Race to the bottom: Who's our biggest competition?

ducler · Post #601 » by **ducler** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 12:53 pm

Laimbeer wrote:OKC and Orlando coming on strong. #5 is my best guess.

Don't sleep on Cavs. We could very well finish #6 at this rate.

NYPiston · Post #602 » by **NYPiston** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:19 pm

I had 5 on lockdown the moment Orlando and OKC stripped their roster of NBA talent. Houston and Minny have been an afterthought for a while. Now 6 is in play. Just gotta hope for lottery luck boys.

MotownMadness · Post #603 » by **MotownMadness** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:20 pm

ducler wrote:
Laimbeer wrote:OKC and Orlando coming on strong. #5 is my best guess.

Don't sleep on Cavs. We could very well finish #6 at this rate.

Last year it was 6 and 7 that jumped up, were trying to get in that sweet spot

Post #604 » by **Snakebites** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:02 pm

Yeah, the win yesterday changes the game. It doesn’t mean the Cavs are for sure passing us, but it looks possible.

The silver lining is that after that stretch we no longer have a particularly easy remaining schedule.

ducler · Post #605 » by **ducler** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:11 pm

Snakebites wrote:Yeah, the win yesterday changes the game. It doesn’t mean the Cavs are for sure passing us, but it looks possible.

The silver lining is that after that stretch we no longer have a particularly easy remaining schedule.

Exactly, only 2 games look like sure wins (MIN and ORL) but even if we won only those two, we can face a multiple tied situation at the 4th spot as I don't see Magic, Thunder, Cavs win another game.

DBC10 · Post #606 » by **DBC10** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:12 pm

NYPiston wrote:I had 5 on lockdown the moment Orlando and OKC stripped their roster of NBA talent. Houston and Minny have been an afterthought for a while. Now 6 is in play. Just gotta hope for lottery luck boys.

Yep, it's all about lottery luck at this point. We could still be very much a toss up going into a top 4 pick when the lotto balls get unveiled regardless of our strong finish by the rooks

Post #607 » by **Snakebites** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:22 pm

ducler wrote:
Snakebites wrote:Yeah, the win yesterday changes the game. It doesn’t mean the Cavs are for sure passing us, but it looks possible.

The silver lining is that after that stretch we no longer have a particularly easy remaining schedule.

Exactly, only 2 games look like sure wins (MIN and ORL) but even if we won only those two, we can face a multiple tied situation at the 4th spot as I don't see Magic, Thunder, Cavs win another game.

Even in the tanking era teams don’t with regularity close their season on 15-20 game losing streaks, or at least you don’t see multiple teams doing it.

440BB · Post #608 » by **440BB** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:52 pm

Other than Minnesota wanting to stay in the bottom three to keep their pick, the Pistons are the hungriest bunch among the bottom dwellers. Many Pistons are playing for a job next year, with lots of hustle from the rookies too, something that's hard to throttle.

That factor leaves me thinking we are destined for the fifth worst record.

ducler · Post #609 » by **ducler** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:19 pm

440BB wrote:Other than Minnesota wanting to stay in the bottom three to keep their pick, the Pistons are the hungriest bunch among the bottom dwellers. Many Pistons are playing for a job next year, with lots of hustle from the rookies too, something that's hard to throttle.

That factor leaves me thinking we are destined for the fifth worst record.

Yep, that's where a guy like Frank Jackson is hurting the tank by much.

bstein14 · Post #610 » by **bstein14** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:40 pm

ducler wrote:
Snakebites wrote:Yeah, the win yesterday changes the game. It doesn’t mean the Cavs are for sure passing us, but it looks possible.

The silver lining is that after that stretch we no longer have a particularly easy remaining schedule.

Exactly, only 2 games look like sure wins (MIN and ORL) but even if we won only those two, we can face a multiple tied situation at the 4th spot as I don't see Magic, Thunder, Cavs win another game.

The Magic still play the Cavs so one of those two teams have to win that game. They also play against Detroit and Minnesota so they have some winnable games for sure.

Magic Schedule
Atlanta
New Orleans
Indy
LAL
Cleveland
Memphis
Detroit
Boston
Charlotte
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Atalanta
Philly
Philly

Cavs Schedule
Chicago
Charlotte
Washington
Toronto
Orlando
Washington
Miami
Phoenix
Portland
Dallas
Dallas
Indy
Boston
Washington
Brooklyn

OKC Schedule
Indy
Washington
Philly
Boston
New Orleans
Indy
Phoenix
Sacramento
Golden State
Golden State
Sacramento
Sacramento
Utah
LAC

The Moose · Post #611 » by **The Moose** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:50 pm

bstein14 wrote:
ducler wrote:
Snakebites wrote:Yeah, the win yesterday changes the game. It doesn’t mean the Cavs are for sure passing us, but it looks possible.

