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

[DetroitSho]

I’m trying to figure how a team that’s struggling to tank this season will, after getting a high draft pick and all the rookies expectedly improving further, will finish with a worse record next season. Maybe only put four players on the floor at a time?

Nope, the Pistons are too stupid for words to even think of something like that. But I bet 2015 Philly would've done it if need be.

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[DCintheD]

Is OKC actually about to finally win?

They did it!

Someone’s about to get fired or cut

[bstein14]

OKC still plays Sacramento 3 more times, and its hard to lose to a lottery team 3 times in a week. I'd say they likely win one of those and finish with 22 wins on the year. Hopefully we can go 2-8 down the stretch and finish with just 21 wins.

[tmorgan]

Whoaaaa... OKC beats Boston tonight.

[aad]

Wolves bouta lose to the rockets

[Snakebites]

I think we win at least 3 more games. People won’t like that take but there it is.

[Snakebites]

I think we win at least 3 more games. People won’t like that take but there it is.

We beat Charlotte at least once, we beat Orlando, and at least one more. And that’s the minimum.

[NYPiston]

I think we win at least 3 more games. People won’t like that take but there it is.

I've been saying that for a while. A couple of games ago, I thought 4-5 wins so now with the Atlanta win, I think 3-4 is the most likely outcome mainly because of the heavy home schedule where they play much better. If they beat Dallas on Thursday? Yikes

If they had only lost to Atlanta, the Wolves would actually be ahead now. Sigh

[aad]

Good win t wolves

[zeebneeb]

Well, it would seem that while all of us are concerned that the Pistons are going to win to many games, we all didn't consider that other teams just may do the same.

The only team that will 100% lose more games, are the Rockets. Pistons have 19 wins, Wolves have 19 wins, and OKC has 21 wins. Orlando has 18.

As long as the Pistons stay at the 3rd worst record they have the same odds at the top 3 picks.(although they can drop to 7)

Things are going to be real interesting down the stretch.

[aad]

You also have to take into consideration that Grant and plumlee and some of the vets are gone sit out games

[buzzkilloton]

Good day for the tank. 538 win projections changed some.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-nba-predictions/

1.Rockets 17
2.Magic 21
3.Wolves 23
4.Pistons 23
5.Thunder 24
6.Cavs 24

I think its time we have some stealth injuries knock-out vets. Guys like GrantPlumlee, Cojo, and Ellington can sit the rest the way. We gain nothing by playing them. The battle for 3-6 by projections is going to be a game we have no margin for error.

The Wolves are the team with the most talent of this bunch. Cavs are imploding right now. The scary thing is as we just seen with the Thunder even awful teams can put up surprise wins so lets hope we start benching guys.

[The Moose]

Good day for the tank. 538 win projections changed some.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-nba-predictions/

1.Rockets 17
2.Magic 21
3.Wolves 23
4.Pistons 23
5.Thunder 24
6.Cavs 24

I think its time we have some stealth injuries knock-out vets. Guys like GrantPlumlee, Cojo, and Ellington can sit the rest the way. We gain nothing by playing them. The battle for 3-6 by projections is going to be a game we have no margin for error.

The Wolves are the team with the most talent of this bunch. Cavs are imploding right now. The scary thing is as we just seen with the Thunder even awful teams can put up surprise wins so lets hope we start benching guys.

tbh though, playing our younger guys has led to a few wins anyway. The only way we could safely tank is running Syrvidis, Cook and Okafor for 40 mins, which isn't going to happen I don't think.

[vic]

Killian is not a scorer right now but his disruptive defense and high iq passing can easily lead to some unexpected wins. Its not sexy but that's the value of having high iq players that make everyone else better.

At this point I'm just hoping that they get bumped up, because I don't see them being in the bottom 3. They deserve to get a bump up in the lottery, so that's what I'm focusing on right now.

[bstein14]

Killian is not a scorer right now but his disruptive defense and high iq passing can easily lead to some unexpected wins. Its not sexy but that's the value of having high iq players that make everyone else better.

At this point I'm just hoping that they get bumped up, because I don't see them being in the bottom 3. They deserve to get a bump up in the lottery, so that's what I'm focusing on right now.

