You guys realize that if we stumble into Wemby by somehow getting the 1st pick with a 1% chance, he's going to have a career ending injury before his rookie season even starts right ?
This team is one Dame 2-3 week injury away from being in full on Brick for Vic mode! I think they've won a few too many games but really just need to get into the 5th/6th worst record to have a fighting chance in the lottery for him.
True, Shae is likely the most valuable player on this franchise when including everything such as current ability, age, contract, growth potential, etc. Although there is a huge possible variance in his value over the next three years depending on him greatly improving or not. I'm generally not for tanking. However I also don't really see the point of continuing with this status quo of trying to win with a group that clearly has no chance of contending. Even if the Blazers trade picks for a starter it doesn't get them close.
Grant is having a legit all star year and the team is below .500 while much more healthy than most NBA teams. Losing to a horrific Magic team at home; this Blazers squad is clearly just not working.
The most egregious case of tanking was when Pritchard took over as coach and gave Telfair free rein. That ended up with us having the #3 pick and a shot at Chris Paul, one of the top 10 players of his era! Of course, we traded down for Martell Webster... BUT DON'T BLAME TANKING FOR THAT!!!
The team obviously tanked last year, and it got them #7. Some would say that was their punishment. So this year, they're tanking genuinely..and hopefully get a top 3 pick. Though, outside of the Unicorn, the draft seems to be SG and PG heavy.
But tanking is a horrible gamble, that’s the point. Portland could end up with the worst record in the league and still not get Wembanyama.
Tanking is a moronic thing to do imo. I may be a little dramatic, but in essence actively rooting for your team to lose or not really caring one way or the other, has never sat well or been understood by me. We need to get our heads on straight and start a nice winning run not a losing one to maybe get a chance at this dude. As far as Wembanyama goes, dude looks a great prospect on paper but we shall see when he goes against the best players in the world. Watch him be a 5 and 5 player per night and that's it...
Well even without gambling their currently losing; so I don't really see the downside to tanking? I'd probably enjoy watching a pure joke of a tanking team on the court more than this mediocrity their trotting out right now. Plus you say theres a chance of a great pick? Yes it most likely won't lead to Wemba and might only be very average value. But think of the mystery; it might be great!
The last 3 times we tanked , we got Sharpe. We got CJ last lottery pick before that. Dame was Brooklyn pick. But getting that pick was part of the decision to blow it up and tank that year. So tanking has worked out very well for us. And whoever gets Wembenyama is an instant contender. We should tank.
We tanked half of last season and now we’re limping along with a losing record. And Sharpe is a big question mark. I don’t see that as a ringing endorsement for tanking.
Tanking was only a mistake if there was NO great player available at our pick. Now, if we didn't GET that player (let's say Dyson Daniels or Jeremy Sochan or Jalen Williams/Duren turns out to be way better than Sharpe), again, THAT'S NOT THE FAULT OF TANKING. That's the fault of poor talent-evaluators.
Do Americans know that that band is named after characters from Tintin (you might wonder why a 3-member band is called "Twins" - although that explanation doesn't work for the Cocteau Twins, an infinitely superior band)? One of whom is actually called Thomson (no "p"). (In the original French, they're Dupont and Dupond, because you don't say the last letter in French.) The thing is, you can actually tell the difference by their mustaches, so I hope the Basketball players follow the same principle:
