We all know what the Philadelphia 76ers are doing.
Call it whatever you want – tanking, rebuilding, deconstructing, hoarding – the 76ers are openly, unabashedly and intentionally sinking to the bottom of the NBA, because GM Sam Hinkie has convinced ownership that is the fastest way to get back to the top.
Hinkie has constructed a roster that is inherently non-competitive. The Sixers have the fewest first-round picks and the most undrafted free agents of any team. Their highest-paid player makes $6.6 million – slightly more than the league’s mid-level figure – and likely won’t take the court this season. His two lottery picks from June have been exiled to the inactive list and Europe.
So while the players may be trying to win, the Sixers lose. A lot. They lost their first 17 games, narrowly avoiding matching the worst start in NBA history. Even with their recent “hot” streak, they are 2-18 and on pace to break their own mark for the worst 82-game record in league annals.
But we know what the Sixers are doing.
Here’s a good question: What are the Detroit Pistons doing?
And an even better one: What are the New York Knicks doing?
Both teams have successful former coaches trying their hands at management for the first time. Both teams have overpriced, mismatched players. Both teams are off to the worst starts in franchise history.
And both teams, it can be argued, are worse than the Sixers. Because when this season started for both the Pistons and Knicks, the plan was to win as much as possible.
Let’s start with the Pistons, who have not been to the playoffs since 2009. Sunday’s 96-94 home loss to Oklahoma City – which ended with career 28 percent 3-point shooter Josh Smith misfiring from the arc – dropped Detroit to 3-18, or one-half game better than a team built to lose as much as humanly possible.
And are the Pistons even better than the Sixers? On Saturday, Detroit lost at home in overtime to Philadelphia, which was missing its leading scorer. In the extra session, the Pistons scored one point, going 0-of-11 with two turnovers.
Detroit has six lottery picks in its rotation plus another first-rounder in Smith. But it is 2-10 at home and 2-9 vs. the East, where just five teams are over .500.
Van Gundy’s arrival gave the Pistons their best coach since Larry Brown guided them to consecutive NBA Finals in 2004 and 2005. He built strong, offensively efficient inside-out teams in Miami, where he came up one win shy of the Finals, and Orlando, where he reached the big stage in 2009. In seven full seasons, Van Gundy has never had a losing record or missed the playoffs.
But Van Gundy already has admitted a couple of times this season that he is having trouble developing offensive cohesion with this group, despite the presence of an interior force in young center Andre Drummond. And the numbers bear that out.
The Pistons are 28th in points per game, better than only injury-ravaged Oklahoma City and Philadelphia. They are dead last in shooting at .407. They are 29th in free-throw shooting, joining the Sixers as the only teams below 70 percent.
Want more? The Pistons are 26th in assists, last in points per shot (1.10) and last in adjusted field-goal percentage (.453), nearly 100 points behind the league leader.
In his first go-round as GM this summer, Van Gundy tried to address the mess of a roster left by predecessor Joe Dumars, going after shooting in Jodie Meeks, Caron Butler, D.J. Augustin and Cartier Martin. But Meeks has not played due to a back injury, and the others have provided only an incremental improvement, partially because Van Gundy’s starting backcourt of Brandon Jennings and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope are a combined 38 percent from the field.
The season was less than a week old when Van Gundy sat Jennings down the stretch and went with Augustin. In 
Saturday’s loss to Philadelphia, it was easy to see why. After Hollis Thompson tied the game with a 3-pointer, Jennings did not try to penetrate or even run a pick-and-roll, settling for an awful jumper that set the tone for the overtime.
And for all of his offensive genius, Van Gundy has been unable to use Drummond, Smith and forward Greg Monroe together effectively. He recently resorted to bringing Monroe off the bench, which hasn’t had much success. Meanwhile, Drummond has regressed offensively, with significant drops from last season in scoring, shooting and even offensive rebounding.
These are not undrafted free agents with that deer-in-the-headlights look. For the most part, these are established NBA players who at this point are supposed to know a thing or two about how the game is played. But since beating the shorthanded Thunder on Nov. 14, the Pistons have lost 12 in a row, two shy of the franchise record.
The Knicks haven’t been much better. They are 4-18, one game better than the Sixers. New York is 2-16 since a 2-1 start with one of those wins coming against Philadelphia. Which, if you recall, is trying to lose as much as humanly possible.
Sunday’s loss to Portland dropped the Knicks to 3-9 at home, and they are 3-12 vs. the East. Their rotation includes seven first-round picks, including a bona fide superstar in Carmelo Anthony.
New York won a playoff series as recently as 2013. But with Phil Jackson now calling the personnel shots, the Knicks are rebuilding again, just four years after the last full-scale renovation.
