Now I look at the standings, I guess I was fooling myself about how likely it was that we could make it in. We're four losses behind Memphis (and even two losses behind Orlando) and practically tied with Sacramento (who, we probably forget, were red hot) and New Orleans. Getting Nurk and Collins back would probably break our stride at first rather than immediately help, too.
If it were just the 14 pick, then I'd definitely want the playoffs. But in the non-existent hypothetical in which we'd definitely receive a #3 pick, yeah, I'd take that.
If you can't find a useful player with the #3 pick, even in a weak draft, it's time to look for a new GM.
Examples of top 3 picks in recent drafts: Evan Turner (2010) Derrick Williams (2011) MKG (2012) Anthony Bennett (2013) Jabari Parker (2014) Jahlil Okafor (2015) 2016 were pretty good, but Dragan Bender was #4 Markelle Fultz (2017) Marvin Bagley (2018) And none of those were supposed to be as weak as this one.
GMs get fired for stupid reasons and retained for stupid reasons. Owners aren't known for their cool rationality. Especially if it was the owner who pushed for that pick, as often happens.
Break our stride...? How would replacing Caleb Swanigan and Mario Hezonja with Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins break our stride?
More talent will start going from high school to the G league....I think that's where you build a team moving forward....Olshey loves rookies on the 2nd year of a deal who've been on the bench alot
Obviously the Lakers are a very good team but we did beat them on Kobe night. They should’ve had all the reasons to win while the blazers should’ve had all the reasons to lose but Damian wasn’t gonna let us lose. He may not go off again in the playoff against them but with Nurkic, Collins, and even Melo who didn’t play that game coming back we have at the very least a fighting chance to win. I would say we have a 40% of winning
