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Time for this year's edition of the tank thread. I thought it might be a bit too soon because I think we're all still mostly rooting for wins every night we go out and play at this point but with our game tomorrow against OKC (last in the West and also on an 8 game losing streak just like us) it could really be a game that is meaningful to the tank 4 months from now. It does look very much like OKC, Orlando, Houston and us will be the bottom 4 and we all know the best place is to be anywhere in that bottom 3 so we get the best odds. Everyone in the bottom 3 has the same overall odds at landing the top 4 picks.

1st: Detroit 4-18
2nd: Orlando 5-19
3rd: OKC 6-16
4th: Pelicans 7-19 (Once Zion comes back you'd have to think they play themselves out of bottom 5)
5th: Houston 7-16 (Have won 6 in a row after 1-16 start)
6th: Pacers 9-16 (Have more talent than us for sure, only a threat of they sell off like Orlando did last season)
7th: Spurs: 8-13 (Lack talent, but great coaching and Pop closing in on all-time most wins for a coach)

It certainly feels like there aren't as many teams tanking this year but of course that all could change with an injury or a change in direction for a team.

Yes sir!!! I joined the tank after that last Lakers loss.. only games i'm rooting for wins against are Lakers, Brooklyn, Raptors and Houston (if Green is playing).

My goals for season, Trade Grant for a 5 and draft pick, Cade to have the best +- each game. Pistons to hit 100 points during the games.

Detroit and OKC are the worst teams in the nba.. i'm not sure whats going on in Orlando I think they have more than enough talent to win more games.

Shoot, I don’t think they need to actually tank at this point and could still finish bottom 3. I picked them to win 30-35 games even with some realistic improvement from sophomores, which other than Hayes they seem to have regressed, so basically a 40% winning percentage. If they can actually get to that level they’d have 24 more wins and finish with 28. Given where the other teams are at with the talent they have, I think 28 wins is still bottom 3. And that’s still only IF they get to that level.

We're Number One!! We're Number One!!

This team is a starting point guard and starting Center that can rim protect from competition. Hopefully we can land one in the draft and other in free agency. Also get rid of COJO, dude can't play defense for his life.

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DET_Athletics wrote:This team is a starting point guard and starting Center that can rim protect from competition. Hopefully we can land one in the draft and other in free agency. Also get rid of COJO, dude can't play defense for his life.

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Could use a starting SF too the way Bey has played

DET_Athletics wrote:This team is a starting point guard and starting Center that can rim protect from competition. Hopefully we can land one in the draft and other in free agency. Also get rid of COJO, dude can't play defense for his life.

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Think you're rushing but I've been criticised for the last 2 years so what do I know?

Hayes is our starting PG moving forward and the fact he's no longer the most hated on the forum should indicate how much he's improved despite the fact he still hasn't played a full 82 games yet.

Our issue is the offense, or stagnant sets, our lack of ball or player movement.

The goal isn't to make the play in and anyone hoping for that needs to check themselves real quick.

The goal is to become a dominant team that is capable of contending.

If anyone thought Cade Cunningham and him alone was all it would take then you were wrong!

We're at least 2 years away from being anything. I said that last off-season but optimism reigned then.

How y'all feel now?

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I thought we would be somewhere in the bottom 3 before the season (as the Vegas odds had us), and we seem on track for that. I think the bottom 4 teams (DET,ORL,OKC,HOU) are pretty much a lock at this point, just have to wait and see in what order they finish.

I will say I’m not as concerned with the lottery this season as I was last season for a couple of reasons. The first being we are just coming off beating the odds to win the lottery. The second reason being I don’t see a clear number 1 prospect in this class, and my favourite prospect (Jabari) most likely won’t even go #1.

Pharaoh wrote:

DET_Athletics wrote:This team is a starting point guard and starting Center that can rim protect from competition. Hopefully we can land one in the draft and other in free agency. Also get rid of COJO, dude can't play defense for his life.

