Vegas bets on Raptors backslide, sets win total at 46.5

For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Raptors fate as of late, it's easy to forget that the team has generally been trending upward for awhile now. Oh sure, that playoff series last season felt like the end of days, but let's look at the numbers, take a deep breath, and try to remain objective.

Over the last five years (a quarter of the franchise's existence!) the Raptors have gone from 22 wins, to 23, to 34, to 48, to 49. Plot those points on a graph--years on the x-axis, wins on the y--and, my friends, you have a soothing and pleasing curve. (One that is reaching its obvious asymptote, but I digress.)

The math people over in Las Vegas have some upsetting news however. For the 2015-16 season, this august body of bookmakers are suggesting the Raptors will win around 46.5 games this year. That's where the line is set. Will Toronto really finish at 46? What about 47? Some other number?

Either way, the projection suggests that our pleasant curve, the underappreciated formal mathematical proof that Toronto is at least moving in the right direction, is no more. For the first time in five years, we may be looking at, sigh, regression.

What do you guys think?