Nah... Ain't gonna happen. This team is not going 12-4 in the next 16. Unrealistic in just about every way you look at it. I could see 10-6 maybe. But even that would be best case. It would certainly be good enough to keep things interesting.
Sure isn't. This team right now cannot tank. Now if the unthinkable happens. (You know that thing we don't speak of) then i guess it would be an option.
First off the Spurs without Robinson didn't have a lot of offensive talent. Secondly the Spurs played a 37 year old Wilkins 30+ minutes a night that season. He was their best scorer at 18 per game. Third the Spurs rosters were pretty different from 96-97 to 97-98 Lastly but the most important thing. You knew Duncan was going to be a generational talent coming out of that draft. This upcoming 2020 draft doesn't have that kind of player. LaMelo isn't a generational talent. He's good, but far from generational. Portland might be in the lotto this year or they might not be. But one thing is for certain. Spurs played their best available players 30+ minutes in 96-97. So they weren't tanking. Just didn't have the ability to score with teams. Being that they averaged 90ppg that year good enough for 27th out of 29 teams.
Once they were basically eliminated yes. Portland isn't eliminated at all. Care to say anything about the other points I made? Or is that all you got?
Okay then I'll keep throwing facts while you 'prove your point some more'. FYI I don't expect you to know who any of these players listed are. But this is factual. read the bold. There are also rumors that Pop(the GM at the time) fired Bob Hill shortly before Robinson was cleared from the back injury so they could make a playoff push. Only to have Robinson break is foot 6 games later.
I don’t believe in deliberately tanking... it’s unethical to try to lose games. But you can play your young guys much more significant minutes not with the goal of losing games but with the goal of making them better in a season that’s not going anywhere anyway.
If I remember correctly, the Spurs lucked into that #1 pick too. I think Boston had the worst record that year and SA the 4th.
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."
You use Dame's back injury to trot out the "load management" thing and tell him he's either playing 25mpg or skipping all games on back-to-backs, etc. In prior eras this would be unthinkable, but after watching Kawaii and AD, I don't think so anymore. When his contract becomes tradeable, trade CJ for a 3/4 who is finishing up the season injured. I don't know who that guy is right now, but you look for a Porzingas kind of situation where a guy is good but just had a freak injury. Or maybe you trade him for a bad contract and draft picks if you have a good feeling about an NBA-ready prospect in the coming draft. Or (lol) you seriously consider taking on John Wall's contract, provided they throw in unprotected draft picks. Trade Whiteside for the same kind of CJ deal if possible, or use his expiring contract to allow some other tanking team to offload an aging star. When we acquire that star, tell him we love him but he's only playing 15 minutes a night this year to try to stretch out his career. Give Nas, Skal, Ant and Trent all the minutes they can handle. Tell Hood and Baze this sucks, but it's not like you haven't lived through this shit before. Tell Melo to chuck all he wants for 25mpg as he learns our offense. Tell Nurk and Collins not to hurry back. Whenever they are healthy, play them 20 mpg. Work on your three point shot in games. We've won 33% of our games to this point, so we're on pace for 27 wins. But there's been a lot of road games so far, and Zach/Nurk are probably coming back at some point this season. This raises us to 35 or 45 by the end of the year if Dame gets back to 100%. The strategy above probably gets us a 20-25 win team (and at least one good lottery pick) and puts us in position to succeed next year and beyond. This is what a tank looks like, and it's what I'd prefer at this point. I've been watching the Lakers, Clippers, Houston and Nuggets. Those teams are so far beyond where we are that it's laughable to think our best case scenario is much better than a first round sweep. We've made the playoffs 9 of the prior 11 seasons, and after the massive drought in the 2000's I've really enjoyed it. But it's time to take a deep breath and reload. For those comparing this tank to, say, the Knicks Permatank, there is a difference. We have Dame. He's a smart dude, a fringe MVP-candidate, and a leader. The Knicks don't have that. I'm pretty sure he'll hate the idea initially, but he can also read the handwriting on the wall. We have a reputation as a place where guys go to resurrect their careers. Portland is finally a free agent destination. Maybe not a destination where you get A+ prime quality, but we are probably the league leaders for Scratch-and-Dent types. Portland has a nice track record of developing young talent. We've got Nurk and Collins on the road to recovery. This is definitely more akin to the Spurs in the Duncan draft. Which I can understand some hating, but I don't.