Tankathon Rankings

[Catlover]

Ok. Are we dealing with injuries like we want to make the playoffs? no. Players are out long term and others are sitting for every boo boo imaginable.

Not according to Eddie, Steve, Tom and Tom. According to them, we're so shorthanded at times that Len, Chandler, Price, Leuer and Teletovic are all having to play through injury problems. You can see that Price's toe is giving him problems at times and we all watched Len try to play through his hand and more recently a sprained ankle.

Did we fire our coach so we could make a playoff run? no. We hired a guy to develop the young talent. In fact, we probably fired Horny because he just found it hard to engage when the team is obviously tanking.

Maybe. And I've already acknowledged that firing Jeff and more importantly, replacing him with an inexperienced coach, MIGHT have been a tanking move.

Do the substitution patterns look like we are trying to win every game? no. We are playing young players extended minutes and playing them at experimental positions.

You and Phrazbit keep saying this. I don't see the difference between now and December. And go back to the beginning of the season and read through the game day threads, these were common complaints almost every game. Yes, we are playing young players extended minutes. We don't have a lot of options. And we were losing every game prior to giving Goodwin his chance at point guard, the only real experiment I can think of unless you're talking about the few minutes Len and Chandler both took the court.

Does the body language of the players on the bench look like they are going for all the wins they can get? Absolutely not. They look like preseason. They are going for individual development, which is fine.

They know we don't have the talent necessary to beat even the worst teams in the NBA.

Did we make moves at the deadline that look like we are trying to win every game we can? No. We shipped off Markieff for cap fodder and a pick. No effort to pick up a vet player (which we probably could have gotten) that could get a win or two.

Are we signing free agents or buyouts like we are trying to win now? No. We are experimenting with D-League players and buyouts who are young and might have some long term potential. We are not looking at any vets that could help get some wins now (like Joe Johnson or Anderson Varajao).

And now you're arguing alone. I've never said that we hadn't decided to tank. I believe we have. But I believe our injuries have been legit or at least mostly legit. At some point that will stop being true and maybe it already has but we've been losing for quite awhile, long before that might have become reality. Yes we are tanking. Yes it's evident in that we didn't make trades and pickups designed to try and compete this year. But no, we aren't losing our games because of rotations or faked injuries. We really are this bad without Bledsoe, Knight and Warren.

 

[sunsfan88]

Agreed. It just seems unlikely to me that any player will purposely play badly to lose.

This is the biggest misconception about tanking. People think that tanking means players purposely missing shots or sucking...it's not even close to what tanking is.

 

[JCSunsfan]

This is the biggest misconception about tanking. People think that tanking means players purposely missing shots or sucking...it's not even close to what tanking is.

Yes. I have said my bit. If you don't believe this team is better than its present record, I just do know what else to say.

 

[sunsfan88]

We need to catch the Lakers who are still 5 games below us I believe. If we can get 2nd worst, I think we will likely get Simmons or Ingram.

 

[Catlover]

We need to catch the Lakers who are still 5 games below us I believe. If we can get 2nd worst, I think we will likely get Simmons or Ingram.

I don't believe the Lakers can win 5 more games even if they stop tanking. I'm pretty sure we're at where we'll finish, 3rd worst record.

 

[JCSunsfan]

We need to hope that the Wizards pick ends up at 10. That will take some losing on their part and then, of course, hope that disaster does not hit on lottery day. I can still remember that Atlanta pick.

 

[sunsfan88]

I don't believe the Lakers can win 5 more games even if they stop tanking. I'm pretty sure we're at where we'll finish, 3rd worst record.

Well they only need to win 4 more games now. And they play the Suns twice during that span so if the Suns lose out for rest of the season then that's only 2 more games they would need to win and that's certainly do able with games against teams like Denver, Sacramento, Orlando, New York and Memphis still remaining.

 

[Phrazbit]

Well they only need to win 4 more games now. And they play the Suns twice during that span so if the Suns lose out for rest of the season then that's only 2 more games they would need to win and that's certainly do able with games against teams like Denver, Sacramento, Orlando, New York and Memphis still remaining.

We won't lose out. That would end up being a 23 game losing streak, a full 10 longer than the seemingly endless one we just came off of. I expect we'll win 3 more games the rest of the way.

 

[JCSunsfan]

There is nothing even remotely interesting to watch about this team right now. They aren't competitive. One interesting young player is out for the year with an injury, the other is not able to get open if he life depended on it. Len is playing a little better but so what. Even the tank is uninteresting since we cannot catch the Lakers.

I have been offered free tickets and I am not all that interested in going. I would rather go watch a college game with some draft prospects.

 

[chickenhead]

With the win over the Magic and the Lakers loss, I do t think we're catching LA if we don't lose both to them in a few weeks. But the Nets won as well, and they play Minnesota tonight, so the #3 spot is looking pretty solid.

 

[slinslin]

Minnesota beat Brooklyn so they are again 4 wins up on us.

Brooklyns next 4 games are Toronto, Philly, Milwaukee, Philly.. They can go 2-2 if not even 3-1.

