Its Time to Tank
- Thread starter Handlogten's Heros
- Start date
Eddie Zero
Well-Known Member
Ok, so getting rid of current rotaion players at the time of the deadline, that they clearly had no interest in retaining past this season, were only traded to tank?
I don't agree with that at all, because if they were tanking really tanking they would not have kept playing THT after he stepped up, and would have benched Ochai . It makes no sense to assume they would not have benched both of them had they really wanted to intentionally lose.
Not surprised you don't understand the business though, most on here just think DA is making all these moves for tanking, yet almost everything he has done is to get other teams picks now and down the road that he could use as trade chips to either move up ( since they didn't tank) or trade the F out of the draft for win sooner vets that are cheaper and not due for some payday they don't deserve.
I get it that there were tanking motivations behind the trade but it was far from "pure tank". Drop from Beasley to Ochai and Vando to Jones wasnt significant and we had a logjam of guards behind Conley (at that point they were also all healthy).
I said at the time that development and cap were the main reasons for the trade and that we didnt do enough to tank properly and it looks like a pretty good statement also in hindsight.
‘Tank lite’ is the term you’re looking for.
The term ‘tank lite’ should end all tanking disagreements amongst fans.
Tankers are upset as we only got to 9h worst.. so we didn’t really tank.
Non-tankers are upset since we didn’t make the playoffs, or even the play in… so we weren’t really playing to win.
No one wins.
Everyone loses.
Somewhere Ainge is grinning with joy.
Tankers are upset as we only got to 9h worst.. so we didn’t really tank.
Non-tankers are upset since we didn’t make the playoffs, or even the play in… so we weren’t really playing to win.
No one wins.
Everyone loses.
Somewhere Ainge is grinning with joy.
Quite the opposite. I the the pro-tank fans are extremely happy we managed to get to 9th and possibly tied for 8th. The two worst outcomes would have been making the playoffs as the 7/8 and losing in the first round and the worst would be losing in the play-in tournament.
Eddie Zero
Well-Known Member
The best case was always us making the playoff and the Wolves gifting us a high lottery pick. When that didn't happen the lesser or 2 evils was the prize.
Yeah but we could have not tank-lite and just tanked a few more games we could have easily gotten to the 5th pick at least.
But we didn’t tank.
We tank-lite.
The Jazz tanked in the sense that they got rid of key players who helped them win games. Then they effectively shut down Clarkson and Sexton with 15 or so games to go. However, the players that were active played hard and played to win.
This year was very unusual because teams were bunched together so tightly in the standings. From a tanking perspective, the Jazz could lose a handful of games within a span of 2 weeks and drop from the 5th seed down to the 11th seed. Only the most minimal tanking was required to get a top-10 pick this year. As it turned out, the Jazz had a few flukey wins over teams like Boston, Sacramento and OKC that I'm sure Ainge would have preferred to lose. Just a few more losses, and the Jazz would be looking at a top 6 or 7 pick, which would all but ensure getting Walker, Whitmore or a Thompson.
I'm guessing the Jazz would like to be sitting where the Blazers are, but Portland beat us to the punch when they shut down Dame.
This year was very unusual because teams were bunched together so tightly in the standings. From a tanking perspective, the Jazz could lose a handful of games within a span of 2 weeks and drop from the 5th seed down to the 11th seed. Only the most minimal tanking was required to get a top-10 pick this year. As it turned out, the Jazz had a few flukey wins over teams like Boston, Sacramento and OKC that I'm sure Ainge would have preferred to lose. Just a few more losses, and the Jazz would be looking at a top 6 or 7 pick, which would all but ensure getting Walker, Whitmore or a Thompson.
I'm guessing the Jazz would like to be sitting where the Blazers are, but Portland beat us to the punch when they shut down Dame.
I’m still scratching my head as to why Ainge didn't do what Portland did.
A few more games ain't gonna make any of our players that much better next year.
So is it pride?
Is it not wanting to draw negative attention to ourselves?
Not wanting to skirt the NBA tanking rules?
What is it?
Jazz's players are scrappy, some of them are trying to prove they belong in the league, and they're well coached. Even so, the Jazz had a few of these close wins that they weren't supposed to have. Ainge probably didn't think the Jazz would beat some of the teams they did (e.g., Celtics, Kings, Thunder, Magic, etc.). However, I think the short answer is probably Walker Kessler. He had a bigger impact on winning games and raising the team's floor than people expected.
The fact that the Jazz lost to the Spurs twice this year shows they were trying to rack up the Ls.
homeytennis
Well-Known Member
I wonder if the signings that last two days indicate that Ainge is willing to use the draft picks and some players to trade for a star. A tell might be how many minutes Potter and Juzang get today. I get the sense that the front office views them as non-prospects at the moment.