How might the 2017-18 NBA season play out?
For the third year in a row, we're using ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM) along with my projections for rookies and guesses at playing time to rate teams heading into the season. We initially published RPM projections in August, but have updated them since then for injuries, transactions -- including trades involving Kyrie Irving and Carmelo Anthony -- and rotation changes.
Additionally, we've also run those projections through 2,500 simulations of the season to account for the differences in schedule between teams in the East and West and account for the uncertainty about our projections for each team. So for each team we've listed the average wins from those simulations as well as the percentage in which they made the playoffs. We'll also compare to other statistical projections to see where they differ. Let's take a look, starting with a certain team from the Bay Area.