The stretch run of the season aka Tankapalooza '09

So ... the trade deadline has just past without any earthshattering deals. There were a few in the talks, such as McGrady-Carter, McGrady-Davis or even Shaq to Cleveland and all the Amare talk, but nothing materialised. The landscape of the NBA is pretty much the same as it was yesterday.

Question now is ... when will the tanking start? Lets break this down into the conferences.

Western Conference:
There are only 9 teams with chances to go to the playoffs, with Phoenix currently in ninth place in the West (even after the fireworks against the Clippers), half a game behind the Jazz.

Noone else below Phoenix has any chance whatsoever to reach the playoffs, even before the deadline. Now ... when will the Clippers, Thunder and Kings openly start tanking in order to position themselves for the draft? Memphis, Minny and Golden State are only marginally better .. when do they start mailing it in? They have nothing to play for right now and they haven't made any deals that would change their roster dramatically to make a run at 8th place (like Amare to Golden State for instance) ...

Eastern Conference:
Here it is a little more tricky. The most active team at the deadline, Chicago, is only 1 1/2 games out of 8th place anyway. Are they now able to just reach the post season or are they able to challenge Miami or Detroit for the 5th and 6th seeds?

Only Washington is clearly out of the race. The rest is still in the hunt, even Toronto ... but will teams in the East fight to the last day or the last mathematical chance, given the fact that the best draft position will be occupied by the bad Western teams anyway? Or will teams like Toronto and Indiana (especially with Granger now hurt) start the tanking sooner?


It will be an interesting stretch run and I think we will see a lot more teams openly tank than in recent seasons ... especially with the playoff situation in the West. But I'd also like to see Charlotte make a run for it for instance ...

Discuss!

teams openly tanking? is this a flaw of how the nba is organised?

The Suns did good by not trading Amare or Shaq or anybody from the core...

The Suns will end 6th

teams openly tanking? is this a flaw of how the nba is organised?

Yes ... the more losses you pile up, the better your chances in the draft lottery ... although teams like Chicago and Portland have recently shown, that you don't need the worst record to win the lottery.

so teams that have more openly tanking teams left in their schedule as opposed to those that don't have as many, have an unfair advantage in trying to reach the playoffs? or is that too far fetched?

Technically yes ... but "openly tanking" is a relatively wide term, meaning, they won't come out and admit it .. .quite the opposite in fact.

when will the Clippers, Thunder and Kings openly start tanking?

How will we know the difference from what they've been doing all season?

^Exactly. Also, the Clippers never tanked, not once. They either suck, or are just playoff worthy, and sometimes(well maybe one time) a hint of a multi-year contender. Why tank for draft pics like Michael Olowakandi? Lamar Odom? It wouldn't matter since they would get rid of the player before they ever got any good. I wonder when Thornton and Gordon will leave and become solid players. There is no reason to tank when your team is already in the development league.

Actually, it's a bit evil. Once the playoffs aren't in their future, they look to hurt other teams playoff hopes, or atleast fuck up their seeding. I guess they get something out of that.

I think too much is made of tanking, in that it's a term used way too freely almost to the point of becoming a redundant buzzword. As Ben said, how can we tell the difference with teams who've been struggling all year? They're obviously not good enough to be winning a lot of games, why should it be labelled tanking just because it's late in the season? To say they're tanking implies teams are better than they really are and when it comes to the basement dwellers, I highly doubt that's the case otherwise they wouldn't be in that position in the first place.

^Exactly. Also, the Clippers never tanked, not once. They either suck, or are just playoff worthy, and sometimes(well maybe one time) a hint of a multi-year contender. Why tank for draft pics like Michael Olowakandi? Lamar Odom? It wouldn't matter since they would get rid of the player before they ever got any good. I wonder when Thornton and Gordon will leave and become solid players. There is no reason to tank when your team is already in the development league.

Thanks for the good laugh dub.

well since there many teams in the east running for the 8th seed,I predict it will be New Jersey!,I mean they're fun to watch with Carter and Harris,this team will make a run and dethrone the bucks for the 8th seed

So you're saying the other teams in competition for the eighth seed will tank?