I’m titling this post that way because Tom will try to write some smear post saying they’ll win 45 games and get bounced in the first round and I will NOT be associated with a site with those types of erroneous predictions.


Last year, I wrote this post which was almost 100% accurate.

Here’s this year.

Fultz

The biggest x-factor this year is how Fultz fits in. If Fultz is a stud, we can win the East. If Fultz is a minor contributor, then we’re losing to Boston most likely.

I have no idea what to expect here. I’ve seen his ‘new’ shot and it doesn’t look good, but it’s better than what he had.

I hope like everyone else that he’s fixed, but I don’t see him being THAT impactful this year. He won’t be the third best or most important player on the team this year. Having him in the starting line up to start is even a little scary. But we have to try it.

If he gets through the whole season healthy and proves he can shoot a bit, then I’m happy. However, the lack of a real shooting guard will be felt.


Health

I didn’t put ‘health’ as the number one priority like last year because Embiid and Simmons have proven they can play a full NBA season. Simmons I wasn’t ever worried about, but Embiid played 63 games last year and had a flukey eye injury which took him out of a couple games that I don’t count.

I fully expect both of them (and Fultz) to stay healthy, which is really the only thing that could derail this season.


What Vegas Thinks

Per Bovada:

To win the East

  • BOS -130
  • PHI +375
  • TOR +400

With no Lebron, Boston is the clear favorite, understandably so.

I’m not on board the Toronto train and I don’t have any confidence in the Raptors making a deep run this year.

Sixers being ahead of Toronto feels right to me, but +375 isn’t that encouraging compared to Boston at -130. I hoped it would be a little tighter than that.

To win the Championship

  • GSW -195
  • BOS +500
  • HOU +850
  • LAL +1000
  • TOR +1400
  • PHI +1600

Injury is the only thing that will stop the Warriors from winning again.

I don’t put nearly as much weight in this as I do the Eastern Conference lines because clearly these odds are skewed due to dumb LA fans hammering the Lakers. +1600 is acceptable for the Sixers though (but I’d put them as 4th best odds to win not 6th best).


MY PREDICTION

  • 55-27 (O/U is 54 so slight bias there)
  • 2 seed
  • Joel plays 70+ games and is top 5 in MVP voting
  • Simmons is 1 or 2 in the league in APG
  • Markelle averages 10-12 PPG and shoots 34% from 3 on not that many shots
  • Redick shoots 44%+ from 3, I think he’s going to be very effective this year

And finally, unfortunately, the Sixers lose to the Celtics in the ECF in 6 or 7.