Race to the bottom: Who's our biggest competition?

[whitehops]

Three games to go, all alone in the second slot. I think Dwayne's bought in and will complete the tank. He sounded comfortable with development and short term losing in the post game conference, not frustrated at all.

i hope he is, and at this point i don't think he even needs injury or rest to justify playing the youngins. he could just say they want to see what they have in their young players and give them more tape to use for development points in the off season.

i think casey has done right by pretty much everyone this season. he's played the vets so they can play "proper" ball and give the young guys a good environment to develop in, and the vets have also been able to hold or improve their value in the league. the young guys weren't really thrown into the fire but eased along at a decent pace and now the training wheels are completely off. he's also given chances to guys like frank jackson and tyler cook and i'd be really surprised if either were in the g league or a 2-way contract next season. he's managed all that whilst getting the team in great position to get a top pick.

lottery luck was always going to play a big part in this season but even if the lottery balls don't fall our way i think casey and weaver have done a great job for where the team direction was at.

[440BB]

Three games to go, all alone in the second slot. I think Dwayne's bought in and will complete the tank. He sounded comfortable with development and short term losing in the post game conference, not frustrated at all.

Now he's bought in?

Thought it was clear in training camp when he repeatedly stated we'd "compete to win" as opposed to "attempt to win"

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I mean that he will keep vets that can heat up off the floor and make sure another Memphis type of win isn't possible. More committed to the end game, hard tanking one way or another for three games.

This is something he's never done before, as he's kept us uncomfortably close in a number of games. He's done a good job of losing close games but I think he's got the ability and inclination to tank more fully. I want to see it!

[joeposh]

Three games to go, all alone in the second slot. I think Dwayne's bought in and will complete the tank. He sounded comfortable with development and short term losing in the post game conference, not frustrated at all.

Now he's bought in?

Thought it was clear in training camp when he repeatedly stated we'd "compete to win" as opposed to "attempt to win"

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It's hilarious that all season we've had people who seem to think that the Front Office and Casey weren't all in alignment on the tank since day 0. I remember many comments about Casey being in the hot seat if he doesn't start using better rotations or play calls in key moments The only way Casey was in the hot seat is if we messed around and wound up with a middle of the pack record. That's not some state secret.

[joeposh]

Three games to go, all alone in the second slot. I think Dwayne's bought in and will complete the tank. He sounded comfortable with development and short term losing in the post game conference, not frustrated at all.

i hope he is, and at this point i don't think he even needs injury or rest to justify playing the youngins. he could just say they want to see what they have in their young players and give them more tape to use for development points in the off season.

i think casey has done right by pretty much everyone this season. he's played the vets so they can play "proper" ball and give the young guys a good environment to develop in, and the vets have also been able to hold or improve their value in the league. the young guys weren't really thrown into the fire but eased along at a decent pace and now the training wheels are completely off. he's also given chances to guys like frank jackson and tyler cook and i'd be really surprised if either were in the g league or a 2-way contract next season. he's managed all that whilst getting the team in great position to get a top pick.

lottery luck was always going to play a big part in this season but even if the lottery balls don't fall our way i think casey and weaver have done a great job for where the team direction was at.

I think this is all very true as well. I know there are no heroes when it comes to tanking, but when I look at how teams like ORL and OKC have handled this, basically gutting their teams mid-season down to g-league fodder, versus our approach which seems to balance developing young prospects with the future of the franchise, I feel like we managed to do this without doing a disservice to player development or the future of our team. In fact, I think we have a stronger foundation regardless of where the lottery balls fall as a result.

[Pharaoh]

Three games to go, all alone in the second slot. I think Dwayne's bought in and will complete the tank. He sounded comfortable with development and short term losing in the post game conference, not frustrated at all.

i hope he is, and at this point i don't think he even needs injury or rest to justify playing the youngins. he could just say they want to see what they have in their young players and give them more tape to use for development points in the off season.

i think casey has done right by pretty much everyone this season. he's played the vets so they can play "proper" ball and give the young guys a good environment to develop in, and the vets have also been able to hold or improve their value in the league. the young guys weren't really thrown into the fire but eased along at a decent pace and now the training wheels are completely off. he's also given chances to guys like frank jackson and tyler cook and i'd be really surprised if either were in the g league or a 2-way contract next season. he's managed all that whilst getting the team in great position to get a top pick.

lottery luck was always going to play a big part in this season but even if the lottery balls don't fall our way i think casey and weaver have done a great job for where the team direction was at.

