ConSarnit wrote:Clutch0z24 wrote:Los_29 wrote:
Shai was not drafted by the Thunder. Tatum/Brown were from the Nets trade. Celtics never tanked for those players.
Spurs were actually a horrid treadmill team for half a decade. They didn’t want to re-sign Murray so they traded him away. They had lost Demar the previous season. They got lucky with Wemby. It helped people forget about how bad they were managed before that. They then got lucky by moving up in the last two drafts.
Your other examples are from like 40 years ago.
Curry/Klay/Dray. Curry and Klay were drafted late in the lottery. Dray was a 2nd rounder. VC/T-Mac? Really? That desperate huh? lol.
Are you that dense? ....Im not talking about how these players ended up on said team....Regardless how they ended up on said team they are still either high end draft picks or lottery picks, last time i checked 11th pick is still a lottery pick?......
Tatum/Brown were both main reasons why the Celtics won their title yes or no? Yes....They are both top 5 picks yes or no? Yes....Shai is a lotto pick yes or no? Yes? , Do OKC need all 3 Shai, Chet, Williams who are all Lotto picks? Yes they need them all to be a dynasty they are becoming, The rest of the examples are teams that were built through the draft that had success doing it that way....Can add the Thompson Pistons in there as well....
I don't give a damn if a team traded for said picks...What it took for these teams to be successfull was to add players within the top parts of the draft to be successfull as a team and potential dynasties....
Until the Raptors make savy trades like they could have done with the 9th pick funny in itself and get future top draft picks in trades than you would have a point....But Bobby does not seem like a savy trader like the OKC have been....(Currently the championship favorite with 2 top picks in 2026 draft)
And you are actually a dumbass if you think Carter/T-Mac have they stayed together would not have been one of the best teams in the NBA....Rookie scale contracts are not like they used to be in that era...Teams have control of their young guys for 8-9 years now...So if we drafted a Carter/T-Mac level duo we have them for many years under our control...So saying thats a deseperate thing to bring up is foolish with the potential a duo like that would have...Both coming from high draft picks btw...
High end talent % come from good draft selections no arguing that....If you are then you don't look at the odds of it much or have no idea what you are talking about....You still have to be a bad team to pick 7th where curry got picked even 11th where Klay got picked....You still have to have a bad record ...GSW Tanked them years they got Curry/Klay....We got the 9th pick last year and we were a 30 win team....So yes higher the lottery pick the better outcome but 7th pick could still end up with a franchise level player if you have a good drafting front office...
But yes there is also luck and skill drafting involved in that strat just like any other strat has even the one you advocate for and what we are trying to do right now involves luck and Savy smart trades....So far Bobby Blundered one trade on the table we will see what he does next this trade deadline...But we also have very minimal trade assets to play with to upgrade significantly anyways...
Some posters will never admit that tanking works. They’ll jump through 1000 hoops before ever admitting it might be a valid rebuilding method. Los was arguing the other day that Detroit’s success “isn’t sustainable long term” even though they are on pace for 60 wins and their 2 best players are under 25. If they won’t admit that maybe, just maybe, tanking helped DET then they won’t ever admit it.
Part of successful tanking is tearing down the team a year early and not a year too late (see: us and our returns for Siakam, OG and FVV). Teams like BOS sold early on KG/Pierce and got surplus draft capital to acquire Tatum and Brown. OKC sold early on PG3 and got SGA and JDub. HOU traded for Durant using excess draft capital. Acquiring surplus draft capital is part of a successful tanking strategy. The Sengun and Duren picks were acquired using excess draft capital from the original tear down. These are the types of swings you can take if you build up your coffers.
Tanking is no longer the single branch strategy posters like Los treats it as. It’s not just purposeful losing with only your own picks. It’s now about getting multiple bites at the apple to improve your overall drafting odds (or to use those surplus assets to acquire help).
The majority of the current best teams in the league engaged in some form of aggressive tanking yet we still have posters who refuse to admit it might be a realistic way to build a team.
Where are the examples of it working? It’s great in theory but the results aren’t there. This is undeniable.
And don’t get me wrong, there are absolutely some situations where blowing up a team is necessary and the best direction to go in. But there are so many failures with tanking because it’s based primarily on luck. You can do everything right but if there isn’t a generational talent available then you’re stuck with a core of Wagner, Banchero and Suggs. And that’s actually one of the better outcomes.
Detroit’s core isn’t scary or all that impressive. I don’t see how that’s a controversial take.
