SI says Raptors favourites in East
According to one metric (Win Shares) the Toronto Raptors will be the Eastern Conference champions in 2015-16 and crack 50 wins for the first time in franchise history.
It’s been a landmark offseason so far for the Toronto Raptors with marquee additions to the roster including Demarre Carroll, Cory Joseph, and Luis Scola.
Leaving town have been Greivis Vasquez, Lou Williams, Amir Johnson, and Tyler Hansbrough among others.
With the dust nearly settled Sports Illustrated reviewed the combined Win Shares each player brings to a team and seeded each team according to the results.
Win Shares are “a statistic that aims to quantify how many wins each player contributes to his team in a given season” with a narrow margin of error (just 2.74 since the 1962-63 season).
It will be a long grind to get there while incorporating a few new members to the core of the team. The Raptors also have a midseason game January 14th in London, England against the Orlando Magic.
Is a 50-win season for the Raptors achievable? If they stay healthy it’s not out of the question. Coach Dwane Casey’s had the team improve every year and after 48 and 49 wins the past two campaigns, 50 would be poetic.
Of course, it would still place them 7th in the West…
