Tank World Order (XIV) Here we go, The Final Stretch of the 2025 Tank Season!!!

[720]

the tanking competition was fierce this season, you gotta be super happy finishing 7th

No, we started tanking way too late and we half assed it most times once we started. We could have easily finished 5th. I’ll take 7 but not totally happy with it.

If we started earlier, the other teams would have just started earlier. We can’t out tank these teams as we saw today

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

[Raptorfan2012]

We have to lose 1 game out of the next 3.

Christ, can we do it?

Either that or the Spurs win and I think both are possible.

The Mavericks have been much better with AD back in the lineup and we'll probably be resting Poeltl to let Davis feast in the paint.

Mavs should be the game we seal out 7th spot with a loss. Rest IQ, Scottie, and Jak, and let the G-Leaguers play big minutes.

[JB7]

No, we started tanking way too late and we half assed it most times once we started. We could have easily finished 5th. I’ll take 7 but not totally happy with it.

If we started earlier, the other teams would have just started earlier. We can’t out tank these teams as we saw today

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

They never had the 5th pick locked up. The back end of the team's schedule was way too weak to maintain their position.

The management has avoiding playing their starters as much as possible, without killing the other players on the roster. Did you expect them to start playing 38 year old Temple for 40 mins a game

They have essentially sat BI for the rest of the season, since they acquired him. What actually hurt their tank effort was Gradey getting injured. His lack of D really went a long way to securing those losses.

I think they have been tanking / 'developing their young players' since the start of the season. They got lucky with some key injuries at the start of the season, combined with a more difficult schedule, to produce the losses early on, that helped them maintain even a 7th worst record.

Aside from trading away all of their talent for the unknown of future picks and expiring salaries, which Masai was never going to do, they have done their best to position themselves with a decent pick in a deep draft. All while still holding onto and building up their starting lineup for a quicker rebuild.

If this team actually tried to win games this season, they could have easily been in the range of the Magic, Hawks, Bulls, Blazers and Suns, which is just another 6-8 wins, which would have meant a drop in the draft order of up to another 7 spots.

[Los_29]

If we started earlier, the other teams would have just started earlier. We can’t out tank these teams as we saw today

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

They never had the 5th pick locked up. The back end of the team's schedule was way too weak to maintain their position.

The management has avoiding playing their starters as much as possible, without killing the other players on the roster. Did you expect them to start playing 38 year old Temple for 40 mins a game

They have essentially sat BI for the rest of the season, since they acquired him. What actually hurt their tank effort was Gradey getting injured. His lack of D really went a long way to securing those losses.

I think they have been tanking / 'developing their young players' since the start of the season. They got lucky with some key injuries at the start of the season, combined with a more difficult schedule, to produce the losses early on, that helped them maintain even a 7th worst record.

Aside from trading away all of their talent for the unknown of future picks and expiring salaries, which Masai was never going to do, they have done their best to position themselves with a decent pick in a deep draft. All while still holding onto and building up their starting lineup for a quicker rebuild.

If this team actually tried to win games this season, they could have easily been in the range of the Magic, Hawks, Bulls, Blazers and Suns, which is just another 6-8 wins, which would have meant a drop in the draft order of up to another 7 spots.

Exactly. Sixers have 23 wins. We have 29 and will likely win a couple more. It was just never going to happen. Our schedule was comically easy to close out the year.

[PushDaRock]

No, we started tanking way too late and we half assed it most times once we started. We could have easily finished 5th. I’ll take 7 but not totally happy with it.

If we started earlier, the other teams would have just started earlier. We can’t out tank these teams as we saw today

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

lol how was 5th ever in the bag? Philly likely ends the season with 23 maybe 24 wins. You think we could have easily won less games than that even if we tanked the entire year?

[720]

If we started earlier, the other teams would have just started earlier. We can’t out tank these teams as we saw today

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

lol how was 5th ever in the bag? Philly likely ends the season with 23 maybe 24 wins. You think we could have easily won less games than that even if we tanked the entire year?

Yes bro, we were 8 and 31 at some point. We easily could have tanked earlier and held onto a top 5 pick.

