PLAYOFFS?!?

[BasketBrain]

You guys know where I stand...Scew the playoffs and getting eliminated in the first or second round, I want a high damn lottery pick and start competing FOR REAL for a championship in the future.

[superLuigi21]

not me, i love watching the playoffs especially when my team is in it... there would only be a slight chance at getting a high draft pick.. which means the difference between being a 7 or 8 seed in the east and missing the playoffs altogehter could mean somehting like picking either 17 or 16 .. if we're gonna miss the playoffs id rather us be minny or miami bad, if that makes any sense

[EFF]

No way we get OJ. We can't compete in sucking with seattle, minny, ny, miami, clips, memphis, etc. Ironically, we're too good. Only if we get REAL lucky we get a top 5 pick and land him. I think if loterry bound, a Nicolas Batum would be more realistic.

[Pugsley_2491]

I can see Mayo falling to like # 10

[netsforever]

Yeah, nbadraft.net has Mayo predicted at a low lottery pick.

[Birth of the Cool]

We just must make this stretch of games until we are mathematically eliminated our playoffs. We aren't out of it yet.

I love the playoffs ... and the playoffs are NOW!

Go Nets!

I'm exactly the same way. How many teams have won the championship in the last decade, and of those how many teams did not have a dominant big man.

I mean, who doesn't like to see the blacktops come out !!

Remember the Finals Nets weren't exactly juggernauts either. My favourite NBA memory is still the mano-a-mano VC and AI had in the 2nd round, that's NBA basketball !!

Then consider how many teams have been in the lottery year after year after year with each new year bringing new hope for fans for that one player or players that will finally turn things around just to see them in the lottery again and again.

Good Mgmt and let's face it luck (ex. circumstances of other teams desperate to get rid of talent at 50 cents on the dollar, injury ala David Robinson, etc) are more important to a teams future success than the lottery. Lottery is just 'sexier'.

[netsforever]

[quote="Birth of the Cool"][/quote]

Come on, you can't really think that the lottery has no effect on championship level teams. Almost every contender this season has at least one or two top notch players that were drafted by their franchise.

Boston has Paul Pierce, and used Al Jefferson and Jeff Green to trade for KG and Allen.

Detroit has Tayshaun Prince.

Los Angeles has Kobe and Bynum.

Dallas has Nowitzki, Kidd (once upon a time), and Howard. Kidd was obtained by trading Harris.

San Antonio has Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili.

Utah has Deron and AK47.

NO has Paul and West.

Phoenix has Amare, and just used a draft pick of theirs (Marion) to get Shaq.

In this league, the best way to acquire star talent is through the draft. Even our finals teams were primarily built through the draft... 3/5 of our first finals team and 4/5 of our second finals team were all NJ lottery picks... KK, KVH, RJ, K-Mart - drafted 7th, 2nd, 15th, and 1st respectively.

The single best way to build a contender is through making smart draft picks. Assuming that we're not a title-level team now, I'd like to start giving Thorn a chance to make those picks.

If you remember, by the way, the reason we got Carter is because Thorn was able to spin one of our draft picks (K-Mart) into a package from Denver with 3 first rounders, which was then flipped to Toronto for VC.

[Serpo]

A lot of these people you mentioned weren't lottery picks some of them even 2nd rounders ...

Just because you pick in the lottery doesn't guarantee you get a useful player and since we can't get in the top5 its very unlikely to get an impact player right away . 10 or 16-17 whatever doesn't really matter .

Play the season the best you can and make the best of it , try to make the playoffs and play your best is the only way younger players get better and not tanking .

[superLuigi21]

lakers didnt draft kobe, dallas didnt draft dirk.. manu was 2nd round.. tony parker was end of the first . im sure theres more flaws in ur theory, but i digress.. its some luck, some good management, like he said earlier ..

[netsforever]

lakers didnt draft kobe, dallas didnt draft dirk.. manu was 2nd round.. tony parker was end of the first . im sure theres more flaws in ur theory, but i digress.. its some luck, some good management, like he said earlier ..

Dallas did draft Dirk. The trade was pre-arranged for Bucks to select Dirk and Mavs Traylor.

Likewise, the same deal was pre-arranged with Charlotte for Divac.

[dacher]

Or we can do well, our guys increase their value, either trade up in the draft, or (sign &) trade for a quality player.

Thorn has shown his strength is more in making major trades than drafting sleepers anyway.

[superLuigi21]

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Dallas did draft Dirk. The trade was pre-arranged for Bucks to select Dirk and Mavs Traylor.

Likewise, the same deal was pre-arranged with Charlotte for Divac.

im not gonna argue semantics.. bottom line is ttheres a lot of luck involved.. u think those teams would trade tractor traylor or vlade divac for dirk or kobe now? mavs and lakers were a bit lucky in those deals wouldnt u say? or maybe thats good management and scouting... both are involved in building a winner .. and ill stick to my original post and say we DO make the playoffs, so thorns gonna have to make some moves cuz the first pick wont be an option

[netsforever]

A lot of these people you mentioned weren't lottery picks some of them even 2nd rounders ...

