AtheJ415 wrote:Also, the idea that Chriss or Bender are already proven to be the wrong players is crazy. Not many are legitimately good in the NBA at age 20. Many current stars were not even on the NBA radar at 20 because they were college role players (hello Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, etc.).
Getting the 1st pick and missing it sets you back no more than getting the 6th pick and missing it. Losing a lot with the primary reward of a pick obviously puts a lot of pressure on that pick, as does your star player's FA, etc.. But as a fan, I am not going to care or remember my team being the 6th or 7th worst team in the league relative to the worst. I will not remember those wins nor cherish them, and so give me the best odds to add a player around Booker that will allow the team to contend with other teams that have young stars. Those teams, guess what, got top picks multiple times, such as MN and Philly. We need an Ayton or Doncic or Bagley to pair with Booker and the rest of the crew. Winning now is so unbelievably stupid for this team given where the conference is and where this team is. I thought we finally dispelled those notions when we pulled out of the Paul Milsap sweepstakes. I guess I was wrong. Many here seem to want to pay vet players $35 mil a year to get that precious 8 seed.
Yeah, because what we need are MORE developmental types next to JJ, Chriss, or Bender. Yep, let's get Doncic so we can have a THIRD SF (on 2nd SG with Booker, if you feel he's a SG) with no PG, because that's what we need, right? Please tell me, what is your plan for that, exactly? How do you expect Booker, Doncic, Warren, and JJ to get their minutes, exactly?
(EDIT: And to be clear, before someone, or you, think I'm suggesting to take a lesser player if Doncic is the best player on the board, I'm not. What I AM suggesting is that is when McD either takes advantage of the situation by either trading down, out of the pick, and getting a nice haul in return...OR...decides her really likes Doncic, and trades JJ and or Warren (my 2nd least favorite option)...OR...he selects Doncic, waits for a team to select the player(s) he really likes, and approaches them about a trade. My LEAST favorite option, which he's chosen more often than not, is selecting the player, keeping him, and never doing anything with him, leaving us with redundancy until one or both players become disgruntled and leave us. His methods are not working well so far; he needs to change them.)How about, we use the young up-and-comers we have to trade for a star or two. It doesn't have to be a $35M player. DeAndre is a $23M player, and if you saw my list of 25 other Centers in the league, well, he cannot reasonably command any higher than that at age 30 for his next contract, so he can accept $22M/per from us, or from someone else, but he sure as heck isn't getting much more than that his next contract.
We have Chriss, Bender, DJJ, JJ, Booker, Ulis, Reed, and Peters under the age of 23. Add in Warren, Sauce, and Len for the Under 25 group. That's 11 players under 25 (8 under 23). But hey, let's use the Miami pick and our pick, get TWO more young guys, so we can keep the same ratio (since Len and at least one other will be gone.)
OORRRR...we keep ONE pick (ours or Mia's), grab the best Center available (since that is what we really need) and use the other pick, Chriss OR Bender, the Mia 2021 pick, and the Mil 2020 pick, and one of Reed, Peters, DJJ, Ulis...and if absolutely necessary, JJ, to get a young (27ish or younger) either established or at least had an awesome 2017 season, PG, to fill out a roster that IS competitive:
Payton?? Dinwiddie?? / Booker / Warren / Bender / Bamba?? Williams??
Then we still have, maybe...
... Knight or Ulis?? / Knight or Reed?? / JJ or DJJ?? / Dudley / Sauce ...
At least that team can start competing toward an 8th seed. OMG, not the 8th seed you say...well, those that want to go from 14th to 1st are living a pipe dream; why can't we work our way up? Why is that so bad?? That is not a 'team' that will forever be relegated to an 8th seed, unless you think all tho young players are done developing.