Figured we might want a thread to discuss. As far as I see it, Mitch (and MJ by proxy) are hanging their hopes on Kemba retention around making the playoffs full stop. So regardless of what realities lie beyond June, if we assume, that's the metric by which we should care, here we are on the morning of game 55 at 2 games below .500.
ESPN as of 7:00 pm last night (2.8.19) had us at a projected 38 win season with 66.7% probability of playoffs
FiveThirtyEight has with a 38 & 37 win season and a similar 60-65% playoff probability depending on model.
ELO Projection
Now neither of these predictors mean anything if we come out of the trade deadline flat or exit the ASB like we don't care. But if Mitch is right and those around us don't care as much as we do about making the playoffs, then this should be interesting to chase. I'm hoping that we can get up to 6th but I have no reason to think that our addition (Cody) is equivalent to the Nets (LaVert) but will be interesting to watch.
To reiterate from above, this thread isn't about the virtue of making the playoffs, it's about making the playoffs because our FO has declared that is their number one goal. And if their longer term #1 is retaining Kemba, we can only assume "they know what they need to do" means making the playoffs