Last night's win by the Magic was great in the end, but still very troublesome in how the Nets played. They were competitive and probably should have won that game. They are not a traditional worst 3 team - they win games they shouldn't. I agree that the Suns, and maybe the Nuggets or Wolves will flat out tank at some point, and the Nets could easily finish with like the 7th or 8th worst record.
This is pessimism at its finest because teams like the Suns (who are still better than the Nets without Bledsoe and who's coach/GM are on the hot seat to win games) and other teams need to specifically tank, and the Nets need to avoid injuries to their 3 main guys.
There aren't 5 or 6 teams that are better than the Nets. They are the 2nd worst in the East and their aren't 4 or 5 teams in the West worse than them.
Tanking doesn't mean those teams are worse than the Nets, it means they are tanking. Every year around February we see teams start to tank. Sorry if your green-glasses don't allow you to see reality, and lead you to make accusatory statements calling others pessimistic. The Nets could end up as the 3rd worst team, but they could also end up as the 5th-7th worst team. Since starting 0-7 they are 9-16, which is bad, but not awful. And this doesn't include games they nearly stole against the Cavs, Mavs, Kings, etc... and they have also been very competitive against other teams even though that belies their talent - they overachieve, and it is a problem for us.
I'm on my phone so I can't write a longer reply...my apologies if the 'pessimism' comment came off as rude, because it wasn't intended to be. I just think you're thinking along the lines of a very worst case scenario.
Which teams would decide to tank after the All Star break?
I don't see any teams tanking in the East that will become worse than the Nets, and in the West, it's still the same teams we've always worried about losing a few more games than the Nets since the beginning of the season...
Blazers
Nuggets
Lakers
Minny
With the Blazers and Minny looking like clearly better teams than the Nets.
The Pelicans, Suns and Kings are not tanking because of their front office situations and also because of their talent-they are all better teams than the Nets.
Sure Brandon Knight could get an injury and so could Anthony Davis, but there's just as much likelihood that Lopez or Young go down for extended time.
There just aren't enough terrible teams in the NBA for the Nets to finish 7th or 8th, unless multiple significant injuries occur on those above teams.
Right now it's looking like the Lakers could threaten the Nets win record.
It's no where near as gloomy as you're seeing it.
And to label me a green glasses Celtics fan is funny because if you'd read these boards for any significant time youd see I'm one of the most realistic posters here.
Happy new year.