2018 Tanking Rankings: Memphis Grizzlies and NBA’s Best of the Worst

Atlanta’s endgame was pretty clear, as they gradually jettisoned their core over the past few years. As nice as the playoffs were, mediocrity wasn’t keeping fans in the seats, Tinder Night wasn’t the answer, and change had to come.

So Atlanta built around the solid foundation of the extras from Coach Carter and Ersan Ilyasova. They were a nightly mark for opponents looking to rest stars, and generally might’ve been the most inconsequential team in the NBA this season.

Slight demerit points go to Mike Budenholzer for great coaching. It’s a little nebulous as to how exactly he squeezed 24 wins out of this roster with Dennis Schroder accounting for like 50% of his nightly offense. Bud probably spent too long in San Antonio and forgot how to lose.

But this was pretty close to mission accomplished for Atlanta: bottom out, don’t spend a ton of money, develop middling assets. They may not get the #1 pick, but their housecleaning gave them a pretty reasonable shot.