reason you wouldn't see Orlando number 1 is if either PG gets injured or Willy makes a bonehead trade and moves PG.

Orlando Magic
Season Prediction 58 24
The Magic should once again control the Southeast in what will rival the Northwest for the worst division in the CSL. While I was no fan of their Hayward trade I commend Willy for having the balls to go out there and making a move. It was easly to see that PG could not carry the load by himself, I jush wish if they were going to use Sanders as a trade chip that they would at least have received someone with more efficiency in return. Now they have the inefficient Charmers, Hayward, Dieng, and Hibbert in their SL. It could spell disaster....
Charlotte Hornets
Season Prediction 42 40
Alongside Brooklyn, I would consider the Hornets to be the most improved team in the league. They possess the leagues best defensive player, arguably the leagues best 3 point scorer, and solid rotational guys around them. Depth is a major concern with this team, so much so that I think it may cost them upwards of 5 or 6 games at a minimum this year. But if they can stay healthy they should be able to fight for a playoff spot.
Miami Heat
Season Prediction 36 46
After months of rumors Lebron James was finally shipped out for Demarcus Cousins. Despite loads of talent, Cousins has yet to play in a CSL playoff game. Trading a superstar like Lebron for a player as volatile as Cousins is always a risk and with this team aging like it is I think that they will not be making the playoffs this year. If they are smart they will trade Lowry now instead of watching some team overpay for the soon to be 32 year old.
Washington Wizards
Season Prediction 35 47
After being resurrected from the dead last season brining in Kevin Love the Wizards bring in a new GM and their first move was trading away the one player that helped make them great. So I expect to see the Wizards take a plunge this year. I actually think I am giving John Wall too much credit to even list them at 35 wins. 30 may be a better number....
Atlanta Hawks
Season Prediction 22 60
The Hawks, and no fault of Beercloud, should once again be one of the worst teams in the league. To make matters worse, they don't even own their pick thanks to that great Dapralbe trade that sent 2 firsts and Teague to Detroit for a player no longer in Atlanta. Fortunately, the Hawks were able to make a good trade to bring in a couple additional firsts with lotto potential by dropping a few spots in the draft. It will be a long season in Hawk town.

Southwest
The Southwest will battle it out with the Atlantic as the toughest division in the league and its hard not to argue with that claim. They have two elite teams and may sport 2 additional playoff teams like last year as well. All eyes will be on the currently gm-less spurs to see if they can claw their way back to the postseason again.

Houston Rockets
Season Prediction 66 16
The reigning champs are poised to repeat especially when you consider the fact that they return an all-star caliber player in Thaddeus Young. Their lack of a PG still continues to be troublesome, especially when you consider the fact that Iguodala is another year older with his skills and energy level decreasing. Will the Rockets trust Brevin Knight to take over the minutes (and take shots away from Harden as well)?
New Orleans Pelicans
Season Prediction 59 23
The Pelicans are ready to take back their throne as the top team in the Southwest. It is an interesting team built with a front court that can go 6 deep. I think you will see them try to thin out their front court position to help add quality depth to their wings. Neither Dekker nor Lee will scare anyone in this league, and while Lee is one of the leagues best sharp shooters will he take enough 3s to even matter?
Memphis Grizzlies
Season Prediction 44 38
Memphis continues to be an all around solid team. Not title contender but will certainly give any team a battle.With Dragic at the end of his prime, I am curious to see how much longer the Grizzlies can stay relevant. I am more of a fan of going all in either with a rebuild or towards a championship so I would like to see Memphis make a commitment in one direction or the other. Either trade some of the young guys like Hunter or Ross to add a key aging veteran that is ready to push this team up or trade away their two PGs while they still have value remaining.
San Antonio Spurs
Season Prediction 35 47
Is it time for the Spurs to trade KD? I think so. But with the previous GM stepping down this team could become a dumpster fire. This team could easily become a 25 win team or upwards of a low 40s win. It all depends on the quality of the GM that comes in to right the ship.
Dallas Mavericks
Season Prediction 28 54
The offseason did not go as planned for this team. Many thought this would be the year that the Mavericks take the next step and become a playoff contender but that doesnt look to be the case. With 2 rookies and another 1 year vet slated to get an abunance of playing time there will be a lot of rookie mistakes that will be tough to overcome.

Northwest
With no team hitting the 50 win mark and easily the worst team in the league the Northwest will continue to be a dumpster fire where it should only take a meager pulse to make it to the post season. My pick is with the Jazz to win this division. After a stellar preseason the question will be can they keep up the hot play? Don't forget they started out well last year and would slowly taper off the remainder of the season.

