Ant played last night? I thought we yanked him too. So two players on the roster. You dont think Dame and nurk will being the winning mentality back and they will fall in line?
I'm gonna let this play out. Because i seriously got nothing! I see us bringing back a portion of this roster with Dame, Nurk, and Little Of course they bring back Simons and pair with Dame and that creates essentially the same issues with a still rookie coach because he hasn't shown he can coach this team out of a paper sack at this point. There has been no growth in players. There is no real system inn place and people are even saying none of these players are coming back. This team has needed a true Power Forward for years. Collins was supposed to be that guy. This Draft outside of the first 3 picks has run of the mill talent IMHO and very little in what the Blazers need. That is why i don't see tanking to get not much at all. Now maybe Cronin has a plan i can't see? Maybe they take best player available or even draft a player for another team for trade? Seriously i really got very little coming good from this place they are in? Roll the dice on the draft is all they got? It's why I'm sour on the way it's being handled. I say play to win get these guys real game experience and make the playoffs even if they get beat in the first round. At least that shows other players that this team and coach have heart and with the right additions they can get over the hump. Tanking rarely works as has already been noted and proved in this thread.
Mid market championship contenders are almost exclusively built through the draft (at least, to start). The reason tanking rarely works is because mid market teams rarely contend. It's not a level playing field. We aren't going to contend unless we draft 3 of our starters, IMO. Mid markets can't compete via free agency or even on the trade market unless they are already contenders.
I was specifically talking about the coaches and normalizing losing. These next 15-20 games are opportunities for them to build their strengths. What are they learning from teaching 20 yr olds how to play when we'll have a largely veteran roster next year? Billups is already showing signs of favoring teaching young guys to play HIS way rather than adapting to his roster's strengths. Dame and Nurk returning will obviously help the players they play with. Not sure how that's relevant to the point I was trying to make. All this said, the learning opportunities for both the team and the coaches are few and far between when we're getting smacked by 40 nightly. You think the coaches are going through game film after these ass whoopings?
i was mostly refering to the players quitting on the court. I agree with you on the coaches, hence my opening sentance.
I actually agree with you there. I just don't see it in this draft and the players they got are too far away from becoming serious contenders from what i see. The Blazers need solid picks for a few years. Unfortunately they just don't have that kind of time. 2-3 years max more with Lillard. What's worse is he is really really expensive.
They need solid picks for a few years, but then you advocated us making the playoffs, which removes one of those assets from us. That doesn't make much sense to me. To limp in to the playoffs, likely get throttled in round 1, and then you miss out on a draft pick this season, when it gives us an additional good asset to use, whether in the draft or trade, to try to put the right pieces around Dame and Nurk and Ant. It doesn't JUST have to be looking at this draft, and not seeing a specific guy that helps immediately, though it can be. Other teams are rebuilding all the time, and liable to send players our way that would fit us better for that lottery pick. It's better than saying we'll trade you one in 2 years.
Agreed. It's not likely to get us a championship. But it does get us closer to competing if we do need to *trade* Dame.
But it started in the draft with Giannis, and they had the best record in the league with the guys they drafted multiple times.
not really. it was pretty much always just giannis and a bunch of guys they traded for, but i get your point. I was simply being pedantic because they wasted their lottery picks on guys like Jabari Parker (#2) and Thon Maker (#10), while the one draft pick they hit on after Giannis was Brogdan (#36). So the premise that Milwaukee was built on the foundations of tanking... is simply flawed. I get your point though. I'm fine with tanking for the most part and I get the merits. But we also need to absolutely nail these picks.
Mid market teams do not have a disadvantage in the trade market. If you can explain to me why that's your opinion, I would appreciate it.
Because all stars and their agents typically want to go to large markets, and they express that desire when they are being shopped.
The only place Kawhi was ever traded as far as I know was Toronto, which I don't consider to be a market that has an advantage over us. AD is a good example but besides sign and trades which I consider a different market than just trades, it just doesn't happen often that any team has an inherent advantage when it comes to the trade market. Weird things happen like Jerry West leaving the Lakers to run the Grizzlies and then giving the Lakers a very favorable deal soon after. So there are situational advantages teams can have but I just don't see media market size being an advantage/disadvantage in the NBA trade market. Free agency for sure and that's a big deal, a huge disadvantage but small market teams like ourselves build championships through the draft and trades because those are the areas of acquisition that are an even playing field.
Yeah, I'm not saying they were built on tanking, but via the draft. And getting lucky is part of that. We absolutely need to nail the picks. No question.
If we could have offered better than James Harden to the Sixers, they would have sent Simmons to us. I guess a small advantage is when trading for a star towards the end of a contract, the more desirable markets would have a better chance of retaining a player that they trade for. Teams will cave on trade demands if a player is willing to play like shit or sit but those players have not historically had much say in where they are going. AD seems to have gone where he wanted to but I don't remember him demanding a trade there. LeBron demanded that the Lakers got AD for him and the Lakers paid big time for that trade. They in no way got a discount because they play in LA. Ball, Ingram, Hart and all of those picks... one of which was the number 4 pick in that draft. That's a fucking haul for a superstar. I would seriously need one example besides that bullshit that Jerry West pulled in Pau trade, where a big market team got a discount on a trade that landed them a difference maker. I don't think you're going to find one.
