Game Thread GAME# 80: THUNDER @ BLAZERS - APRIL 6, 2016 - WEDNESDAY, 7:00 PM (PDT), KGW

Apparently he's the type of player you don't have to tank for, since he was drafted 15th.

 

Exactly. 15th is not even in the lottery. A playoff team got to pick him. Outside of the top 3 picks any given year, scouting is always more important then actual pick position.

 

OKC didn't sit Durant and Westbrick because they wanted to rest them.
They were just afraid to play at full strength and get destroyed by the Blazers this close to the playoffs.

 

I always go back to the fact that Cliff Robinson was a second round draft pick. Wes was undrafted. Diamonds in the rough exist. Olshey's summer 2015 tells me he can find those guys.

 

It was win/win for them; if the Blazers are good enough to win the game, they don't want to see us in the playoffs. If we couldn't beat their bench, they definitely want to see us in the playoffs.

 

Yes, but that wasn't the point.

The point was, it's better to have a pick because scouting matters. The Blazers don't have a pick this year in a supposed "weak" draft.

 

We have, what, two second rounders? Opportunities to trade for a late first rounder with a bunch of bench resources? Getting pick whatever-the-fuck and losing the pick next year means almost nothing if your GM's strength is trading for under-valued talent.

In fact, I expect that as soon as we're able, we'll trade our 2017 first rounder for some 24 year old who will turn out to be awesome. Hell, we might not even protect it, so we can also trade our 2018 pick for another 24 year old.

 

We have no picks this year. No firsts no seconds. A lot of the guys are free agents so not as many opportunities to trade for a pick either.

I'm not arguing for losing, I'm ecstatic we're going to be the 5th seed. Just saying there is an argument for the other side.

 

We have 0 picks this year. Our 2nd rounder is going to ORL (via CHI) (via CLE in Allen Crabbe trade from 2013).

 

I'm still not bothered.

 

So you are saying someone like Antetokoumpo is a difference maker. No doubt he is a fun player to watch, but I am not so sure he would make us a contender. I know you were just using him as an example, and he is a perfect example. A young athletic freak........who can't shoot as well as Montero from the outside. There are a few of those in this years draft.

Maybe he will make it as a PG, or maybe he will only turn out to be as effective as Harkless or Aminu. Whom we got both for basically free. My point is not to disparage the Greek freak, because he is good. But will he be great? We have plenty of good players, we need one more great player. Hitting that home run on a draft pick is rare. But i think we can get a Wes, or a Whiteside just as easy in the 2nd round (if we obtain one) or free agency.

 

Yeah it was an anecdotal answer, but if you want to actually argue Greek Freek, time will tell but I'm fairly confident he will be a perennial all-star before his days are over.

And this is coming from someone who didn't see anything special his first year.

 

Hell yea there's an argument for the other side

A huge one

 

There's always an argument for every side, but sometimes those arguments are so ridiculous sounding, the one arguing that point loses cred.

I could argue the world is flat. Doesn't make me right.

 

By giving up the pick this year we gained a first round pick next year or two second round picks the years after. We can always flip those picks for a pick this year if there's a player we really want.

The draft pick was lost in the horrible Afflalo trade. If some posters said that was a horrible move at the time then bump the thread and toot your horn because it has been a disaster. But that was over a year ago; and has no bearing on what the team does this season.

Making the playoffs now doesn't harm us now; that debt was already owed.

 

Yep, that was the kicker. A first and a rotation player for nothing.

 

Yes, if only Neil Olshey would have known Wesley Matthews was going to rupture his achilles tendon a few days after making that trade. At the time of the trade, we had the third best record in the league and were trying to strengthen the bench on a veteran team for the playoffs. The Matthews injury changed everything. It was the first domino to fall. We ended up with the 6th best record in the Western Conference, entered the playoffs reeling, and got owned in the first round, prompting Aldridge to leave, along with Mathews, Lopez and Afflallo. It's easy to trash that trade now, but it made a lot more sense at the time - not knowing Matthews was going to get injured.