Utah Jazz
Season Prediction 49 33
Our first and only new division winner comes out of the Southwest as the Utah Jazz will take the lead for the first time behind stars Exum, Favors, and superb role players in Ennis and Sanders. The Jazz sports excellent balance and I would not be surprised to see them surpass the Suns this year and reach the top 4 in the West.
Minnesota TWolves
Season Prediction 43 39
5 years ago this team would be considered one of the best in the league but today they should be called the has-beens. Chris Paul and Al Jefferson is now 32 and showing their signs of regression, Thabo is 33, and after them there isn't much to be excited about. Those 3 should still lead them to the playoffs but I expect a first round exit. Fortunately, outside of BI they have one of the most trade happy GMs in the league that will look to find something that can keep this team in the thick of the division.
Denver Nuggets
Season Prediction 33 49
Nuggz is well an interesting GM to say the least. Arguably the most passionate GM in my 15+ year GM career and if he combined that passion with excellent GM skills he would go as the best GM I have ever came across. Unfortunately, he is probably one of the most foolish GMs I have encontered which gets magnified due to his passion.
Portland Blazers
Season Prediction 30 52
I am not sure where the Blazers will end up, they are openly saying they will tank and then they say they will gun for the playoffs. With an injury or two to a couple other teams and they have a shot to make it but I don't foresee Andy waiting that long and will shut it down early and will look to develop his young players.
OKC Thunder
Season Prediction 10 72
Not much to say, this team will rival the 2013 Bucks for worst team in leagues history. But it's nothing that 8time doesn't know already.

Pacific
Will anyone step up and challenge the Kings? The Suns are trying but badly need front court help, if the Clippers can find a PG and the perfect strats they have a chance. Albeit a slim chance.

Sacramento Kings
Season Prediction 63 19
After going through the offseason toying with the idea of bringing in KD, the Kings decide to stay true to their team first approach and make another run at it without a star. I admire the approach, just can't say that I agree with it. I have never seen someone have so much cap room and save it just to resign their players. I am rooting against them only for the fact that I don't want to be proven wrong, but it would be great for the league if the Kings can get over the hump and win it all without a superstar caliber player.
Phoenix Suns
Season Prediction 53 29
The Suns hope this is the year they can reach the leagues elite. Wiggins is in that important year 3 and has an excellent backcourt mate in Eric Bledsoe. I just hate their front court and will likely get destroyed by the likes of New Orleans or Houston. I arguably would give Utah the edge as well in a h2h matchup. Look for Doug to try to find a trade by the deadline.
Los Angeles Clippers
Season Prediction 45 37
The Clippers went all in this offseason and I easily could see them be a mid 50s win team and 2nd in the division. What keeps them down here is Dwights history of injury year after year. They are an interesting team, and I wonder how long BI stays patient with them. If this was the NBA I likely would wager a $10 bet on them to win it all, but only because they are the only non top 3/4 seed in the league that exactly has a remote chance to win it all and the line would be favorable.
Los Angeles Lakers
Season Prediction 25 57
The Lakers will once again be a bottom feeder this year. Could this be the year the lottery Gods sing praises to this team? I am not counting on it. There is some young talent and players that would interest some other elite teams. If I was the Pelicans I would be looking to see what the cost would be to bring in Derozan.
Golden State Warriors
Season Prediction 17 65
Embiid looks like a potential bust and Payne is super raw and will take a year or two more to develop. When will the team trade Curry? Obviously the league doesn't value him quite like the Warriors do but with each passing season Currys value only gets lower. This may be the last season that Curry can fetch top value as I am not sure if they will ever get equal dollar for a player that goes into his 30s. I just hope they don't wait too long...

OneNole - sweet man.

Agree with almost all of this, especially your comments about NOP.

First of all, commenting about our team, another 60+ win season would be fantastic, indeed. We're a team that will always aim for the consistent improvement every season and that's what have been happening so far. Surpassing the 60 W mark while adding more capable bench pieces, now that we have a legit 12 man roster (I'd have zero problems giving minutes to any of my reserves if needed, for the first time in my CSL career, which will make it easier to let players go as we search for improvements and have the answer for their departures already in our roster).

I agree with most of the WRITTEN analysis. I think they are spot on in almost 100% of the cases. For W/L predictions I can't say too much, hard to predict how's every team going to do when it comes to winning. I'd rather stick to the written analysis and those are fantastic. Great article right here Brett!

too bad i couldnt bet over/under on some of those.

over
IND/TOR/PHI/MIA/SA/MIN/PHX/GSW

under
MIL/BOS/BRK/DAL/LAC/LAL/POR

I think our front-court situation is a little overblown. Austin is no scrub, and Len finished 2nd in the 6th man of the year award voting. Portis is also an underrated player that just needs (a lot of) pref work. Do I need to upgrade another piece alongside Austin to legitimately threaten Houston or Sacramento? Definitely. And I'll look to make a move when the opportunity arises.

I like the article. Well done and a good amount of thought put into it. I predict the Kings finish with the best record in the league, Brett fools no one with their tank job, and Wiggins' mean streak strikes again by ending Parker's season November 28th.

