Team Tank 2022-23

[Mavs2021]

Catching up to those early tankers and truly atrocious teams is never as easy as losing a few games, because the teams you are chasing are losing too.

And because there are so many bad teams in the East, Mavs have to get about where LAL is or lower, to be assured of a top 10 pick.

Here's the task now. They have to lose about 2/3 of their remaining games to have a solid shot at successfully getting that top 10 pick. Or to put it another way, they can only afford to win 9-10 games over the entire remainder of the season. When you see it in those terms, and know the PLAYERS are going to play to win, it's hard. You probably have to get Kidd's cooperation in setting lineups to make it work, unless you get lots of help from the injury monster with key players (like Luka).

They already got all the help they need. DFS/Kleber/Green missing extended time. Wood breaking his thumb. Doncic twisting his ankle. They could easily use this to strategically tank the next four weeks by focusing to shift the ball-handling duties toward Green and Hardy.  That´s what the Warriors did with Curry and especially Draymond. Sure those were legit 4-8 week injuries, but they didn´t try to rush them back. They exhausted all the long-term options. And they weren´t starving for a young partner for Luka and looking at the deepest draft in years.

These top ten picks legitimately all look like insane athletes with great size&speed, who play hard all the time and are extremely skilled. The solution is so obvious.


It´s the only reasonable path forward. I know Luka won´t like it at first, but that´s why you are the front office and he´s a basketball player. You need to make the best decisions for the franchise.

We are not finishing top 6. The Clippers and Warriors have been trolling the whole season, but they will make sure they finish healthy AND top 6. That leaves one spot for us, the Suns, Pelicans and Wolves.

Turning over the 12th pick to the Knicks and watching Brunson, Barnes and maybe even KP finishing with better records than the Mavs next season won´t help his mood either. He can´t get more pissed than he already is right now. Rather now than in 12 months with the exit door half-way open already.