Can the Warriors win 69 games?

[NovU]

4 days to vote.

West Stacked? No problem!

[Andrew]

They have 13 losses at this point, so no.

[NovU]

Revised!

Will they rest their players? I think so but that record should be tempting.

[Kevin]

66 or below.

[NovU]

They got 61 wins at the moment with 8 games left to go. 66 or below would mean 5-3(or worse) for the rest of season.

They're also on 10 game win streak.

[Mandich]

Didn't the Mavs also have 67 wins? They wouldn't be alone in the century box.

66 or bellow also.

[NovU]

Apparently Mavs did win 67. Not gonna revise tho so consider them co-best of century.

[Lamrock]

They like to rest their stars, but they're so deep that I reckon they finish with around 66 wins. Can't wait to see them take on the Cavs in the finals!

[Andrew]

Glancing at their schedule, I'll vote for 68 or 69 wins, and suggest that it won't be lower than 67 if that prediction falls short. They have a few quality opponents coming up, but they're also finishing with four straight games at home. I think they can finish really strong.

[Alpha_]

66 Ws or below.

[NovU]

7 games remaining with 62 wins.

- 66 WIN or below will mean (4-3) and worse going forward.
- 67 WIN will mean (5-2)
- 68-69 WIN will mean (6-1) and better.

There is good chance the Warriors will NOT rest their players, especially not Curry. Curry's on pace to break his own record for most treys in a season and is after MVP award. He'll probably push forward till the end rather than sit back. Draymond Green is exception though, he does really NEED rest.

[JAWSFreelao]

66 or below, IMO.

[benji]

Warriors beat the Mavs. So they're at 63 now.

Warriors can rest their starters, remember, they have David Lee, Iguodala, Speights, Livingston, Barbosa, Ezeli, Rush, Kuzmic, etc. all on that bench. They can simply invert the minutes, while sitting Green and Bogut and not get destroyed. Play Curry and Thompson ten or twelve minutes a half unless one gets hot and you use him to close off the game.

Spurs and Grizzlies are probably going to be resting their starters. Blazers could I suppose since they've already clinched the 4th seed at worse and probably can't catch the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies question relies on how bad they want to get that Mavs matchup over the Spurs I suppose. I imagine Houston wants that too.

So 4-2 isn't out of the question to hit 67-15.

[benji]

The best records for a first year head coach:
Avery Johnson: 16-2 (73 win pace)
Steve Kerr: 63-13 (68 win pace)
Tom Thibodeau: 62-20
Paul Westphal: 62-20 (went to the Finals)
Avery Johnson's first full season: 60-22 (went to the Finals)
Bill Russell: 60-21
Larry Bird: 58-24
Mike Dunleavy: 58-24 (went to the Finals)
Pat Riley: 50-21 (58 win pace, won NBA title)
Billy Cunningham: 53-23 (57 win pace)
Chris Ford: 56-26
Jack Ramsay: 55-27
Phil Jackson: 55-27
Scott Skiles: 40-22 (53 win pace)
Butch Van Breda Kolff: 52-30
John Lucas: 39-22 (52 win pace)
Lawrence Frank: 25-15 (52 win pace, first full season 42-40)
Rick Carlisle: 50-32
Larry Brown*: 50-32
Brian Hill: 50-32
Mike Brown: 50-32

Derek Fisher: 14-62 (15 win pace)
Kevin Loughrey**: 5-26 (13 win pace)
Quinn Buckner: 13-69
Bill Hanzlik: 11-71
Roy Rubin**: 4-47 (6 win pace)

So Kerr's locked it up unless you consider Avery Johnson's 18 game stint or Red Auerbach's 49-11 (67-15) record in 1946-47 the first "NBA" season.

*First NBA season.
**Two winning coaches of the 9-73 Sixers.

