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Reviewing the NBA Blog Previews, 07-08
Jason posted 4/17/2008 from ballhype.com
Last October, Jeff Clark from CelticsBlog coordinated yet another team-by-team look at the 2007-08 season, featuring dozens of NBA bloggers. And once again, there was more than enough optimism to go around in the preseason ... with disappointment for many fans once the real games begun.
This table compares the preview predictions to the each team's actual win total on the year. It's sortable—you can toggle the sort and direction by clicking the column headings.
| Team | Preview | Predicted Wins | Actual Wins | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 76ers | Passion and Pride | 30 | 40 | 10 |
| Blazers | True Hoop | 34 | 41 | 7 |
| Blazers | The Inferno | 38 | 41 | 3 |
| Bobcats | Bobcat Bonfire | 40 | 32 | -8 |
| Bucks | Bango's Bunch | 44 | 26 | -18 |
| Bulls | Cobra Brigade | 52 | 33 | -19 |
| Bulls | Bull Riding | 56 | 33 | -23 |
| Cavs | YAYsports! | 51 | 45 | -6 |
| Cavs | The POJO Dojo | 50 | 45 | -5 |
| Cavs | Cavalier Attitude | 52 | 45 | -7 |
| Cavs | Truth in a Bullet Fedora | 55 | 45 | -10 |
| Celtics | CelticsBlog | 50 | 66 | 16 |
| Celtics | LOY's PLACE | 50 | 66 | 16 |
| Celtics | Celtics 17 | 50 | 66 | 16 |
| Celtics | RedsArmy.com | 49 | 66 | 17 |
| Celtics | Celtics247.com | 52 | 66 | 14 |
| Celtics | Green Bandwagon | 49 | 66 | 17 |
| Clippers | Clips Nation | 35 | 23 | -12 |
| Grizzlies | 3 Shades of Blue | 37 | 22 | -15 |
| Hawks | Impending Firestorm | 40 | 37 | -3 |
| Hawks | Atlanta Hawks Blog | 42 | 37 | -5 |
| Heat | I Want to be a Sports Agent | 41 | 15 | -26 |
| Heat | Crazy from the Heat | ??? | 15 | ??? |
| Hornets | Hornets247.com | 48 | 56 | 8 |
| Hornets | THE New Orleans Hornets Fan | 48 | 56 | 8 |
| Jazz | Daily Basketball | 56 | 54 | -2 |
| Jazz | The NBA Source | 48 | 54 | 6 |
| Jazz | Basketball John | 55 | 54 | -1 |
| Kings | Sactown Royalty | 35 | 38 | 3 |
| Knicks | Straight Bangin' | 36 | 23 | -13 |
| Knicks | Posting and Toasting | 41 | 23 | -18 |
| Lakers | Forum Blue And Gold | 46 | 57 | 11 |
| Lakers | With Malice... | ??? | 57 | ??? |
| Magic | Believing in Magic | 48 | 52 | 4 |
| Magic | Third Quarter Collapse | 46 | 52 | 6 |
| Mavericks | Showboating | 60 | 51 | -9 |
| Nets | HOOPLAH.. NATION | 46 | 34 | -12 |
| Nets | NetsDaily | 45 | 34 | -11 |
| Nuggets | The Nugg Doctor | 53 | 50 | -3 |
| Pacers | Indy Cornrows | 40 | 36 | -4 |
| Pacers | Pacers Pulse | 43 | 36 | -7 |
| Pistons | PistonsNationBlog.com | 52 | 59 | 7 |
| Pistons | Empty the Bench | 51 | 59 | 8 |
| Pistons | Need4Sheed | 51 | 59 | 8 |
| Pistons | Pistons Palace | 50 | 59 | 9 |
| Raptors | Hoops Addict | 46 | 41 | -5 |
| Rockets | HoopsBlogging | 58 | 55 | -3 |
| Sonics | SonicsCentral.com | 40 | 20 | -20 |
| Spurs | Spur of the Moment | 57 | 56 | -1 |
| Spurs | Pounding the Rock | 55 | 56 | 1 |
| Suns | Bright Side Of The Sun | 60 | 55 | -5 |
| Timberwolves | TWolvesBlog | 21 | 22 | 1 |
| Warriors | Golden State of Mind | 44 | 48 | 4 |
| Wizards | Bullets Forever | 46 | 43 | -3 |
Interesting footnote: in the last two years, predictions in the range of 40-42 wins have been the kiss of death. Last year, 7 predictions came in at between 40 and 42 wins, and they overerstimated by an average of nearly 8 wins. This year was even worse—the 7 near-.500 predictions were off by a whopping 12 wins. Word to the wise: if you find yourself predicting a .500 record for your team next year, you may want to consider ratcheting down your expectations.
Congrats to the most accurate predictions from this year: TWolvesBlog, Pounding the Rock, Spur of the Moment, and Basketball John were all just one win off.
To see what fans are predicting for the playoffs, check out the master bracket from the BallHype playoffs pick'em contest.