I think this is all very true as well. I know there are no heroes when it comes to tanking, but when I look at how teams like ORL and OKC have handled this, basically gutting their teams mid-season down to g-league fodder, versus our approach which seems to balance developing young prospects with the future of the franchise, I feel like we managed to do this without doing a disservice to player development or the future of our team. In fact, I think we have a stronger foundation regardless of where the lottery balls fall as a result.

Agree and I think that's precisely what the FO & coaching staff were attempting to do this season:

Lay a foundation upon which to "restore".

Let's assume we somehow land Cade, Green or Suggs in the 2021 Draft:

Hayes & 1 of Cade/Green/Suggs (Diallo)
Bey & Grant & Sekou (Jackson)
Stewart

That's more hope than we've had in a very, very long time.


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[Collymore]

What a thiller season ending! I haven't been this excited since the Going to Work-team. We are playing youngsters and it's must lose games every time.

[DetroitSho]

Three games to go, all alone in the second slot. I think Dwayne's bought in and will complete the tank. He sounded comfortable with development and short term losing in the post game conference, not frustrated at all.

Now he's bought in?

Thought it was clear in training camp when he repeatedly stated we'd "compete to win" as opposed to "attempt to win"

Sent from my SM-G781B using RealGM mobile app

It's hilarious that all season we've had people who seem to think that the Front Office and Casey weren't all in alignment on the tank since day 0. I remember many comments about Casey being in the hot seat if he doesn't start using better rotations or play calls in key moments The only way Casey was in the hot seat is if we messed around and wound up with a middle of the pack record. That's not some state secret.

There's literally a genius in this very thread complaining that Casey f'd up the tank and we should easily be in position to have the 2nd worse record, WHILE LITERALLY HAVING THE 2ND WORSE RECORD. Where does RealGM find these people?

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[Manocad]

Three games to go, all alone in the second slot. I think Dwayne's bought in and will complete the tank. He sounded comfortable with development and short term losing in the post game conference, not frustrated at all.

Now he's bought in?

Thought it was clear in training camp when he repeatedly stated we'd "compete to win" as opposed to "attempt to win"

Sent from my SM-G781B using RealGM mobile app

It's hilarious that all season we've had people who seem to think that the Front Office and Casey weren't all in alignment on the tank since day 0. I remember many comments about Casey being in the hot seat if he doesn't start using better rotations or play calls in key moments The only way Casey was in the hot seat is if we messed around and wound up with a middle of the pack record. That's not some state secret.

I seriously don't get how we still have one poster pushing the narrative that Casey is screwing things up...WITH THREE GAMES LEFT. According to pretty much all of us the goals were:
- Play the kids. Check--everyone has played enough minutes that we know exactly what the team has in literally every single player.
- Lose games and get a shot at the top pick. Check. 2nd worst record.

Other than having the worst record which guarantees a top 5 pick rather than top 6, both those goals have been achieved. And by my evaluation after watching games Casey would have had to blatantly tank, i.e. play the worst players more minutes than justified, to get the worst record. So I'd say he's done a 9 out of 10 job this season.

[bstein14]

I just looked at the stats and was surprised to see Ja actually took a step back in year two. Won rookie of the year putting up 20+ and 7+ assists per game on good percentages and now his numbers are similar but his efficiency is down. I still think he ends up a multiple time all start but it's possible he won't have as high of a trajectory as many people thought. I would still take him over everyone in this draft but I couldn't blame anyone for taking Cade over him.

[NYPiston]

I saw something interesting on another message board.
Essentially, the Miami game only gets played if it has playoff implications for the Heat. Otherwise, it won't be played.
If so, that's a win win for the Pistons assuming that they didn't already win the 1 or 2 games before that.

[tmorgan]

Overall, satisfied with how things have gone. Keep in mind, I’m a tough grader in general.

