Paydro70 wrote:1) I am not interested in winning 50 games. I am interested in winning titles. The only way to do that (repeat: ONLY) is by getting a superstar. The only way for us to get a superstar is in the draft. Thus, losing to get a high draft pick is basically the only option if we actually want to contend.
2) I hardly think it's surprising that a team which has consistently lost money since its founding is interested in cutting costs, especially when its owner is not that rich. When you consider the reality that increasing its payroll comes with a penalty to future gains (in the form of draft picks), it's even less surprising that the team isn't eager to do it.
3) Even if we did adopt your strategy and go all-out to try to win, we would not be able to do so. I mean seriously, look at this list: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/ ... gents-2011
Even if we signed ALL of them, we would not be a 50-win team. So why sign any of them, especially when we'd likely have to overpay? By the time this team is actually title-worthy, any of the veterans will be too old, and the younger guys (e.g., Rodney Stuckey) are not inspiring to say the least.
4) I basically agree with you that the team should at this point stock itself to the gills with as many players under 24 as they possibly can. The trouble is that this is not compatible with your desire to actually win games... if they're good, they're not signing with us, and if they're unknown, odds are they're bad. We'll be lucky, with a roster full of young free agents, if one or two of them prove worthy of more than an end-of-the-bench role. Mostly we'll do a lot of losing while we attempt to find out which of the young guys is actually worth something. But to me, that's the best strategy... not only do you give yourself a chance to find a young diamond in the rough, but the losing likely nets you a higher draft pick, which means one more shot at a superstar.
5) Nobody has to "learn how to win." You're either good, and win, or you're bad, and don't. The Thunder didn't need to "learn" how to win, they sucked for years, racked up a bunch of lotto picks, hit on a couple of stars, and immediately leapt out to 50 wins from 23. That's our formula. Worrying about whether Kemba Walker will have anybody around him (we frankly don't even know if he's good yet!) in his rookie season is, to me, absurd. We'll deal with his desire to leave us for a winner when that actually can happen, in 2015.
Wow Paydro, you just pulled out the big guns for that post. It's so beautiful you are making me
