Do the Ws have a shot at getting the pick back without actively trying to lose, which is harder to do than one might think? Shutting down Curry is a good start, they have to get him right and playing now is pointless. But there are some pesky teams that are so wretched that even with Curry and Bogut out for the season, a bad Warriors team could still post a better (worse for getting the pick) record. Evaluating the youngsters, playing tough and losing close games like the last two is the best we can hope.

Warriors first- 18-24 with 24 to go. The next two games are crucial because they are winnable games @ home v TWolves and away against the putrid Hornets. They could win against Sacto, Hornets again and the Nets. Lets hope TS Eliot is right and April is the cruelest month, they might not win a game until the second to last game against NOLA. So lets say everything works out and they only win another 6 games, finishing at 24-42. Very optimistic - even playing that poorly still won't be enough to "catch" the bottom feeders - Charlotte (nice work, MJ), the Bullets and NOLA, who are all barely better than a D league squad. So the targets are the Kings, Nets, Raptors and Pistons. They must be worse than at least three of those teams. You might throw the Cavs in there too.

The Kings - have a pretty tough schedule, not as many games as the Ws, and play GSW, NJN, the Charlotte MJs 2x and NOLA. At 15-29, its tough to see them picking up ten wins to get to 25-41.

The Nets- 3 winnable games of the next 4 at home against Cavs, Bullets and the MJs, go Nets! @ Sacto and then home against the Bullets, Cavs and at Raptors. That is 7 wins. Probably pick up another win here or there, we hope, but at 15-31, will they win 10 more to get to 25-41? Yikes.

Raptors- @ 15-30, they would also need to win 10 of their next 21 games. Not gonna happen - only Bullets, MJs, Nets and Cavs at home look easy.

Pistons-16 and 28. This is a truly horrible team who can neither score nor rebound. Will they win 9 more games? I count 7 games against teams with comparable or worse records. It is possible, but...

In conclusion- even if the Cavs (16-25) completely collapse and win only another 9 games, there still are gonna be at least seven teams worse than we are (MJs,Bullets, NOLA, Kings, Nets, Raptors and either Pistons or Cavs, probably both). The Eastern conference is just too miserable and pathetic. And I think the Ws are probably several games better than my most optimistic projection- I think they end up at about 27-39, or 28-38, which will be right about 9th or 10th worst.

We are gonna need the luck of the bouncing ball, and unless the hideous dwarfish troll that is the Commish decides to cheat for us this time instead of his usual East Coast-biased cheating, those ping pong balls are all we have.