Expectations tempered by reality

Tis the season for media and fan finger pointing in the NBA - as the annual blame game attempts to explain the reason for team and player failures when expectations were so high. While a good strong dose of optimism can put a smile on your face it might be worthwhile to take a look at one of the realities that play a huge role in the outcome of a season.
  Since the 1979-80 through 2017-18 season (39 years) 624 teams have made the playoffs - 144 of those teams had winning percentages of .695 and higher of which 35 were champs. That's 24.3%  On the other hand 480 teams had winning percentages of under .695 and only 4 were champs. That's less than one percent. If just making the playoffs puts a smile on your face then being a sub .695 team is not too bad - but if you have serious expectations of a championship - then a winning percent of under .695 is likely to be a bad omen.
 Just a plain reality fact - with no attempt on my part to dictate the many bad things that can happen to cause expectations to go down the drain.

 swish

Since the 1988-89 season the Celts have played at a .695 percent or higher only 2 times (that's a 31 year period) They played at .695 or higher just twice - 2007-08 and 2008-09 and were the champs in 07-08 with a winning percent of .805.

swish