Picking every NBA over/under win total
By Brad Rowland
Dallas Mavericks – Over/Under 37.5 wins
God bless Rick Carlisle. He is one of the best coaches in the NBA, but after the DeAndre Jordan disaster and an elongated timetable for the return of Wes Matthews, the Mavs have a brutal roster right now. Dirk Nowitzki has slipped noticeably over the past two seasons, to the point where he was virtually invisible at times during EuroBasket this summer. Make no mistake, Dirk can be used as a weapon, but if he is the number one option on an NBA team (and he is right now in Dallas), that isn’t a good recipe for success.
To be truthful, this roster is probably set up for a win total in the 20’s with an average NBA head coach. I can’t bury Carlisle to that degree because he’s simply that good, but take the over on 37.5 wins would appear crazy to me, and I can’t do it.
The Pick: Under (33-49)
Denver Nuggets – Over/Under 27.5 wins
In the interest of full disclosure, I am always too high on the Nuggets. Denver was a team that I really liked heading into the 2014-2015 season and, well, things didn’t go terribly well. However, the Brian Shaw era is (mercifully) over at this point, and I trust Mike Malone implicitly as an X’s-and-O’s coach.
The roster isn’t ideal, but Danilo Gallinari being healthy is extremely important, and the addition of Emmanuel Mudiay will be a key in the backcourt. To be clear, I don’t see a reasonably healthy scenario in which the Nuggets land under this total, but the difference between 30 wins and 40 wins could be how Malone interacts and co-exists with Kenneth Faried, who will be under a great deal of pressure after a down season under Shaw.
The Pick: Over (40-42)
Next: Pistons and Warriors