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 (0-7)
- LA Lakers (1-5)
- Orlando (2-5) **[1-0 vs. Sixers]
- Detroit (2-5)
- Milwaukee (3-4)
- Utah (3-5)
- Minnesota (2-4)
Not quite tanking, but sitting in “basketball purgatory”.
- Boston (3-3)
- Indiana (2-6) **[1-0 vs. Sixers]
- Atlanta (3-3)
TANK observations of the week:
- Indiana at least plays hard still under Frank Vogel. They are clearly undermanned, but the way they rallied against the Wizards last week shows they are still putting forth a solid effort.
- The Lakers are secretly putting together the most undercover TANK job in the NBA. While they are allowing Kobe Bryant to go out on his own terms and chase whichever records he would like, the team is clearly playing for not another ring, but extra ping pong balls.
- Orlando is not a terrible NBA roster, especially considering they get Victor Oladipo back at some point. I wouldn’t mind being in their situation, having building blocks like Nik Vuceivc, Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon.
- The Hornets are playing like a terrible team, but the talent on the roster should allow them to receive the benefit of the doubt for now.
- A team I thought would struggle much more, but is playing well, is Sacramento. I’m not sure that they are a championship contender just yet, but they will not be jockeying for ping pong balls next spring.
TANK games to look out for this week:
- Wednesday: Orlando at New York
- Friday: Minnesota at New Orleans
