We control our ability to sink past San Antonio. The Kings will likely win more games than us this season. The Pacers are about to blow it up and tank hard so they won't win many more games. We have another game against OKC we can lose, but they need to win 3 more games at least, which they can probably. We have two against Houston we can lose but Houston will likely outank us. Detroit and Orlando will definitely out tank us. I could see the Pacers dropping to four while the Thunder surpass us and get 6th, leaving us at 5th. I think that's best case. We could easily to 6th. Everyone has 28-30 games left. We are going see tanking get even more evident.
If Blazers are going to dump more players they should do it tuesday. If they time the trade right we could pick up the loss to Orlando.
The stretch of games from March 20 - April 5 will be exciting. Those 2 weeks will likely make or break the tank. Pacers Pistons Spurs Rockets Rockets Thunder Pelicans Spurs Spurs Thunder
The Blazers need to sink as low as possible to get the odds of getting that top pick or two when the lottery comes up. BLAZERS could use a Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero, or Chet Holmgren. It's not a deep draft.
Cause we already suck. Might as well get the best pick possible to get a rookie who can immediately contribute and possibly become something in this league.
There's maybe one rookie in this class that can immediately contribute. Maybe. If people think we're bad now, this forum's going to be a real joy to read for the next few years if what they want comes to fruition, because I don't think rebuilding it is going to be nearly as easy as they think. There were better ways than just trying to be really bad.
It's not a good draft. Two of the three guys you mentioned are very good candidates to bust. The other one might be Chris Bosh or he might be Robert Horry.
At least it is trying something different....because doing what we were doing the last 6 years was spinning bald tires in Mississippi mud.
I said in the post you quoted that it wasn't a good draft. It's not deep. There are a few players who could be something, maybe. If the Blazers are going to tank, they'd better fucking tank, because a 6th -9th pick isn't going to help much in this draft class. We might as well win and give it to Chicago and tank next year when there is a stronger draft.
My apologies if you thought I was taking a shot at you. It wasn't intended to come off that way. I didn't really know your opinion one way or the other on tanking. I'm just adding my two cents about why I think the whole idea is misguided as they come up.
Is it, though? Like I mentioned, we've recently seen a couple of other teams trying this and neither of them looks like they're going to be really competitive any time soon. We've seen other teams try this in the past and go from being mired in mediocrity for years to being mired in the cellar for years. To me, even if you were embracing the tank, you'd be trading assets for future assets, not what we got back for Norm and RoCo. Or, even better, trade those assets for a star player who can rock with a healthy Dame next year. Instead, we're tanking in a weak draft year and giving away our assets for pennies on the dollar. And giving them to teams we're going to have to compete with, no less. To me, that sounds like "Well, my life's kind of dull, so I'm going to try being dead for a change and see if that's better."
It's all good. I haven't been for tanking. I don't like it. But, with all the injuries, the trade that just happened, and the Blazers current record with only 28 games left, it seems the better option.
I understand the reasoning on that, and, for fans, I understand it more. For a front office, though, it seems kind of knee jerk. Dame's not going to play much if at all this year, but he's not dead, either. He'll be back next year and I think it's fair to believe he'll still be a pretty productive player. Build for his return instead of panicking and giving away assets for a minor monetary gain that makes it harder to compete when he does return. Unless, of course, the plan is to trade Dame or to make him see the writing on the wall and request a trade.
What teams tried it having a Top 75 player on their roster still in his prime? I would think that is a more than insignificant difference. The pick just adds an asset, one which they didn't have before. No guarantees, but a direction is better than floundering in the same purgatory year after year.
I think you just answered your own question while in fact supporting mine. Again, there are ways to try to escape purgatory other than completely annihilating yourself. More positive ways.
