Make Playoffs or Keep 1st Round Pick?

[Downtown]

I read this morning that Damien Lillard's response to being left off the all-star team was that now he's going to do everything he can to help the team make the playoffs.

[JasonStern]

I read this morning that Damien Lillard's response to being left off the all-star team was that now he's going to do everything he can to help the team make the playoffs.

not sure why he wasn't doing that before then...

[Run PDX]

For Lillard and CJ, the playoffs would be a huge boost to their value. Dame would be on a higher tier if he is seen as the leader of a surprise playoff team, and CJ would go from being a Most Improved Player type to being someone who should get max money in 2017.

And, both Neil Olshey and Terry Stotts would be considered for awards in their positions as well - because of how drastic the changes were. Which would only help the team in free agency.

[Oneluckbox]

Why don't we all just send our tank photos/gifs to Olshey and the players? Seems like the only option to me.

But yeah would rather not get swept by GSW and lose the 1st rd pick. Portland will get no.1 overall if they get into the lottery, I feel it in my bones. Don't you lads?

[red_power]

Btw here is another side of this situation. I guess if blazers will gave their 2016 pick up to nuggets, then Olshey will have zero problem about throw one or few future first round picks while pursuing big trade at next summer already.
Which won't happen if portland selects in this draft by ourselves.

[PDXKnight]

I read this morning that Damien Lillard's response to being left off the all-star team was that now he's going to do everything he can to help the team make the playoffs.

not sure why he wasn't doing that before then...

I disagree with this statement. Lillard said he thought he played as hard as he could to earn an all star spot and he just didn't do good enough to earn a spot in the eyes of the coaches. Furthermore Dame has stated since the beginning of the season that his goal is to lead this team to the playoffs. While it's quite possible he doesn't succeed at that goal due to this hard stretch of games coming up he is doing everything in his power to lead this team imo. I don't think many individual players could take this Blazers team to the playoffs and whether or not we make it the fact that we are currently seeded at 8 is a testament to how well dame is leading this team. Yes the west is weak this year but nonetheless I don't think too many people expected this Blazers team to be anywhere close to as good as they are this season.

[Wizenheimer]

I read this morning that Damien Lillard's response to being left off the all-star team was that now he's going to do everything he can to help the team make the playoffs.

not sure why he wasn't doing that before then...

I disagree with this statement. Lillard said he thought he played as hard as he could to earn an all star spot and he just didn't do good enough to earn a spot in the eyes of the coaches. Furthermore Dame has stated since the beginning of the season that his goal is to lead this team to the playoffs. While it's quite possible he doesn't succeed at that goal due to this hard stretch of games coming up he is doing everything in his power to lead this team imo. I don't think many individual players could take this Blazers team to the playoffs and whether or not we make it the fact that we are currently seeded at 8 is a testament to how well dame is leading this team. Yes the west is weak this year but nonetheless I don't think too many people expected this Blazers team to be anywhere close to as good as they are this season.

I don't think you can just gloss over how big a factor it is that the bottom half of the western conference is so crappy. I didn't expect Portland to top 30 wins, but I sure did expect several WC teams to be better then they are. The Blazers have 22 wins right now, but 13 of those wins have come against WC teams behind them in the standings. Portland is getting fat off of the western scrub brush

[Downtown]

I don't think you can just gloss over how big a factor it is that the bottom half of the western conference is so crappy. I didn't expect Portland to top 30 wins, but I sure did expect several WC teams to be better then they are. The Blazers have 22 wins right now, but 13 of those wins have come against WC teams behind them in the standings. Portland is getting fat off of the western scrub brush

It's hard to disagree with this. I remember during the Rashard Lewis/Ray Allen Sonics days they were the ultimate treadmill team, always just making the number 8 playoff spot or just missing out and they were always around the .525-.545 mark in win percentage. Today a losing record holds the final playoff position.

Despite how much I'm enjoying them you just can't dismiss the fact that in what I would call a normal season in the West, they wouldn't be close to the playoffs.

Oh, and some of those drafts for Seattle in and around the end of the lotto got them Luke Ridnour, Nick Collison, Vladamir Radmanovic, and Robert Swift I think. Not what I would call game changers. So whether or not they just miss or make the playoffs I'm fine with it because I don't think that the odds of them getting a game changer franchise guy is going to be there for them regardless. May as well try to trade for a pick in the low twenties and have the diamond in the rough guy that other teams stayed away from because of a red flag reason drop to them. Or even an overseas young player with lots of potential but not coming over for a couple years type.

[GreenRiddler]

If we weren't feasting off the West we would've been feasting off the East like we were the last 2 seasons.

[Fitz303]

I gotta say, unless we really do drop off hard in these next 25 games or so (I have my doubts), I hope we push Houston for the 7th seed at this point. I was all for tanking and keeping our pick for most of this season, but the east is coming back down to earth. If we were looking at a pick in the 6-10 range, worth it. I really don't care as much about a 13th or 14th pick, and that's what we're likely looking at with teams like Charlotte, New York, and Washington falling apart. If we can continue to see enough growth in this team to make the 7th seed, I'm ok with not having a mid first rd pick. Even if we get swept by SAS, that would be a hell of a story. And to make LaMarcus come back to Portland twice more, and in the playoffs no less, would be amazing. That arena would be crazy. While still not likely, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility. We play Houston 3 times in the next few weeks. Should be interesting.

[PDXKnight]

I disagree with this statement. Lillard said he thought he played as hard as he could to earn an all star spot and he just didn't do good enough to earn a spot in the eyes of the coaches. Furthermore Dame has stated since the beginning of the season that his goal is to lead this team to the playoffs. While it's quite possible he doesn't succeed at that goal due to this hard stretch of games coming up he is doing everything in his power to lead this team imo. I don't think many individual players could take this Blazers team to the playoffs and whether or not we make it the fact that we are currently seeded at 8 is a testament to how well dame is leading this team. Yes the west is weak this year but nonetheless I don't think too many people expected this Blazers team to be anywhere close to as good as they are this season.

I don't think you can just gloss over how big a factor it is that the bottom half of the western conference is so crappy. I didn't expect Portland to top 30 wins, but I sure did expect several WC teams to be better then they are. The Blazers have 22 wins right now, but 13 of those wins have come against WC teams behind them in the standings. Portland is getting fat off of the western scrub brush

Yeah the west has looked downright awful this year. New Orleans has been perhaps the biggest disappointment, it looked like that team was close to turning a corner but either their coach is awful or Monty Williams didn't get nearly enough credit. Of course if no had portlands schedule up to now rather than the rigorous one they've played so far their record may very well look quite a bit different