AROUND the NBA:

[Mavs2021]

But sometimes bad teams are just bad
New Orleans has the worst record in the league and they don't have their pick this year. You'd think the record was intentional if they did

Well that is their problem. That´s why I want to loosen trade and cap restrictions at the same time to give bad teams more options to improve during the off-season, instead of just doing nothing, knowing that the lottery can always bail them out next year.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://x.com/WillGuillory/status/2013082748441772526



KD on passing Dirk Nowitzki for 6th on the all-time scoring list.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://nypost.com/2026/01/17/sports/kyl...-f-k-yall/


Former Duke and NBA player Kyle Singler sparks concern over his mental health.

[Chicagojk]

https://nypost.com/2026/01/17/sports/kyl...-f-k-yall/


Former Duke and NBA player Kyle Singler sparks concern over his mental health.

Sad story.  I remember that story from a year or so ago.    

He was a really high recruit going to Duke.   He stayed 4 years and had good stats.  He won a title too.   He probably feel a little short of expectations.   I think he was billed to be like a Kon type player.   He bounced around a bit, being a deep bench guy/two way guy.   

I don't know if was the stress of basketball, drugs, or something else, but he has gone down a scary path   As a basketball player, he was a guy who did a lot of the right things right.   Just crazy to see his life go off the rails so bad off the court.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/4761...l-30-teams


NBA midseason grades for all 30 teams.

[Chicagojk]

Hornets are putting together some good wins.   This summer, I said that they finally looked like they were heading in the right direction.  They are better than I expected.  They still need to fill out the roster with more talent, but this year is already a success.

Kon is sneaky close to a 50/40/90 season.  What an accomplishment if he did as a rookie.  It is not like he has been shy shooting threes either.

[JamesConway912]

Luka and JB both just got voted as starters into the allstar game 2026.

[khaled1987]

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/28...onsin-Herd

Damn, those are bad numbers for the G league.

I was DSJ biggest doubter before the draft, I've even said I would take anyone but him in that draft. But evem me didn't expect him to be struggling in the G league in his 9th season.

[DallasMaverick]

Luka and JB both just got voted as starters into the allstar game 2026.

Are you still bitter about old girlfriends, too?

[Jmaciscool]

Are you still bitter about old girlfriends, too?

?

[RGP1981]

Hornets are putting together some good wins.   This summer, I said that they finally looked like they were heading in the right direction.  They are better than I expected.  They still need to fill out the roster with more talent, but this year is already a success.

Kon is sneaky close to a 50/40/90 season.  What an accomplishment if he did as a rookie.  It is not like he has been shy shooting threes either.

The Hornets did real good taking Kon at #4. I didn't have him going that high, even though I liked his game in college.

My dream/hope was for the Jazz to somehow get this group of young guys together through the draft or through trades.

• G: Castle (big defensive Guard)
  
• G: Kon (Klay-lite. Lite only on defense cause he's not as speedy or athletic.)
  
• F: Bailey (the 1-v-1 player on the roster, good defender too.)
  
• F: Cooper (Captain America and my main guy.)
  
• C: Kessler (low cost and durable 7'0"+ rim-protector. Well, he was durable until this season.)
  

We'd have been kicking so much Juh-azz with this group... but only ended up with two of them. Sucks.

[mvossman]

I think the reduced odds for the worst teams of getting a top pick has helped.

Zach Lowe has been talking for months about reducing the pick swap protections.  Dallas #10 a few years ago.   Utah and Washington this year.   This appears to be the biggest issue.  Bad/average teams with pick protections reach a point in the season where they think "Really, what in the world are we trying to win games for, when our pick is top 8 protected and we aren't going anywhere".   Eliminate this and you may fix a lot of it.    Maybe allow top 3 protected or something less obvious.

I think bad teams will typically struggle down the stretch.   The season is long.  Players are looking forward to summer.   Teams will prioritize development.  At least now with the changed lottery odds, that when a fanbase and team clearly tank for a lot of the year and then drops in the lottery, you can look at them and say "was wasting a year with that garbage worth it""

The protections are the most obvious fix.  They are definitely a problem.  The reduced odds have probably helped, but they have created a weird situation for the play in games.  If the Mavs make the last play-in game like last season (which seems very unlikely now) it would be hard not to root for a loss.  If my choice is to have another shot at a top 4 pick or get crushed by OKC in the playoffs, I'm probably going with the former.

I think the best option is to make the entire first round a lottery and gradually skew the odds towards the worse teams.  That way there is not a significant difference between a few spots in the rankings (including just making or just missing the playoffs) but there is a big difference between a good and bad team.

[myconsumerclub]

44 games into the season and we have 38 left as we have won 18 to 26 losses. We are currently in 7th place for worst record in the league and the tank is still on. I think if we beat everyone remotely near us in the standings we win another 13 of the next 38 and that was good for 8th place for the worst record in the league last season but we may not beat all those 13 teams who are near us in the standings.

We have one stretch of 3 games against IND BRK and SAC then 2 games each against ATL MEM CHA LAC and one each against MIL and against NOP. The coming game against GSW may be a bit more interesting because Butler is out for the season with an injury so we may be facing a team that wants to get a start on tanking because they will be desperate to get their tank on now that Jimmy is down.

