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

[Chief]

Lopez and Lin play n like it is the NBA final.....the rest of the bottom teams tanking out

Nets ownership has no reason to lose and the players are playing for contracts.

Yup......if Lin was play n all year sun and Lakers would have this to themselves.

Maybe a good idea to sell high on that Brooklyn 2018 pick.

You wouldn't want melo, Bron bron, and wade hooking up in Jersey.

[droopdog7]

The team with the worst record only has a 25% chance of getting the top pick.
So the odds are that we won't get the top pick.
But a top four pick will be awesome, because there is so much talent in this draft.

As I said before that is a bad way to look at it. Sure we only have 25% chance of getting the top pick, but it is better than the rest. Sure the chance of getting the fourth pick is highest, but the chance of getting 1-3 is even higher. If odds are we wont get the top pick, odds are even higher that other teams also wont get the top pick.

Pretty simple to me.  I'm seeing a drop off after #4.  The worst record is guaranteed to pick no lower than #4.

[tenn_smoothie]

unbelievable that we are having to sweat this out given how far out Brooklyn was, even a month ago. Lakers won today (great) but Phoenix folded like a cheap camera vs Houston with no Hardin.

Phoenix would have to lose the rest and Brooklyn win the rest for Phoenix to take the worst record. But 3-1 & 1-3 would tie them for worst record, I believe. Surely that won't happen, but how did Brooklyn get hot the last two weeks of the season??

[saltlover]

unbelievable that we are having to sweat this out given how far out Brooklyn was, even a month ago. Lakers won today (great) but Phoenix folded like a cheap camera vs Houston with no Hardin.

Phoenix would have to lose the rest and Brooklyn win the rest for Phoenix to take the worst record. But 3-1 & 1-3 would tie them for worst record, I believe. Surely that won't happen, but how did Brooklyn get hot the last two weeks of the season??

Each team has 5 games left.  Nets need to go 4-1 and Suns (or Lakers, since they're tied) need to go 0-5 just for the Nets to tie.  I'm not going to get worried until the Nets win their next 3 games.

[rochrist]

The team with the worst record only has a 25% chance of getting the top pick.
So the odds are that we won't get the top pick.
But a top four pick will be awesome, because there is so much talent in this draft.

Each spot you drop in record means more spots you can drop in the lottery. The worst record can't get worse than 4th. That changes if they don't have the worst record.

[NorCalJack]

Well the next game for the Nets is against the Sixers.  The Sixers want to beat the Nets, so the Laker's don't end up with the first pick.  If the Lakers end up with the first pick, then the Lakers more than likely will keep the pick.  The further down the Lakers pick, improves the odds that they will fall out of the top 3 after the lottery.

[Somebody]

As long as we take care of business we'll be fine (we just need them to lose one more game after beating them, which is highly probable)

[footey]

As long as we take care of business we'll be fine (we just need them to lose one more game after beating them, which is highly probable)

We also need to beat them which is also probable but not a given.

[Darío SpanishFan]

Well the next game for the Nets is against the Sixers.  The Sixers want to beat the Nets, so the Laker's don't end up with the first pick.  If the Lakers end up with the first pick, then the Lakers more than likely will keep the pick.  The further down the Lakers pick, improves the odds that they will fall out of the top 3 after the lottery.

Well said. Your first Tommy Point 

[Big333223]

Well the next game for the Nets is against the Sixers.  The Sixers want to beat the Nets, so the Laker's don't end up with the first pick.  If the Lakers end up with the first pick, then the Lakers more than likely will keep the pick.  The further down the Lakers pick, improves the odds that they will fall out of the top 3 after the lottery.

Solid logic. I'm not sure this kind of thing actually affects player performance, though.

[trickybilly]

Well the next game for the Nets is against the Sixers.  The Sixers want to beat the Nets, so the Laker's don't end up with the first pick.  If the Lakers end up with the first pick, then the Lakers more than likely will keep the pick.  The further down the Lakers pick, improves the odds that they will fall out of the top 3 after the lottery.

LOL. Kinda want the sixers to get that pick.

Something like this would be a funny looking starting lineup 2018.

Simmons
Monk
Isaac
Saric
Embiid

[tazzmaniac]

Well the next game for the Nets is against the Sixers.  The Sixers want to beat the Nets, so the Laker's don't end up with the first pick.  If the Lakers end up with the first pick, then the Lakers more than likely will keep the pick.  The further down the Lakers pick, improves the odds that they will fall out of the top 3 after the lottery.

The Sixers want to lose all their games to maximize their own pick.  They want to stay in 5th or move up to 4th in the tank race.  The Lakers, with 4 more wins with only 5 games to go, aren't going to catchup to the Nets. 

[slamtheking]

Well the next game for the Nets is against the Sixers.  The Sixers want to beat the Nets, so the Laker's don't end up with the first pick.  If the Lakers end up with the first pick, then the Lakers more than likely will keep the pick.  The further down the Lakers pick, improves the odds that they will fall out of the top 3 after the lottery.

The Sixers want to lose all their games to maximize their own pick.  They want to stay in 5th or move up to 4th in the tank race.  The Lakers, with 4 more wins with only 5 games to go, aren't going to catchup to the Nets. 

while I confident the Nets will remain with the worst record no matter what, I could see Sixers management wanting to beat the Nets to ensure that.  Nets as the worst record cuts Lakers' odds of getting a pick high enough that they can keep it. 
Whether the Sixers players want the same thing can be debated because if that Laker pick is given to the Sixers, one of the hangers-on for that Philly roster this year likely won't be back next year (and likely not in the league -- unless the Nets need to fill out their roster again next season   )

[Moranis]

The Sixers are a shell of a team having also now lost Covington and Okafor.  They still might beat the Lakers because they are terrible but that should be a game no one should watch

[tazzmaniac]

Well the next game for the Nets is against the Sixers.  The Sixers want to beat the Nets, so the Laker's don't end up with the first pick.  If the Lakers end up with the first pick, then the Lakers more than likely will keep the pick.  The further down the Lakers pick, improves the odds that they will fall out of the top 3 after the lottery.

The Sixers want to lose all their games to maximize their own pick.  They want to stay in 5th or move up to 4th in the tank race.  The Lakers, with 4 more wins with only 5 games to go, aren't going to catchup to the Nets. 

while I confident the Nets will remain with the worst record no matter what, I could see Sixers management wanting to beat the Nets to ensure that.  Nets as the worst record cuts Lakers' odds of getting a pick high enough that they can keep it. 
Whether the Sixers players want the same thing can be debated because if that Laker pick is given to the Sixers, one of the hangers-on for that Philly roster this year likely won't be back next year (and likely not in the league -- unless the Nets need to fill out their roster again next season   )

The Lakers are going to finish 2nd or 3rd worst.  No one but some nervous Nellies on here think they'll make up 4 games on the Nets with 5 games to go.  The Sixers are a game within 4th and a game within 6th.  Them winning hurts the one pick that are certain to get in this draft. 

As for hangers-on, you mean people like Young and Mickey?