Jeff Sherman, Manager of the Westgate Super book, sent out a tweet Sunday that listed every team’s projected win total for the 2018-19 season. With some of the offseason craziness, these looked quite different from last years. Lebron James making the move to the Los Angeles Lakers obviously rocketed their number up while him leaving Cleveland plummeted theirs.
Kawhi Leonard being traded away by the Spurs has Westgate projecting them missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997 (more on this later). Demarcus Cousins leaving the New Orleans Pelicans, actually bumped their preseason projections up from last year surprisingly.
With the Golden State Warriors, unsurprisingly leading the race with 62.5 projected wins, only five other teams are projected to win 50 or more: Boston Celtics, OKC Thunder, Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors.
Let’s take a look at five teams that I think will out-kick their coverage and win more games than Westgate projects. Some of these projected lines had me scratching my head. Let’s see if any of you guys agree with my picks.
Next Up: Team 5