[Andrew]

Even if you do want to count those win/loss records, Kerr's got the all-time record for most total wins for a rookie coach, so not bad. Not bad at all. As it stands, the Warriors could very well beat that 49-11 record from 1947 (since 67-15 would technically edge it by percentage points, and they can still finish 69-13), and Avery Johnson's 16-2 record shouldn't really qualify being less than 20 games, though his 60-22 record in his first full season is certainly impressive. If the Warriors finish 67-15 or better, then I'd say Kerr has the all-time marks for both total wins and win/loss record in his first season, fair and square.

[benji]

Kerr will break Johnson's record for fastest coach to 100 wins by a lot if the Warriors win 35 games next season.

Also, if we take "first full seasons" there are a few more 55-58 win coaches. Jeff Van Gundy for example went 13-10 after Don Nelson stepped down, and then in his first full season went 57-25. (his career best record btw) Rick Adelman followed up a 14-21 first season with a 59-23 season and went to the Finals. Adelman actually went 59-23, 63-19, 57-25 in his first three full seasons and two Finals trips. Rudy T went 16-14, then went 55-27, 58-24, 47-35 and picked up two titles. Russell also picked up two titles in his second and third seasons but went only 54-28 and 48-34. Frank Vogel went 20-18, then 42-24 (52-30), 49-32, 56-26.

Guys who coached a bit longer first seasons. Gregg Popovich obviously went 17-47 in the year without the Admiral, then went 56-26 the next season, and 37-13 (61-21) while winning a title the next. Scott Brooks went from 22-47 to 50-32.

Larry Costello coached a full season of 27-55, then he got this guy named Lew Alcindor and went 56-26, 66-16, 63-19, 60-22, 59-23 won a title and went to two NBA Finals.

Then we have Phil Jackson who went: 55-27, 61-21, 67-15, 57-25, 55-27, 47-35, 72-10, 69-13, 62-20, 67-15, 56-26, 58-24, 50-32, 56-26, 45-37, 42-40, 57-25, 65-17, 57-25, 57-25. He also picked up a few rings and a couple Finals trips.

[benji]

It's interesting to consider which of Phil Jackson's teams was the best overall. If you take the regular season and playoffs and add them together, then adjust them to be 82 games, you get:
1989-90 (54-28)
1990-91 (63-19)
1991-92 (65-17)
1992-93 (58-24)
1993-94 (54-28)
1994-95 (46-36)
1995-96 (71-11)
1996-97 (68-14)
1997-98 (61-21)
1999-00 (64-18)
2000-01 (59-23)
2001-02 (59-23)
2002-03 (49-33)
2003-04 (54-28)
2005-06 (44-38)
2006-07 (41-41)
2007-08 (57-25)
2008-09 (63-19)
2009-10 (57-25)
2010-11 (54-28)

However, from an entirely subjective standpoint, I have to go 1992 Bulls, 1996 Bulls, 2001 Lakers, 2009 Lakers, 1991 Bulls, 1997 Bulls, 2000 Lakers.

Mildly interesting is using the pythag regular season records instead of the actual ones, 1994-95 gets a huge boost and makes the leap to 72 wins in 1995-96 look less mysterious since adding a full season of Jordan (while subtracting all the band-aids they ran through the position), an improved Kukoc plus Rodman seems like it should add 15 wins or so:
1989-90 (50-32)
1990-91 (65-17)
1991-92 (64-18)
1992-93 (59-23)
1993-94 (50-32)
1994-95 (53-29)
1995-96 (70-12)
1996-97 (67-15)
1997-98 (61-21)
1999-00 (62-20)
2000-01 (55-27)
2001-02 (61-21)
2002-03 (47-35)
2003-04 (51-31)
2005-06 (47-35)
2006-07 (40-42)
2007-08 (58-24)
2008-09 (60-22)
2009-10 (55-27)
2010-11 (55-27)

[Andrew]

69 wins is now out of the question, thanks to the Spurs. I wouldn't count them out from winning 68, though I'll also still say 67 at the least. I believe they can finish 4-1 from here, assuming they don't go undefeated the rest of the way.

[shadowgrin]

I have to go 1992 Bulls

This is why I don't hate you as much. <3

[Andrew]

Seems I was underestimating the competition this late in the season, but 67 is still technically possible.