Look at all the guys on our “injured” list as the season winds down. It’s pathetic, and it’s obvious what they’re doing. I can’t believe they do this year after year and never get fined or even warned by the NBA. Apparently Adam Silver has no problem with teams throwing games.
Tanking poorly. This was always going to happen this season. The only problem is they fooled themselves into thinking it wasn't going to happen. So it's exponentially worse. The only thing that can save this is an incredibly lopsided trade or just getting some of that white trash trailer park lotto luck. Either at the draft lottery or just lucking into the best player in the draft at #9 (probably our most likely draft position).
This should be titled "Blazers are tanking for the 5th year in a row" because they are tanking next year also now. Or maybe they will just suck enough to win 30-35 games again?
1. The Trail Blazers traded the 14th pick last summer (in a weaker draft) and their 2nd best of 3 in 2029 and Brogdon (who was MBEC and needed a new team) for Deni — not a tanking move. 2. The Trail Blazers did not tank earlier this season. No one wins that many in a row when tanking … and still too many wins lately. 3. The Trail Blazers did not make trades to clear their veterans at a loss to get expiring contracts and some trade capital in February for a post-all star tankorama. Are they tanking the last handful of games to stay at 9 or maybe getting to 8 going into the lottery? Yes. Then take a future 2nd round pick away and have one less draftee selected into the NBA. Or drop that pick down to wherever it would be with the other, egregious tankers getting the same. Or take away receiving revenue from not being a taxpayer OR make them pay more if they are a taxpayer. I’m not sweating adding or maintaining a few percentage points here at the end. I have enjoyed seeing the growth of Scoot, Shaedon, Toumani, Deni, and Donovan. There is reason for hope.
We have to get and mix the ingredients before we bake the cake. Right now we're a couple of eggs short of a cake mix.
Who the fuck cares. There was growth this season. We aren't making the playoffs this year. There are only a handful of games left. If we get into the top 4 of the lottery, OP doesn't get to celebrate.
If they can somehow luck into any of the top 4 picks it could help them drastically. Just not sure about anything out of the top 4 and definitely don’t expect anything for outside the top 10.
Agreed. Top 4 could possibly set us up to compete with the best young teams out there. We could have a realistic expectation of competing with them long term. Unfortunately right now we simply don't have enough.
Imagine the positive spin you have to do here: "we can luck in the 4 top spots still" Its like gambling but saying "no, I want worse odds, make that happen, and then let's talk". That's what they cheered for all season lol. Glad I didn't.
You don't make this decision based on a single player who's available. You make the decision based on what you are currently capable of and the odds of getting a player you can use higher in the draft. If you need young players drafting them high in the draft is the most likely way to get the best young players. If you need vets you're better off to trade for them. This whole season we have known that we need more good young players. So tanking was a foregone conclusion. But we were to foolish to realize that when it could have really helped us. Now we're just basically down to hoping that God will choose to answer our prayers over the prayers of every other team.