dougthonus wrote:TheSuzerain wrote:Blazers are the 10th seed (I.e. in the play-in) and that's with Lillard playing horrendously. West is soft this year though. Not going to be hard for them to rise in the standings.
Lillard is now out for awhile, McCollum just got hurt (not sure if he will miss time or how much just saw headline), the coach is criticizing them regularly. We'll see what happens here, but I'd bet on Portland to miss the playoffs. I'd say fair chance they go into fire sale mode at the deadline and move Lillard too.We absolutely do not want them to blow it up.
I agree, odds are that if they do this pick conveys into second rounders a long time out. I think it's now or never with this pick. It's a shame we didn't get top 8 protection on it instead or declining protection in future years so we eventually get something like top 8 protection, but Portland knew what they were doing here.
Longest NBA Playoffs Droughts
Active
Team Year. Start
Sacramento Kings 15 2007
Charlotte Hornets 5 2017
Chicago Bulls 4 2018
Cleveland Cavaliers 3 2019
New Orleans Pelicans 3 2019
Minnesota Timberwolves 3 2019
Golden State Warriors 2 2020
Detroit Pistons 2 2020
San Antonio Spurs 2 2020
Houston Rockets 1 2021
Very few teams go 6 years without making the playoffs. I’d put the odds the pick conveys at fairly high, even if not this year. Most owners don’t want to find out if their fan base can stomach that kind of drought, and how much revenue they’re going to lose as a result.