11-07-2025, 02:45 PM
(11-07-2025, 07:57 AM)DanSchwartzgan Wrote: So here are my questions (if indeed this is a tank)...
1 Is Kidd going rogue or is everyone in on this?
2 Will this be another 10th/11th type tank as we've seen twice now where they keep their options open regarding a playoff run. Or, will they fully commit and go for a top 3 pick?
3 How do they do this without killing AD's trade value?
4A Would the gap year theory mean we are 1. Rebuilding around the two kids (plus Lively and maybe Christie), or 2. Still all-in with Nico's vision in 26/27 (which is mainly AD/Kyrie as your stars). I don't think a tank necessarily means we plan to jettison AD...unfortunately.
4B Do we sell off some pieces at the TDL to teams that are in need of some of what we have? I can see selling off some depth in either scenario above...especially if it helps the financial situation heading into the 26 and 27 seasons.
1 I don't imagine Kidd (or any coach) would ever tank as a rogue act.
2 The point of tanking THIS early would be to create position to go for a top pick.
3 AD is injured. That's half the solution. And when he played, he created good stats but the team result was ugly. That would be the other half. And the third half would be that he COULD be traded at some point (at least in theory) - for example, if the record got really bad and then rumors start swirling that he wants to be on a diff team.
4A, 4B IMO all of those questions are very flexible -- even if they are tanking, who to keep and who to sell off, and when you might make a trade or 3, doesn't have to be decided up front.
All that having been said, while I am open to talking about it because it looks SOOOOOO bad in spite of so much talent (and also because we are seeing "weird" injury things happening right and left), I am very fickle on the tank idea - all it will take will be 2-3 games in a row where everything clicks to make me wonder if they just started with bad chemistry and it took them time to figure it out and they aren't tanking after all.