[720]

If we started earlier, the other teams would have just started earlier. We can’t out tank these teams as we saw today

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

They never had the 5th pick locked up. The back end of the team's schedule was way too weak to maintain their position.

The management has avoiding playing their starters as much as possible, without killing the other players on the roster. Did you expect them to start playing 38 year old Temple for 40 mins a game

They have essentially sat BI for the rest of the season, since they acquired him. What actually hurt their tank effort was Gradey getting injured. His lack of D really went a long way to securing those losses.

I think they have been tanking / 'developing their young players' since the start of the season. They got lucky with some key injuries at the start of the season, combined with a more difficult schedule, to produce the losses early on, that helped them maintain even a 7th worst record.

Aside from trading away all of their talent for the unknown of future picks and expiring salaries, which Masai was never going to do, they have done their best to position themselves with a decent pick in a deep draft. All while still holding onto and building up their starting lineup for a quicker rebuild.

If this team actually tried to win games this season, they could have easily been in the range of the Magic, Hawks, Bulls, Blazers and Suns, which is just another 6-8 wins, which would have meant a drop in the draft order of up to another 7 spots.

We really didn’t. We started way too late and once we did we didn’t even sit some guys as much as we should have.

[720]

I think we trade for Ja

He has not been as good as he normally is plus all the gun stuff. Perfect time to see if we can get him for cheap. I’m willing to unload 2-3 1sts and salary filler. He’s under contract for 3 more years. Grizz might feel they can compete with JJJ, Banes and a more well rounded roster.

[PushDaRock]

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

lol how was 5th ever in the bag? Philly likely ends the season with 23 maybe 24 wins. You think we could have easily won less games than that even if we tanked the entire year?

Yes bro, we were 8 and 31 at some point. We easily could have tanked earlier and held onto a top 5 pick.

We are 21-19 since then without even trying to win games basically since March but somehow we could have "easily" been top 5?

[JB7]

We beat the magic twice, hawks twice, the Celtics, Clippers, this all happened feb onwards. Boucher won us a couple games before the deadline (one vs the warriors if I’m remembering correctly). Not to mention vs all these trash teams down the stretch we kept playing Poeltl and Barnes who are net positives. Stop acting like we didn’t have the 5th pick in the bag to only fumble it.

They never had the 5th pick locked up. The back end of the team's schedule was way too weak to maintain their position.

The management has avoiding playing their starters as much as possible, without killing the other players on the roster. Did you expect them to start playing 38 year old Temple for 40 mins a game

They have essentially sat BI for the rest of the season, since they acquired him. What actually hurt their tank effort was Gradey getting injured. His lack of D really went a long way to securing those losses.

I think they have been tanking / 'developing their young players' since the start of the season. They got lucky with some key injuries at the start of the season, combined with a more difficult schedule, to produce the losses early on, that helped them maintain even a 7th worst record.

Aside from trading away all of their talent for the unknown of future picks and expiring salaries, which Masai was never going to do, they have done their best to position themselves with a decent pick in a deep draft. All while still holding onto and building up their starting lineup for a quicker rebuild.

If this team actually tried to win games this season, they could have easily been in the range of the Magic, Hawks, Bulls, Blazers and Suns, which is just another 6-8 wins, which would have meant a drop in the draft order of up to another 7 spots.

We really didn’t. We started way too late and once we did we didn’t even sit some guys as much as we should have.

RJ & Yak have only played 57 games.
IQ has played only 32 games.
Barnes, in a year where he could qualify for the supermax with All-NBA, has only played 62 games, and averaged the least minutes per game in his career.
BI hasn't played a minute since they traded for him.

What more do you want? They literally can't sit their starters all year long.

Right from the start of the season they took it easy with their starters - less minutes, and never rushed them back from injuries. The plan to tank started from game 1.

[720]

lol how was 5th ever in the bag? Philly likely ends the season with 23 maybe 24 wins. You think we could have easily won less games than that even if we tanked the entire year?

Yes bro, we were 8 and 31 at some point. We easily could have tanked earlier and held onto a top 5 pick.

We are 21-19 since then without even trying to win games basically since March but somehow we could have "easily" been top 5?

