Race for Ping Pong Balls

[thelead]

The wizards have one of the easiest schedules left and Toronto will be right there as well. Chicago just has to hope for lottery luck now.

[RookieStar]

I personally think it's too late for CHI to tank all the way to top-4. They have so many teams in front of them tanking harder. It will take major lotto luck ( which cannot be discounted ) to achieve a top-4 selection for them

[thelead]

I personally think it's too late for CHI to tank all the way to top-4. They have so many teams in front of them tanking harder. It will take major lotto luck ( which cannot be discounted ) to achieve a top-4 selection for them

Do you realize we only have 4 less wins than them and they just lost their best player? It’s unlikely that they catch us but it’s not out of the realm of possibility

[basketballRob]

I personally think it's too late for CHI to tank all the way to top-4. They have so many teams in front of them tanking harder. It will take major lotto luck ( which cannot be discounted ) to achieve a top-4 selection for them

Last season they jumped from 7th into the top 4. It's unlikely it happens 2 years in a row. I think we've actually fell back in the last 6 times we've been in the lottery.

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[RookieStar]

I personally think it's too late for CHI to tank all the way to top-4. They have so many teams in front of them tanking harder. It will take major lotto luck ( which cannot be discounted ) to achieve a top-4 selection for them

Do you realize we only have 4 less wins than them and they just lost their best player? It’s unlikely that they catch us but it’s not out of the realm of possibility

Yeah so? I mean we only have.. what? 2 wins over DET but in how man y weeks or months we never seemed to pass them. Same with the leaders HOU and MIN. We also have "only"4 wins over them yet we never passed them by since the beginning.

I mean sure there is a possibility that CHI can pass us. Same odds that we can pass both HOU and MIN right?

[RookieStar]

I personally think it's too late for CHI to tank all the way to top-4. They have so many teams in front of them tanking harder. It will take major lotto luck ( which cannot be discounted ) to achieve a top-4 selection for them

Last season they jumped from 7th into the top 4. It's unlikely it happens 2 years in a row. I think we've actually fell back in the last 6 times we've been in the lottery.

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That's what I meant by lotto luck. Look at the Bamba draft. SAC won more games than us right? Yet they leapfrogged to the #2 spot. So that's why luck is important and as long as we maintain our hopefully top3 spot, im not gonna be "doom and gloom" over the once in a blue moon win for our team.

[OrlandoSaban]

If we do get all of the ping pong balls and we still don't get what we want, I bet the majority on here will be so happy knowing that they can support yet another year of tanking. I have never seen a fanbase so obsessed with losing more than winning.

[OrlandoSaban]

If we do get all of the ping pong balls and we still don't get what we want, I bet the majority on here will be so happy knowing that they can support yet another year of tanking. I have never seen a fanbase so obsessed with losing more than winning.

It makes me vomit every time I visit this god awful forum

[Xatticus]

I personally think it's too late for CHI to tank all the way to top-4. They have so many teams in front of them tanking harder. It will take major lotto luck ( which cannot be discounted ) to achieve a top-4 selection for them

Do you realize we only have 4 less wins than them and they just lost their best player? It’s unlikely that they catch us but it’s not out of the realm of possibility

They have 18 games left. We have 17 remaining. How many more games do you believe we will win? Can you subtract 4 from that number and expect Chicago to win that many or fewer over their final 18?

They aren't getting into the top five, so their best odds of keeping their pick are only 37.2% and they'd have to fall behind everyone else to get there.

[RookieStar]

If we do get all of the ping pong balls and we still don't get what we want, I bet the majority on here will be so happy knowing that they can support yet another year of tanking. I have never seen a fanbase so obsessed with losing more than winning.

Believe it or not I as well as a few other here didnt wanna tank. Even with JI out for this season I thought we were a 6 seed at average and was willing to go for it with a few tweaks like trade for Evan and AG. The early 6-2 record confirmed that we were ok and was looking at the Jalen Johnsons , Mann, Brown and Boston/Clark videos instead of Cade/Suggs. However, when Fultz went down and then we had injuries also to ( insert Magic player ) I saw the writing in the wall and thought it was providence. A very good draft in a year where we are going down. Plus couple that with a weird year and a shortened season and it was perfect.

Next season with all our young guys plus draft picks, I dont wanna go tanking like what we just did now.

[Knightro]

Do you realize we only have 4 less wins than them and they just lost their best player? It’s unlikely that they catch us but it’s not out of the realm of possibility

A five game gap in the loss column with 18 to play is almost impossible.

What's the best case scenario in terms of wins for the Magic? Like a 5-12 finish over the last 17?

Bulls would have to lose every single game the rest of the way, which seems remarkably unlikely.

[Knightro]

They have 18 games left. We have 17 remaining. How many more games do you believe we will win? Can you subtract 4 from that number and expect Chicago to win that many or fewer over their final 18?

They aren't getting into the top five, so their best odds of keeping their pick are only 37.2% and they'd have to fall behind everyone else to get there.

