Are the Nets and Mavs purposely not tanking due to the picks owed to the Celtics

[Tr1boy]

What do you guys think?

[Sketch5]

Why would they tank so we get a good pick?

Of course they're going to try to put a half way decent team together and make a run. They have no incentive to be bad.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Not because they owe us really, it's because they owe it. LOL If they owned the picks they would probably tank, since they can gain nothing by tanking, you may as well put a product out there that can entertain fans so they will want to buy things.

[MJohnnyboy]

Um... yes?

I don't think either team wants to do the Celtics any favors. Especially after Danny ripped them both off in those deals pretty badly.

The difference is Dallas could tank if they wanted to and not worry about it. Brooklyn has no choice.

[max215]

Mavs: They have two legitimate options: go full tank, or make one last run with Dirk. Neither option is particularly bad for their future. Either they give it their all and cede a pick in the 11-18 range, or they accept the end of the Dirk era and rebuild using a top 7 pick. Given the moves they've made, it would be pretty hard for them to bottom out IMO, so I see them going for the playoffs.

Nets: The Nets options are slightly less favorable for them: attempt to win as many games as possible just to spite the Celtics, or bottom out and focus on developing young players and finding ways to acquire draft currency from other teams. If they try to make the playoffs, it's very possible that they're still terrible and gift us a good pick, causing the season to be completely lost. At least bottoming out would give them something to build with in the future. Ultimately, I think the Nets should trade Lopez and Young once their contracts allow for it; they both have some value and would be able to bring in some nice future picks IMO. The picks which we have are a sunk cost; it just doesn't make sense for the future of the Nets franchise to try and spite us. However, I think the Nets will not take the prudent course of action, and will choose to push for the playoffs, ultimately falling short; trying to win games can prevent you from being a bottom 3 team in the league, but beyond that, inferior talent and depth won't win games.

[BDeCosta26]

Dallas, No. They had a chance post-DJ to go for an all out tank. Our pick from them is top 7 protected so if they really wanted to, they could go hard and keep it. But after Cuban got burned I think he made it a point to not tank. That could always change mid season though.

Brooklyn, kinda. It would seem by their offseason moves they're just trying to forget about it. They Hadda sign Lopez and Young so they didn't lose them for nothing, but they wouldn't have traded Plumlee to move up in the draft or dump Williams (and look to dump Johnson) because they were solely focused on giving us the worst pick. It seems they're going to look for cap space and draft picks so they can build something on budget and sustainable. Looks good for us.

[Celtics4ever]

They owe us nothing, but the Nets do not benefit whether we get the pick or not, so "no" in that case.   They traded them for a chance at winning now.  They have a better chance to probably sign people if they have a better record.

Mavs pick is conditional so I can see them trying to make sure the conditions never happen.

[BornReady]

Mavs still want to be competitive because they are entering dirks latter seasons where he will retire after
Dirk took a massive pay cut so mavs could bring in help to stay competitive
Sadly for him, it didn't work out
But knowing Cuban, he will try make them win as many games possible
Rather than have dirk and the mavs at the bottom

Also mavs are generally too good to be a bottom 7 team so chances are they cant tank it out like Philly

Nets just need to win
As we own their picks in the near future, tanking will not improve them
They need to win to try attract free agents
And make up that money lost from the huge tax bill they got

[BraxVitto]

I wouldn't say that they aren't taking just because the Celtics have their picks. It's purely because they don't have them. The whole philosophy behind tanking is so you can get a good draft pick for the next off season, but when you don't have the pick tanking has no benefits. You p--- off all your fans, probably you're players, which hurts the reputation of the team, and get no reward in the form of a promising young player from the draft.

 Sure the Mavs could tank so hard that they could get their pick, but the bad teams are so bad right now that there is little to no chance they would actually make it into the bottom 7 of the league. For the sake of their franchises they shouldn't be tanking at this point.

[littleteapot]

[Hemingway]

"purposely not tanking" It's like you think tanking is the default state of a team and a team would only not tank if they had a special reason.

[CelticsFanFromNYC]

.

[RockinRyA]

I think the best option for the Nets is to bottom out by trading their assets for future picks. Sure they might give us a lottery pick this year, but at least they would have something else for their future. Dump the contracts, try to acquire young players through trades or FAs. That way instead of handing us multiple lottery picks, they might end up just giving us 1 or 2. Try hard to make the playoffs this year and they might lose the chance to sell high on Lopez and the rest.

[chilidawg]

"purposely not tanking" It's like you think tanking is the default state of a team and a team would only not tank if they had a special reason.

Thank you.  It seems people here have forgotten that the purpose of playing the game is to win.

[BudweiserCeltic]

This thread makes little sense.