Suns and Lakers in full tank mode, Brooklyn keeps winning. Trouble for us?

[KGs Knee]

I'm more concerned about the greater likelihood that even if we do get the greatest odds at the #1 pick, we'll still end up with a worse pick.

Lottery day is going to be excruciating.

[hpantazo]

I'm more concerned about the greater likelihood that even if we do get the greatest odds at the #1 pick, we'll still end up with a worse pick.

Lottery day is going to be excruciating.

Yeah. Considering Philly did it last year, when have we ever seen the team with the worst record get the #1 pick in the lottery 2 years in a row?

[BitterJim]

I'm more concerned about the greater likelihood that even if we do get the greatest odds at the #1 pick, we'll still end up with a worse pick.

Lottery day is going to be excruciating.

Yeah. Considering Philly did it last year, when have we ever seen the team with the worst record get the #1 pick in the lottery 2 years in a row?

Well, um, it actually happened in 2015 and 2016. The Timerwolves had the best odds in 2015 and won it, then Philly in 2016

Brain fart?

Edit: It has never happened 3 times in a row, though

[Evantime34]

There is a clear top 4 in this draft. A team finishing with more losses than the Nets makes there a chance that we land outside the top 4.

Brooklyn's magic number of losses or Laker wins is 9. It's going to be tight. A win tonight would be huge

[CelticGuardian]

I think at this point we just need to be happy that they are among the 5 worst teams, currently THE worst which bodes well either way for the C's as they will be sure to add more young, premiere talent.

I'd also argue that the Nets catching up to those two franchises is impossible considering there's enough of a sample size(67 odd games) to suggest the talent level on the Nets can not muster a win streak of any sort, and that is what they will need to get out of the NBA's basement. For every 1 win they will accrue about 3 or 4 losses.

[hpantazo]

I'm more concerned about the greater likelihood that even if we do get the greatest odds at the #1 pick, we'll still end up with a worse pick.

Lottery day is going to be excruciating.

Yeah. Considering Philly did it last year, when have we ever seen the team with the worst record get the #1 pick in the lottery 2 years in a row?

Well, um, it actually happened in 2015 and 2016. The Timerwolves had the best odds in 2015 and won it, then Philly in 2016

Brain fart?

Edit: It has never happened 3 times in a row, though

Darn! That's even worse then!

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

All the stressing while I am already happy about a guaranteed top 5 pick and that's if everything goes wrong. A lot of the same people who are worried are the same ones who said last year was a two horse race and are now saying JB looks like he could turn out as the top/top 2 players from the draft! 

[86MaxwellSmart]

Tonight is a Must Win for the Celtics....sad.

[mef730]

I'm more concerned about the greater likelihood that even if we do get the greatest odds at the #1 pick, we'll still end up with a worse pick.

Lottery day is going to be excruciating.

Yeah. Considering Philly did it last year, when have we ever seen the team with the worst record get the #1 pick in the lottery 2 years in a row?

Well, um, it actually happened in 2015 and 2016. The Timerwolves had the best odds in 2015 and won it, then Philly in 2016

Brain fart?

Edit: It has never happened 3 times in a row, though

Darn! That's even worse then!

Just keep repeating to yourself: "Every lottery is an independent event. What happened last year has no impact on what will happen this year."

Mike

[mef730]

One other thing worth mentioning, I guess. If I go back to 2000, I only count five drafts where the best player in the class was definitively the first selection (I'm including 2014 and 15, which may still be TBD.): KAT, Wiggins, A Davis, Dwight Howard, LeBron. A couple of injuries (Rose, Oden), a couple of busts (Brown, Bargnani, Bennett) and a few surprises (Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard) have all made things interesting.

In other words, even if we get the top pick, there's no guarantee that we get the star, assuming there is only one. True, first pick is clearly pole position, but 10 out of the last 16 drafts have seen somebody better go later.

Mike

[footey]

There is a clear top 4 in this draft. A team finishing with more losses than the Nets makes there a chance that we land outside the top 4.

Brooklyn's magic number of losses or Laker wins is 9. It's going to be tight. A win tonight would be huge

Exactly. TP in spades.  This is the biggest risk.  I frankly have no clue among the top 4 guys who will be most successful. But I do know there is a huge drop off from 4 to 5, at least perception wise. That not only is important if we keep the pick, but also if we want to trade it (which I hope we don't).

