CaseySmalls wrote:Kabatnaz wrote:CaseySmalls wrote:I'm all for playoff ball, but I'm afraid we still won't be seeing meaningful playoff ball for quite a while - where the team has a legitimate shot at winning a round or two, as well as returning to the playoffs the following season.
This year we may appear to be out of no man's land, but next year...
- The tanking teams in the east won't be tanking anymore; instead, they'll have rookie studs and FA's signed with their cap space.
- Lowry will either walk for nothing, or will be overpaid, limiting our ability to sign other free agents.
- Our amazing luck with avoiding injuries will presumably run out and we'll be playing games without key guys.
Once those all happen, I think lots of currently bad team will surpass us and we'll be right back to the 9th seed, and won't have enough tradeable assets or cap space to improve. Unless Masai can trade Landry Fields for a superstar or Drake can convince one to sign for the MLE, this team pretty much is what it is - a sub-.500 team with little room for improvement the way it's currently built.
"Meaningful playoff basketball"
What does that even mean? Tank or no-tank; there is no proof that either method is critical to playoff success.
You play to win the game.
As I said right after using the term "meaningful playoff ball", I was referring to it as "where the team has a legitimate shot at winning a round or two, as well as returning to the playoffs the following season". That, rather than simply a brief playoff appearance as the doormat for dancing Lebron, is what I think management should strive for.
Whether or not you believe in tanking, when your current core is at its ceiling and doesn't have the tradeable assets, draft picks, or cap space to improve, you really only have two options: keep adding band-aids and try to get the 8th seed (Bryan Colangelo anyone?), or unload guys and rebuild upon a stronger foundation.
Personally I think that once half the conference stops tanking, Lowry walks or gets a fat extension, and our injury luck runs out, this team will be hovering around the 9th seed until they start over with a new core. I think that is why some members here, myself included, aren't overly excited about this team and its quest for a .500 record.
The problem is that you're advocating a tank based on assumptions (injuries, extensions, ceilings). Fact of the matter is that this team is currently a playoff team and if this team were to tank hard this year; it would be a 3 year process. This tema is going to lose rounds in the playoffs, but that's part of developing talent an learning.
You cant win if you base your franchise on losing.
