FanPost

Are They Still Tanking? (with poll!)

There is little other explanation for the bewildering player rotations, lack of plays called and run in crucial situations, and the absence of reasonable comments justifying the moves afterwards. Since this team has a history of throwing months' worth of a season for a few slots in the lottery, ergo ipso facto I'm inclined to believe it's the same reason for this season's strange events--so far.

Coming off a 2-29 finish to last season, the loss of Al Jefferson, and no proven signifiicant addition to the team in the summer I believe the plan all along has been to:

1. Trade for a better player at the deadline

2. Improve enough in the second half of the season to get advertisers and ticket buyers on board, but not enough to get out of the upper portion of the lottery

3. Draft another potential starter (or trade the pick for one) in 2011

4. Get Rubio over here for next season

5. Win enough games to make the 2012 unprotected pick less relevant

And despite all the public hype Kahn, etc. had for the new roster, privately I don't think they were as confident that:

1. Love would be as good as he's been

2. Beasley would be as good as he's been

3. Wes would be serviceable (for now) at the SG

4. Darko would remotely resemble a center deserving to get 25 minutes a night in the NBA

Instead, those things have happened, with some consistency. So the team started to not only play well enough to (usually) beat marginal teams, but keep within striking distance against good teams. A .400 record (32 wins) might not seem obtainable right now, but if they had split the close ones so far this year, and then added a better player at the deadline (especially if traded for non-factors like Brewer or Flynn), and a few other teams start tanking, the team is in danger of giving up the pick to the Clippers, and left stuck with the relatively-useless lower picks from Utah and/or Memphis.

So, cheer up. It gets better, and the wins will come soon enough.