"Hungry Hungry Hippos" or "Lottery-Bound Tank Squadron"

So here we are with less than 20 games left, and these are the teams that are competing with the Pistons for #1 in the draft (with records and Last-10 in parentheses):

11. Toronto (24/38) (4-6)
10. Philadelphia (23/37) (1-9)
9. Detroit (23/40) (3-7)
8. Minnesota (21/37) (3-7)
7. Cleveland (21/40) (5-5)
6. Phoenix (21/40) (4-6)
5. New Orleans (21/41) (3-7)
4. Sacramento (21/42) (2-8)
3. Washington (19/40) (5-5)
2 .Orlando (17/45) (2-8)
1. Charlotte (13/48) (1-9)

So I don't see any realistic way the Pistons end up with a top 3 ping-pong slot; Charlotte and Orlando are going to be 1-2, and probably Sacramento #3. I think Cleveland is playing well and will overtake the Pistons, and with the way Detroit has been playing lately, the injuries they're playing through, and the difficulty of the remaining schedule, I'd say there's a pretty good chance that a couple of those 21-win squads overtake them as well. I think 5 or 6 is a reasonable expectation for this team at the end of the year, although you can't count out Philly, either, as they are kicking into low gear for their stretch crawl.

Looking over this list of trainwreck teams is hillarious.
I'm getting some pretty strong vibes that we are going to see a full-on "Tank-Fest 2013" from these teams.

We're talkin' fake injuries, players being instructed to play games barefoot, guys shooting jumpers with their eyes closed, team training staffs spiking the water with booze, ...etc.

It's gonna be an ugly end to the season.

Actually, that looks like the Promotional Nights at the Palace for the next couple of games listed at pistons.com.

You're absolutely right.
I just checked out Pistons.com and the Monday, March 11th game against Utah is "Barefoot Night".

Kyrie & the Cavs are still in it man!
It's still possible if you do the math.

What a CROCK!!!

This season without Dre has been hard to stomach

I like our chances in the lottery. We have something that other teams don't: a coach who won't hesitate to play an incompetent PG in a shooting guards' body as a SF.

We're 9th right now.
Our record/schedule says 4th is within grasp.
Our luck/karma says we're picking 10th.

I just want to see a ton of close losses before Dre returns. This last game against the Knicks was perfect. I want to see more of that.

We're jumping into the top three! You gotta believe!

Cleveland is thinking about going into full tank mode.

Kyrie Irving's knee still a concern for Cleveland Cavaliers - ESPN

I don't see Oklahoma City on the list.

Don't forget that we could also win the lottery from a non top 3-4 position.

Faking Villanueva's injury is just really obvious though. They are going to catch onto us.

CV is the only obstacle to full-on tank mode. Arnie should encourage more naps.

It's getting to be the time of the season where Charlie SaBOTage channels Bernard King and begins to wreck shop on Piston opponents and as well as our chances of obtaining more ping pong balls.
...If you'll excuse me, I gotta go snag Turd Bucket off the waiver wire in both of my fantasy leagues.

Cleveland is starting to come together. They have Irving, Waiters, Thompson, Varejao, Speights, and a crapload of cap space in the offseason. They're 5-5 over their last 10, and I think they're moving their way down this list.

As far as the rest of them, look at the lottery from past few drafts:

2011 top 10: Irving, Williams, Kanter, T. Thompson, Valanciunas, Vesely, Biyombo, Knight, Walker, Fredette, K. Thompson, Burks, and the Morris twins
2010 top 10: Wall, Turner, Favors, Johnson, Cousins, Udoh, Monroe, Aminu, Hayward, George, Aldrich, Henry, Davis, Patterson
2009 top 10: Griffin, Thabeet, Harden, Evans, Rubio, Flynn, Curry, Hill, DeRozan, Jennings, Willams, Henderson, Hansborough, Clark

2009 was a solid group, and the Clippers (Griffin) and Thunder (Harden) rode or are riding their picks to the top of the league. The problem is that there aren't a lot of marquee names in those other 28 picks, other than Irving, Paul George (on the very successful Pacers), Curry (Golden State is playoff-bound), and Cousins (who's a bit of a team killer). You're always taking a risk in the lottery, and teams tend to put way too much emphasis on potential (see: Biyombo, Bismack) over talent. Look, for example, at the next five players taken in each of those years:

2011: Austin Daye, James Johnson, Jrue Holiday, Ty Lawson, Jeff Teague
2010: Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Vucevic, Iman Shumpert, Chris Singleton, and Tobias Harris
2009: Larry Sanders, Luke Babbit, Kevin Seraphin, Eric Bledsoe, Avery Bradley

Lawson (17.7 PER), Holiday (17.9), Leonard (16.0), Vucevic (19.6), and Sanders (18.5) would be a pretty good team, and although they may not rival Irving (22.5), Harden (26.3), George (17.1), Griffin (23.9), and Monroe (19.7), it's still much better than it should be, given their draft statuses.

Long story short, I think it's safe to say that it's not so much which players are available, but more about which teams are going after those players.

I wouldn't be surprised if Stern fines the Pistons for CV's supposed "injury."

One could make the argument that they're trying to win by not playing him.

Like Stern would fall for that one...