I came across an odd computer simulation on ESPN.com, a computer simulation run 5,000 times using John Hollinger’s rankings to determine the most likely outcome of the regular season and the post season. They call it the 2010 NBA Playoff Odds.
I bring it to people’s attention on this day, Monday, March 8, 2010, because of the results regarding the Utah Jazz.
Here are some of the interesting results for today:
- The Utah Jazz are not picked to win the division. Denver is. (38.7% vs 52.1%)
- Despite not winning the division, the Utah Jazz have the highest odds in the Western Conference of getting to the NBA Finals (21.8%) and winning the NBA Championship (11.3%).
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- For those who are interested, the Lakers have a (21.6%) chance of getting to the NBA Finals, and only a 9.4% chance of winning it all.
- The top two teams, percentage-wise, are from the Eastern Conference: Cleveland and Orlando.
- Phoenix is considered, by the algorithm, to be the third best team in the Western Conference, before both the Denver Nuggets and the Dallas Mavericks.
- The Jazz have a 9.7% chance of winning the NBA Lottery (with the New York Knicks’ pick).
The fact that these results are based on algorithms that look at real stats in no way indicates that these results will actually happen.
Of course, we can all hope.