The silver lining is that after that stretch we no longer have a particularly easy remaining schedule.

Exactly, only 2 games look like sure wins (MIN and ORL) but even if we won only those two, we can face a multiple tied situation at the 4th spot as I don't see Magic, Thunder, Cavs win another game.

The Magic still play the Cavs so one of those two teams have to win that game. They also play against Detroit and Minnesota so they have some winnable games for sure.

Magic Schedule
Atlanta
New Orleans
Indy
LAL
Cleveland
Memphis
Detroit
Boston
Charlotte
Minnesota
Milwaukee
Atalanta
Philly
Philly

Cavs Schedule
Chicago
Charlotte
Washington
Toronto
Orlando
Washington
Miami
Phoenix
Portland
Dallas
Dallas
Indy
Boston
Washington
Brooklyn

OKC Schedule
Indy
Washington
Philly
Boston
New Orleans
Indy
Phoenix
Sacramento
Golden State
Golden State
Sacramento
Sacramento
Utah
LAC

Magic schedule is interesting, hopefully the Sixers will have locked up the 1 seed and resting all their players the last 2 games of the season.

NYPiston · Post #612 » by **NYPiston** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:20 pm

Snakebites wrote:Yeah, the win yesterday changes the game. It doesn’t mean the Cavs are for sure passing us, but it looks possible.

The silver lining is that after that stretch we no longer have a particularly easy remaining schedule.

Yeah, they have a bit of a tough stretch coming up so it doesn't look like they will pass OKC anytime soon unless they win a few unexpected games. I just have a hard time envisioning OKC winning any games at this point unless SGA returns, and I bet they keep "re-evaluating" him through the end of the season.

I'm resigned to Orlando being a lost cause, I have no freaking idea how they beat a healthy Clippers team on the road. That has to be one of the biggest upsets of the year.

bstein14 · Post #613 » by **bstein14** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:42 pm

For the Cavs, their next 6 games will play a big part in whether or not it goes down to the wire with Detroit for win totals.

Chicago
Charlotte
Washington
Toronto
Orlando
Washington

I think if they win two of those it gives Detroit a good amount of breathing room, but if they only go 1-5 or 0-6 then we're likely going down to the wire with them when it comes to final record.

Post #614 » by **Snakebites** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 5:03 pm

bstein14 wrote:For the Cavs, their next 6 games will play a big part in whether or not it goes down to the wire with Detroit for win totals.

Chicago
Charlotte
Washington
Toronto
Orlando
Washington

I think if they win two of those it gives Detroit a good amount of breathing room, but if they only go 1-5 or 0-6 then we're likely going down to the wire with them when it comes to final record.

To me it "feels" like they'll win at least 2 of those.

Could be wrong though.

The Moose · Post #615 » by **The Moose** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 5:36 pm

It really is a joke that we are likely to finish with a better record than the Thunder. They are putting together the biggest tank job in a while, literally putting quite possibly the worst nba rotation of all time out on the court every night.

Read on Twitter

Manocad · Post #616 » by **Manocad** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 5:57 pm

At this point whatever happens, happens. I'm personally not going to wring my hands over every Pistons win/other team's loss or celebrate every other team's win/Pistons loss. The team is definitely headed in the right direction and is fun to watch again. That's all I ask for. Do the right things and keep getting better.

DBC10 · Post #617 » by **DBC10** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 6:34 pm

The Moose wrote:It really is a joke that we are likely to finish with a better record than the Thunder. They are putting together the biggest tank job in a while, literally putting quite possibly the worst nba rotation of all time out on the court every night.

Read on Twitter

Yeah, it is very likely than not they will pass us and not win a single game. They're going to play 30 minutes of Poku and the gang which has no place in winning

Likely the same with Orlando as well. Haven't had to adjust my predictions of likelihoods yet so far

Sort · Post #618 » by **Sort** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 7:14 pm

Part of me likes Sam Presti. He's not being subtle. Neither in Weaver for that - it's just that the young ones are playing well enough to beat some teams. But I mean seven sudden injuries to all the vets?

To be clear, Cleveland doesn't look like an intentional tank to me. I mean Kevin Love played lots of minutes. They should win a few more games.

El Chivo · Post #619 » by **El Chivo** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 6:30 am

Minnesota could win some games

ducler · Post #620 » by **ducler** » Wed Apr 21, 2021 6:45 am

El Chivo wrote:Minnesota could win some games

Yep, in particular since the rumor of them wanting to part ways with KAT and DLO this summer, both should be motivated and I don't think they care about the standings.