Great article, thank you for that.
Seems pretty accurate and reach the 5th in the East would be good accomplishment. Now let's see if we can do better
Bookmark this page gentlemen, we will come back here in about 80 games

Good read

I've heard before that in sim leagues its either all in or tank. I see that this is the strategy that the current elite GMs usually take. Could be the direction we eventually have to take

Yeah we might be ranked behind Chicago, Detroit and orlando atm, but we have been the oldest team in the league. We now got younger and will still be a 50-win franchise.
I know that I will need to make some moves to become a contender again, but I like the WB, McCOllum, Beal, Stone, McGee core we have right now.
52-56 wins seems like a pretty good and accurate prediction

GreenBear wrote:
I like the article. Well done and a good amount of thought put into it. I predict the Kings finish with the best record in the league, Brett fools no one with their tank job, and Wiggins' mean streak strikes again by ending Parker's season November 28th.

Are we openly tanking? My 3 best players are in the sub matrix for 34-36 minutes. Our next two best are averaging over 28 mpg. A lineup like that would cost me a top 3 pick if that was my goal

Benching your players would be too obvious, and it is not the only way to tank.

Your strats are how you're tanking: 9 pace with 1 DI and 1 FCP. You're not going to win many games playing no defense, but the high pace ensures you get a ton of possessions so that your guys pad their stats with points, rebounds, etc. The padded stats are to help their trade value, no doubt.

That's a hell of a read right there. Well worth Dennis' wait!

My Cavs are definitely 1-2 years away from being a serious playoff contender but I think we could surprise and push for that 8th seed this year. Maybe that's just wishful thinking though.

GreenBear wrote:Benching your players would be too obvious, and it is not the only way to tank.

Your strats are how you're tanking: 9 pace with 1 DI and 1 FCP. You're not going to win many games playing no defense, but the high pace ensures you get a ton of possessions so that your guys pad their stats with points, rebounds, etc. The padded stats are to help their trade value, no doubt.

If you kept your same dc but ran all 1s you would still win 41 games. I will purscore a few teams like i almost did to memphis.

Rizzo wrote:That's a hell of a read right there. Well worth Dennis' wait!

My Cavs are definitely 1-2 years away from being a serious playoff contender but I think we could surprise and push for that 8th seed this year. Maybe that's just wishful thinking though.

Yea, its too long. I should have broken it into two articles.

OneNole wrote:

GreenBear wrote:Benching your players would be too obvious, and it is not the only way to tank.

Your strats are how you're tanking: 9 pace with 1 DI and 1 FCP. You're not going to win many games playing no defense, but the high pace ensures you get a ton of possessions so that your guys pad their stats with points, rebounds, etc. The padded stats are to help their trade value, no doubt.

If you kept your same dc but ran all 1s you would still win 41 games. I will purscore a few teams like i almost did to memphis.

Well not all 1s are bad. A lot of teams run 1 pace to limit turnovers and ensure their guys don't rush any shots. And a 1 zone isn't necessarily bad, especially if your opponent is a team full of shooters.

Regardless, I didn't say you were going to go winless. But you are nerfing your team to ensure you get 10-15 more losses. In a weak West, your team has the talent to make the playoffs.

First of all, great article man. You really went in depth and gave your unadulterated opinion about each team, which is always refreshing.

Secondly,

OneNole wrote: Philadelphia 76ers
Season Prediction 44 38
There is more talent on this team than to be 4th in the division, but year in and year out and Sixers always start off slow before turning it on. If the Sixers get it going early they will be a 50+ win team, but if not they could be on the outside looking in come playoff time.

I completely agree with your assessment here. I never can seem to get it going early and I think that can be attributed to our consistently fluid roster movement over the past couple seasons. With another active offseason in the books (Teague, Huertas, Kaun in and Williams out), hopefully it will not be yet another slow start for us in a crowded division.

25 wins sounds about right, given the number of guys we have with pref problems and our gaping defensive holes.

Impressive article. I'll take a gander tomorrow.

Nice read for such a bad gm.

I think we hover closer to hopefully to 50 wins while it takes time to adjust to new players, strat, and PI's but appreciate the generous prediction for us.

Terrible division analysis though. We have George Hayward Wall Cousins Klay in the same division...much tougher players than a couple other divisions.

WillyJakkz wrote:Nice read for such a bad gm.

I think we hover closer to hopefully to 50 wins while it takes time to adjust to new players, strat, and PI's but appreciate the generous prediction for us.

Terrible division analysis though. We have George Hayward Wall Cousins Klay in the same division...much tougher players than a couple other divisions.

Im curious how your obviously unbiased opinion would rank that division that may only have 1 playoff team?

btw, Brett is still Stuck in the 90s and 00s haha. Brevin Knight anyone?:D