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

[Piston Pete]

We don’t need Houston to be a playoff threat. We just need them to have a better record than us.

Wood/Wall/Gordon/Oladipo should be good enough for them to at least be better than us.

Remember that before Wood got hurt, they were playing .500 ball

[ducler]

So we've lost our last 3 games, next games will be crucial as I expect some vets to be traded after trade deadline so that we will be even worse than now.
DET schedule before trade deadline: vs Spurs, vs Raptors, @Rockets, vs Bulls and @Pacers.

Wolves won their second win after ASG, this one on B2B. They're only 1 win below us.
MIN schedule before TD: @Lakers, @Suns twice on B2B, vs Thunder and vs Mavs.

Rockets continue their losing streak, 16 loss in a row now, what a tanking performance! They're only 1 win above us.
Wood should be back for next game or the following.
HOU schedule before TD: vs Hawks, vs Warriors on B2B, vs Pistons, vs Thunder, vs Raptors on B2B and vs Hornets.

Magic is also sending the tank with 8 loss in a row. They're 3 wins above us.
ORL schedule before TD: @Knicks, vs Nets on B2B, @Celtics, vs Nuggets and vs Suns on B2B.

Cavs and Wizards are also going for losing streaks since ASG with 3 loss in a row. They're 4 wins above us.
CLE schedule before TD: @Heat, vs Celtics on B2B, vs Spurs, vs Raptors, vs Kings on B2B and @Bulls.
WAS schedule before TD: vs Bucks, vs Kings, vs Jazz on B2B, @Nets and @Knicks.

All other teams have at least 5 more wins than us.

[The Moose]

So we've lost our last 3 games, next games will be crucial as I expect some vets to be traded after trade deadline so that we will be even worse than now.
DET schedule before trade deadline: vs Spurs, vs Raptors, @Rockets, vs Bulls and @Pacers.

Wolves won their second win after ASG, this one on B2B. They're only 1 win below us.
MIN schedule before TD: @Lakers, @Suns twice on B2B, vs Thunder and vs Mavs.

Rockets continue their losing streak, 16 loss in a row now, what a tanking performance! They're only 1 win above us.
Wood should be back for next game or the following.
HOU schedule before TD: vs Hawks, vs Warriors on B2B, vs Pistons, vs Thunder, vs Raptors on B2B and vs Hornets.

Magic is also sending the tank with 8 loss in a row. They're 3 wins above us.
ORL schedule before TD: @Knicks, vs Nets on B2B, @Celtics, vs Nuggets and vs Suns on B2B.

Cavs and Wizards are also going for losing streaks since ASG with 3 loss in a row. They're 4 wins above us.
CLE schedule before TD: @Heat, vs Celtics on B2B, vs Spurs, vs Raptors, vs Kings on B2B and @Bulls.
WAS schedule before TD: vs Bucks, vs Kings, vs Jazz on B2B, @Nets and @Knicks.

All other teams have at least 5 more wins than us.

definitely seems the bottom 5 teams in some order will be the Wolves, Pistons, Rockets, Magic , Cavs

Wolves and Rockets both have protected picks and incentives to tank, so im expecting us to move past them later on in the season. At this point I will be happy if we finish 3rd

[buzzkilloton]

So we've lost our last 3 games, next games will be crucial as I expect some vets to be traded after trade deadline so that we will be even worse than now.
DET schedule before trade deadline: vs Spurs, vs Raptors, @Rockets, vs Bulls and @Pacers.

Wolves won their second win after ASG, this one on B2B. They're only 1 win below us.
MIN schedule before TD: @Lakers, @Suns twice on B2B, vs Thunder and vs Mavs.

Rockets continue their losing streak, 16 loss in a row now, what a tanking performance! They're only 1 win above us.
Wood should be back for next game or the following.
HOU schedule before TD: vs Hawks, vs Warriors on B2B, vs Pistons, vs Thunder, vs Raptors on B2B and vs Hornets.

Magic is also sending the tank with 8 loss in a row. They're 3 wins above us.
ORL schedule before TD: @Knicks, vs Nets on B2B, @Celtics, vs Nuggets and vs Suns on B2B.

Cavs and Wizards are also going for losing streaks since ASG with 3 loss in a row. They're 4 wins above us.
CLE schedule before TD: @Heat, vs Celtics on B2B, vs Spurs, vs Raptors, vs Kings on B2B and @Bulls.
WAS schedule before TD: vs Bucks, vs Kings, vs Jazz on B2B, @Nets and @Knicks.