Jackson has the Knicks trying to learn the triangle offense with rookie coach Derek Fisher. So some growing pains were to be expected, especially with Anthony’s isolation-heavy game and a handful of players who understand catch and shoot much better than pass and cut. When you watch the Knicks, their offense simply does not look anywhere near as fluid as the triangles Jackson ran in Chicago and Los Angeles, regardless of personnel.
The learning curve certainly is among the reasons the Knicks are 26th in scoring and 20th in shooting. Their 3-point shooting actually is in the top third of the league, despite the fact that Anthony and the shooting guard trio of J.R. Smith, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Iman Shumpert are collectively below 34 percent.
But any offensive efficiency is being neutralized by the fact that the Knicks don’t get to the line. New York’s 17.5 free throws are last in the NBA, which explains its .496 adjusted field-goal percentage (19th) and its terrible 1.16 points per shot (25th).
And unlike the Pistons, the Knicks have serious problems on defense. In the offseason, Jackson’s big move was dealing center Tyson Chandler to get a reliable point guard in Jose Calderon who could run his offense. But he underestimated Chandler’s value as a paint presence behind shaky individual defenders, and the Knicks are paying dearly.
Opponents don’t hesitate in attacking the rim against the Knicks, who are 28th in blocked shots at 3.5 per game. That penetration collapses the defense, which gives away rebounds and 3-pointers. New York is 24th with a minus-2.5 rebound differential and 25th in defending the three at .378.
Without Chandler, the Knicks try to protect the rim with Samuel Dalembert, a 13-year veteran who still makes rookie 
mistakes, and Amar’e Stoudemire, whose inability to move was exploited by Kemba Walker’s buzzer-beating driving layup in Friday’s loss to woeful Charlotte.
Neither the Pistons nor the Knicks were supposed to be any good this season. Las Vegas projected Detroit to win 36 games and somehow had New York winning 40 games. But right now, the Pistons and Knicks are barely winning as much as the Sixers.
You know, the team that is trying to lose as much as humanly possible.
TRIVIA: Brett Brown went 20-80 in his first 100 games as an NBA coach, the fifth-worst 100-game start in league history. Which coach has the worst all-time record in his first 100 games? Answer below.
THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT: Arenas hosting NBA games are called Sleep Train Arena, the Smoothie King Center and now Talking Stick Resort Arena after the Phoenix Suns announced that naming rights to US Airways Center had been sold to the Pima-Maricopa tribal community, which operates a gambling resort in Scottsdale.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Orlando Magic coach Jacque Vaughn, after forward Kyle O’Quinn picked up two flagrant fouls in two games:
“If I had a daughter, I’d let (O’Quinn) date her. He’s a good dude, so I know there’s no intent behind it, but he’s trying to be aggressive and protect our paint. I don’t have a daughter, though. Good thing!”
TANKS A LOT!: Sixers lottery pick Dario Saric, who can’t play in the NBA until the 2016-17 season, received November MVP honors for the Euroleague, the highest level of basketball other than the NBA.
LINE OF THE WEEK: Draymond Green, Golden State at Chicago, Dec. 6: 41 minutes, 11-20 FGs, 7-13 3-pointers, 2-2 FTs, seven rebounds, three assists, three blocks, four steals, one turnover, 31 points in a 112-102 win. In a superb all-around game, Green shattered his previous career high of 24. Maybe we should hold off giving the Most Improved Player award to Jimmy Butler for a little while.
LINE OF THE WEAK: Jeremy Lin, LA Lakers at Washington, Dec. 3: 21 minutes, 0-10 FGs, 0-6 3-pointers, 0-0 FTs, four rebounds, five assists, one block, zero steals, four turnovers, zero points in a 111-95 loss. It was the worst shooting game of Lin’s career, puntucated by a minus-18.
TRILLION WATCH: There were 3 trillions by Wizards guard Garrett Temple on Monday vs. Miami and Pelicans center Jeff Withey on Saturday at the LA Clippers. But this week’s heroes of zeros were Raptors forward Tyler Hansbrough, who had a 4 trillion Friday vs. Cleveland, and Bulls guard Tony Snell, who had a 4 trillion Saturday vs. Golden State. Lakers guard Xavier Henry’s 9 trillion earlier this season remains virtually unchallenged.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Houston at Golden State, Dec. 10. While the Warriors (17-2) have raced to the top of the 
NBA with a franchise-record 12 straight wins, the Rockets (16-4) have virtually kept pace, which is even more impressive when you consider that they have done so primarily without three injured starters. And of course, ESPN has Miami-Denver instead.
