TWO: Tank World Order

[KBlock]

False, making the playoffs this season is the equivalent of hooking up with a cute but average chick who's really cool and fun after not being on a date for 5 years at a party while....

the hottest chick at the club who hasn't looked at you all night because you look like doofus while there are 8 or 9 Brad Pitts and George Clooneys in the club. You never had a chance and deluded yourself into thinking you did.

So basically you mean Raptors fans are hella impatient and have low standards.

Bang on.

or maybe they just want to watch some fun basketball? Our young guys out there are showing grit and hustling their ass out there playing hard trying to win games. This might be shocking to you but people do like to watch that.

Throwing away the long - term success of your franchise to enjoy regular season wins is plain old (Please Use More Appropriate Word). You won't have much fun getting hoodstomped by miami when lebron is tapdancing to the ECF in 4.

You know why the "grit and hustle" turned up since Rudy Gay left? Because there all auditioning their hearts out to get contenders interested in trading for them since they know the blow-up is coming.

[dTox]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10185256/tank-rank-which-teams-rise
Updated Tank Rank from ESPN, Toronto somehow holding on to the 6th spot

6. Toronto Raptors | Status: Tanking | Record: 11-14 (past week: 2-1)
The Raptors traded away Gay in an effort to improve their chances of landing Canadian Andrew Wiggins in the draft, but the team is 5-2 since the trade. They keep winning just enough that, in the pathetic Eastern Conference with an 11-14 record, they have a 91.4 percent chance of making the playoffs.

Has any front office or fan base ever been less excited to hear they have great odds of making the playoffs? Make the playoffs and their odds of landing Wiggins drop to zero. Expect more top-tier players to be shipped out of Toronto before the trade deadline.

[BackseatBoss]

It's officially over. We're not tanking. Even if we try to, we won't be nearly bad enough to get a top 5 pick. We already have 11 wins! That is way too much at this point in the season. Also, knowing that we will still face 76ers, Bucks, Magic, Bulls a bunch of times doesn't help. At the very worst I see this team finishing with 30 wins, which will probably get us the 10th pick... If Masai wants to save the tank, he needs to trade Lowry and either DeMar or Amir today for absolute garbage, which in my opinion would be incredibly stupid. They're not Gay or Bargs level players, they don't have horrible deals, they should only be traded for other assets. So here we go again, push for the playoffs this year and watch us be in the 7-11 range for years to come, while teams like Bucks and 76ers enjoy their superstar players drafted in the 2014 draft... This franchise is simply cursed.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

I tell you what, Raptors better be 10 or more games under .500 by the time Feb. 18 hits. Check out their opponents from Feb 18th-27th: Washington X2, Cleveland X2, Orlando, Chicago.

That's a 5-1 or 6-0 stretch right there.

[dafan590]

Hollinger's 2013-14 NBA Playoff Odds UPDATE (December 23, 2013):

Toronto
PLAYOFFS: 91.4%
DIV: 72.9%
NO.1: 0.1%
FINALS: 4.7%
CHAMP: 0.9%
LOTTERY: 0.2%

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Hollinger's 2013-14 NBA Playoff Odds UPDATE (December 23, 2013):

Toronto
PLAYOFFS: 91.4%
DIV: 72.9%
NO.1: 0.1%
FINALS: 4.7%
CHAMP: 0.9%
LOTTERY: 0.2%

http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/playoffodds

lol. Quick someone show Masai this.

[Inevitable]

[Lazy]

This is the worst... we'll be right back here in 2/3 years with the same problems. At least the anti tankers will be able to reminisce about of the four playoff games we played this season.

[KBlock]

This is the worst... we'll be right back here in 2/3 years with the same problems. At least the anti tankers will be able to reminisce about of the four playoff games we played this season.

You mean next year when lowry walks, we still dont have much cap space, we resign casey, all the east teams get significantly better via being healthy / trades / new draft superstars... yeah itll be quick.

[Anth0ny]

did we really just beat the best team in the league

IN OKC?!?

ok screw it tanks off lets just win the championship this year. dont change a thing ujiri.

edit: wait

Sunday's loss to the Raptors wasn't just the Thunder's first loss at home. It was also their first loss against the East and just their second loss in the last 38 days.

[Danchan]

did anyone expect anything in raptorsland to go smoothly?

Just another road bump.
a couple loss to bottomfeeding teams and reality will kick in again for most who jumped off.

[Aventador]

this board is jokes. we get wins, and a buncha anti-tankers start gloating the I told you so, and the bandwagon tankers jump off.

when we start playing to our true suckitude, the very same anti-tankers go into hiding again. Look man, it aint a sprint, it's a marathon. At the end of the season, we'll have sub 40 wins and the truth will settle - winning pointlessly is pointless.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

did we really just beat the best team in the league

IN OKC?!?

ok screw it tanks off lets just win the championship this year. dont change a thing ujiri.

edit: wait

Sunday's loss to the Raptors wasn't just the Thunder's first loss at home. It was also their first loss against the East and just their second loss in the last 38 days.

[Michael Bradley]

Yep, the tWo is over. Just photoshop Sting's facepaint on Amir, DeMar, and Lowry, because they killed the hostile takeover. It's finished.

No way this team can finish in the top 5 now even if they tried to half-ass a tank for the rest of the season.

[wolfv]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn1UN0uMV3Y[/youtube]

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

Yep, the tWo is over. Just photoshop Sting's facepaint on Amir, DeMar, and Lowry, because they killed the hostile takeover. It's finished.

No way this team can finish in the top 5 now even if they tried to half-ass a tank for the rest of the season.

There's a stretch of games coming up after the Knicks games where the team could conceivably fall to 14-20, and if we make a Lowry trade, that might be enough to dust off the tank from that point on.

But yeah, if we don't trade Lowry, then we're going to be in the playoff picture for most of the season.

[WhatsaTDot]

In for the long haul.

[ReturnofMVP3]

If you anti-tank fans are cool with first round exits then have fun with your treadmill. This year was the perfect chance to get at least an allstar (if not a superstar) and it was dropped to be a playoff team in a season where no one is really trying to make the playoffs!

[Geddy]

I think a lot of people against the tank are confused. They think this team is where it's at because of how good they are when in reality it's because the rest of the east is so bad.

[Son Goku 25]

If you anti-tank fans are cool with first round exits then have fun with your treadmill. This year was the perfect chance to get at least an allstar (if not a superstar) and it was dropped to be a playoff team in a season where no one is really trying to make the playoffs!

I'm not an anti tanker/ tanker , but if we don't face pacers/heat in first round I like our chances of winning a series if it comes down to it.