Prediction: Blazers will have the 8th seed all season long...

...until the Lakers snatch it from us on closing night. I feel it. Sucks.

 

Mine is that we don't have the 8th seed all season long. We have the 7th at times but we lose out on the playoffs before the last night (and possibly well before).

 

I agree. The starters will get burned out in time and just one injury to them (especially if it is to Lillard, Batum, or Aldridge) and we are fried.

 

Fuck the 8th seed, I actually want a draft pick in the top ten this year ... that said, "good job, good effort" of course most nights is nice to see, but I'm happy to see them lose the battle to maybe have a chance at winning a war further down the line.

 

My prediction is that I'm buying Sly a drink of his choice.

 

A) We're clearly too good to fall to the top 10 in the lottery

B) Who exactly from this lottery do you want? Esp at the 10th position? And would he or she help us win more games next season?

C) We have five rookies on this team right now. We don't need another young player. We need internal growth and some depth added with our cap space.

the 10th player in the draft is not going to be a difference maker for this team

Lillard needs playoff experience ASAP

 

The tenth player in this draft has a pretty damned good shot at being more of a difference maker than 75% of the guys currently under contract. Look around the league, most of the small market teams that are looking like legit playoff squads were built through the draft with just a few holes here and there rounded out with trades and free agent pickups.

Lillard getting 4 games against the Clippers or Thunder in a playoff doesn't do a damned thing for his long term growth, that just causes this team to forfeit their first round pick and have even less ammo in the clip for the off-season.

Rebuilding a team is not the overnight operation some of you appear to think it is.

 

I'm not sure where you came to this conclusion. Looking at the past couple of drafts, I can only count one or two late lottery players that could be considered difference makers in each draft. The draft is honestly more of a crapshoot than free agency imo.

 

That said, I think this team is a whole lot better than many of us (including me) has thought. How much better? Well, the Blazers are more than a one or two contributing bench players away, but a good distance better than a total re-build.

I'm thinking more towards the trade/FA route as opposed to the draft.

But, you guys are a lot more intelligent/creative about these issues than I'll ever be.

 

I'm not even talking about an All-star, I'm talking about a starting quality player.

Think about it this way is there anybody on this roster (outside of Lillard, Batum and Aldridge of course) that you wouldn't trade for a tenth overall pick?

 

The Thunder got great experience with the 8th seed in 2010 taking the eventual champs to 6 games. Aldridge has made it to game 6 in every playoffs he's been. I don't think it's fair to assume Lillard would be swept. Look at Derrick Rose. His rookie year, his Bulls made it to Game 7. Great experience for him playing in pressure filled games. Two years later, he was MVP and made it to the ECF. The quicker Lillard gets to the playoffs the better.

 

The good teams aren't built by tanking and loser attitude.
I want to see them win as many games as possible, as far as I'm concerned I'd rather not have a pick in the first round and make the playoffs. If we keep rebuilding year afrer year until it's in our DNA, hoping for a high draft pick even when we're playing well it's just pathetic and not how good teams are built.
The pieces are here, Lillard, Aldridge, Batum - the first two wouldn't be available with the 10th pick, Batum was available late in the 20s.
When we got the 1st pick for Oden it turned out a bust.
What I'm trying to say is that you can't really plan the future, the Spurs took Manu and Parker very late, players like Ibaka or Maynor of the Thunder were also late picks. But you don't play to lose when you already have a good team, that's definitely not the way to go.

 

The Hell if they aren't. The Thunder intentionally kept their win totals low for several years, trading veterans and going young even after they drafted Durant, because they knew they needed a couple more difference makers. The Grizzlies tanked (or just sucked?) for years stockpiling high picks in the hope that one day they'd have enough talent to compete. Then they got lucky with Marc Gasol and made a few good trades. Same goes for the Clippers, tank-o-rama for several years, then get lucky with some strategic trades to push you over the hump.

This isn't fucking rocket science: Teams with the best talent are the ones competing for titles. If you're in a small market that isn't all that attractive to free agents, the best way to acquire assets is through the draft, then those players either become guys you rely on, or they become trade chips to help you acquire the players you need.

 

But the blazers have proven this theory wrong back in the 90's. they made it to the playoffs for 6 straight years and were knocked out of the first round. Then they got key free agents and went to the wcf two years in a row; with 5 minutes in the 4th of game 7 from winning it all.

Then you look around the league in the past years and look at Detroit becoming a contender with making the playoffs two years before they won. Houstin were ousted for 3 years out of the first round for three years before they won two in a row.

 

Your right its not rocket science. But look at the past drafts, if you dont have a top 5 picks (usually top 3) then your chances of an impact player arent real good. There are many more busts then starters outside of the lottery.
Id much rather make the playoffs and have the starters get playoff experience together then get a late lottery pick that is going to need lots of time to develop and has a high probability of being a bust. Hell if we got the pick id want to trade it anyway.
This team needs a bench, with all the money we have in FA we can get some good bench players that we wont groan at everytime they are inserted into the game.
As for taking the next step to competing for a title, unless you aquire super stars you dont suddenly become a top team, your sneaking into the playoffs at the end of it (6-8) and losing in the first round. Then you build off of that. Thats exactly what chicago/okc/pacers/memphis/nyk all have done.
If your going to suck, then suck and get a top 5 pick otherwise the rest of the draft is a crapshoot and you might as well try and get into the playoffs.

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Not making the playoffs is talk for losers. U always want to set up a winning culture and attitude. Regardless if u get destroyed in first rd the goal is always playoffs and title. It's a lame excuse to sit there and say we can add another quality player through draft. That's funny cause other then lillard the blazers scouts have been dreadful. How is Nolan Smith these days?!

Always make the playoffs....

 

I concur wholeheartedly!!

 

And how's it working out for the kings, twolves, raptors, cavs of the world?? All these quality draft picks?? I mean seriously guys get a clue. It's like being a chicken little almost. Not to mention the revenue from even two home playoffs games is huge for franchise.

It's embarrassing some of the comments I see here.

 

I think we make the playoffs. It will be the rockets that fall out of the playoffs with the lakers getting in.

 

We're going to make the playoffs and I will happily pay the ridiculous upcharge for my seats!