Might as well be. I am never going to want to lose on purpose. This team however is bad enough to just lose without tanking at this point.
Fucking Pacers out tanked us last season and it looks like they're going to try to again. Our next three games are pretty easy to lose but we better have a lot of guys in street clothes when we play the Jazz or just fucking staying home.
Looking at the standings, regardless of how bad we have been playing we would literally have to finish like 2-12 or something to even get a chance imo to get this dude and I don't think we will do that. I think Whitmore and/or Black one will fall to us and I would be happy with either one.
So, I think we can go 2-12 and regardless of where we finish as long as we don't make the playoffs we have a chance... that's the whole point of the lottery.
Well yes I understand the concept of the lottery, just think the odds of us getting the number one pick is not the greatest. I'm not as high on this kid as a lot of people are anyway,but that's another discussion.
I am still of the conviction of the following: #1 - Draft Wemby #2-4: Trade for a star and include less assets #5-9: Trade for a star but have to include more assets. I think the only we we use the pick is if we get #1. Otherwise, it will be combined with the NYK pick and Ant? + Sharpe? to get a big time player. .....unless Dame finally asks out. Then we use all the picks to rebuild. I'm not suggesting he does, but if we get #1 and don't trade it, we are still in rebuild mode and it is a legit question, regardless of how loyal he is, to wonder if he would want to wait around another 2-3 years while Wemby and Sharpe continue to develop. If we don't include a top lotto pick, we either wouldn't have enough to trade for another big time player, or would have to gut the team to do so.
I think he's the only person in the draft that we should draft in the first round. Otherwise whether we land 2-4 or later in the lottery that pick should be moved along with more draft assets and players for a proven commodity.
I don't know, we could draft Wemby and still have 4 FRPs to deal along with Ant and Nurk to match salaries and that should return an all star.
I'm bright siding it a bit but believe me I waffle between thinking something really positive will happen and...
Im scared of picking this guy. Our history. The style of basketball now. I think id rather go after Miller and hope he turns into an all star.
Haven't watched any CBB this year, but I'll be passing very close attention to how that Alabama team performs over the next couple weeks.
After having the 7th pick last year, and it looks as if we will have another lottery pick & one coming up, I would think Dame is counting on going all in for a block buster deal for some immediate star power help. The pick from last year hasn't contributed at all to making a leap this year so why would he think doing the same next year, with young-in's, would be different? Don't get too excited about playing draft monopoly as those assets along with players will be dealt. Thats just my opinion and how to make since of any of this.
TBF, most of the prospects this year have played a significant amount of youth ball, high school ball, and actually played in college. That's not true of Sharpe on any level. He's as inexperienced as you'll find in this era. I'd absolutely take a sharp-shooting Desmond Bane rookie year in the rotation next season.
I agree unless it's Wemby... he's the highest rated prospect since LeBron. Since we would still have up to four FRPs to move along with players to get an all star to play with Dame, I would think Dame and the team would want to see if Wemby could help during Dame's prime and after.
might be a lot of things at work here to start with, I think after this trade deadline, Cronin and the front office have a pretty good idea of the value the rest of the league places on Blazer players. Personally, I don't think it's very high at all. So, they will know going into the draft just how much leverage their assets will create when added to draft pick(s) again, I don't think the leverage will be all that high unless it's a top-3 pick. But if it's a top-3 pick then the chances that the player drafted will have as big an impact on winning as any player landed in a trade are probably high. I also think the front office can look at situations like Minny and Phoenix along with past instances and gauge that mortgaging a bunch of future picks and swaps is extremely risky. If Portland had OG instead of Ant right now, how much better would they really be?...especially if they didn't have their draft pick? Or if they had Siakam instead of Ant and Nurkic would they even be as high as 6th seed? I'd also guess that the F.O. has communicated these notions to Dame. Maybe Dame wants a big trade no matter what; or maybe he actually can understand the situation and wants to remain in Portland, no matter what bottom line is I think Portland would be foolish to give away a bunch of first round picks & Sharpe for the kind of upgrade I think might be realistically available. It won't be a player like Giannis or Tatum. It might not even be a player the level of Siakam look at what the top players from the 2021 draft are doing in their sophomore seasons: Jalen Green is averaging 22-4-4; Evam Mobley is averaging 16-9-3 and having a big impact on Cleveland's defense; Scottie Barnes is averaging 16-7-5, plays good defense, and has great length; Josh Giddey is averaging 16-8-6; Franz Wagner is averaging 19-4-4 while shooting well from 3 at 6'9. Players like those would help just about as much as somebody like Siakam and they'd be on rookie contracts for 4 years