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Think you're rushing but I've been criticised for the last 2 years so what do I know?

Hayes is our starting PG moving forward and the fact he's no longer the most hated on the forum should indicate how much he's improved despite the fact he still hasn't played a full 82 games yet.

Our issue is the offense, or stagnant sets, our lack of ball or player movement.

The goal isn't to make the play in and anyone hoping for that needs to check themselves real quick.

The goal is to become a dominant team that is capable of contending.

If anyone thought Cade Cunningham and him alone was all it would take then you were wrong!

We're at least 2 years away from being anything. I said that last off-season but optimism reigned then.

How y'all feel now?

Sent from my SM-G781B using RealGM Forums mobile app

I agree with most of this, except that Hayes is starting level point Gaurd "right now". He is going to be a great player when he puts it all together. with that being said, this team goes down the crapper when Hayes and Cade go off the floor. We need another starting level combo Gaurd to split the minutes with Hayes and Cade. Josh Jackson has proven to me he can be that 6th man wing going forward. Plus when we get a starting Center, Stewart and Olynk will be in their right spots on the bench.

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Orlando, Houston, and OKC are the serious competition. Not sure on NOP. I think Zion comes back and they do well enough to not be a factor.

DET_Athletics wrote:

Pharaoh wrote:

DET_Athletics wrote:This team is a starting point guard and starting Center that can rim protect from competition. Hopefully we can land one in the draft and other in free agency. Also get rid of COJO, dude can't play defense for his life.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

Think you're rushing but I've been criticised for the last 2 years so what do I know?

Hayes is our starting PG moving forward and the fact he's no longer the most hated on the forum should indicate how much he's improved despite the fact he still hasn't played a full 82 games yet.

Our issue is the offense, or stagnant sets, our lack of ball or player movement.

The goal isn't to make the play in and anyone hoping for that needs to check themselves real quick.

The goal is to become a dominant team that is capable of contending.

If anyone thought Cade Cunningham and him alone was all it would take then you were wrong!

We're at least 2 years away from being anything. I said that last off-season but optimism reigned then.

How y'all feel now?

Sent from my SM-G781B using RealGM Forums mobile app

I agree with most of this, except that Hayes is starting level point Gaurd "right now". He is going to be a great player when he puts it all together. with that being said, this team goes down the crapper when Hayes and Cade go off the floor. We need another starting level combo Gaurd to split the minutes with Hayes and Cade. Josh Jackson has proven to me he can be that 6th man wing going forward. Plus when we get a starting Center, Stewart and Olynk will be in their right spots on the bench.

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Please spell "guard" correctly. When I see "gaurd" it makes me think of "gourd."

They're not tanking. They just suck and have an awful coach. Same results.

The only way I see the tank being blown is Olynyk playing well when he returns and Bey returning to something like last years' form. We can expect Casey to give Olynyk heavy minutes when healthy, and he will get us a couple more wins whether starting or backup. I'm hoping if we start winning with vet heavy rotations that Weaver makes a move or two at the deadline to keep the rotation focused on youngsters.

With the play of Stewart and Bey last season I thought the team might become better than I expected in 2021. I'm back to seeing the 2023 season as the year for some playoff success. With Bey's regression and Stewart's plateauing, 2023 doesn't feel as certain as it did after the draft.

The Pistons have made their way back to 1st place in the 2022 NBA tankathon. Remember, all three of the bottom 3 teams in the league have the same exact odds at the first four picks in the draft. Pistons looking incredibly likely to find themselves in the bottom three once again this season to maximize their chances at a top 4 pick. Biggest news of recent is that the Pacers/Blazers might be going in on the tank while the Kings/Pelicans are seemingly going for the play-in games.

