Pistons tanking

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The Detroit Pistons sent a heartfelt letter to their fans on Monday, apologizing for their direction in the NBA season. Entering the year, the Pistons expected to be rejuvenated, a legitimate power player in the Eastern Conference. But then Detroit started the season with single-digit wins in the first two months. Then Cade Cunningham was lost to injury. Clearly, at this point, this pivot was part of their overall plan.

Pistons tanking

Now what? That is what we are here for today: Are the Pistons actually the worst team ever to try? There are tanking teams, teams that quit on their coaches, expansion teams, teams that quit on one another, but that is what is so fascinating about Detroit's game losing streak: They entered the season wanting to win, wanting to improve upon their league-worst record from last season , and they certainly do not want to lose to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday and Tuesday, losses that would tie and break the NBA's single-season record for futility. Billionaire Tom Gores purchased the team in June He has hired four heads of basketball operations and six head coaches. None of it has made a lick of difference. The Pistons have not won a playoff game since Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, when the first "Iron Man" was still in theaters. They were swept from their only three first-round appearances in the past 15 years. They have not won more than 23 games in a season since , when Blake Griffin made the final All-NBA appearance of his career. That futility has delivered four straight top draft picks — Killian Hayes seventh, , Cade Cunningham first, , Jaden Ivey fifth, and Ausar Thompson fifth, — all of whom Weaver selected. We should've known things were headed this way when, in his first offseason on the job, Weaver traded for Tony Bradley and Dewayne Dedmon and signed Mason Plumlee and Jahlil Okafor — stockpiling centers on top of newly drafted big man Isaiah Stewart.

Carousel Next. It probably did not help that they hired their radio analyst — a guy who called an active member pistons tanking the team "El Busto" — as general manager. Of course, pistons tanking, atthey are well on their way to having the worst record again.

While no one expected them to be contenders, each team had reason to be optimistic. The Pistons were getting number one pick Cade Cunningham back after he missed most of last season, while the Spurs won the number one pick and the rights to draft a once-in-a-generation player. Despite that, the Pistons went winless in November , going 0—17 and calling into question their extended rebuild. Meanwhile, the Spurs haven't fared much better, losing 14 straight games and boasting one of the worst point differentials in NBA history. This is despite having a potential superstar in Victor Wembanyama. The Pistons have been without last season's leading scorer, Bojan Bogdanovic, for the first 19 games of the season, and his return will help their 27th-ranked offense, but they have bigger problems. Their bench has been a problem all year and coach Monty Williams has shuffled players in and out of the starting lineup, including fifth overall pick Jaden Ivey.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, in recent comments to Phoenix Suns employees, addressed possible solutions for tanking while noting that he understands why teams would do it when a "once-in-a-generation player" is about to enter the league, according to sources who were present. Calling it a "serious issue" that has sparked "hundreds" of meetings, Silver's comments came this week during a question-and-answer session in the Suns' arena, where Silver also apologized multiple times on behalf of the league office to a large group of Suns employees for workplace misconduct under majority team owner Robert Sarver. During the session, one employee asked Silver about tanking, a theme that is widely expected to dominate the league conversation with 7-foot-4 French phenom Victor Wembanyama -- a potentially franchise-altering prospect -- being projected to be the No. Speaking of a concept in European soccer, Silver told employees that the league has thought about relegation as a potential solution to ensure the worst-performing teams are incentivized to compete. But the commissioner then said relegation would be "destabilizing" to the NBA.

Pistons tanking

The Detroit Pistons have lost 16 of their last 17 games and may not win another one this season. We knew this type of season was a possibility coming in, and losing Cade Cunningham early on ensured that the Pistons would once again be one of the teams fighting at the bottom of the league. No team in the NBA tries to lose on purpose, as players have pride and want to compete at a high level, but the organization can put them in a position where winning is unlikely by playing a very young team and benching veterans at the end of the season with minor injuries that they might otherwise play through. Tanking gets especially egregious when there is a consensus 1 pick like there is this season, as every lottery team is dreaming of Victor Wembanyama on their roster. The NBA tried to stifle this somewhat by giving the bottom three teams the same odds and lowering the incentive to be the worst, but as long as any amount of incentive is there, it is going to happen. So is tanking a problem in the NBA? For some people, absolutely, but for the league itself? They are going to be the worst three teams and have the best odds to land the 1 pick. Jaden Ivey has gotten to play an expanded role this season and learn the game in ways that he never would if the Detroit Pistons were trying to win.

Valkyria

Hey, look, there are this season's Spurs and Wizards. Skolnick and Alphonse Sidney discuss, while handicapping Bam Adebayo Visit podcastchoices. Mailbag special: Are Pistons done in free agency? Expect to see plenty of these two on quick concepts, and maybe even Hines split out more often alongside Campbell in the slot. The Pistons and Spurs are currently neck-and-neck for the worst records in the NBA, and some might say both could end up challenging the all-time worst NBA teams when this season is over. What happened? Enough said. A couple of wins against the Nets, and you might not even be the worst team this season, let alone the worst team ever in the NBA. Detroit is on pace to win six games.

The NBA took several recent steps to limit late-season tanking, implementing the play-in tournament and flattening lottery odds, and only five teams have been eliminated from playoff contention in late March.

Expect to see plenty of these two on quick concepts, and maybe even Hines split out more often alongside Campbell in the slot. Coach Monty Williams , who just two seasons ago coached the Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns, has found himself in an almost unwinnable situation just 20 games into the season. Spurs fans are clamoring for them to use one of those picks on a point guard, with Isaiah Collier at the top of the list and they may be in a position to do so. The Spurs, once deemed a beacon of excellence in the sport, have fallen to shambles despite having drafted a potential all-time talent in Wembanyama. One of the first known instances of tanking occurred in the NBA season. Then Cade Cunningham was lost to injury. Detroit entered this season hoping to put itself back on the map. Gambling problem? Yet, both are still seemingly stuck to the bottom. Tweets by TalkPrimeTime. Philly lost on purpose and then had a plan in place for when they finally landed a star.