We definitely did not try our best at tanking. Poeltl played too many games, Scottie played too many games. Sometimes guys sat in the 4th, sometimes they didn’t. It was a complete half assed job.

[causal_fan]

It would be so Raptors to head into the final game against the Spurs with 7th place not definitely locked up.

[PushDaRock]

Yes bro, we were 8 and 31 at some point. We easily could have tanked earlier and held onto a top 5 pick.

We are 21-19 since then without even trying to win games basically since March but somehow we could have "easily" been top 5?

We definitely did not try our best at tanking. Poeltl played too many games, Scottie played too many games. Sometimes guys sat in the 4th, sometimes they didn’t. It was a complete half assed job.

Easily top 5 would be 20 wins right now, you basically think we could have gone 12-28 through this stretch instead lol

You think our top players are way better than they are if you think that's possible.

[Raps in 4]

It would be so Raptors to head into the final game against the Spurs with 7th place not definitely locked up.

This **** is so frustrating as a fan.

Just lose one more **** game and then we can all relax. Fans and players alike.

[PushDaRock]

It would be so Raptors to head into the final game against the Spurs with 7th place not definitely locked up.

This **** is so frustrating as a fan.

Just lose one more **** game and then we can all relax. Fans and players alike.

lol there's an option to not stress so much over a potential coin toss too

[WuTang_CMB]

Yes bro, we were 8 and 31 at some point. We easily could have tanked earlier and held onto a top 5 pick.

We are 21-19 since then without even trying to win games basically since March but somehow we could have "easily" been top 5?

We definitely did not try our best at tanking. Poeltl played too many games, Scottie played too many games. Sometimes guys sat in the 4th, sometimes they didn’t. It was a complete half assed job.

Sitting at 5th, I know what you mean and I agree in a way .. but the rest of the schedule being so easy was going to be difficult to tank and lose even harder than say Philly or BRK who had tougher schedules and who completely shut down their guys, especially Sixers. At least we are seeing some solid growth from JKW, Shead, Mogbo, Battle here .. compared to other teams like BRK, Utah. That counts for something and next year when we want to be in the playoffs.

In a perfect world, we sit at 5th before the lottery. We now sit 7th... not the end of the world. We gotta see how the lottery shakes out and hopefully we get lucky. Personally, I like the top 2-3 in this draft, after that I feel the talent drops off. Ultimately, I still think we can get the same tier of a player at 7 vs 5.

It's beginning of the week... I'm trying to be positive.

[Parataxis]

lol how was 5th ever in the bag? Philly likely ends the season with 23 maybe 24 wins. You think we could have easily won less games than that even if we tanked the entire year?

Yes bro, we were 8 and 31 at some point. We easily could have tanked earlier and held onto a top 5 pick.

We are 21-19 since then without even trying to win games basically since March but somehow we could have "easily" been top 5?

It feels like some people think this is just NBA2K or another simulation, where you can just sit the entire team with no future repurcussions.

[720]

Yes bro, we were 8 and 31 at some point. We easily could have tanked earlier and held onto a top 5 pick.

We are 21-19 since then without even trying to win games basically since March but somehow we could have "easily" been top 5?

It feels like some people think this is just NBA2K or another simulation, where you can just sit the entire team with no future repurcussions.

We sat Kyle in the Tampa tank. Many teams have done it this season. Find a reason and sit them. You make it sound like teams haven’t done this for decades.

[MainEvent]

we fumbled the 1st overall pick, all we had to do was sit our starters for the entire year. half measures bro

[Parataxis]

We are 21-19 since then without even trying to win games basically since March but somehow we could have "easily" been top 5?

It feels like some people think this is just NBA2K or another simulation, where you can just sit the entire team with no future repurcussions.

We sat Kyle in the Tampa tank. Many teams have done it this season. Find a reason and sit them. You make it sound like teams haven’t done this for decades.

Have you seen our lineups? We are sitting most of who shoudl be our starters most of the games. And we're still winning some of them.

Look, I get prefering to end up lower in the standings, and I agree. But I dont' get the need for all the drama, recriminations, and agony. We tried to lose, we did an okay but not amazing job at it. The season is ending, lets move on.