St.Nick wrote:Its a crap shoot to tank and then hope for things to work out via the draft. Look at all the teams that tanked and were supposed to be hot poop after winning the draft lotto, but instead had luck work against them.
Boston in the Tim Duncan year
Denver in the LeBron year
Milwaukee with Bogut
Charlotte every season
Look where these teams are now (not including Boston, who mired in squalor for far too long before reaching this point <and still may be knocked out by Atlanta tonight!>).
A normal franchise will not attempt to go from 48 wins to 20 wins, especially when they have so many talented guys on the team that would not allow that to happen. Monta, Biedrins, and Brandan alone could will this team to more than 20 wins. I mean, we play the Eastern Conference teams 30 times a year for goodness sakes.
The rational approach to next year is to just play it to win. We did it 48 times last year despite having no bench and not getting contributions from our rookies (whoever you want to find responsible for that). Our young players stand to gain a lot more by learning how to win than by being on a team trying to lose.
If you compromised a positive, winning attitude, traded all of our star veterans, and fired our coach just to HOPE that the guy we drafted would turn out to be a difference maker...thats just not reality nor is it a recipe for success.
Regarding Baron...I think most people would agree that if there is a good deal for him...something which capitalizes on his EC and his high level of play...then we should be open to moving him. But to take back guys that not only produce less but also have long term contracts, that is just unsound management.
Anyways, its a stone cold lock that our team is not going to tank next year. I know it makes for dull RealGM chit chat, but its simply a fact that cannot be reasonably disputed.
Our high picks got Joe Barry Carroll,Chris Washburn,Mike Dunleavy,and Joe Smith. Wowie zowie. Rd 2's, Ellis and Arenas are better than all 4 of those top 3 guys.
Recent history 1A....Pietrus + POB....lotto + lotto are about to escape with MP still a bit underdeveloped and POB as invisible as a 7 footer can get.
They join the mass exodus,J Rich,Dun,Murphy,Foyle,Diogu...all lotto picks.
The Spurs shot to the top with David Robinson. He missed a season injured and the Spurs sucked but got Duncan.
Lakers had post Shaq menopause and that earned them pick 10.
Bulls....well...the whole team moved on,and they traded Brand for HS phenom Chandler
Orlando managed to lose Shaq and T Mac and have Grant Hill forever injured-payoff Dwight Howard. Detroit sucked and the big prize was Darko
Some very good teams have hardly any home grown lotto picks...have a core of the very guys that we shrug off as no upside or not having the physical measure.
CENSORED... No comment.