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2025-2026 Tank Race Prediction Contest and Current Results Thread

Handlogten's Heros said:
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.
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Nico should be revered by the Laker's organization, he should be a first time ballot Laker Hall of Famer.
 
We play Dallas 3 times in a 10 day span in January. So hopefully AD is healthy. Maybe they force Kyrie back by then. I am guessing they still have no plan and blow in the wind a bit.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
lolol... they been a challenger since day one.

I saw a conflicting report from another local guy saying they are more likely to double down. Either way... we need to call them multiple times a day.
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The guy deleted the tweet.... okay full tank ahead for the KANGS.
 
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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I think Brooklyn, Washington and Indiana have no interest in winning games this season. Starting 1-9 (an 8-win pace) is convincing enough evidence of that. I think the Pacers are trying to reset and come back next season with Hali, Siakam and someone from this draft. Who could blame them?

The bottom three teams in the West have been Utah, Dallas and New Orleans. I do think the Pels will win some games, if for no other reason than to shop a few of their players. They also gave away their pick (*shudders*). The Kings are reportedly ready to flush their season as well.

To me that suggests that the bottom 6 teams will be: BRK, WAS, IND, UTA, DAL, SAC...with NOL and maybe CHA not far ahead. Jazz will aim for a bottom-4 record and a very probability of a top-6 pick.
 
Ferguson_Mellochill said:
I think Brooklyn, Washington and Indiana have no interest in winning games this season. Starting 1-9 (an 8-win pace) is convincing enough evidence of that. I think the Pacers are trying to reset and come back next season with Hali, Siakam and someone from this draft. Who could blame them?

The bottom three teams in the West have been Utah, Dallas and New Orleans. I do think the Pels will win some games, if for no other reason than to shop a few of their players. They also gave away their pick (*shudders*). The Kings are reportedly ready to flush their season as well.

To me that suggests that the bottom 6 teams will be: BRK, WAS, IND, UTA, DAL, SAC...with NOL and maybe CHA not far ahead.
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My take on Indiana (where I live) is that they have been legit hurt. They aren't a good team without Haliburton/losing Turner, but they will start winning games now that Nembhard is back and once Mathurin gets healthy. I don't see them as a team that will get grimey with sitting guys out, and I can't picture Carlisle throwing games. I still think that they are in a tier below us in the tank race.

The reports out of Sacramento today place them firmly in our tier. I'm not sure what Dallas will do, but they will win games if AD is playing.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
My take on Indiana (where I live) is that they have been legit hurt. They aren't a good team without Haliburton/losing Turner, but they will start winning games now that Nembhard is back and once Mathurin gets healthy. I don't see them as a team that will get grimey with sitting guys out, and I can't picture Carlisle throwing games. I still think that they are in a tier below us in the tank race.

The reports out of Sacramento today place them firmly in our tier. I'm not sure what Dallas will do, but they will win games if AD is playing.
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Dallas is pretty tragic. Lost to Wiz and NOP. Barely beat some other teams. I'm pretty worried there but maybe Kidd coaches for his job here.

You want to be bottom 3 and I think that may be out of reach. Bottom 5 still very possible. This is the last dance for the tank. Let's not get cute. If Lauri plays tonight its tank malpractice. The schedule gods gave you a gift.
 
It’s hard to tank with Lauri+depth. A lot of the kiddos have leveled up and are no longer tank commanders. I said this before the season wrt trading Lauri…but there was two directions this could go. 1) He continued to struggle, and thus became one of the worst contracts in the league. 2) He returned to form, and thus killed the tank.

Seems like the latter is happening. Good for trade value (we’re not trading him btw), but we’re in danger of losing the pick/chances of getting top 3 are dwindling.
 
KqWIN said:
It’s hard to tank with Lauri+depth. A lot of the kiddos have leveled up and are no longer tank commanders. I said this before the season wrt trading Lauri…but there was two directions this could go. 1) He continued to struggle, and thus became one of the worst contracts in the league. 2) He returned to form, and thus killed the tank.

Seems like the latter is happening. Good for trade value (we’re not trading him btw), but we’re in danger of losing the pick/chances of getting top 3 are dwindling.
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This is where Austin Ainge should have kept his mouth shut on not manipulating the schedule. Its time to get shady... sorry. No room for ethics if you want to straddle both sides of the fence.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
This is where Austin Ainge should have kept his mouth shut on not manipulating the schedule. Its time to get shady... sorry. No room for ethics if you want to straddle both sides of the fence.
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We'll probably be fine....but we're likely looking at that 5-8 range which is too close for comfort. And even then....higher is better. We have to make some sacrifices. Let's say you don't want to trade Lauri and don't want to do fake injuries....OK well can you play Cody Williams? Do you have to give Svi 30 minutes a night? Does Lauri have to play B2B and average a career high in minutes? There are little things that aren't blatant tanking that would put the franchise in a better position. I can almost guarantee you we'll start doing them at some point and when it happens we'll say "why did it take until now".

I keep going back to this, but those half and half years really sucked. If this was a video game situation, sure, time is infinite and you can always just tank hard later. But in the real world human patience is a thing, and we used up a lot of patience from players, coaches, ownership, fans etc. during those first two years. It's going to make an impact on our decision making going forward. I think we've already seen impatience creeping in beyond the press conference.
 
KqWIN said:
We'll probably be fine....but we're likely looking at that 5-8 range which is too close for comfort. And even then....higher is better. We have to make some sacrifices. Let's say you don't want to trade Lauri and don't want to do fake injuries....OK well can you play Cody Williams? Do you have to give Svi 30 minutes a night? Does Lauri have to play B2B and average a career high in minutes? There are little things that aren't blatant tanking that would put the franchise in a better position. I can almost guarantee you we'll start doing them at some point and when it happens we'll say "why did it take until now".

I keep going back to this, but those half and half years really sucked. If this was a video game situation, sure, time is infinite and you can always just tank hard later. But in the real world human patience is a thing, and we used up a lot of patience from players, coaches, ownership, fans etc. during those first two years. It's going to make an impact on our decision making going forward. I think we've already seen impatience creeping in beyond the press conference.
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the tank race is also getting more crowded more quickly than anticipated. All of a sudden Dallas and Sacramento looked in the mirror and now look like they could really go hard. When everyone is trying to lose that's when the drastic actions catch the eye of the league. Doing small things early in the season to swing a game or two for a head start is the smart stealth tank.

Yes... Lauri should play a couple less minutes. Svi should be in the Kevin Love vet minute range. Hardy is coaching to win and everyone is spinning it as some master plan.
 
Handlogten's Heros said:
the tank race is also getting more crowded more quickly than anticipated. All of a sudden Dallas and Sacramento looked in the mirror and now look like they could really go hard. When everyone is trying to lose that's when the drastic actions catch the eye of the league. Doing small things early in the season to swing a game or two for a head start is the smart stealth tank.

Yes... Lauri should play a couple less minutes. Svi should be in the Kevin Love vet minute range. Hardy is coaching to win and everyone is spinning it as some master plan.
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Careful, you don't want to suggest that around these parts lol
 
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