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2025-2026 Tank Race Prediction Contest and Current Results Thread

That's the one good about the Queen trade is that the Pelicans have no incentive to tank so they will at least be fighting all year.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I'm not concerned about Orlando. I think Indy will get much better once they get healthy. Memphis currently scares me.
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We need to be getting out to an early lead in this race because the griz, suns and mavs could enter the race early in the year. Hopefully Edey coming back will help the griz choose the win now approach.
 
~10 games in this is how I would rank the tanking teams:

1. Brooklyn - Worst team I can remember
2. Washington - No players that are consistently good

3. Utah - Kessler out improves our tank race rankings
4. Charlotte - Has looked ok at times, but still not a good team
5. NOP - Will win some games in March/April when teams aren't trying

6. Indiana - I think they will get healthy at some point and win some games
7. Sacramento - They would be smart to join the tank race, but I don't think they will
8. Memphis - I'm worried they might implode at any minute
9. Dallas - I think they figure it out at some point, but if they don't...
10. Phoenix - I don't think they have enough talent to keep winning

10. Boston - They seem very unserious this year
12. Toronto - I like the team, but I don't think they are for real yet
13. LAC - Maybe they are just too old/what if they start having injuries?

(Edit, added some tier breaks)
 
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SoberasHotRod said:
~10 games in this is how I would rank the tanking teams:

1. Brooklyn - Worst team I can remember
2. Washington - No players that are consistently good

3. Utah - Kessler out improves our tank race rankings
4. Charlotte - Has looked ok at times, but still not a good team
5. NOP - Will win some games in March/April when teams aren't trying

6. Indiana - I think they will get healthy at some point and win some games
7. Sacramento - They would be smart to join the tank race, but I don't think they will
8. Memphis - I'm worried they might implode at any minute
9. Dallas - I think they figure it out at some point, but if they don't...
10. Phoenix - I don't think they have enough talent to keep winning

10. Boston - They seem very unserious this year
12. Toronto - I like the team, but I don't think they are for real yet
13. LAC - Maybe they are just too old/what if they start having injuries?

(Edit, added some tier breaks)
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Indiana is worrisome since Tyrese is out all year and Pascal is older so they may just let this bad start dictate how things go from here forward. Dallas is also a bit worrisome as Nico may be out and they may tear some of it down. Overall I think we end up 4th worst. Wash/Brook/One of Cha/NOP/Ind/Dallas and then us.

A key head to head matchup with Indiana may change the fate of the tank.
 
This year is weird in that the bottom 10 teams are all just awful and it's not clear how they're going to get better. The Clippers maybe bounce back...? But the Grizzlies may get worse.

There's this massive gap between the 10th worst team in the league (the Grizzlies) and the 11th worst (the Suns) that is kind of funny. The Grizzlies are at -4.9 and the Suns are at -0.3.

(Technically the Hornets are better than the Grizzlies in terms of differential, but the Hornets are about to lose LaMelo for a huge chunk of time again so they'll be awful again).
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
Indiana is worrisome since Tyrese is out all year and Pascal is older so they may just let this bad start dictate how things go from here forward. Dallas is also a bit worrisome as Nico may be out and they may tear some of it down. Overall I think we end up 4th worst. Wash/Brook/One of Cha/NOP/Ind/Dallas and then us.

A key head to head matchup with Indiana may change the fate of the tank.
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I just don't think Indiana has it in them to really tank, it's just not how they are built as a franchise, even though it would be smart. They should start getting some good players back soon. I'm here in Indiana and nobody is talking about optimizing draft picks, but when guys will get back healthy.

I could definitely see Dallas blowing things up if Nico is let go, but not sure how real that is or when that will be. While Nico is in charge I'm sure he will try to maximize wins.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I just don't think Indiana has it in them to really tank, it's just not how they are built as a franchise, even though it would be smart. They should start getting some good players back soon. I'm here in Indiana and nobody is talking about optimizing draft picks, but when guys will get back healthy.

I could definitely see Dallas blowing things up if Nico is let go, but not sure how real that is or when that will be. While Nico is in charge I'm sure he will try to maximize wins.
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I would guess we are one bad loss away from Nico getting canned. I don't think he makes it to Christmas. Apparently Dumont got involved with ruling AD out for a game with injury... I think the trust is completely gone for Nico and he's cooked.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I just don't think Indiana has it in them to really tank, it's just not how they are built as a franchise, even though it would be smart. They should start getting some good players back soon. I'm here in Indiana and nobody is talking about optimizing draft picks, but when guys will get back healthy.

I could definitely see Dallas blowing things up if Nico is let go, but not sure how real that is or when that will be. While Nico is in charge I'm sure he will try to maximize wins.
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For Indiana... I kind of doubted it too because Carlisle is just so good, but that team is pretty thin without Tyrese and have enough other injuries that are somewhat long term (iirc) that I think this early schedule makes a tough uphill climb for them. I don't think they have it in them to rebuild but a one year gap tank? I think they can tolerate that after last year.
 
Resting Lauri tomorrow against the Pacers on the back end of a back to back is absolutely something that should happen.
 
As far as the contest goes we are 10 games in. We only ended up with 6 participants. We are so early that there are a lot of ties in the standings, but I just went off of the current tankathon standings. Here are the results so far:

David Hume: 22pts
Sober: 19pts
Furgeson: 17pts
KQWIN: 15pts
HH: 14pts
SD Jazz: 13pts

We all had Phoenix in the Bottom 10, and nobody had LAC or Dallas in the bottom 10.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
Very likely, that's at least what I would do if I were them. They still have a big AD issue they need to resolve though.
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I think they thread the needle a little here. Dumont likely doesn't want them to be tragic and an interim GM situation will likely not provide the security for a tear down.

Unfortunately, AD may end up getting mothballed anyway since the guy has a calf injury. I don't think they move him or Kyrie but they also likely don't play them that much.

We will see what happens but this team is *** right now.
 
Things are going to make sense wrt Nico when he gets his next job....or maybe he made enough to ride it out into the sunset. He was a good exec who made good moves until the big one....I'm not a conspiracy guy but "divine intervention" was involved here.
 
KqWIN said:
Things are going to make sense wrt Nico when he gets his next job....or maybe he made enough to ride it out into the sunset. He was a good exec who made good moves until the big one....I'm not a conspiracy guy but "divine intervention" was involved here.
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I think his career is cooked. I honestly think he is a relationship guy and DL was the one making the good deals (maybe). Soon as he left Nico **** the bed.

Maybe he can go back to Nike or whatever and he likely made enough money (and will be paid out his remaining contract) to just call it a day. I also think Pelinka and the Lakers may end up needing his consulting (they better hide it from Pablo) if there was some divine intervention.
 
I mean... the Lakers deal still may have gotten him fired but if he had come away with AR and one more pick then you could see it. To not get either? Like you can't leave that much meat on the bone in a preposterous trade... you have to make me believe a little.
 
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