If we limit our winning to just 8 games more and finish at 26 and 56 that was good for a tie for 6th worst record last season. That might get us the 6th spot but we have serious competition in the tank and MIL and MEM could turn it up to lose even more but CHA has been 5-5 for their last 10 games, if only we were not 6 and 4 over our last 10 games.

Race for last place
1. NOP 10-35
2. IND 10-34
3. WAS 10-32
4. SAC 12-31
5. BKN 12-29
6. UTA 14-29
7. CHA 16-27
8. DAL 18-26
9. MIL 18-24
10 MEM 18-23

[myconsumerclub]

Utah had lost 65 last year to win the tankathon but we won it all with the first pick dropping in our lap.

[Smitty]

44 games into the season and we have 38 left as we have won 18 to 26 losses. We are currently in 7th place for worst record in the league and the tank is still on. I think if we beat everyone remotely near us in the standings we win another 13 of the next 38 and that was good for 8th place for the worst record in the league last season but we may not beat all those 13 teams who are near us in the standings.

We have one stretch of 3 games against IND BRK and SAC then 2 games each against ATL MEM CHA LAC and one each against MIL and against NOP. The coming game against GSW may be a bit more interesting because Butler is out for the season with an injury so we may be facing a team that wants to get a start on tanking because they will be desperate to get their tank on now that Jimmy is down.

If we limit our winning to just 8 games more and finish at 26 and 56 that was good for a tie for 6th worst record last season. That might get us the 6th spot but we have serious competition in the tank and MIL and MEM could turn it up to lose even more but CHA has been 5-5 for their last 10 games, if only we were not 6 and 4 over our last 10 games.

Race for last place
1. NOP 10-35
2. IND 10-34
3. WAS 10-32
4. SAC 12-31
5. BKN 12-29
6. UTA 14-29
7. CHA 16-27
8. DAL 18-26
9. MIL 18-24
10 MEM 18-23

As soon as I proclaimed the Mavs were absolutely "tanking", they went on to win 4 of 5. I clearly know very little about what this team is doing or plans to do. I think we'll get a clearer picture February 5th, 2pm CST.

[KillerLeft]

As soon as I proclaimed the Mavs were absolutely "tanking", they went on to win 4 of 5. I clearly know very little about what this team is doing or plans to do. I think we'll get a clearer picture February 5th, 2pm CST.

Oh, I think they kind of are tanking now, finally. They're just winning anyway, mostly because they've been on a stretch of opponents who are better at it.

[Winter]

Oh, I think they kind of are tanking now, finally. They're just winning anyway, mostly because they've been on a stretch of opponents who are better at it.

I think so too. I said a few days ago that I don't think you can start some kind of "intention" to losing every game at mid-season.

It is kind of funny though that the Mavs don't look as bad as they did in the early part of the season. Perhaps the perimeter shooting alone makes a difference, but something seems a little different. They move well, get to their spots, get back on defense... and they do all this without two of the best players in the league. Good coaching? Effort from guys like Dwight Powell and Cisse? Probably lots of things. Maybe they're pretty good. Not really good. Just pretty good.

[mvossman]

I think so too. I said a few days ago that I don't think you can start some kind of "intention" to losing every game at mid-season.

It is kind of funny though that the Mavs don't look as bad as they did in the early part of the season. Perhaps the perimeter shooting alone makes a difference, but something seems a little different. They move well, get to their spots, get back on defense... and they do all this without two of the best players in the league. Good coaching? Effort from guys like Dwight Powell and Cisse? Probably lots of things. Maybe they're pretty good. Not really good. Just pretty good.

I think they ran into the king of tanking teams twice, and then a poorly coached team that thought they could waltz through a game against a tanking team while the Mavs shot out of their minds from 3.  My guess is that they will come back down to earth soon.

[Winter]

I think they ran into the king of tanking teams twice, and then a poorly coached team that thought they could waltz through a game against a tanking team while the Mavs shot out of their minds from 3.  My guess is that they will come back down to earth soon.

I could have predicted you'd say that. You could very well be right. But it may also be that they are actually getting a bit better. It hasn't mattered much because the teams above them are also winning - Clippers, Portland, Golden State, Phoenix - are all playing well and are secure above the Mavs. Only Memphis looks now like they could fade to a weaker position than the Mavs.

[KillerLeft]

I think so too. I said a few days ago that I don't think you can start some kind of "intention" to losing every game at mid-season.

It is kind of funny though that the Mavs don't look as bad as they did in the early part of the season. Perhaps the perimeter shooting alone makes a difference, but something seems a little different. They move well, get to their spots, get back on defense... and they do all this without two of the best players in the league. Good coaching? Effort from guys like Dwight Powell and Cisse? Probably lots of things. Maybe they're pretty good. Not really good. Just pretty good.

I think you're right that this is a nuanced phenomenon, and there are hard to quantify aspects of it, but...the first emboldened sentiment has a pretty dramatic effect on the second emboldened sentiment in my view.