GAME OF THE WEAK: LA Lakers at Minnesota, Dec. 14. As of right now, the two worst teams in the West, and the two worst defensive teams in the league. Lakers coach Byron Scott just benched big-name offseason acquisitions and defensive concierges Carlos Boozer and Jeremy Lin, while the banged-up Timberwolves start two rookies and have lost five in a row, including one to Philly.
TWO MINUTES: We all know the rhythms of free agency. The biggest names sign first, allowing other dominoes to fall. Teams settle for consolation prizes and players settle for less money in secondary location choices. Then rosters are filled out with mininum signings. So give some credit to Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld, who signed forward Rasual Butler to a veteran’s minimum deal just days before training camp and already has gotten plenty of bang for his buck. In about 20 minutes per game, the 35-year-old Butler is averaging 11.2 points, which is more than Lance Stephenson, J.R. Smith, Joakim Noah, Nic Batum, Rajon Rondo, Channing Frye, Danilo Gallinari and Kevin Garnett. “It’s not like he 
has a five-year deal and he’s fully guaranteed,” Wizards center Marcin Gortat said. “He’s fighting to survive in this league. He’s a true pro. He’s here two hours before practice every day working on his game.” Washington had an iffy situation at small forward with Martell Webster out following back surgery, leaving 37-year-old Paul Pierce and unproven Otto Porter to man the position. So Grunfeld brought in Butler, who has been a godsend with an absurd PER of 21.07. In his last five games, he is averaging 17.2 points while shooting 55 percent (39-of-71), including 17-of-31 from the arc. A week ago, he dropped a season-high 23 in a win over Miami, one of his six former teams. “You can’t have nothing but respect for Rasual Butler,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We had him when he was very young. He is an absolute pro. You root for guys like that, and there is a reason why he has been in the league for so long.” … When Magic rookie point guard Elfrid Payton went 2-of-2 from the line Saturday at Sacramento, it marked the first game this season in which he attempted at least one free throw and didn’t miss. Payton is 29-of-62 from the line overall. … In Tuesday’s home with over Boston in which Atlanta erased a 23-point deficit, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer went entirely unconventional. First, he stayed with backup point guard Dennis Schroder down the stretch, leaving Jeff Teague on the bench. He also had Kyle Korver defend Rajon Rondo. … When Pacers guard C.J. Miles went 6-of-9 from the field Tuesday at Phoenix, it marked the first time this season he made at least half his shots. He followed that with consecutive 2-of-8 showings to drag his overall shooting to an abominable .275 (33-of-120). … Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge went for a season-high 39 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday vs. the Nuggets, with his lone assist feeding Robin Lopez for the game-winning bucket with 1.3 seconds left. When asked which Nuggets player would be the best defensive option on Aldridge, coach Brian Shaw deadpanned, “Dikembe Mutombo.” … The longest current 3-point streak belongs to Magic guard Evan Fournier, who is up to 28 games – barely. Fournier has just one 3-pointer in eight of his last 10 games and is just 12-of-44 from the arc in that span. Lurking are Lakers guard Nick Young (27 games) and Clippers guard J.J. Redick (25). … Speaking of Young, he returned this week to Washington, where he spent his first four-plus seasons cultivating his “Swaggy P” persona and 
struggling to define a good shot. That stretch included part of the 2011-12 campaign playing for current Wizards coach Randy Wittman. Asked if he noticed any refinement in Young’s game since his departure, Wittman said, “He still shoots a lot.” Young averages 17.2 shots per 36 minutes, 17th among players with at least 250 total minutes. … The Thunder were just 4-10 without injured superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, both of whom returned this week. The path to the playoffs looks somewhat daunting for Oklahoma City, which is currently 12th in the loaded West, 10 1/2 games out of the top spot and four games out of the eighth slot. The rest of the December schedule includes home games vs. Cleveland, Phoenix twice and Portland and roadies vs. Golden State, San Antonio and Dallas. Westbrook seems unconcerned. “How many games we got left? Sixty-something?” he said. “How many games we out of eighth place? Five, six? Not worried.” … The Houston Rockets are 9-2 with Dwight Howard and 7-2 without him. They also have played most of the season without starters Terrence Jones and Patrick Beverley. “Once we get our full team back and ready to go, we’re going to be a problem,” guard James Harden said.
Trivia Answer: Mike Woodson was 15-85 with Atlanta in 2004-05. … Happy 72nd Birthday, “Butterbean” Bob Love. … Not even the College Football Playoff Committee could get the Knicks and Lakers into the postseason.
Chris Bernucca is the managing editor of SheridanHoops.com. His columns appear Monday during the season. You can follow him on Twitter.