Djedefre wrote:sunsbum wrote:I think if there was anytime to use a future pick of our own to move up in the draft I would do it this year. I don't see us in the lottery much longer.
Then i don't know what to say to you.
You've seen the game against Rockets, it's so obvious that we're incompetent, even against the team that's having not so good streak lately and missing it's star (mvp level) player. On top of that (for like 10000th time), we played one of the easiest schedules in the league, and are still just 4.5 games
behind the worst team in the league.
We can see some progress from the majority of our youngsters , there's no denying that and it thrills me for sure, but let's just not get ahead of ourselves. We still lack elite coaching, shooting, defensive culture etc. We may not be the very bottom of this league, but certainly not a PO team, which you're suggesting with the second sentence.
That's not to say we won't have the need to use our assets and trade up, we very well may have to do so in order to get unique prospects such as Young/Bamba/Ayton/Doncic/Porter or do a trade for a disgruntled player or a star from an imploding team if the opportunity strikes.
You are correct on a lot of what you say, but 'any given night' right? we've taken some good teams to task as well. And when you look at our last 10-12 games...especially our youngsters, you can see a lot of 'goodness':
- JJ and Bender are shooting, like over 40% from beyond the arc, and so was Chriss until he had 2 games of O-fers
- Chriss has avg'd 10.6/6.3 in his last 10 games.
- JJ has avg'd 10/4 his last 15.
- Bender avg'd 12/5/3.5 his last 4.
Not to mention, the first 3 games of our season really don't 'count'...yes, they do, but when figure the direction we are headed, they don't. THIS team is essentially 16-24., and our last 10 we are 5-5, so we may very well end up closer to 36-46 than 26-56, which I believe was sunsbum's point. we are likely a late lotto, not an early one.
Yes, our schedule will be getting harder, but our players are playing better, and IF ( I know, HUGE 'if') McD does decide to trade Monroe, and say Bender or Chriss, or JJ, and gets us a 'good' PG that gets this team playing even better, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility that we sneak into the 8th seed. We're 6 games out with 39 to play. That's hardly insurmountable.
I know many are trying to paint it like 'well, we'd have to go 24 and 15 the rest of the way in order to blah, blah, blah...'
Not really. The teams ahead of us simply have to come back toward us; there's nothing to say that 37-45 won't get in as the 8th seed. That's 21-18. That just requires the Nuggets to do no better than 14-24. Likely? Of course not, but starnger things have happened, and if the Clippers do trade Blake, and maybe Jordan and say 'hey, we're going to tank for a lotto pick and rebuild!' Well, that only leaves the Jazz who are 3-7 in their last 10 games to fall back and we are in.
The chances are about 2 out of 100, but if the right move is made, then it's not inconceivable, either. Seriously, a good PG would go a long way in helping us find our groove, and while I'm being REALLY far-fetched here, but if Charlotte said "screw it, take Kemba and the dead weight of Batum and give us picks and youngsters," I don't doubt for a second that a line-up of...
Kemba / Booker / Warren / Bender / Chandler
...could win 24 games out of our next 39.
I know a ton would have to go exactly right, but still Kemba, Booker, Warren, and Bender would be one heck of a starting 4 next year. We'd have 3 x 3PT shooters (Kemba's not the best, but they still have to respect him), and who knows? Maybe an off-season dedicated to practice would help Warren improve to at least at a 1 in 3 guy. Grab the BPA Center in the draft and we are on our way back to relevance....but I digress.
I think part of what sunsbum is also saying is that we need to start believing in our youngsters that they ARE going to turn out to be what they were drafted to be; we are seeing glimpses, and they are still only 20 and have yet to have the luxury of starting and playing consistently for 28-32 MPG. Once Warren got that, and Booker as well, they honed their craft; we owe it to Bender or Chriss to trade the other, IMO, and if we want JJ to be our SF of the future, then a heart-to-heart needs to happen with Warren and hope either he's amenable to a 6th-Many role and will be satisfied with that, or understand that we need to trade him to give him the opportunity that he seeks, because we HAVE TO let JJ start getting starts and REAL minutes, IMO.