rcklsscognition wrote:We need someone in Orlando that is going to bring other players here. Whoever it is, that has to happen, otherwise there is no way to form a good enough team to win a title with the teams already assembled. When you can't sign veterans for the minimum and bring over solid guys for the MLE that are taking less money to do so, you just don't have the cap flexibility to do it.
This is a great point.
Even if you are for a total rebuild - you cannot discount this point.
Because here's the question a lot of posters seem to be avoiding or discounting - if the name of the game is to assemble young talent and great picks...
Why the hell is Houston thinking about giving a lot of that up for one superstar. Wouldn't they be better off just keeping their young players and the toronto pick and building for the future?
No. Because they are several years ahead of the Magic in terms of retooling, and they see the cold hard facts. Unless you literally draft a Lebron, a Durant, or a D Wade you are not going to win a championship unless you trade for or sign a superstar.
You can't just draft very good players. You have to draft that elite top 5, or at the very least top 10 talent in the entire NBA that only crops up every two or three years. And even then you have to get LUCKY and win a LOTTERY just to have a chance to get them.
The example everyone keeps using is OKC. Fine. But they got lucky. Perhaps luckier than any team since the Bulls had Jordan fall into their laps. What happens if Portland had picked Durant number one? OKC had no control over that, another team made their decision for them.
Just be careful for how bad you hope this team gets next year, because for every OKC there are still a dozen teams trying to break out of a decade of mediocrity.