Clutch0z24 wrote:You seem a little bit on the Homer side of things and delusional of how bad the product really is on the court and you also seem to have a defending complex against any bad moves the front office has made over the last 4 or so years here....
I'm not defending the bad moves. I'm pushing back against the extreme "chicken little bad product" narratives being pushed around here. It's way over the top given both where the team sits in the standings as well as our optionality moving forward. Like, look at the Clippers situation. Look at Bucks. Those teams are F'd. We're in a slump because guys got gassed during our 7 games in 11 days, key players have been out, and young guys are underperforming. That could and likely will change.
You tend to ignore the potential outcome of what we could of had vs what we have now (Which is a poo poo plater of bad contracts, Zero young prospects that look like future stars, Zero first option, Often injured players) I mean you can have your head in the sand about it all you want but that doesn't change the facts this team currently constructed is a flawed bad team even if we have a winning record in the all time weak eastern conference....
Look, I'm not saying current roster situation is ideal. Far from it. I agree our contracts are awful and we don't have guys that look like future all stars outside of Scottie; rather, I'm saying we still have roster flexibility given we have all our picks and an obvious out in 12-18 months. In the meantime, we get to watch a team that's at least trying to win for a bit after two straight seasons of trying to tank with little to show for it.
And yes, Poeltl trade aside, I don't think the outcome would've been much better had we done certain things differently unless you use an insane amount of hindsight. The fact of the matter is the team did exactly what you're arguing for for two straight years.
Let me break it down how things could have been in an alternate timeline....
-Don't trade for Thad Young and keep our draft position that year we walk away with Walker Kessler instead of Koloko whos basically retired....
-Don't trade for Yak at the deadline....We were a losing team that year because we were a bad team (Lost to a pretty bad Bulls team in the playins LOL)
Walker Kessler over Koloko isn't changing our destiny. If that's your level of nitpick then you don't really have an argument. Again, we agree about the Poeltl trade which I said to you in my earlier reply.
Let me break down an alternate timeline for you and why it set us back so many years...
1.If we do not trade for Yak that year and start the process sooner (We literally traded everyone a year later where we lost our pick in this exact trade) We could have...
-Walked away with assets for FVV instead of losing him for absolutly zero in the offseason, Got a way better package for Siakam had we made him available and had a bidding war on him, Prolly also got a bit better for OG considering both were NOT expiring contracts....Thats future first rounders we missed out on, Better players in return as well And also FVV gets us at least another pick or two.....So That yak trade and going the direction of LOSING in the play ins costed us alot of assets in the process.
Again, I've already made this argument; in fact, feel free to search how it was that I was one of the very few posters in Jan 2024 actually arguing on these boards that we should trade Siakam at that deadline (Fred too though my argument at the time was he had limited value due to contract status and injury).
2.We miss out on just the CHANCE to play the lottery for a generational talent....Wemby is not just a generational talent as well he is a potential GOAT talent....Even just giving yourself a chance in the lottery for that kind of a player no one would be mad at that....But lets say we do not win the Lottery and we do not get Wemby....
-Thompson twins are there
-Brandon Miller is there
-Cason Wallace is there
-Derrick Livley III Is there
-Bilal Coulibaly is there
^^^All these players on this list i would much rather have today on my team on a rookie scale contract than a cooked back Yak (Who never even helped us make the playoffs in his entire stint here)
More words just so you can flush out a point we agree on...
3.We miss out on the 2024 Draft....LOL at you saying it was a bad draft...That maybe true for potential franchise altering players but it still had some very good talent in it we missed out on....I would take BOTH Edey/Ware over Yak anyday of the week right now especially on a Rookie scale contract.....They are both outperforming him and are not totally cooked with a back injury, And they are both not in their 30s...
Here you're still not acknowledging that we TRIED TO TANK that year and just got unlucky with scrubs playing well down the stretch and in the lottery. All you're doing here is proving my point that it's really difficult to tank with new odds system and when one third of the league is doing it every year.
4.With Yak not here in the 2025 tank year we would have been much more primed to tank better for a higher draft selection...But even if it is the case we slip in the 2025 draft lotto i would have took Queen > CMB which would be a much higher ceiling type of pick or traded the pick to NOH and got their 2026 FRP....Another blunder by Bobby not accepting that trade offer.....But again without Yak we prolly tank better and end up with a better pick to grab a much more higher potential player....
Here you're passing judgement on one super flawed player over another after 30 games. You have no idea how these guys will turn out. Stop pretending like you do.
As for the Portland trade offer, I would've taken that deal too though at some point we need to acknowledge the reality that these guys are running a business and very few, if any, teams would've done that deal after tanking two years in a row and nothing to show for it.
5.With Yak off the team and a team full of young good prospects and all the other assets we would have gotten via the FVV/Siakam/OG trades you are looking at a team with actual GOOD young talent instead of the bad young talent we have.....And your looking at a team with much more hope for the future because we have more draft picks, more assets that people actually would want in trades and just an overall better team....
More words to describe something we agree on. Basically your entire thesis is we messed up with the Poeltl trade. Everyone agrees. The part we don't agree on is decision making before and after that trade is more of a mixed bag both situationally and directionally. For example, Ingram trade was solid given the price but his contract is rough. Decision to tank was correct both years but we were more unlucky than doing it poorly. I hate the Poeltl and IQ contracts like everyone else. Love the Mamu and Shead pick ups. Dick and Walter look bad but hard to criticize too much given who was taken after them and overall draft record of this FO. CMB tbd. Scottie was a solid pick and currently a valuable trade asset if we do decide to blow it up. RJ also now looks like a trade asset despite being distressed two years ago - give Raptors some credit for that one. All this to say, it isn't nearly as bad as you describe.