So many things happen throughout the course of an NBA season that are impossible to predict. I think picking overachieving teams is a bit easier than picking ones to underwhelm. Injuries, trades, sentiments, Based God curses all come into play with these teams and predicting who will under-perform can be slanderous. So excuse any bad mouthing of players or teams in my justifications.
If I am 3/5 on my last article I’m happy. I made those educated predictions because some of the numbers Vegas threw up I thought made no sense. Having the Los Angeles Clippers at 35.5 wins shows a serious lack of knowledge of that team. Having the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs be just above .500% is a serious oversight given recent success and team makeup. Also giving the Cavs and Bulls under 31 wins made little sense to me in the weak Eastern Conference.
With that being said, I had a fairly difficult time picking five teams that will under-perform this season. Here are the five teams that might underwhelm this season and win you some money if you take the under:
5. Atlanta Hawks
Vegas Win Projection: 23.5 wins
My Win Projection: 19 wins
The only thing on anyone’s mind in Atlanta should be when the next OutKast album comes out, if it ever does. It should not be focused anywhere near the Atlanta Hawks success because this team should go full Sam Hinkie and be horrific for five years. Full tank mode is the only way to save themselves. It seems like they might be listening.
Trading away their best player in Dennis Schroder for basically nothing this offseason indicates this. Having three first round picks in the 2018 draft and picking three players that do nothing but jack three’s indicates this. It’s a not a dumpster fire in Atlanta, it’s a dump fire. A whole ass dump.
The funny thing is, I am actually a Trae Young fan and don’t expect him to be the bust that people are projecting. However, I’m not a Trae Young fan when you have Luka Doncic on the board and you pass up on him. Or Mohamed Bamba. Or Wendell Carter Jr. Or Kevin Knox.
Atlanta Hawks GM Travis Schlenk has dreamt up a scenario where he replicates what he helped build in Golden State with oodles of shooting and nothing else. We’ll see how it works. The only saving graces for Atlanta should be the continued development of John Collins and Taurean Prince as well as praying that Trae Young is the next poor man’s Steph Curry instead of the next Johnny Flynn.
The Hawks shouldn’t even be thinking about sniffing 20 wins. I think they know this and will try their darnedest to lose as many games as possible. Just fast forward to the 2019 draft Atlanta fans.
Next Up: Team 4