I give Weaver an A- for year one. The draft went very well, and his free agent selections and other cheap pick-ups were mostly good. The obvious stain on the record was the handling of Wood, and a minor demerit for signing Okafor and some seemingly unnecessary stretching of small contracts. I like moving on from Blake and Rose early, and I like giving shots to Josh Jackson and a couple others. Very good job in general.

I give Casey a B+, higher than I ever would have expected. He handled the rebuilding environment very well, definitely put time in with all our young players, and seems to be with Weaver’s program in general. Only negatives were overplaying vets some of the time, particularly Ellington and CoJo, and jerking around the playing time of some younger guys — but they may have deserved it, we can’t see behind the curtain.

Satisfying season. Excited for next year, even if we don’t have lotto luck. If we do... REALLY excited.

[DetroitSho]

Overall, satisfied with how things have gone. Keep in mind, I’m a tough grader in general.

I give Weaver an A- for year one. The draft went very well, and his free agent selections and other cheap pick-ups were mostly good. The obvious stain on the record was the handling of Wood, and a minor demerit for signing Okafor and some seemingly unnecessary stretching of small contracts. I like moving on from Blake and Rose early, and I like giving shots to Josh Jackson and a couple others. Very good job in general.

I give Casey a B+, higher than I ever would have expected. He handled the rebuilding environment very well, definitely put time in with all our young players, and seems to be with Weaver’s program in general. Only negatives were overplaying vets some of the time, particularly Ellington and CoJo, and jerking around the playing time of some younger guys — but they may have deserved it, we can’t see behind the curtain.

Satisfying season. Excited for next year, even if we don’t have lotto luck. If we do... REALLY excited.

Maybe I'm mistaken but isn't Okafor on the vets minimum? If so, I don't understand why so many people are against that signing.

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[tmorgan]

Because Okafor is a bum. Compete bum. Traffic cone on defense, limited on offense, never in great shape. Bum.

[DetroitSho]

Because Okafor is a bum. Compete bum. Traffic cone on defense, limited on offense, never in great shape. Bum.

So a vet minimum level player?

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[tmorgan]

A not worth a roster spot kind of player, sir.

And yes, it was for the minimum annually for a player of his experience, but it was a two year deal. That’s the really bad part.

[Invictus88]

The Okafor signing had a floor of basically just being a body to fill minutes while we tanked this season and possibly the next. He hasn't really exceeded this but that doesn't make it a bad signing.

If we were looking at doing something particularly meaningful next year then I'd think differently. But it's clear that he doesn't take minutes away from our developing young guys and that's exactly what we want to be doing during his tenure here: developing our young players.

We have a (hopefully) high 1st and 3 2nds this draft right? Plenty of new players next year to step in minutes-wise in front of Jahlil.

I'll continue to poke fun at him during game threads as sometimes he can just look goofy being a step slower reaction-wise than everyone else on the floor. But as long as he isn't a distraction in the locker room then I don't fault Weaver at all for signing him.

[DetroitSho]

A not worth a roster spot kind of player, sir.

And yes, it was for the minimum annually for a player of his experience, but it was a two year deal. That’s the really bad part.

I mean I get the 2 year part,, but what is your expectation of a vet minimum player? His picture is next to the phrase in the dictionary.

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[Billl]

meh - taking a flier on Okafor for the min wasn't a bad gamble. Hasn't worked out, but he's a fairly young former top prospect, so we kicked the tires on him. Hopefully we do that over, and over and get a cheap rotation player out of it ala josh jackson

[The Moose]

random point but has anyone noticed Khyri Thomas playing on the Rockets and doing very well

he just had 27 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asts, 5 stls the other day

Watch on YouTube

[The Moose]

I saw something interesting on another message board.
Essentially, the Miami game only gets played if it has playoff implications for the Heat. Otherwise, it won't be played.
If so, that's a win win for the Pistons assuming that they didn't already win the 1 or 2 games before that.

i dont think thats 100% correct, I think the timing of the games are being scheduled based on playoff/play-in implications. They will all be played regardless though.

I think its being done to keep suspense and avoid intentionally losing to swap seed etc