The Tank Thread: 21-22 Edition (Currently 3rd Place)

[NYPiston]

Diallo could become a shooter, but that is a real leap of faith, not based on anything Ive seen from him.

Diallo will be very helpful while he has this cheap contract as a guy off the bench that can change a game with his defense, rebounding, hustle, etc. Play nasty defense against the other team's guard/wing and just piss that guy off for 20 minutes a game.

But pay him $18 million a year and hope hes a starter, thats a real bad contract. So I think that assessment is right.

Pistons have way too many 6-9 guys and not enough starters. Josh Jackson was another one, great 8th man on a super cheap contract. Not a starter. Trey Lyles was another great backup making nothing.

Where to find the starters?

The Pistons need 2 starters (unless they trade Grant), PG and C are the big holes. Ideally, they find one in free agency and in the draft. Maybe they look towards Robinson if they draft a guard and Brunson if they draft a big but either way, it seems like they'll attempt to fill those two need this offseason I'd think.

[Moses ShamMoses]

After looking at remaining schedules...

Bucks are going to want to win tonight vs Detroit so they can get to 51 wins and solidify the #2 seed (own tiebreakers with both Celtics and Sixers). They won't want to blow off the Detroit game, lose, and go into Sunday having to win @ Cleveland. Take care of business tonight and rest on Sunday is going to be the likely strategy.

If the Sixers can pull off a victory over the Pacers tomorrow night, they will be looking to win versus Detroit on Sunday since Boston is also playing on Sunday night. If Boston loses Sunday and Sixers win, the Sixers will end up with 51 wins the #3 seed and Celtics with 50 wins and the #4 seed, which means they will be playing the struggling Bulls in the 1st round.

3rd seed is better this year. 2nd has a likely 1st round matchup with BKN. 3rd gets to play a slumping Bulls team.

Wouldn't Bucks rather be the #2 seed so they get home court advantage in the 2nd round? I understand they'd rather play the Bulls than Nets in the 1st round, but its not guaranteed the Nets even win the play-in.

[bstein14]

I think if the Bucks were the #3 seed, the most likely outcome would be that they would play the Nets in the 2nd round and still have home court advantage in the 2nd round. That said, the Nets are probably the one team that isn't worried about trying to dodge anyone because they are the defending champs. Philly for sure wants to dodge Brooklyn in the first round after the trade that was just made between the two teams.

[whitehops]

giannis is questionable with right calf soreness but it looks like the rest of their starters are going to play today.

[gusman]

We did it! Right? Locked top 3.

[Cowology]

We did it! Right? Locked top 3.

Lottery odds are set. All up to the ping-pong balls now.

[Sort]

I don't remember Casey partaking so much to make sure we tank. Hats off. Make Luka Garza the star of your show and let the deep bench close the game out.

Now I just hope we are thinking Play In next year and this crapola concludes itself.

[whitehops]

we're officially solely in 3rd place so these are our odds:

1st - 14%
2nd - 13.4%
3rd - 12.7%
4th - 12%
5th - 14.8%
6th - 26%
7th - 7%

[gusman]

I am sure Ben Wallace will be representing us again.

[flow]

Thank god this is over.

Heads should roll if we're doing this again next year.

[GreekAlex]

we're officially solely in 3rd place so these are our odds:

1st - 14%
2nd - 13.4%
3rd - 12.7%
4th - 12%
5th - 14.8%
6th - 26%
7th - 7%

Wow, I didn't know our strongest odds were for the 6th pick.

[Cowology]

we're officially solely in 3rd place so these are our odds:

1st - 14%
2nd - 13.4%
3rd - 12.7%
4th - 12%
5th - 14.8%
6th - 26%
7th - 7%

Wow, I didn't know our strongest odds were for the 6th pick.

I don't care what the "odds" say; 3rd is virtually impossible. There is almost always at least 1 team and frequently 2 teams that jump up. Having 3 teams jump us would also be super unlucky.

In my brain we have like a 30-35% chance at moving up to 1-2, about a 30-35% chance of falling back to 4th-5th and then about a 30-35% chance of dropping all the way to 6. Math is not an exact science.

[The Moose]

we're officially solely in 3rd place so these are our odds:

1st - 14%
2nd - 13.4%
3rd - 12.7%
4th - 12%
5th - 14.8%
6th - 26%
7th - 7%

Wow, I didn't know our strongest odds were for the 6th pick.

I don't care what the "odds" say; 3rd is virtually impossible. There is almost always at least 1 team and frequently 2 teams that jump up. Having 3 teams jump us would also be super unlucky.

In my brain we have like a 30-35% chance at moving up to 1-2, about a 30-35% chance of falling back to 4th-5th and then about a 30-35% chance of dropping all the way to 6. Math is not an exact science.

We can still pick 3rd even if 1,2 or 3 teams below us jump in the lottery, as long as we jump too

[breezypeezy]

Those odds say we have better than a 50% chance at picking in the top 4 and less than a 50% chance of picking 5th-7th.
That's the way I prefer reading it.

[joeposh]

Just wanted to stop by and tip my hat to Weaver, Casey and the team for pulling this off yet again and somehow managing to not make it a totally demoralizing feat.

The core pieces of this team showed real growth this year, and you can see the flashes of what this team can be with more seasoning and some additional pieces. We weren't going to out tank everyone, and this 3rd place finish seems like just about the best we could hope for without doing damage to the fabric of the team or Cade's rookie run.

The squad did their part, not it's all up to the lotto gods.

[tmorgan]

Cow, math is an exact science, unless you want to say it’s not a science at all.

To pick top 4, you need a lottery ball chosen. It’s not about getting jumped. Get with it.

[whitehops]

Wow, I didn't know our strongest odds were for the 6th pick.

I don't care what the "odds" say; 3rd is virtually impossible. There is almost always at least 1 team and frequently 2 teams that jump up. Having 3 teams jump us would also be super unlucky.

In my brain we have like a 30-35% chance at moving up to 1-2, about a 30-35% chance of falling back to 4th-5th and then about a 30-35% chance of dropping all the way to 6. Math is not an exact science.

We can still pick 3rd even if 1,2 or 3 teams below us jump in the lottery, as long as we jump too

I think a good way of thinking about it is that even if we get the first pick, we haven’t jumped anyone math-wise. We have the same odds at the top 4 picks as the top 2 teams and equal claim to the first pick.

We’d only be jumping the rockets and magic in the event that neither of those teams end up in the top 4, again, since we all had the same chance at top 4 picks but would’ve been guaranteed to finish behind them if we fell out of the top 4 with them.

[Cowology]

Cow, math is an exact science, unless you want to say it’s not a science at all.

To pick top 4, you need a lottery ball chosen. It’s not about getting jumped. Get with it.

stop trying to confuse me with your fancy words and logic!

[flow]

we're officially solely in 3rd place so these are our odds:

1st - 14%
2nd - 13.4%
3rd - 12.7%
4th - 12%
5th - 14.8%
6th - 26%
7th - 7%

Wow, I didn't know our strongest odds were for the 6th pick.

I was just looking at these numbers for the first time and thought the same thing.

Those odds say we have better than a 50% chance at picking in the top 4 and less than a 50% chance of picking 5th-7th.
That's the way I prefer reading it.

Yep, nice manipulation of the numbers!

[Snakebites]

I'm locking this thread. We have plenty of threads discussing lottery and draft picks and the tanking part is over.