All other teams have at least 5 more wins than us.

definitely seems the bottom 5 teams in some order will be the Wolves, Pistons, Rockets, Magic , Cavs

Wolves and Rockets both have protected picks and incentives to tank, so im expecting us to move past them later on in the season. At this point I will be happy if we finish 3rd

Wolves should start playing a little better now. They got Towns back whos only played 19 games this season and DLO is going to return soon. Edwards has been improving lately as well. Thats more talent then what we have for sure with Rubio as well.

I do worry about the Magic and Rockets though. Its going to be tough. I've been back and forth on if we will finish worst or like top 5 multiple times this season becasue we play hard but I think we can do it.

[Manocad]

The Pistons are one win above having the worst record in the NBA with one team having one more win than them; every other team has at least three more wins. They'll likely move some vets at the trade deadline and their winning percentage is actually trending downward regardless (.263 for the season but 2-9/.222 in their last 11 games). They'll be fine.

Teams in the 6-7 spots are at 14-15 wins which extrapolates to about 25 wins for the season. The Pistons would have to go 15-13 in their final 28 games to hit that mark. No friggin' way that's happening and any claim that it will is ridiculous.

[NYPiston]

The Pistons seem in pretty good shape to finish bottom 2 but I don't think it'll happen now. I previously thought Houston would right the ship with Wall, Oladipo and Wood supposed to have returned after the ASB. Now Wall is "injured", Gordon is for real injured, Tucker isn't playing for them again and Wood "mysteriously" hasn't returned yet. That team is in full on intentional tank mode and are historically bad not just because of the 15 game losing streak but because they get destroyed every game. Zero chance they finish ahead of the Pistons.

It appears to be a 5 horse race for the bottom. The Magic are another horrendous team (and look at that upcoming schedule), wouldn't be surprised to see the Pistons pass them as well and I actually think it's more likely than not. The Cavs aren't that bad and the Wolves have been a lot better since KAT returned (lost a lot of close games similar to the Pistons) so all in all, I see the Pistons finishing 3rd or 4th worst.

Also, it looks like the Pistons caught a bad break with DeRozan possibly not playing and aren't the Raptors still missing half their team? Could see them put together a winning streak here.

[Snakebites]

Yeah it’s definitely time to give up on the Rockets playing better.

I think how the schedule affects us is a huge wildcard here, but it’s still hard to imagine us finishing outside of the bottom 4-5.

If I were to guess I’d say 3.

Orlando is a sneaky threat here with 8 losses in a row. Cleveland, Washington, and Sacramento don't, for the moment, "feel" to me that they're going to be a threat but any of them is an outside possibility too.

Overall I'd say I'm cautiously optimistic about the tank but acknowledge that there is a darkest timeline here were we fall down to like 7 or 8.

[Drwho17]

The Pistons are one win above having the worst record in the NBA with one team having one more win than them; every other team has at least three more wins. They'll likely move some vets at the trade deadline and their winning percentage is actually trending downward regardless (.263 for the season but 2-9/.222 in their last 11 games). They'll be fine.

Teams in the 6-7 spots are at 14-15 wins which extrapolates to about 25 wins for the season. The Pistons would have to go 15-13 in their final 28 games to hit that mark. No friggin' way that's happening and any claim that it will is ridiculous.

72 - 38 = 34.

[Snakebites]

The Pistons are one win above having the worst record in the NBA with one team having one more win than them; every other team has at least three more wins. They'll likely move some vets at the trade deadline and their winning percentage is actually trending downward regardless (.263 for the season but 2-9/.222 in their last 11 games). They'll be fine.

Teams in the 6-7 spots are at 14-15 wins which extrapolates to about 25 wins for the season. The Pistons would have to go 15-13 in their final 28 games to hit that mark. No friggin' way that's happening and any claim that it will is ridiculous.

72 - 38 = 34.

Yeah. Although I believe it's considered a strong possibility that many teams won't reach 72 games.

Also, to respond to Manocad's post in the general sense, this does not take into account the possibility that those teams in the 6-7 spots will under-perform their own projection, either due to being sellers at the trade deadline or just the general decline in effort that often plagues low-end teams.

It doesn't take as big a statistical glitch as it might seem at first swipe for 5 games to be gained on a relatively poor team.

