They're 27-24, .529--43 wins over 82. Their nine-year average is 44. Answer: one game, statistically. I do think, reasonably, that they will...I used to say get 50. Now I don't think so. I thought 3J would get us to 50, but to be candid, we haven't gotten the 3J we knew back post-injury. 47-48, I think now.
The top half of the East is better this season than last because the bottom four are far worse. The top six teams all have better win percentage decimals than last year. 47 wins was good for fifth last season; it equates to sixth this. 48 wins equates to the same seed both seasons.
Thus reasonably, sixth is our ceiling. We're in 7th place (play-in) now, 1.5 games behind Indiana. We have a game in hand on the "Pacers". They just recently got Tyrese Haliburton back. In 5th is Procedure Addresses. We're full four games behind them. Joel will be out 6-8 weeks addressing his procedure. It would be reasonable to expect us to make up four games on them between now and then, between them losing and us winning. But they are scheduled to get him back the first week in April. There will be a handful of games left. 4th is Manny Hatty, +6 games on us. Anybody see a dropoff coming there? I don't. Third is Beer by only .5 game. I think the East will shake out as:
1. Beans
2. Male Deer
3. Apples
4. Cadavers
5. Indy
6. Procedure Address__________
7. "Heat"
8. "Magic"
9. Pigeons
10. Rust
We finished 8th last season. So 7th is a reasonable expectation, optimistic, but not unreasonably so. Sixth is reasonable too, stretching it a little more than I'm comfortable doing.