Just because you pick in the lottery doesn't guarantee you get a useful player and since we can't get in the top5 its very unlikely to get an impact player right away . 10 or 16-17 whatever doesn't really matter .

Play the season the best you can and make the best of it , try to make the playoffs and play your best is the only way younger players get better and not tanking .

No. Picking in the lottery doesn't guarantee a useful player. There have been plenty of lottery busts. However, find me a year that had more future stars out of the lotto (1-13) than in it, and I'll buy you a beer.

2001: In lottery: Gasol, Chandler, RJ, Battier, Richardson, Joe Johnson.
Out: Zach Randolph, Gilbert Arenas, Tony Parker

2002: In lottery: Yao, Amare, Butler
Out of lottery: Prince, Boozer

2003: In lottery: LeBron, Carmelo, Wade, Bosh, Hinrich
Out of lottery: David West, Josh Howard.

Which groups would you rather have?

I personally would take a Yao - Bosh - LeBron - Butler - Hinrich lineup over Boozer - West - Howard - Arenas - Parker anyday. That's just me though.

Taking into account that with Thorn's two lottery picks he drafted Kenyon Martin and the Richard Jefferson/Jason Collins platter... or, the starting front line for 2 NBA finals teams... I'm more than willing to let him have another shot at those types of players this year, and even next if he needs it.

[jeff1624]

You're kidding yourself if you actually believe you have the same chance of grabbing a franchise player/all star with a 20+ pick then you do if you a pick in the lottery.


2004

20+: Kevin Martin, Delonte West, Jameer nelson and Beno Udrih.

8+: Andres Igoudala, Andris Biedrins, Josh Smith, Jr Smith and Al Jefferson.

2003

20+: Leandro Barbosa, Josh Howard, Travis outlaw, Boris Diaw

8+: TJ Ford, David West, Mickael Pietrus, Luke Ridnour, Nick Collison, Sasha Pavlovic

2002

20+: Tayshaun Prince, Nenad Krstic, John Salmons

8+: Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler and Chris Wilcox

[dacher]

I dug out 82games.com article on the value of draft positioning.

http://www.82games.com/barzilai1.htm

Though he force fits everything into a curve -- the value of picks from 8 to 15 aren't that different, with a good chance of getting a good player.

Of course the best picks are top 5, but you can still end up with a Kwame Brown or a Bargiani.

[netsforever]

I dug out 82games.com article on the value of draft positioning.

http://www.82games.com/barzilai1.htm

Though he force fits everything into a curve -- the value of picks from 8 to 15 aren't that different, with a good chance of getting a good player.

Of course the best picks are top 5, but you can still end up with a Kwame Brown or a Bargiani.

Let's look at it from this team's perspective, specifically Thorn's drafting record.

Thorn Year 1:
Pick #1, drafted Kenyon Martin.

Thorn Year 2:
Pick #7, traded Eddie Griffin for Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins, Brandon Armstrong

Thorn Year 3:
Pick #24, drafted Nenad Krstic

Thorn Year 4:
Pick #22, drafted Zoran Plananic

Thorn Year 5:
Pick #22, sold to Portland

Thorn Year 6:
Pick #15, Antoine Wright

Thorn Year 7:
Picks #22, #23, Josh Boone and Marcus Williams

Thorn Year 8:
Pick #17, Sean Williams

When Thorn has picked in the lottery, he's drafted Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson, and Jason Collins, which was the nucleus of a team that made the Finals in back to back seasons, and won three consecutive Atlantic Division titles.

When he's picked out of the lottery, he's drafted well, picking up Boone, Krstic, Sean and Marcus as well as Josh Boone. However, he's also had some failures with the Antoine Wright and Plananic picks.

Thorn is 2 for 2 in improving this team with lottery picks.
Thorn is 4 for 6 in improving this team with non-lottery picks.

Thorn has drafted an All Star power forward as well as an all star small forward with his lottery picks, and has drafted one starter, three solid rotation players and 2 busts with his non lottery picks.

I'd really prefer to give him the lottery pick.

[Serpo]

Regardless Playoffs or not trading 2 of our 3 picks to get higher might not be a bad decision .

[netsforever]

Regardless Playoffs or not trading 2 of our 3 picks to get higher might not be a bad decision .

I agree. Barring some major trade, we have decent depth in the front court, and we can sign a guard or two for the vet minimum to round out the backcourt.

What this team needs is a consolidation of talent. We've drafted 3 rotation players in the past 2 seasons... time to move on up.

I wouldn't mind swapping our two picks + Boone or Marcus to get into the lottery.

[EFF]

-= original quote snipped =-

I agree. Barring some major trade, we have decent depth in the front court, and we can sign a guard or two for the vet minimum to round out the backcourt.

What this team needs is a consolidation of talent. We've drafted 3 rotation players in the past 2 seasons... time to move on up.

I wouldn't mind swapping our two picks + Boone or Marcus to get into the lottery.

Thank you. I'd give Boone before Marcus though.

[Pugsley_2491]

-= original quote snipped =-




Thank you. I'd give Boone before Marcus though.

me too. boone won't be anything more than a good energy guy to have off the bench