[MotownMadness]

Man it would feel so good going into the lottery with the worst record.

[Snakebites]

Man it would feel so good going into the lottery with the worst record.

It would "feel" good, but we still wouldn't have "good" odds.

It would give us the security of knowing our worst case scenario is the 5th pick though.

[NYPiston]

Yeah it’s definitely time to give up on the Rockets playing better.

I think how the schedule affects us is a huge wildcard here, but it’s still hard to imagine us finishing outside of the bottom 4-5.

If I were to guess I’d say 3.

Orlando is a sneaky threat here with 8 losses in a row. Cleveland, Washington, and Sacramento don't, for the moment, "feel" to me that they're going to be a threat but any of them is an outside possibility too.

Overall I'd say I'm cautiously optimistic about the tank but acknowledge that there is a darkest timeline here were we fall down to like 7 or 8.

Yeah, the Pistons have built up a ton of tank equity so it's safe to assume that they will finish bottom 5 but the reality is that they aren't nearly as bad as some of their fellow tankers. They have been very unfortunate (fortunate really) to not win at least 4-5 more games so this is really more of a 14-24 or 15-23 team in terms of quality.

This upcoming stretch is a bit worrisome with Spurs without DeRozan most likely on the second of a back to back, I'm not sure the Raptors guys will return for that game so that's pretty much an auto win and another auto win in Houston assuming that Wood is still "injured". They could easily put together a 3 game winning streak here and be #4 by the end of the 3 games.

[DBC10]

Man it would feel so good going into the lottery with the worst record.

It would "feel" good, but we still wouldn't have "good" odds.

It would give us the security of knowing our worst case scenario is the 5th pick though.

This board will erupt if we end up with the 5th. Conspiracies, cursed memes, you name it, it'll implode.

The fact that there is a chance we can slip to 5th means everyone should brace

[Manocad]

The Pistons are one win above having the worst record in the NBA with one team having one more win than them; every other team has at least three more wins. They'll likely move some vets at the trade deadline and their winning percentage is actually trending downward regardless (.263 for the season but 2-9/.222 in their last 11 games). They'll be fine.

Teams in the 6-7 spots are at 14-15 wins which extrapolates to about 25 wins for the season. The Pistons would have to go 15-13 in their final 28 games to hit that mark. No friggin' way that's happening and any claim that it will is ridiculous.

72 - 38 = 34.

I extrapolated for a 66 game season which I thought was what this year was. The point remains. Extrapolate for 72 games and teams with 14-15 wins right now would end up at about 27 wins so the Pistons would have to finish 17-17 to hit that mark. Again, no friggin' way. This is assuredly a bottom 5 team at the finish line and likely bottom 3.

[Snakebites]

Man it would feel so good going into the lottery with the worst record.

It would "feel" good, but we still wouldn't have "good" odds.

It would give us the security of knowing our worst case scenario is the 5th pick though.

This board will erupt if we end up with the 5th. Conspiracies, cursed memes, you name it, it'll implode.

The fact that there is a chance we can slip to 5th means everyone should brace

The odds of slipping to 5th at the first pick are almost 50 percent. So if there are conspiracy theories they will be foolish ones, to put it kindly.

[bstein14]

It would "feel" good, but we still wouldn't have "good" odds.

It would give us the security of knowing our worst case scenario is the 5th pick though.

This board will erupt if we end up with the 5th. Conspiracies, cursed memes, you name it, it'll implode.

The fact that there is a chance we can slip to 5th means everyone should brace

The odds of slipping to 5th at the first pick are almost 50 percent. So if there are conspiracy theories they will be foolish ones, to put it kindly.

Yup its basically a coin flip. Pick 5th or get lucky and move into the top 4.

[MotownMadness]

Man it would feel so good going into the lottery with the worst record.

It would "feel" good, but we still wouldn't have "good" odds.

It would give us the security of knowing our worst case scenario is the 5th pick though.

Yeah the odds suck so make sure we can stay in the top 5 and I'm thrilled

[Piston Pete]

Christian Wood is expected to return to the Rockets lineup tonight.

[MotownMadness]

Christian Wood is expected to return to the Rockets lineup tonight.

It will be interesting to see if he makes a difference in winning. We lost a lot of games with him as a starter so here's hoping

[The Moose]

I honestly think the Rockets are going to finish with the worst record. They've lost what? 17 in a row? All but 1 or 2 of those are by double digit blowouts