Cigamodnalro wrote:trebone wrote:I honestly cant believe some of you wanting to lose game to maybe have a chance to at best grab a 2-3rd option a few years down the road, I would rather fight for a playoff spot and a mid 1st than end up with a Cody Zeller nolan, or shabazz who are not team changing talents
Would finishing 37-45 and lucking into the 8th spot, losing to the Miami heat by a huge margin in four consecutive games, getting the 16th pick in the draft, and overplaying our 26-30 year old veterans at the expense of our youth to achieve that end really be preferable to the alternative? Especially when several of those veterans could have been turned into youth or picks themselves, potentially speeding up and improving our rebuild to a considerable degree?
I think Redick really is the best way to illustrate this. Rank these three options:
A) Trade JJ Redick for a pick that forecasts in the 10-15 range in the 2014 NBA Draft
B) Keep JJ Redick, then let him walk for nothing as a free agent.
C) Re-sign JJ Redick to a multiyear deal starting at $8,500,000 a season, rewarding him for being a fan favorite and an Orlando Magic icon....while simultaneously destroying future cap flexibility and resulting in a platoon of aging role-playing SGs making, combined, almost $17,000,000.
I like Redick, and like him a lot, but in my eyes (C) is by far the worst position for this team moving forward (with [A] the best). I'd rather lose Redick for nothing this offseason than sign him to a large contract with Afflalo already locked up at almost $8,000,000 a season. I honestly am not sure that Redick/Afflalo at $17,000,000 brings all that more to the table than the Bulls debilitating $15,500,000 Boozer deal. It's just not prudent when you're competing with teams who have guys like LeBron James signed for 12.x million a year fighting for the same prize. And if your goal is not to win a championship, then, well, we are very different sorts of fans.
In any given four year period, I'd rather lose horribly three times and win everything one time than eek into the playoffs all four seasons. And I am absolutely positive any GM who has ever actually won anything would agree. There is no harder position, as a sports fan, than putting all of your faith in a team that you know, with confidence, is good but not good enough. That's what we were with Dwight last season, and really the season before as well. Give me youth and hope and potential, ultimately culminating in something very special, over a string of consecutive playoff births (and series losses) any day of the week.