That's fine but it just reminds me of Matt Hasselbeck saying "We want the ball and we're gonna score"
I still don't understand why people can't fathom that there is more than one way to win in the NBA. Winning a lottery pick in a place where building through the draft is completely necessary, is a win! We are a small market team that needs to use the draft to build a winner. Neil has done a great job at drafting. Not so much at FA signings and trades.
The distinction is that many people here would see us making the playoffs as 100% negative. It seems to me that those people actively want us to lose as many regular season games as possible. Whereas me and some others want us to win as many games as possible and would love to make the playoffs.
CJ said "We don't play this game for draft picks. We play this game because we love it and we want to win." and I'd say the exact same thing about being a fan.
I'm rooting for the team to win every single game (I'm a fan, I can't help it), and hoping that we end up with a good draft pick.
You really think "many" people would see us making the playoffs as 100 percent negative? I don't think anyone reading most of the posts about getting a high draft pick could realistically conclude that. I think getting a better draft pick this year is a bigger win for the Blazers than getting into the playoffs. I won't be mad if they make it in. I just think that the team needs more talent, and I think our best opportunity to do that is through the draft, either by picking a player that makes us better or by having a pick to put into a trade that makes us better. If we make the playoffs, we don't have a draft pick, and we'll have to pull off a really good trade and/or making a bigger splash in free agency than we do normally. We can do that, but we also can do both of those things with a high draft pick which gives us more room for error and a better chance of hitting it big. I like having a team that is always competitive. But I also like to have a team that can challenge to go deep into the playoffs. Barring Vonleh turning into a much better offensive player than he's looking so far, I don't think you can expect any of these other guys to make a CJ-like jump, and that team is at best a borderline playoff team. Get stuck in there and it's hard to get out. However, you add some kind of dynamic presence to the current mix, and suddenly you have a team that might be in the top four in the West for half a decade or more. I'll take missing the playoffs for that over fighting for the eighth spot until Lillard's career is over. The Blazers aren't the 76ers. The Blazers have talent and the Blazers can play with and sometimes beat very good teams. But they don't have enough of the former to consistently do the latter, so we need more. Aside from the fact that we've won more than I thought we would, this season has gone pretty close to what I think it had to be for the team to become the best it could be in the next couple of years. I don't root for losses or go to bed mad if we win. I think a lot of fans feel the same way as I do. Like someone else said, this is an 82-game preseason. I think we win pretty much however it turns out, but I think having the lottery pick is the best scenario.
I'm still fine either way. I think during seasons like this I instinctively "embrace the tank" to temper my frustrations. If I'm okay with a draft pick then I'm okay losing by 1 point off a turnover.
For me it comes down to this. I want to see wins. I also would love a lottery pick to get a stud. So cool whichever happens. The best of both worlds would be to get both (would have to be trade of course). Mostly though I want to see improvement and that doesn't necessarily mean wins/losses. With that said, I don't see us in the lottery two straight years (which is what it would take not to lose a 1st rounder to DEN) so I would rather have a high pick in this draft then giving up our pick and having a medicore pick in next year's draft (when I expect us to sneak into playoffs).
Yes. What do quotes like "making the playoffs this year would be an unmitigated disaster" and "The playoffs would be the ABSOLUTE WORST scenario we could hope for" mean to you?
The difference in talent level between the 10th pick and the 15th pick is not something I'd characterize as an unmitigated disaster.
I mostly agree. What concerns me is the thought that perhaps making the POs this year means missing them next year. By losing that asset it makes it much tougher to make a major improvement during the off season. If all we have is internal growth and another Aminu/Davis-level signing, but one or two of the UTH/DEN/PHX/SAC/MIN-level teams makes a major move, or gets lucky in the draft, then we could easily be leap-frogged given that we're basically a low seeded EC-level PO team from previous seasons. At which point we're sitting where we are right now - just below middle of the pack.
I sometimes read these articles and realize how much pressure these guys are under. Being on NBA roster is not a given to a career. It's not like being an A list actor where once you're in "the club" your agent starts receiving scripts. Your expected to be a pro and there are a thousand other guys who want your job. A writer says, "Hey guys! Did you know NBA players are are ACTUALLY motivated to make the playoffs?" Come on. They are working hard because they've spent their entire lives to get to this point and in a blink, it's gone. How does ANY player last who gets a reputation for 'padding his stats' AND 'half assing it.' If he has talent he might stick, but not for long! Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
But it would be, IMO. We'll have differing opinions of it. But for the future of this team, I think making the playoffs in a year we need to grab a talent high in the draft would set us back. Dame is not going to have Lillard time every game of the playoffs, and we need one of him or CJ to go off to compete. Its just the truth. But, if we win, that's cool too. I'm in the moment AND in the future. I can play both.
Who's playing the 4 then? Plums? Does Plums slide to the bench? What happens with Davis? Cousins is a good player, but I'm not sure about the fit. It could either push us to the next level, or take us down a notch.
