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

[The Moose]

I think to finish 2nd we would have to finish the season winless or with 1 win maximum. I dont think the Thunder are going to win another game this season, and the magic will take a miracle to win more than 2.

[Snakebites]

I think to finish 2nd we would have to finish the season winless or with 1 win maximum. I dont think the Thunder are going to win another game this season, and the magic will take a miracle to win more than 2.

Yeah, and even one win puts us at a maybe, as I could easily see the Magic losing out.

I resisted the notion that the Thunder or Magic could possibly end the season on that long a winning streak, but watching the Thunder through an entire (non Piston) game the other day converted me.

[ducler]

Magic hosts Pacers tonight with Sabonis on GTD.
Orlando has not played since Thursday so they will be well rested compared to Pacers who played a tight game against us yesterday and had to travel.
There is hope at least...

[Kilo]

Detroit will finish 4th or 5th. OKC and Orlando unabashedly tanking and will maybe win more more game each (I doubt OKC wins another even at this point). So both will fall below Detroit - 4thvs 5th comes down to Minnesota possibly winning a couple more games than Detroit. Not likely. Detroit goes 4-7 in last eleven and finishes better than Houston, OKC, Orlando and Minnesota.

[MotownMadness]

“Nah, it’s not the same,” Grant said. “It's a lot different. It's not a rebuild, as Troy always says. It's not three or four years into the future. We're looking forward to doing something big next year. So no, it doesn’t have the same feeling as there.”

The Sixers won 18 games during Grant’s rookie season, and just 10 during his sophomore season. He endured a 28-game losing streak — the longest skid in American professional sports history — that started at the end of his first season and bled into his second.

Sounds like Weaver has told Grant were aiming to win next year. It makes sense they would have a convo on this subject with Grant entering his prime.

[Snakebites]

“Nah, it’s not the same,” Grant said. “It's a lot different. It's not a rebuild, as Troy always says. It's not three or four years into the future. We're looking forward to doing something big next year. So no, it doesn’t have the same feeling as there.”

The Sixers won 18 games during Grant’s rookie season, and just 10 during his sophomore season. He endured a 28-game losing streak — the longest skid in American professional sports history — that started at the end of his first season and bled into his second.

Sounds like Weaver has told Grant were aiming to win next year. It makes sense they would have a convo on this subject with Grant entering his prime.

I think we all expected that this was the case.

Makes it all the more important we add the right player (s) via the draft and other moves in the offseason.

It’s clear by the actions of OKC and Orlando that not enough had been done to dissuade tanking.

The notion of them both ending the season with pure losing felt insane 2 weeks ago but looks now like it’s happening.

[MotownMadness]

Looking at it though we have 5 more losses then the 6th place Cavs so we're definitely finishing in the top 5. We're 3 losses ahead of OKC and 2 ahead of Magic. I think we can hold them off while hoping The Wolves keep winning a few.

We really need to tank this out now, especially if we're going to be trying to win next year.

[DetroitSho]

Woah, Minny beating Utah could be a game changer especially since the Pistons play them one more time and they'd win the tiebreaker if they beat the Pistons. They also play the Rockets and Magic so this could get a little interesting only if the Pistons lose to them. Still a longshot but the Utah win put them in play.

I don't think thats how the lottery tiebreakers are done is it? I believe they are just done by a coin toss

In the event that teams finish with the same record, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy. In 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers tied for the sixth worst record. The average of the 6th and 7th positions in the lottery was taken, resulting in each team getting 53 combinations (the average of 63 and 43). Should the average number not be an integer, a coin flip is then used to determine which team or teams receive the extra combination(s). The result of the coin flip is also used to determine who receives the earlier pick in the event that neither of the tied teams wins one of the first three picks via the lottery.

Maybe that's when the teams split their head to heads that year, no?

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[Snakebites]

Woah, Minny beating Utah could be a game changer especially since the Pistons play them one more time and they'd win the tiebreaker if they beat the Pistons. They also play the Rockets and Magic so this could get a little interesting only if the Pistons lose to them. Still a longshot but the Utah win put them in play.

I don't think thats how the lottery tiebreakers are done is it? I believe they are just done by a coin toss

In the event that teams finish with the same record, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy. In 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers tied for the sixth worst record. The average of the 6th and 7th positions in the lottery was taken, resulting in each team getting 53 combinations (the average of 63 and 43). Should the average number not be an integer, a coin flip is then used to determine which team or teams receive the extra combination(s). The result of the coin flip is also used to determine who receives the earlier pick in the event that neither of the tied teams wins one of the first three picks via the lottery.

The wording of that heavily implies that these were the rules for the previous lottery system (as it mentions the first 3 picks via the lottery).

I doubt the rules for ties have changed though.

The whole "winner of the season matchups" thing is used for playoff seeding.

[ByeByeDre]

“Nah, it’s not the same,” Grant said. “It's a lot different. It's not a rebuild, as Troy always says.