It's a little bit early to say his "high IQ" is a positive for us. I have seen plenty of mistakes from him, which is fine considering he is a rookie in his first NBA games. Haliburton is a high IQ player he really only shoots good shots (and is shooting 40+% from deep) and he takes care of the ball with a 3.5 Assist to TO ratio. He also has a high # of steals for such a low number of fouls (1.5 per game). You can see it in the way he plays he already knows things that vets know as far as clock management and making the right pass at the right time. Hayes on the other hand has taken plenty of bad shots, it often out of sink a bit with his teammates, and has seem frazzled at times going against NBA pressure.

If anything I would say Killian has a ton to learn, I wouldn't say he has a high basketball IQ compared to other players on the team, even guys like Wright or CoJo who have been around the league for years and know the game much better.

[Snakebites]

Good day for the tank. 538 win projections changed some.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2021-nba-predictions/

1.Rockets 17
2.Magic 21
3.Wolves 23
4.Pistons 23
5.Thunder 24
6.Cavs 24

I think its time we have some stealth injuries knock-out vets. Guys like GrantPlumlee, Cojo, and Ellington can sit the rest the way. We gain nothing by playing them. The battle for 3-6 by projections is going to be a game we have no margin for error.

The Wolves are the team with the most talent of this bunch. Cavs are imploding right now. The scary thing is as we just seen with the Thunder even awful teams can put up surprise wins so lets hope we start benching guys.

tbh though, playing our younger guys has led to a few wins anyway. The only way we could safely tank is running Syrvidis, Cook and Okafor for 40 mins, which isn't going to happen I don't think.

Still don’t see the Thunder winning 3 more games though.

We actually need Orlando to lose to Cleveland today.

I think we can (mostly) give up on Orlando at this point, and Cleveland has a pretty hard remaining schedule outside of that game, so we need them to take it.

[MotownMadness]

Killian is not a scorer right now but his disruptive defense and high iq passing can easily lead to some unexpected wins. Its not sexy but that's the value of having high iq players that make everyone else better.

At this point I'm just hoping that they get bumped up, because I don't see them being in the bottom 3. They deserve to get a bump up in the lottery, so that's what I'm focusing on right now.

It's a little bit early to say his "high IQ" is a positive for us. I have seen plenty of mistakes from him, which is fine considering he is a rookie in his first NBA games. Haliburton is a high IQ player he really only shoots good shots (and is shooting 40+% from deep) and he takes care of the ball with a 3.5 Assist to TO ratio. He also has a high # of steals for such a low number of fouls (1.5 per game). You can see it in the way he plays he already knows things that vets know as far as clock management and making the right pass at the right time. Hayes on the other hand has taken plenty of bad shots, it often out of sink a bit with his teammates, and has seem frazzled at times going against NBA pressure.

If anything I would say Killian has a ton to learn, I wouldn't say he has a high basketball IQ compared to other players on the team, even guys like Wright or CoJo who have been around the league for years and know the game much better.

Killian is almost scared to score at this point causing teams to know hes gonna pass it. He's gotta start trying to get his make or miss over these last games or else even with good passing he's too predictable.

[440BB]

At 19 Hayes has shown very good court vision, passing and defense. He needs to work on his right hand and outside shot, as well as when to be aggressive. Those are all learnable things, but his vision, passing and quick hands are things that can't be taught.

I look forward to seeing how he progresses next season. A productive, relatively normal off season will help. After 17 games he's shown some special talent and could make a jump next year.

I didn't think he'd be back this season after the injury, but it ends up this small batch of games, 27 max, will go a long way in establishing how he fits and what he has to work on going forward. They've been pretty valuable and informative.

[Drwho17]

Killian is not a scorer right now but his disruptive defense and high iq passing can easily lead to some unexpected wins. Its not sexy but that's the value of having high iq players that make everyone else better.

At this point I'm just hoping that they get bumped up, because I don't see them being in the bottom 3. They deserve to get a bump up in the lottery, so that's what I'm focusing on right now.

The problem is the floor they could drop too if others move up, which is going to happen. They just need to get into the top 3, anything lower will be depressing.

[NYPiston]

Still don’t see the Thunder winning 3 more games though.

We actually need Orlando to lose to Cleveland today.

I think we can (mostly) give up on Orlando at this point, and Cleveland has a pretty hard remaining schedule outside of that game, so we need them to take it.

I think Cleveland is pretty much clear if they win tonight which, I don't see how they don't.

It's starting to narrow to Minny, Detroit and OKC for 3-5. I'm still having a hard time envisioning the Pistons not passing the Thunder so Minnesota (believe it or not) is the team I think they'll be jockeying with. That head to head is enormous, to state the obvious.
Can't beat Dallas tomorrow, that's a must lose.