Washington lost. They are 5 wins infront of the #9 pick. 1 game behind Detroit for the #9 seed, 1.5 games behind the #8 seed Chicago

 

[Catlover]

There is nothing even remotely interesting to watch about this team right now. They aren't competitive. One interesting young player is out for the year with an injury, the other is not able to get open if he life depended on it. Len is playing a little better but so what. Even the tank is uninteresting since we cannot catch the Lakers.

I have been offered free tickets and I am not all that interested in going. I would rather go watch a college game with some draft prospects.

Take the tickets.

 

[Phrazbit]

I'm going on Wednesday. Excited to watch Booker, last game I went to he played well but we got destroyed (by the Spurs). Hoping for a really well contested... defeat.

 

[Catlover]

I'm going on Wednesday. Excited to watch Booker, last game I went to he played well but we got destroyed (by the Spurs). Hoping for a really well contested... defeat.

I don't know how long it will last but right now Booker and Len are worth the price of admission. Or, in my case, the cost of League Pass.

 

[sunsfan88]

Lakers won tonight so there's that...had we not lost beat the Magic or the Grizzlies twice we could have been two games from having the 2nd best odds at the NUMBER ONE pick.

 

[sunsfan88]

There is nothing even remotely interesting to watch about this team right now. They aren't competitive. One interesting young player is out for the year with an injury, the other is not able to get open if he life depended on it. Len is playing a little better but so what. Even the tank is uninteresting since we cannot catch the Lakers.

I have been offered free tickets and I am not all that interested in going. I would rather go watch a college game with some draft prospects.

Its even worse now, the Nets may actually catch us.

They lost again tonight and we play the Knicks tomorrow on their 2nd night of a back to back. I bet the Suns want to see how long they can keep this winning "streak" going even if it costs them draft position.

 

[leclerc]

Nets have 18 wins. We have 17. Stop the nonsense we need that #3 spot.

 

[Catlover]

Only 3 teams in the NBA have a longer winning streak working right now than we do. And none of them are in the West. Weird.

 

[slinslin]

The odds for the Washington pick look very good right now.

Very likely that it will be #12-13

 

[slinslin]

In other news if we did not start winning (3-2 in last 5) we would be tied with the Lakers for #2 ...

 

[Catlover]

In other news if we did not start winning (3-2 in last 5) we would be tied with the Lakers for #2 ...

Doubtful. I don't think it's coincidence that they started losing with even greater regularity when we were on our long losing streak. Nor is it coincidence that they've added a few wins since we started winning occasionally. They are tanking even more so than we are, if their pick was jeopardized I'm sure they'd have rested a few more injured players.

 

[Carolinacacti]

Please, if we had the worst record in the NBA we would draft 4th............

 

[ColdPickleNachos]

The odds for the Washington pick look very good right now.

Very likely that it will be #12-13

The rest of their schedule looks pretty easy. I'd be shocked if the Suns didn't get the pick. In fact, I find myself rooting hard against Washington. I think there's a much better chance the pick moves to the #15-16 range and beyond than the #8-9 range.

If my math is right, they are 3.5 games back from being the 19th pick (where the Pacers are), and 4.5 games ahead of the 9th pick (where the Bucks are).

 

[slinslin]

2 wins and losses behind Detroit which is 9th.

They have to make up 2 wins and 3 losses on at least two teams. That is not very easy in just 19 remaining games.

 

[slinslin]

Losing to Minnesota in Phoenix next monday is very critical for the Suns.

Our schedule in the next 5 games is soft with the exception of Golden State.

We could win at home vs New York, we could win at Denver, we could beat Minnesota at home and we could win at Utah.

Minnesota on the other hand plays Golden State, OKC, Houston, Memphis and us so they are likely to go 1-4 or 0-5

If we lose vs Minny and they go 1-4 while we win vs New York and Denver while losing to Golden State, Minnesota and Utah we would still be 2 wins behind Minnesota with 14 games to go.

Brooklyn thankfully plays Philly twice now plus a home game vs Milwaukee.

on the bright side we can't really finish better than #5. Even if we go 9-10 the rest of the seasn, New Orleans would have to go 2-18 to tie us.

We have a really soft remaining schedule though

NYK@PHX - very winnable
PHX@DEN - winnable
PHX@GSW - loss
MIN@PHX - very winnable
PHX@UTH - winnable
PHX@LAL - very winnable
MEM@PHX - winnable
LAL@PHX - very winnable
PHX@SAC - winnable
BOS@PHX - likely loss
PHX@MIN - winnable
PHX@MIL - winnable
UTH@PHX - winnable
WAS@PHX - winnable
PHX@ATL - likely loss
PHX@HOU - winnable
PHX@NOP - winnable
SAC@PHX - very winnable
LAC@PHX - likely loss

I count only 1 loss and 3 likely losses. The other games are pretty much against other lottery teams and all winnable.

13 of our remaining games are against lottery teams. And Memphis without Marc Gasol and Brandan Wright seem completely unable to handle our twin towers.

The 2 games against the Lakers and the 2 games against the Wolves are HUGE.

7-12 seems like a realitic record to close the season. That is very dangerous and requires Minnesota to win at least 5 more games and Brooklyn to also win 7 more.