Every season several teams have a moment right around the All Star Break where they realize they aren’t going anywhere in the standings so they start tossing away wins in hopes of landing a better draft pick (unless you’re the 76ers and you throw the season away before it even starts every year). Realistically it’s a smart decision by the front office and/or coaching staff as more losses lead to better draft position. This year there’s already several teams with no hopes of getting a playoff spot: Los Angeles Lakers, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers. These are the teams who aren’t tanking but based on their future, should strongly consider it:

 

New Orleans Pelicans:

I realize that they have a bottom four record but this team is not trying to lose. They are a team with a banged up roster trying to win games after a great run to the playoffs last season. Injuries are out of the coach’s control for the most part and they can sabotage entire seasons but something tells me New Orleans is going to make the mistake of winning a bunch of pointless games in the second half of the season and shoot from their current bottom four to the 10th spot in the draft.

This weird guard heavy Pelicans roster isn’t winning it all. It was poorly constructed and rushed and the team never quite jelled together. A top five pick is exactly what this team needs next to Anthony Davis. New Orleans isn’t going to be attracting many stars unless someone is dying to play with Davis so the next best way to get that second option is through the draft. The last thing this team should be thinking about is surrounding Davis with mediocre players through his prime, only to watch him walk away like many small market stars. Some of the people drafted in the top four the last few years: Kristaps Porzingis, Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker. A guy like that can change this whole team. The current roster doesn’t fit. Ryan Anderson and Davis can’t coexist as a big man duo and it has already led to New Orleans exploring trade options for Anderson. Jrue Holiday is a quality point guard but is constantly banged up. Tyreke Evans needs the ball and can’t play next to this many ball handlers. There’s no point in even bringing up how disappointing Eric Gordon has been for this team.

The Pelicans need to start over and this would be the perfect season for that. Anthony Davis already looks disengaged and recently called out his teammates for not giving full effort all the time. He was supposed to grab the crown from Lebron this season and dominate the league but instead he looks defeated and not as laser focused as last year. Give this man some real help already New Orleans while building this team smartly, rather than trying to rush into it.

 

Phoenix Suns:

How quick things have unraveled for the Suns. They went from nearly signing Lamarcus Aldridge to losing their best player to his second MCL tear. Phoenix never intended on tanking but it may be their best option in order to get back into the playoff race next season.

Things started out great for Phoenix only a couple seasons ago when a group of young unproven players nearly made the playoffs behind an all star caliber season from point guard Goran Dragic. But the three point guard lineup from Phoenix fell apart quickly and Phoenix tried to make up for it by trading one of the most valuable assets they had (Lakers draft pick) for Brandon Knight. Brandon Knight is a nice player and seems like a nice guy but he’s had fitment issues just about everywhere he’s gone. He makes dumb late game mistakes and he doesn’t pass the ball, a big problem when playing next to another point guard.

Phoenix also spent this offseason signing Tyson Chandler to a monstrous contract to lure Aldridge to sign with them. Chandler is still a decent center but he’s not the same guy from his Dallas/New York days. He’s also struggling on a team where no one is throwing him his signature lob passes. He was signed to play next to a playmaking stretch power forward but Markieff Morris has worn out his welcome and was suspended recently after throwing a towel at his coach.

Coach Hornacek has been on the hot seat with this underwhelming performance from his team but this is a weird team now. No one seems to know what direction to go in. They were too good to tank last season and now his job is in jeopardy after being handed a poorly fitting team. Hornacek is partially to blame for not keeping things under control and for letting his players quit on him but this team needs changes. There’s a lot of nice players here. TJ Warren is a nice old school wing who loves to make floaters. Devin Booker is on fire on three pointers and on track to have the best three point shooting percentage of any rookie. Alex Len looks like he will be a starting caliber center in this league. Eric Bledsoe is a top 15 point guard when engaged and before people throw the injury prone label, keep in mind that a lot of players tend to tear the MCL in the other leg after the first tear due to the overcompensating and one being stronger than the other. This team has nice pieces but what it needs is an all star caliber player and what better way to obtain that than bottoming out this season.

Phoenix should sniff around trades for Tyson Chandler, PJ Tucker, and even Brandon Knight. They may want to increase Knight’s trade value during this period and see what they can get for him. It just doesn’t look like he can coexist with Bledsoe and rumors around the NBA suggest players do not like playing next to Knight. Markieff Morris is likely already gone. Phoenix reportedly received an offer of Corey Brewer and Terrence Jones for the frustrated Morris twin. His value likely won’t increase at this point due to his personality issues and run ins with authority figures. Brewer is well liked in the league and can bring some good character and locker room presence to this dysfunctional team while Jones is young and would be a good fit.

Phoenix is set to have monster cap room this offseason and they can create even more by offloading Tucker and Chandler. Why not increase the odds of becoming a contender by snagging a top lottery pick while waiting for the right max player to come along and sign? If Phoenix didn’t trade for Brandon Knight, they could have been looking at two top five picks this offseason. Let the young guys play and pick up some more young guys. Steve Nash is gone, Goran Dragic is gone. It’s time for Phoenix to look towards the future and that future may already be very close.

 

Washington Wizards:

The Wizards seem stuck in a waiting game hoping Kevin Durant comes over and signs with them in the offseason but they’re really wasting their time. Why would Durant leave his contending team for the dysfunctional Wizards? Sure Wall, Beal, and Porter are good players but they have no one beyond them. This holding pattern is also wasting time. John Wall is only going to be this quick for another few years, sign some quality players and if Durant wants to jump ship make the right moves at that time to free up space. This team was a couple wins away from the Conference Finals last season and may have made it if it weren’t for John Wall breaking his hand. This season they’re somehow 14-15 despite only losing one major player and signing some quality vets (*Paul Pierce played well only 10% of the season maybe and then showed up in the playoffs). Things aren’t the same in the capital. Their record doesn’t even indicate how mediocre they have been.

Coach Randy Wittman has the Wizards playing more uptempo this season and it cost them their identity. Washington always played great defense but this season they’re an ugly 22nd in defensive efficiency. And despite having one of the fastest players in the league, this uptempo offense hasn’t helped ranking 17th this season. This team isn’t going to suddenly turn everything around. There are major issues here and even with a sudden turn around this team is positioned to be a second round playoff team at best.

It’s time to fire Randy Wittman as Washington has given him every chance and he has not taken them over the hump. They should see if they can get some assets for some of the older guys on the roster and shoot for a top 10 pick. Washington has an ugly track record with drafting but it’s better than always being good but not good enough. Give John Wall the running mates he deserves. It’s time to show what a great player he can be. The Wizards should spend the rest of this season seeing what they have in one of their assistant coaches possibly running the team and making some major changes to their staff. This team has likely peaked and if they miss out on all the big free agents again, things can get ugly in DC.