Sounds like Weaver has told Grant were aiming to win next year. It makes sense they would have a convo on this subject with Grant entering his prime.

Retool, not rebuild. Better pray to the ping pong ball gods, as there’s only going to be one chance to get lucky. Completely tanking every remaining game would be smart too.

[MotownMadness]

It's always been a coin flip as far as I know for tied records. I remember one year we won the coin flip and the team we won it against ended up jumping ahead to the top, lol

[MotownMadness]

“Nah, it’s not the same,” Grant said. “It's a lot different. It's not a rebuild, as Troy always says.

Sounds like Weaver has told Grant were aiming to win next year. It makes sense they would have a convo on this subject with Grant entering his prime.

Retool, not rebuild. Better pray to the ping pong ball gods, as there’s only going to be one chance to get lucky. Completely tanking every remaining game would be smart too.

For sure, this draft is so damn important to our ceiling moving forward.

[ByeByeDre]

Sounds like Weaver has told Grant were aiming to win next year. It makes sense they would have a convo on this subject with Grant entering his prime.

Retool, not rebuild. Better pray to the ping pong ball gods, as there’s only going to be one chance to get lucky. Completely tanking every remaining game would be smart too.

For sure, this draft is so damn important to our ceiling moving forward.

The way these other teams are tanking, the Pistons should alternate five tall guys and five short guys. Simply say we’re helping the players see the game differently or some crap like that. Start Sekou at point guard. Plum at the two. Play Saben Lee at power forward and Fourth Quarter Frank at center. Guaranteed losses.

[NYPiston]

Woah, Minny beating Utah could be a game changer especially since the Pistons play them one more time and they'd win the tiebreaker if they beat the Pistons. They also play the Rockets and Magic so this could get a little interesting only if the Pistons lose to them. Still a longshot but the Utah win put them in play.

I don't think thats how the lottery tiebreakers are done is it? I believe they are just done by a coin toss

In the event that teams finish with the same record, each tied team receives the average of the total number of combinations for the positions that they occupy. In 2007, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Portland Trail Blazers tied for the sixth worst record. The average of the 6th and 7th positions in the lottery was taken, resulting in each team getting 53 combinations (the average of 63 and 43). Should the average number not be an integer, a coin flip is then used to determine which team or teams receive the extra combination(s). The result of the coin flip is also used to determine who receives the earlier pick in the event that neither of the tied teams wins one of the first three picks via the lottery.

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

This could serve to be somewhat good news should they tie with OKC as they won the season series between the two.

Not surprised by what Grant is saying. This was never going to be a Hinkie/Presti style rebuild.
Who knows? They could still be unintentionally bad next season even if Weaver adds a significant free agent. Development isn't always linear so I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the rooks have rough sophomore seasons and would it be the worst thing in the world if they had a Knicks type resurgence next season with Grant being our Randle? I don't know about you guys, but I'm already sick of rooting for the team to lose/tank after 2 years of this.

[MotownMadness]

Retool, not rebuild. Better pray to the ping pong ball gods, as there’s only going to be one chance to get lucky. Completely tanking every remaining game would be smart too.

For sure, this draft is so damn important to our ceiling moving forward.

The way these other teams are tanking, the Pistons should alternate five tall guys and five short guys. Simply say we’re helping the players see the game differently or some crap like that. Start Sekou at point guard. Plum at the two. Play Saben Lee at power forward and Fourth Quarter Frank at center. Guaranteed losses.

[tmorgan]

Unless we get super lucky and draft Cade, what we do or don’t have is going to depend to a large extent on how Killian develops. His progress or lack thereof will be enormous to our ceiling. Kid can pass like a star and will likely defend like one, too, but until he can handle the ball at at least an average level and shoot at an average level, he’s going to limit our potential.

I for one believe in him, but we’re not really going to know until we see what he looks like next year. A more confident Hayes and normal development from Bey and Stewart + a good draft and we’re going to be sniffing the playoffs.

[MotownMadness]

Ok Orlando is just pure trash right now, getting wrecked

[Manocad]

So basically whoever gets the #1 pick this year should be expected to win a championship before the Pistons.

[MotownMadness]

So basically whoever gets the #1 pick this year should be expected to win a championship before the Pistons.

No but whoever gets the #1 pick gets Cade and I wouldn't mind having him. I just want a top 5 pick though and not expecting to win the lottery.

[Snakebites]

I dunno how to project anyone else with Cade.

I am reasonably confident our odds of winning sooner would be better with him than without him.

The number one pick is nothing to count on regardless though. I do take comfort in the fact that we will have a substantial chance at a top 4 pick no matter what happens in the next few weeks though. Even at 6 we’d have hope, and that’s as bad as it gets.

Still some hope for 3 or 4, but yeah, I’ll admit I was wrong before to dismiss 5 or 6. 5 looks likely now, though I do worry about Cleveland’s remaining schedule now.