Exactly.

At the absolute maximum the Magic are only winning 5 or 6 more times this year. Are the Bulls gonna finish 1-17? Hard to imagine that.

[thelead]

They have 18 games left. We have 17 remaining. How many more games do you believe we will win? Can you subtract 4 from that number and expect Chicago to win that many or fewer over their final 18?

They aren't getting into the top five, so their best odds of keeping their pick are only 37.2% and they'd have to fall behind everyone else to get there.

Exactly.

At the absolute maximum the Magic are only winning 5 or 6 more times this year. Are the Bulls gonna finish 1-17? Hard to imagine that.

I don't disagree. I said that it is unlikely but still possible. At this point, I'm terrified of OKC overtaking our 4 spot.

[basketballRob]

The next two games for us are huge against two tanking teams.

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[Knightro]

The next two games for us are huge against two tanking teams.

I don't get this. I feel like people automatically assume teams that are losing are tanking. Sometimes teams just aren't very good or just have a lot of injuries. It doesn't mean they're actively trying to lose.

The only team that appears to be no questions asked actively tanking are the Thunder.

Toronto has won 2 of their last 4 and 4 of their last 8. They have some guys out because of injuries, but they pretty much play their regulars when they're available. They just aren't a very good team.

Houston has been playing all of their healthy veterans - Olynyk, Wall, Bradley, Wood and Tate are all out there - they just aren't good either.

[BCS]

Do you realize we only have 4 less wins than them and they just lost their best player? It’s unlikely that they catch us but it’s not out of the realm of possibility

A five game gap in the loss column with 18 to play is almost impossible.

What's the best case scenario in terms of wins for the Magic? Like a 5-12 finish over the last 17?

Bulls would have to lose every single game the rest of the way, which seems remarkably unlikely.

But then again we are the Magic and losing should be what we are doing now for the future of the franchise....so we likely go 9-9 or 9-8 the rest of the way in typical Magic fashion.

Btw...I am jk....kind of....lol

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[basketballRob]

The next two games for us are huge against two tanking teams.

I don't get this. I feel like people automatically assume teams that are losing are tanking. Sometimes teams just aren't very good or just have a lot of injuries. It doesn't mean they're actively trying to lose.

The only team that appears to be no questions asked actively tanking are the Thunder.

Toronto has won 2 of their last 4 and 4 of their last 8. They have some guys out because of injuries, they pretty much play their regulars when they're available. They just aren't a very good team.

Houston has been playing all of their healthy veterans - Olynyk, Wall, Bradley, Wood and Tate are all playing, they just aren't good.

Most Raptors fans believe they're tanking.

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[PrimeThyme]

Our fanbase has so much trauma from the last 8 years or so

We all just expect the absolute worst to happen in every situation. && maybe it will. However, I've liked the path we've chosen. It's a path that's going to require some luck and some ping pong balls to fall our way, && there is risk, but it's worth it imo. Whether we have the 5th best odds or the 1st, we are going to need it one way or the other with the new setup.

As I said in the previous thread, even with the 1st best odds you still have a 60% chance of falling outside the top 3.

[Def Swami]

Our fanbase has so much trauma from the last 8 years or so

We all just expect the absolute worst to happen in every situation. && maybe it will. However, I've liked the path we've chosen. It's a path that's going to require some luck and some ping pong balls to fall our way, && there is risk, but it's worth it imo. Whether we have the 5th best odds or the 1st, we are going to need it one way or the other with the new setup.

As I said in the previous thread, even with the 1st best odds you still have a 60% chance of falling outside the top 3.

Can you blame us? We are team bad luck. This is our destiny. And no one will talk me out of it until I see something different on lottery night.

[Xatticus]

The next two games for us are huge against two tanking teams.

I don't get this. I feel like people automatically assume teams that are losing are tanking. Sometimes teams just aren't very good or just have a lot of injuries. It doesn't mean they're actively trying to lose.

The only team that appears to be no questions asked actively tanking are the Thunder.

Toronto has won 2 of their last 4 and 4 of their last 8. They have some guys out because of injuries, they pretty much play their regulars when they're available. They just aren't a very good team.

Houston has been playing all of their healthy veterans - Olynyk, Wall, Bradley, Wood and Tate are all playing, they just aren't good.

Most Raptors fans believe they're tanking.

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They aren't. They've been riding their starters pretty hard when they play. It's just been a really dysfunctional season for them. They've always relied on good depth, but they haven't had that this year for a variety of reasons.

If they were tanking, they surely would've traded Lowry and they probably would've moved Siakam as well. I think there is a decent chance that he gets moved this offseason. Siakam has had a couple blowups this year and reportedly said something very personal to Nurse after he was sat down for the entire 4th quarter of a game earlier this year. All might not be well between them and they aren't going to get rid of Nurse. Siakam has had a down year and if they can get good value for him, they'd probably be happy to move on. If they were tanking, he probably would've been shopped hard at the deadline.