I turned the game on at exactly 94-79 and watched the meltdown. I then switched back to the Rockets and almost watched them do the same thing as the Pacers. We were inches from going to #1 followed by inches from going to #3
Unless something has changed, there are no old school tie-breaker rules outside of a random drawing before the actual lottery drawing for seeding. We're basically still tied with them and Orlando for now.
Lol, I know that was the intent, but I don't think it takes away any incentive, but instead pushes a race to be in the Tankathon Top 3. This lottery system offers teams who haven't been as bad a opportunity to get a really great player, which just doesn't make sense if we're trying to give teams a chance at rebuilding.
Yeah, I guess I get both sides of the argument, but back when it was just "fight to be the worst", things were just comical. I don't know why people would even pay to see any of the games when all they were trying to do was out-lose the other team. I think most teams know nowadays that it's pretty much a crapshoot even if you're one of the 4 or so worst teams. It's just us fans that want to cheer for the tank.
Having a team minimum salary is another way that the league discourages tanking. They want all teams to put a decent product on the floor. It's hard to spend $90 million and not have a team that can string some wins together. The Rockets are in a good situation in that they have around a third of their salary contributing nothing on the court. They have the chance to add two foundational pieces this offseason through the draft and then have $85 million in expiring contracts to work with. A GM could not ask to be in a better situation for a quick rebuild. I hope we have the right guy for the job.
Meh, minimum salary doesn't mean much. You can pay all your guys min, they just get an additional pay bump if the team doesnt meat the minimum.
Yes, if there was a deep draft, the worst 5-6 even the worst 8 teams could get someone decent out of a draft. Those teams at the end are not really terrible. The race for ROY would be wide open.
Maybe that's not a terrible think. Being the worst team in the league requires an effort and intention to be that bad by the FO. The worst team isn't guaranteed anything better than a top 5 pick, and the 3rd worst a top 7. Chances are the number one pick won't go to Detroit, Houston, nor Orlando which is crazy when you think about but not necessarily a bad thing for the NBA as a whole. My feeling is that the Rockets are going to end up with the 3rd worst record because they are playing better of late and actually do better against teams with good records - they get up for them. They are playing under their potential and with a lot of good teams coming up, they are going to get a few wins and might get closer to 20-22 for the year. Regardless, I hope this is the last year of tanking and next year is winning time. Seems this team had the talent and potential to win more games than it loses. It's unlikely we'll get Jabari Smith, and the odds of getting one of the top 3 big men is also less than 50-50. So tank this year fine, but then let's go for winning next year. Hopefully they will move CWood and Gordon, but it's not a travesty if they end up finishing their contracts here before moving on. If Rockets get a top 3 pick we have to be really happy.
Never forget that we traded Chris Paul & the right to 4 first round picks for Russell Westbrook. Never forget the worst trade in NBA history, and maybe the history of sports.
