I wasn’t a conspiracy theorist until SA got Wemby. SA is now France’s team, maybe even Europe’s team. If SA and Dallas get the no. 1 and 2 pick, I will fully embrace the rigged crowd.
Who are you moving up for? I dont see a lot of franchise stars in this class after the top 2. No way any team lets Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper go.
Perhaps. Durant though I’m thinking won’t play another game this season. He has been keeping that to afloat 80% himself. They may win 0-1 more games this season if that’s the case.
Given that Flagg is the Great White Hope and likely future face of the NBA, the lottery will immediately birth conspiracy theories at a much greater rate than normal. Incidentally, only Cleveland and Washington (6 each) have more franchise #1 overall picks than Houston’s 5.
The Bulls got their pick back from the Spurs in the Lavine trade. They can absolutely go for it and still have their 1st. But I do agree with so few games left, the Suns should likely be where they are. The biggest win from the KD injury is that the Suns are now very unlikely to make the play-in, which would at least guarantee that the pick is in the lottery range with a chance to get into the top 4.
It's still statistically possible for the pick to be as high as #8--that's highly unlikely, but with the schedule they have coming up and without KD, I think there's a decent chance they lose all or nearly all of their remaining games--it's just a question of whether the teams behind them manage to win some games. Phoenix also still has one game left against the Spurs, by the way, which I believe will decide their season series.
Just saying...last year's BRK pick was slotted at #9 pre-draft (4.5%)...let's see if lightening strikes twice.
The Suns play Sac on the last day of the season. I have a feeling that will be a play-in to the play-in.
We definitely hope so. But they are a lot closer to Sacramento than they were a few weeks ago. Never underestimate the ineptitude of the NBA Kings.
It looks to me that Chicago will win 4-5 more games, putting them at 37 or 38 wins, and Miami will win 4 more games, putting them at 37 wins. If PHX wins 2 more games, they would finish with 37 wins as well, and there would be a drawing to determine who gets the higher draft pick. If all three teams end the season with the same record, then the pick could be anywhere from 10-12 (assuming Portland doesn't finish strong).
That Kings roster looks so much better than Suns minus KD and possibly still Beal too. Sabonis/LaVine/DeRozan/Monk + roleplayers versus basically just Booker and a few spot up shooters. On top of that the Kings have I would say a slightly easier remaining schedule, although still fairly difficult. I think last night pretty much knocked the Suns out of the play-in. (Knock on wood.)
I don't think hope is necessary with KD out. SAC still has 2 layup games against the Wiz and Hornets and will probably win a few other games because they will be playing for more than their opponents. I don't think the Suns win more than 2 games to finish the season.
The Suns are the only team on the outside looking in. Heat, Kings, Bulls and the Mavs will definitely be playing hard the rest of the way to stay in the playoff picture. Trail Blazers are the only team that I can see lose and stay behind the Suns.
So a tiny market team with no connection to the top media markets or the NBA HQ wins the biggest lottery in years to become "France's team" and that is why think there IS a conspiracy? Perhaps you remember the last time a geographically defining number one pick was awarded ... something the "because of course its Houston sports" likes to forget.
Yeah that was like the best outcome we could have imagined. We basically made them quit with that beat down and on top of that KD got injured and his play over the last week was the only thing keeping them afloat. Should be interesting to see what happens from here.
I was just pointing out the possibilities. The OP said 6 made sense. The pick has Zero chance of being 6. It can only be 1 thru 4 or the pick it actually falls on - unless teams behind that jump ahead.
