You aren't going to be getting a top pick with 30 to 40 wins. One of the best late season tanking jobs in recent history was when Golden State had a frustrating first half, and essentially tanked after the All Star break, and ended up getting Harrison Barnes the following Summer. However they Warriors only got up to the 7th pick in the draft with 23 wins. The Rockets already have 27 wins and will likely with this team get close to 40 unless they bench Harden, Howard, and Ariza for the rest of the year. That means the best they can hope for in tanking or sandbagging the rest of the season is to be bad enough to get to 9 or 10 in the draft from 14 to 18. There isn't a huge difference in talent once you get outside of the top 7 historically so I think in this case you try to salvage the season, and get this team in the playoffs. Anyone that says they should tank has no historical insight or is delusional that they will win the lottery from the 12th spot with the 2% chance or whatever it is to get the #1 pick.
Tank next year then. Unfortunately, we went all in this past offseason, so we have no upcoming draft picks. As long as we know that we are in a lose-lose situation, we can at least prepare for the losing and hopefully come out with a better product 3-4 years down the road.
Even if we get a top pick, it's not ours. Tanking this season makes no sense. Tanking next season makes tons of sense.
With this logic every other team should start tanking too. Since no one can beat GS every team should start losing, better yet lets just cancel the NBA season Didn't the mavs have 1st seed one year and get beat by the 8th seed. Anything can happen
That's tanking. You can call it whatever you want. But, that's tanking. Starting or playing players that you normally wouldn't when you know it's not your best lineup, is tanking. And, there's nothing wrong with it. The question is though, will JB do it? JB is coaching for a job. Even if he knows he won't come back with the Rockets, he still wants to do well for other opportunities in the NBA.
Keep the Nuggets pick Keep the Pistons pick Nuggets pick is lottery protected. Rockets make the playoffs - sent to Denver Rockets miss the playoffs - they keep it If the pick is not traded, Denver gets a second rounder.
Nice. So if we are in the lotto next year, the pick becomes a 2nd rounder. Seems obvious, then: Spoiler TANK
Let me remind you guys that if The Rockets grind a first round win in the playoffs, BS Bickerstaff WILL be the head coach for the next 3 seasons. Something to think about.
i dont care no more. tanking is for td kinda players only imo. even if there was a such player in the draft, it's too late for us to tank since we are not gonna get the top pick. otoh, there's no hope on the horizon to do sth. meaningful this yr., either. so,,, freelance. do whatever you want. just have fun on the court, maybe.
The Rockets pick going to Denver is lottery protected. If the Rockets miss the playoffs its their regardless of where its at in the lottery. If the Rockets make the playoffs they owe Denver 2 picks in the 2nd round next year.
Tank. Here are the lineups for LAC and OKC: CP3 / Prigioni Reddick / Crawford Green / Johnson Griffin / Pierce Jordan / Aldrich Westbrook / Payne Foye / Waiters Durant / Roberson Ibaka / Collison Adams / Kanter Forget their frontline talent......look at the depth. LAC's major weakness last season was at the wings. With Green, they are at least average there. If OKC goes into the playoffs healthy, they may have the most talented roster of any team not named Golden State. We aren't a 1st round series against any of the top 4, and I'd be shocked if the series went to a game 7. It took a miracle run for us to beat LAC last year....they get better and we are much worse. This isn't the same Brewer. This isn't the same Josh Smith. This isn't the same team. The ONLY advantage I can see to making the playoffs is Dwight seems to show up then. If he goes off, then perhaps that renews the interest an over the cap team may have in him (like Cleveland, Golden State, Miami or OKC), which would then allow us to SnT him. That's a looooong bet to make though, especially for a team that will likely lose the series in 5 regardless of how Dwight plays. There is no significant downside to missing the playoffs this year. Harden is signed for another 2 years. With the cap jumping, we will have plenty of flexibility to quickly rebuild. Keep the pick....it's not worth losing it for the privilege to get blown out in the 1st round.
They could trade up if they are able to snatch a 9-12th place in the draft. It isn't common but we could try. Season is done. Whether it is a first round, second round exit or trying to lose.
Yeah, i mean, for the Rockets the best thing to do is to lose more games possible and retain the pick while see what Dekker, KJ, Jones, Harrell AND EVEN Lawson can do but...i don't think they will...
My opinion, grind for the playoffs. Sure we have played like **** this year and the odds of us getting deep in the playoffs are pretty low. But all it takes is one injury to a specific team and then daylight is at the end of the tunnel. I am not for tanking, ever. Regardless of the situation.
