Notice Nearly 30 years old, the Moda Center is the oldest NBA arena to not have undergone major renovation

I agree they won't leave. But that is because they won't tank forever. They know it would be unwise.

 

what other path is there to contention for the Blazers?

the Blazers can't sign free agents, and the players they have aren't going to be traded for top-4 picks, maybe not even lottery picks. Dame was traded just a year ago, so the rebuild is in it's infancy and you're advocating to end it 10 months from now

 

No way I would want to copy Minnesotas Process. Check out all the solid lottery picks since going the league. I do not want to be like Minnesota, slippers or kings where you go 10-20 years without being a playoff team. Tourney and playoff hoops is what creates the excitement for the NBA not chronically losing over the the years.

 

It will take some luck. But next year needs to be the last tank job.

The Warriors did it without a top 4 pick. Denver did it without a top 4 pick. Being in the lottery helps but you don't need to intentionally tank year after year trying to land a top pick.

Jokic. 41st
Haliburton 12th by Sac
SGA 11th by Charlotte
Booker 13th
Giannis 15th

 

Nobody wants that. The difference is having good ownership or not. Good management or not.

Minnesota has shitty management. As of the kings. As have the Clippers.

We can't control that. All we can control is supporting that we do the right thing to put ourselves in the right position.

Cutting a rebuild short is what bad management does. Keeping Grant and Ant and trying to win with them to sell the fans on the idea that they are "trying to win" too soon is what bad management does.

That's a Minnesota move. That's a Clippers move. That's a King's move.

That's my fear. I fear that they'll do that in order to up the value of the team to make sure Jody can keep getting her payments. Rather than doing the right thing which is harder. Losing for a couple years longer to really compete. You could gain five or six extra years of being competitive. Maybe even a decade if you consider that you could do it in one rebuild rather than attempting two or three rebuilds before you finally actually get back to where we were with Dame.

If we want to compete there really is only one option. When to lose right now. And we need to lose hard. And we need to draft well. And we need to get rid of our competitive vets right now in order to make that happen as soon as possible.

If you want to win quickly, that's what you should be supporting. Because anything short of that and we are not going to win. We are not going to get playoff wins.

 

Which of those guys had a vet (like Ant or Grant) in their way?

 

I am sorry, but this is such a weak ass argument. Most of your other points have at least some validity, but this one continues to be ridiculous.

You might not like Grant or Ant and that is fine, but to think that the growth of Scoot or Shae has somehow been stunted by either of them is crazy. And they won't be standing in Clingan's way either.

 

Timberwolves History - All-Time Draft PicksNBA.comhttps://www.nba.com › timberwolves › draft-history

 

most of these posts here are not on the topic

 

yeah....the Blazers can count on something like that:

Qyntel Woods - 21st
Sebastian Telfaire - 13th
Travis Outlaw - 23rd
Jarrett Jack - 27th
Ricky Samchez - 35th
Joel Freeland - 30th
Josh McRoberts - 37th
Derrick Byars - 42nd
Jarryd Bayless - 13th
Nic Batum - 25th
Victor Claver - 22nd
Dante Cunningham - 33rd
Eliot Williams - 22nd
Armon Johnson - 34th
Meyers Leonard - 11th
Will Barton - 40th
CJ - 10th
Zach Collins - 10th
Caleb Swanigan - 26th
Ant - 24th
Little - 25th
Jabari Walker - 57th
Kris Murray - 23rd
Nolan Smith - 21st

24 picks outside of the top-7 over 2 decades and only 3 legitimate starters in that group, and those 3 all had flaws

the last 3 drafts are inconclusive....but prior to this current 'tank', over the previous 20 years, the Blazers had 4 top-7 draft picks: Aldridge, Roy, Oden, Dame. 24 players--> no all-star votes vs 4 players-->18 all-star games. The critical value for a small market team like Portland is in those top-picks. But counting on generational good luck to show up and bless the Blazers is a hollow plan

 

At least they could allow fans an easy way to view the games, as we are in tank mode and they still need fan support.
Blazers TV viewership down nearly 50%, worst in NBAKOIN.comhttps://www.koin.com › sports › portland-trail-blazers-t...

 

Yeah, the Blazers can't count on a lot of things....like a top 2 pick.
Larue Martin, Sam Bowie, Greg Oden.

Walton was an exception but we also got lucky because the ABA disbanded one year later giving us Luke. (and Moses but that is an entirely different discussion)

Dame and Clyde were not top picks.

 

LOL...you think that proves your argument...that being that arbitrarily saying the end of tanking years should be 10 months from now.

it actually proves the opposite and that is you need to roll the dice of top-7 picks several times because there will be busts

 

Working with a friend from the Pels and he just found out they are off Balleys and now over the air starting this year.

 

Did listing our picks for the last 2 decades prove that we should keep tanking until we get it right? My point was you can't count on anything.

But yes I believe that 4 years of intentionally tanking is enough. By then you should have enough young talent to build on....if not then it is time to try to win with what you have and hopefully get lucky with adding someone else.

 

You know that Idea you had for Riverboat Gambling on the Willamette River? I actually talked to one of my friends who is on the board at Ilani. His response caught me off guard. He told me that idea had come up but every tribe Grand Ronde, Coquille, Siletz, Cowlitz would step all over it. It would cause literal Indian wars.
I really never thought of it that way. The only way that would ever fly would be for the state to actually change the laws and become a gambling mecca like Las Vegas. Which obviously would never happen because we are way too liberal for that right? Just the brothels alone would be epic!

 

So the probability (Law of averages) is through the roof right?

 

I just read that somewhere? If I see it again I will post it.