[Granath]

Have you actually looked at the standings?  Brooklyn has 7 less wins than the Lakers with 15 games left.  Do you honestly think Brooklyn is going to go 7-8 or better over those 15 games? 
The Lakers are certainly tanking hard but that is too secure the 2nd worst record.

Have you looked at Brooklyns remaining games? here are 12 very winnable games for them
2 against us - they will have motivation to beat us
2 against the bulls - team is on a downward spiral
2 against the 76ers - coin flip
suns- they will win
Magic - they could win
2 against the Pistons - they could win
2 against the hawks - I'd think they'd win one.

This team has motivation to Win, all these teams I listed above have hardly any motivation at all at this point.

This "analysis" (*ahem*) leaves out one key fact. Brooklyn has had the motivation to win 67 other games before now and won only 13 of them. 

Here's a hint: motivation isn't going to help them win. Remember when they won 4 out of their first 9? You should have seen the panic on this board. They then proceeded to go 5-44 over their next 49. Things tend to balance out. They don't need motivation to tank. They suck enough to do it without trying.

Furthermore, of their last 15 games, only 4 come against teams that aren't trying to make the playoffs (and none of those teams are into full blown tank mode). It's not like they get to play a schedule full of purposely tanking teams. Of the other 11, every one of those teams will be trying hard because they're either in the playoff hunt or want to improve their playoff position.

In short, enjoy having the #1 chance for the lottery because that's where this thing winds up.

[Green-Bananas]

Have you actually looked at the standings?  Brooklyn has 7 less wins than the Lakers with 15 games left.  Do you honestly think Brooklyn is going to go 7-8 or better over those 15 games? 
The Lakers are certainly tanking hard but that is too secure the 2nd worst record.

Have you looked at Brooklyns remaining games? here are 12 very winnable games for them
2 against us - they will have motivation to beat us
2 against the bulls - team is on a downward spiral
2 against the 76ers - coin flip
suns- they will win
Magic - they could win
2 against the Pistons - they could win
2 against the hawks - I'd think they'd win one.

This team has motivation to Win, all these teams I listed above have hardly any motivation at all at this point.

TP jbpats for not counting your chickens early... I posted similar sentiments in the Lakers Tank Thread. Although I just said it could get close, the usual suspects voices of reason, showed up with their sarcasm common sense.  Let's hope the Celt's take care of business and we can look to the lottery.

fixed that for you.

Thanks for saving me the effort of finding which thread I responded to the Chicken Little panic being proposed.

Nets are locked in to the worst record in the league this year.  There is no way Lakers will close out the season with what would be 17 straight losses which would still have required the Nets to win 10 games out of 22 (at the time of that thread posting) just to tie the Laker record.  the fact it's closed to 7 doesn't make this worthy of concern.  As of this morning, lakers have 20 wins, the Nets have 13.  Nets would have to go 7-8 the rest of the year when they've gone 13-54 until now.  it isn't going to happen.  The Lakers have 14 games left.  it's inconceivable (cue the Princess Bride references) that the Laker don't win at least 1-2 games.  each win would push the Nets to win more than they lose and that's just not going to happen.
you can put the Chicken Little Panic Mode to rest.  worry about what happens once the lottery balls start being drawn but until that night, Nets will have the best odds to come out with the #1 pick when the season is over.

I see... Take someone's post, edit to what you want. Insinuate the person said something they didn't. Use sarcasm to reinforce your point. Only problem is, I didn't state the Nets would finish with a better record then the Lakers... You said I did.

[Bobshot]

The Lakers suddenly benched Russell a few games ago. The kid was playing very well as a starter. He promptly stunk the next few games coming off the bench. It's the tanking season in the NBA. Jockeying for the lottery.

[hwangjini_1]

I'm more concerned about the greater likelihood that even if we do get the greatest odds at the #1 pick, we'll still end up with a worse pick.

Lottery day is going to be excruciating.

Yeah. Considering Philly did it last year, when have we ever seen the team with the worst record get the #1 pick in the lottery 2 years in a row?

Well, um, it actually happened in 2015 and 2016. The Timerwolves had the best odds in 2015 and won it, then Philly in 2016

Brain fart?

Edit: It has never happened 3 times in a row, though

Darn! That's even worse then!

you flip a coin and it comes up heads nine times in a row. what are the odds of it coming up heads on the next flip?