casimir

I'm not sure that I agree that tanking is a perception. It has definitely gotten a lot more notoriety lately, and I think a lot of that has to do with the recent "Follow the Process" that the Philly 76ers employed. I think that the Astros of the early 2010s employed. I think there are some losing teams that have lost because of different reasons, and tanking could be one of the variables. I guess what do we mean we say tank? I consider it to be putting the best draft choice possible as the top priority for a pro sport season. If a team engages with that as the primary goal, that's tanking (in my opinion). There could be numerous other reasons for a team performing poorly. The 2014 Red Sox (71-91) fell 26 Ws short of their 2013 regular season record and didn't look anything at all like a defending World Series champion. It wasn't at all tanking, not a chance. The Pirates? Are they tanking or just a badly run organization? And I suppose while I am punching at them, let's be honest, the Tigers were trash for a good while before Dombrowski/Leyland and I don't think it can be called tanking.

Gibson's defensive career is kind of silly. Came up as an OF, shoved to RF despite a poor arm, then reclaimed a good chunk of CF duties later in his career. I guess some of that is the design of the Tigers defensively which didn't exactly follow the Tom Emansky videos.

The mentioned this during the Pistons' game last night. It sounds like dimensia hit quickly and there have been strokes and other issues in the past year.

That's on my resume.

Might as well put Darko in to finish up the game.

Go look at the game by game results. A couple of 20 run games in April. About a dozen runs scored in each game of a 3 game series in Minnesota, and then again in 3 straight games in Baltimore. Basically first place for 2 months straight until the wheels came off in June & July.

Pythag of 81-81 to go along with the actual of 75-87.

"Essential" might not have been the right word to use there for basketball. But I think tanking in basketball is more rampant than in baseball. The disparity in between teams in basketball is greater than in baseball.

The number of lottery teams can be debated. I think, at least the way I look at things, its difficult to distinctly order MLB teams 1-30 because of the parity from one team to another. I tend to look at MLB teams more in tiers. Now, sure, there are the 2003 Tigers and 2001 Mariners were you look at the standings and see that they are weeks of wins below/ahead of the next place team. But in general, is 79-83 much different than 82-80? I agree that the lottery probably should be low on the list of priorities. I don't know if a lottery is as essential for a sport like baseball as it is for basketball. The top basketball talents are basically top pro league ready on draft day. And the difference in team composition and game play really place more importance on a singular player in basketball vs baseball. Baseball doesn't have that immediacy or individual player importance on a team (I'm struggling to find the right phrase here) that basketball does. I think the DH issue needed to be solved. I think they need to improve the flow of the game (which may or may not be something that gets rolled into a CBA, but since they are at the table, it needs to be discussed). They need to figure out the finances for sure. I don't think an expanded playoff is necessary, but I think it could be adjusted. And maybe its time to realign geographically. Here's a good one that I heard last night on MLB radio. The minimum salary in the NHL is lower than in MLB. How is that possible given the revenue streams between the two sports? I suppose that's possible because the top guys aren't getting $20M-$30M per season. It was just strange to hear that about the minimum salaries.

Charlotte Hornets (28-28) vs Detroit Pistons (12-43)

Agree with you on all counts.

Memphis Grizzlies (38-18) vs Detroit Pistons (12-42)

I would bet it’s to announce a delay to the start of spring training and then an attempt to push the blame onto the players.

In her defense, she’s an idiot.

Potato, tomato.

It'd be nice to see Cunningham vs Morant on Thursday. Oh, and let's celebrate. The Pistons are #1!

Historically. I think its too early to tell with the past draft or two (or three). They've revamped the front office and how they're going about what they do. It needed to be done because says they weren't doing well with the minor league system. Whether or not they've done it the right way remains to be seen. I'm not saying it won't work, but I'm not saying it will work either. What they were doing before didn't work, so moving away from that is cause for optimism.

Detroit Pistons (12-41) vs Dallas Mavericks (31-23)

You spell February funny.

Like I said, until it happens, it ain’t happening, because it hasn’t happened.

My reservation also includes draft picks outside of the 2nd round.

That's fair, but until it happens, it ain't happening.

He strikes me as a guy that'd you'd love on your team but absolutely hate as an opponent.

This doesn't bode well for if/when they don't finish in the bottom 5 of the league and don't have access to top picks.

Are you hostile in person? Is that you in the avatar meeting Chuck?