1st: Pistons 12-42 (54 games played, 28 games to go)
2nd: Magic 13-43 (56 games played, 26 games to go)
3rd: Houston 15-39 (54 games played, 28 games to go)
4th: Thunder 17-36 (53 games played, 29 games to go)
------------
5th: Pacers 19-37 (56 games played, 26 games to go)
6th: Kings 20-36 (56 games played, 26 games to go)

bstein14 wrote:The Pistons have made their way back to 1st place in the 2022 NBA tankathon. Remember, all three of the bottom 3 teams in the league have the same exact odds at the first four picks in the draft. Pistons looking incredibly likely to find themselves in the bottom three once again this season to maximize their chances at a top 4 pick. Biggest news of recent is that the Pacers/Blazers might be going in on the tank while the Kings/Pelicans are seemingly going for the play-in games.

1st: Pistons 12-42 (54 games played, 28 games to go)
2nd: Magic 13-43 (56 games played, 26 games to go)
3rd: Thunder 17-36 (53 games played, 29 games to go)
------------
4th: Pacers 19-37 (56 games played, 26 games to go)
5th: Kings 20-36 (56 games played, 26 games to go)

you forgot the Rockets

We have a very difficult schedule remaining, I think something like 13 out of our next 16 are against playoff teams, so we should be pretty safe to finish in the bottom 3. It would likely take a near .500 finish over the last 28 to move out of the bottom 3 which isn't going to happen.

I wish we could just fast forward this season to the lottery

The Moose wrote:

bstein14 wrote:The Pistons have made their way back to 1st place in the 2022 NBA tankathon. Remember, all three of the bottom 3 teams in the league have the same exact odds at the first four picks in the draft. Pistons looking incredibly likely to find themselves in the bottom three once again this season to maximize their chances at a top 4 pick. Biggest news of recent is that the Pacers/Blazers might be going in on the tank while the Kings/Pelicans are seemingly going for the play-in games.

1st: Pistons 12-42 (54 games played, 28 games to go)
2nd: Magic 13-43 (56 games played, 26 games to go)
3rd: Thunder 17-36 (53 games played, 29 games to go)
------------
4th: Pacers 19-37 (56 games played, 26 games to go)
5th: Kings 20-36 (56 games played, 26 games to go)

you forgot the Rockets

We have a very difficult schedule remaining, I think something like 13 out of our next 16 are against playoff teams, so we should be pretty safe to finish in the bottom 3. It would likely take a near .500 finish over the last 28 to move out of the bottom 3 which isn't going to happen.

I wish we could just fast forward this season to the lottery

Yeah, agreed with the fast forwarding. Especially if Cade isn't going to be playing until after the All-star break. It makes it fairly unwatchable save for those games where Diallo is prime Dwyane Wade and Bey has a random 25+ pt explosion

I did the tank-a-thon lottery simulator 100 times. Pistons obviously with the worst record, can drop no where lower than #5 (as of right now). We landed the #1 pick 35 times, #5 pick 33 times, #3 pick 22 times, #2 pick 7 times and #4 3 times.

Last year we were tanking.

It's clear this year that we're actually trying...we're just bad. The second year players haven't progressed the way we hoped and the veteran players have been injured/underperformed. I doubt there was ever an expectation from our front office that we make the play-in or anything like that, but I do think the plan was to develop our core and (hopefully) make progress relative to last year. Obviously that hasn't panned out.

It is what it is. We'll likely be winners in the tank race this year even though we never really entered. It's not all bad. We'll be in a good position to add another talented player.

Liqourish wrote:I did the tank-a-thon lottery simulator 100 times. Pistons obviously with the worst record, can drop no where lower than #5 (as of right now). We landed the #1 pick 35 times, #5 pick 33 times, #3 pick 22 times, #2 pick 7 times and #4 3 times.

bro go outside or something

keepitrealhomes wrote:

Liqourish wrote:I did the tank-a-thon lottery simulator 100 times. Pistons obviously with the worst record, can drop no where lower than #5 (as of right now). We landed the #1 pick 35 times, #5 pick 33 times, #3 pick 22 times, #2 pick 7 times and #4 3 times.

bro go outside or something

For the record, not a bro. Little known fact.