The Tuesday TANK report
Each week, we take a look at where the Sixers rank among some of the teams competing for the top lottery picks.
TANK Power Rankings (based on chances to finish with No. 1 lottery odds)
- PHILADELPHIA (3-23)
- Minnesota (5-21)
- Detroit (5-23)
- New York (5-25)
- LA Lakers (8-19)
- Utah (9-20)
- Charlotte (9-19)
- Orlando (10-20)
- Boston (10-15)
Not quite tanking, but sitting in “basketball purgatory”.
- Indiana (9-19)
- Denver (12-16)
- New Orleans (14-13)
TANK observations of the week:
- Note that the Boston Celtics have gone from the “basketball purgatory” category to the “TANK” list, as the trade of Rajon Rondo has indicated they do not plan on trying to contend. While they are not a terrible tanking team, they are likely to be in the lottery next spring.
- Sam Hinkie helped facilitate the tank even more by shipping Brandon Davies and Alexy Shved off. They were, ironically, playing too well for this team. Plus, Hinkie was able to get compensation for them, so they were moves that each made too much sense to not make.
- Before Kevin Durant went down with the ankle injury, the Thunder were red-hot. So hot to the point that it became completely clear that there was pretty much no way they were going to miss the playoffs. There was some concern that in a loaded West, their slow start would plague them but they showed when healthy, they are dominant.
- Minnesota saw the Sixers’ moves to tank and raised them one-up. The Timberwolves traded starting guard Corey Brewer to Houston.
TANK games to look out for this week:
- Tuesday: Charlotte at Milwaukee
- Friday: Minnesota at Denver
- Saturday: Orlando at Charlotte
