I don't gamble, but would make an exception on this one. Let' make a bet on this. I know for a FACT that my beloved Blazers will come nowhere near 11-7. Let's bet FAMS!
I don't know about the okc game. They maybe #1, and I think they'd rather face the lakers or Utah in the first round (no homer)
If we go .500 the rest of the way we'll probably finish 10th or 9th in the West, just outside of the cut for making the playoffs ... and just good enough to forfeit our pick to Charlotte. Yippee.
I hoping... Lillard averages 23.3 points/game for the rest of the season and We make the playoffs or get our lottery pick. But, I also hope Lillard continues his recent high FG% and assist numbers and low TOs.
Whether we forfeit our pick or not is entirely dependent on the lottery balls. It doesn't matter where we finish as long as it's 9-13.
As much as you think this is a whole lot of meh; I think just embracing a "don't quite attitude" with this ball club will payoff years down the road.
I get what you're saying, but I think we've already seen that this team plays hard for each other and they seem to like playing under Stotts, but at some point maybe upper management needs to set a mandate to play the bench a lot more and get some answers on what they've got? That may sound like "tanking," but to me that's the difference between long-term strategic planning and short-term thinking. Olshey has to decide what's best for the health of this club. Making the playoffs might generate a little extra revenue (though not much as an 8th seed) and give guys like Damian a little taste of the big show, but more than anything this club still needs talent; the cheapest, highest percentage way to get real talent is through the lottery. Fuck it, whatever happens is going to happen and it won't be the end of the world, but in a year where this team has two likely scenarios (getting an 11th or 12th pick, or forfeiting a 13th or 14th) and an unlikely one (squeaking into the playoffs and probably getting clobbered in 4 or 5 games) it'd be nice to see them take a knee so to speak and potentially improve their odds of actually being competitive in subsequent years.
I can relate to your entire thread and you make very valid points. The one thing I've learned so far this season is this team just doesn't quit. I haven't seen this type of demeanor in a long while with this ball club. I guess I want to milk it as much as I can. It maybe the selfish homer in me. In the end, with the pick or not, I have full confidence that olshey will make the most of it. Who knows, we may be pleasantly surprised.
I think he is saying if we just miss outside of the playoffs, but still good enough to not keep our pick(aka 13th or 14th spot), we technically do still have a chance to keep it if we get big time lotto luck and get into the top 3. However, we will not get bit time lotto luck
Also, if we finish at 12, w could still lose the pick if one of the teams behind us lucks into a top three pick and knocks us back a spot.
Sure it does. The lottery will determine what pick we have. We will be in the lottery as long as we're not in the playoffs. We could finish 12th, but the 13th place team could win the lottery thus giving us the 13th pick and we would forfeit it.
Those teams are in tight races for playoff seeding. I don't think they'll be sitting their stars. GS is trying to avoid falling to 7th or 8th. Nuggets are creeping up on the Clippers for HCA and OKC is battling Spurs for one seed. I do not gamble.
I think guys like Freeland, Claver and Leonard should be playing much larger roles (like 20+ minutes per night). They might not be great, but I sure would like to see what would happen if they got a heavy dose of regular PT. Odds are you'd see a dumpster fire, but at least they'd know.
Well. we got the W tonight which is always good right? Now the rough road begins in my opinion. 17 left and not a one will we be the favorite in Vegas.
Huh? How are we not favored at home against Dallas? Or the Nets? Or the Lakers for that matter? We're a 22-11 home team. Vegas doesn't favor many visiting teams to win at the Rose Garden. Learn the game, then post.
