Clemenza wrote:madmaxmedia wrote:I think most of us are not anticipating a playoff berth anyway, so whatever moves we make will impact our lottery position more than anything else- and I think most of us are generally okay if it comes to that. We're signing players but they're 1-year value contracts and some could have trade value at the deadline. It's possible that we drop 3 spots in the lottery but end up picking up a late first in a trade or something like that, who knows how it's all going to play out.
The funny thing is that if we somehow gelled together, got a ROY-contender season out of Shai and great play from Tobias, and actually made the 8th seed...yes it would suck to lose our draft pick but man that would be a pretty great accomplishment after losing Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan within the span of a year! The strategic/GM part of me would not like it, but the regular basketball fan in me would enjoy it for what it is.
While I wouldn't put all my hopes in free agency, I do think this current Clipper org has a shot at landing at least 1 major FA next offseason. Ideally we still have a decent pick to go with it of course, and Jerry can find another diamond in the rough for us.
Say if Shai and Jerome break out- which kinda looks like will happen already but I'll curb my enthusiasm for right now. And lets just say Tobias and Harrell make medium sized leaps this season.. a core of Shai, Jerome, Tobias, Harrell, and mabye Lou if he's still around- that is a nice core going into the offseason where Durant, Kawhi, Klay Thompson, etc are free agents. If we add one or two of these stars to the team then we're right back in the mist of things with way more upside than the Blake,CP3, DJ era no matter having a first rounder or not in 2019. We just gotta play this the right way and not make any rash decisions. Let all that LeBron/Lakers smoke die down and stay the coarse.
And if we add them and a lottery pick, we have an opportunity to be in the mix now and possibly be in the mix for the next 10-12 years....as opposed to the possibility of just in the mix while our FAs are in their prime.