Game 80: Portland vs Utah 6 00pm Chargetv and KUNP

[Norm2953]

They get the Spurs at home which will get them their 36th win.

Phoenix does stink but they have no reason to want to lose. 20% chance at a top 4 pick

[Walton1one]

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Ouch? OKC, HOU & SA are all likely to have a higher pick than POR, that is just malpractice

[Case2012]

A GM with a masterful strategy, what a concept. Maybe that's why they've been tanking, because they plan on trading KD back to Houston for their picks back. They can't fully rebuild as long as Beal is holding them hostage though.


I think our pick is gone unless it ends up top 3. Even then, idk. CB favors vets clearly, our core is getting older. A guy I've mentioned before is Suggs. I have a feeling he's the target and it works with Simons contract, but it does nothing for the logjam.

A roster with Suggs, Deni, Camara, Thybulle and Clingan on it is a top 5 defense at least though and that's the identity they have been trying to build.

[zzaj]

Yeah, quibbling over 9th or 10th is moot at this point...the Blazers should have been competing with Utah with the worst record in the NBA because Cronin ditched at least Simons, Grant, RWIII, and Ayton either last year or by the trade deadline for whatever peanuts he could have gotten. If Deni, Camara, Clingan, Sharpe and Scoot play well enough to get you to 35 wins? That's a whole different story.

Simons, Ayton, and Grant combined, have about 10 win shares this season...I can think of a lot more than 4 games that the Blazers would have lost if Simons hadn't played. In any case, take away 10 wins from this team and they're at a 20% chance to draft Flagg or Harper.

I'm 100% convinced that Cronin will bring back and re-sign everyone he can and prioritize winning, because I think that's been his missive from Kolde. I'm 100% convinced that beating a bunch of bad teams or teams missing 1 or 2 of their best players during the winning streak has Cronin drinking his own kool-aid and thinking this team is ready to compete for the playoffs now.

I'm willing to bet $100 that this team doesn't win a playoff series with Joe Cronin as the GM.

As for fixing the draft...believe me, I HATE tanking as much as anyone, the system that makes the most sense to me is the one that gives out draft points for every time a team beats a team above them in the standings. This would incentivize 82 games for both good and bad teams. Would it be perfect? No...but it'd be a HELLUVA lot better than the current system that incentivizes losing.

[Dame Lizard]

I don't get why Phoenix has been tanking? They don't own their pick and they're trading Durant.

They're just really bad, and don't want Durant injured to affect his trade value.

[zzaj]

Killer game by Flip last night...

He has really turned around the weaknesses I saw in the 10 or so college games I watched of his. His shooting and passing were always there, but he was also slow and played very soft. Because of that I kinda pegged him as a stuck-between-positions player...Not physical enough to play Center, and too slow to play against modern Power Forwards in the NBA.

He played well against both Clingan and Walker at the Center position last night, showing some great BBIQ and passing especially. I'm happy to be wrong about him--good young (only 21 still) player.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Just lose the last 2 games and #9 is their's!