New Orleans Hornets Tank Watch: April 25th, 2012

A lot of the scenarios were covered in last night's game recap/pointless Mr. Wayne Keller rant but this will be an open thread or scoreboard of sorts for those who are cheering for the team to be at the bottom to partake in. We'll look at the big game going on tonight (or at least... big as it relates to this team) and who we should be rooting for going into it.

Washington Wizards (18-46) @ Cleveland Cavaliers (21-43); 6:00 P.M. Central Time
The biggest game for the Hornets as it relates to the third worst record in the league takes place in Cleveland tonight as the Cavaliers host the Washington Wizards. The Wizards are riding a four game winning streak and there was a chance they would win the rest of their games, the Hornets would lose the rest of their games, and the Hornets could get the second worst record in the league. That didn't happen and now, we need the Wizards to rediscover losing. As it stands now, if Cleveland loses their final two games, they definitely will get the third worst record in the league. However, if they win now, then the Hornets need only to lose to Houston tomorrow to control its destiny.

For the record, Eric Gordon is already officially ruled out for tomorrow's game in Houston and I'd imagine Jason Smith will sit out as well. The krewe crew that played last night will likely be the one that takes the court tomorrow. If the Hornets finish the regular season Thursday night with the third-worst record, they will draw a 15.6 chance to win Anthony Davis. If the Hornets finish with fourth-worst record, the odds of landing the No. 1 pick drops to 11.9 percent. It falls to 8.8 percent if they finish with their fifth-worst record.

Some reading material between now and the game:
Times-Pic's recap of last night's game. Nothing too noteworthy except for Monty noting that he's going to begin a conditioning program for the younger players two weeks after the season ends and expect Emeka Okafor to participate in them.

ESPN's David Thorpe believes Andre Drummond is the perfect fit for the Hornets and notes Monty Williams' player development as a big reason why (while calling Monty Williams "Byron Scott" throughout the entire article).

And Tom Ziller chastises Golden State for intentionally tanking last night against New Orleans (while the Hornets are forgiven for sitting people like Ariza and Gordon down the stretch).

Geaux Hornets Cavaliers