The top 5 this draft is insanely loaded, then the dropoff at 6 is massive. Get ready for some egregious tanking.

6 comments

  2. That’s why we need to be the worst team this season so at worst we get the 5th overall pick (which we will probably get because Silver hates us)

  3. Not a fan of Wilson (I see Stromile Swift) but I’d  be thrilled with the other four. Actually think Dybantsa might be the worst fit. Kid is a human highlight but I like what Peterson and Boozer offer us more. 

  4. We must get the worst record for sure. Though I’ll be pretty sad if we fall to 5th in that scenario. I like Flemmings but feels like a clear cut top 3 with Wilson in his own tier at 4

  6. Egregious tanking by who? Pelicans don’t own their pick. Pacers would probably egregiously tank, but it’s clear they have talent and also angling to bring in Peterson or Dybantsa with Hali there is…weird. Hali sees that and there’d be some really weird conversations going on, and they might spoil what they have. Players aren’t dumb. I think the Pacers would like a top pick, but if they like send out their G League team for the last 20 games or something, it’s gonna get real real weird for them. They were just in the finals last season.

    That leaves the Kings, Nets, Jazz, Hornets and Bucks. Maybe toss in the Grizzlies.

    For starters, I don’t know if like the Pels, some of these teams don’t even have their picks. But assuming they do, the Kings (12 wins) have so much talent. I don’t feel like they are far enough from the “light the beam!” era to just straight up tank. Sabonis wouldn’t have come back. Him, Westbrook, Schroeder, Monk, Derozan, Lavine….they have some players over there. They ‘rest’ them all and it’s going to be problems with Silver. so they’d have to trade at least 3 of them in the next 2 weeks.

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    The Nets (12 wins) got MPJ trying to be MVP over there, but everybody thinks they’re trash, so I can see them trying it. But I don’t think they have to do anything much egregious. They can rest MPJ any time they want to lose.

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    The Jazz (15 wins) seem to want to win. They got Ace, Keyonte George, Slow-mo, Walter Clayton Jr, Collier, Taylor Hendricks, Walker Kessler, Markannen, Svi, and Cody (Jalen Williams brother). They have plenty of young talent. I think they are ethically tanking like us.

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    The Hornets (17 wins) seem like if they’re going to tank, they’d move LaMelo and Bridges in these next few weeks. Definitely seems like LaMelo’s time is up. They’ll lose games easily (and ethically). Even with one of the coming top picks I don’t think they are gonna be much of anything the next few years (assuming they trade LaMelo).

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    That leaves the Grizzlies and Bucks (both with 18 wins). Grizzlies move Morant AND JJJ and hit the reset button, all bets are off for them winning games. But on the other hand, it’s already legend how the Grizzlies can win games without Morant, so who knows.

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    The Bucks are very interesting cause Giannis just said he’s likely to be out for 6 weeks. That would put his return in early March. So basically, he’s probably gonna be out for the year, or at least out until they (possibly?) trade him. I think if they fire Doc AND move Giannis, they could have a crappy rest of their year. But Kuzma is dumb, Rollins is hungry, Portis is crazy, and they still have Brook Lopez, KPJ, Cole Anthony and Gary Trent Jr. AND Myles Turner, unless any of those guys are hurt. And they have an upcoming schedule with games vs the Pels twice, Pacers twice, Magic three times, Utah twice & Memphis, and in the last 4 games, play the Nets TWICE.

    If someone (probably you OP) was numbers-focused enough, they could figure out the minimum wins each team could get, since they play each other a bunch of times.

    Meaning, figure out if the teams directly above the Wizards in the standings are playing each other x amount of times, what’s the most realistic scenario for wins and losses by them. Maybe you’d have to assume each team splits victories (where they play twice).

    Anyway, I like our chances lol

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