This topic contains 18 replies, has 14 voices, and was last updated by AvatarAvatar Hitster 11 years ago.

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  • #47295
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    KHAM83
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    I believe I saw a post with this title a few days ago, but didnt read it, nor can I find it. But hear me out….or read me out :-/
    Portland is like 4+ games out of the playoffs. Chances are very slim that they’ll make it. Right now, they are tied with Dallas, for the 12th worst record in the league. Charlotte, also owns their draft pick, top 12 protected. I want to say under no circumstances should a team tank, but when it possibly can lead to more good, ie take one step back, take two steps forward, you must consider it. I know they really wanted to make the playoffs, but this can be a blessing in surprise if they can strike gold on their pick again.
    Im happy for Portland, they deserve to hit big with a player like Lilliard. They’ve suffered with the Roy and Oden injuries which set them back, but stuck to their plans and drafted high class players. Myers Leonard looks like he has some potential as well, and of course it takes longer for bigs to come around.With pg, sf, and pf locked up, and potentially C, they can target a sg. I think Oladipo would be a sexy pick for them, or they can grab Caldwell-Pope, Goodwin, or Markel Brown. However having depth of big men is never a problem (unless your the Jazz) and there are a decent amount of talented bigs coming out, like Plumee or Olynyk, maybe Len or Wiley-Stein falls, or maybe they see potential in McAdoo as a hybrid 3/4 off the bench.
    What Im saying is, in this scenerio- should Portland say, begin giving Leonard starters minutes at the 5 to increase their odds of keeping a lotto pick.

    Let’s look at Golden State for example, if they would not have tanked last year, and not brought in Barnes, they are not a playoff team this year. Not saying he’s the reason they are, but this team’s future is much brighter with a prospect like Barnes added to that lineup. Your thoughts?

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  • #755210
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    ItsVictorOladipo
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    I think that Golden State comment is way off the mark but moving on…

    No Portland shouldn’t tank, keep an eye on the future? Definitly but tank? hell no. As a player and coach you always try to win period, losing breeds losing and you don’t want to foster a culture of mediocrity among the younger players there.

    Not to mention that tanking as a lower lottery team in the league doesn’t really give them a great set of options. The difference between the #8 pick and the #13 pick is pretty minimal especially in a draft like this. Unless they get a top 3 or top5 pick in the draft it won’t really be worth it.

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  • #755213
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    KHAM83
    Participant

    Hey I missed this, but Charlotte own their pick, top 12 protected is why I ask. Not simply to move from 13 12, but from no pick to 12th.

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  • #755209
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    JoeWolf1

    They already have 30 wins, even if they lose every game for the rest of the year, they’ll still probably have more wins that 8 or 9 teams and what exactly is the difference between the #9 pick and the #13 pick? Not enough to lose your team morale for the next 18 games, if you ask me.

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    • #755236
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      phila9012
      Participant

      they just need to tank enough to get the 11th or 12th pick, it is not like a major tank job, they just need to do it enough so they can keep their pick and add in another young player to go with lillard and leonard.

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      • #755238
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        JoeWolf1

        If it was the NFL and there were fixed positions, maybe, but why lose on purpose when it’s a lotto system. They could be the last team out in the west and get a favorable ping pong ball and get 11 and they wouldn’t have to screw with guys who have been competitive all year by tanking down the stretch.

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        • #755257
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          phila9012
          Participant

          I guess you dont understand the lottery, it is only with the top 3 picks so if they were ended up having the 13th pick in the lottery then their options would be to either get the 1st 2nd, or 3rd, if they wanted to keep their pick, but most likely they would be stuck at 13 and be forced to give up their pick. it is easy to lose an extra 2 or 3 games. They could just play their younger guys more and let their bench play more. And that wont affect team moral, look at the warriors, they tanked in the most obvious way last year and they are fine.

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          • #755261
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            JoeWolf1

            Oh I follow, this is for a traded pick with protection implications. Since I was the first one to post I didn’t read down the forum until now. Still if they lose I this year, the protection lowers and its a stronger draft in 2014. It’s better to lose 13 this year than their pick next year in a better draft.

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  • #755222
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    Dlesnie
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    I’m a Charlotte fan so I’d love for them to tank this year and keep their pick so we can use it next year in the stacked draft.

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  • #755224
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    mangonzalez22
    Participant

    Like Jwolf said why lose team morale going into the next season. For the most part you have a core built for the next 5-7 years. Only thing left is player development, team cohesion, and smart roster moves. I doubt they find a savior If they do flop and finish with the 8th-10th pick I think they look to add another big Willy C-S. I believe Hickson will be a f/a and Meyers Leonard hasn’t showed me shit. Say next year there in the 12-18 pick range. Can pick up somebody deemed an upgrade from wes matthews (Aaron Harrison) (James Young) (Garry Harris) if any are available. Just a Realist

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  • #755226
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    mercyman25
    Participant

    Period! Frickin weirdies. I live 30 mins south of Portland, A HOLES! Not friendly at all. What kind of city re-elects a pedophile as mayor? Move the team to Seattle. Or Sactown. Have you seen Portlandia? It would be funny if it wasnt true.

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    • #755241
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      mercyman25
      Participant

      Even prison inmates hate pedos’ . You can thumbs down all you want, but Portland mentality is ruining the whole state of Oregon. Economically Oregon is tanking, it is at this point that one says to oneself “I dont give a damn about what is going on in the freaking NBA!”. But go ahead and thumbs down my comment. Keep thinking that Pedopolis(Portland) is awesome. I guess behind the computer screen any of you could be pedos’ too. TO ME THUMBS UP! GOOD DAY SIRS!

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  • #755231
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    Tyrober
    Participant

    Portland should try and win as many games as possible. Let Charlotte get the 13th or 14th pick in a weak draft and then go from there. I don’t know the protections of next years pick, but I am sure they would rather have control of their own pick next year.

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  • #755233
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    esperanzafleet69
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    the warriors are a playoff team because curry has stayed on the floor. it has nothing to do with barnes, or how they supposedly “tanked”.

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    • #755246
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      WinterSoldier
      Participant

      “supposedly tanked” I’m curious do you believe they didn’t tank?

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  • #755243
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    Turnip
    Participant

    I’d say, generally, a winning culture is more important than a higher draft pick.

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  • #755277
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    Sewok15
    Participant

    No Portland should not tank. Developing team chemistry and confidence as a unit is very important. Finishing on a high note even while not making the playoffs would suit the Blazers well going into next year. They have young talent to develop on their roster already so it isn’t like they need to land a superstar…plus nobody in this draft is even remotely close to worth tanking for.

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  • #755275
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    theprophet
    Participant

    for the integrity of the game, no team “should” tank. i understand tanking though and don’t fault teams for doing it. this would be a stupid year to tank with the weaker draft. the best way to solve the tanking problem that i have seen though is to follow the soccer formula over seas. you get last place, you drop to the lower league. you win the lower league, then you earned your way up to the more advanced league next year. but that can’t happen yet. there isn’t enough teams in the dleague to do that and i don’t know how that could work in transition to what we have now. but the system in the major sports in america rewards teams for being bad. the worse record a team has, the higher the pick they get or at least the higher chance.

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  • #755283
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    Hitster
    Participant

    Portland’s own 2nd round pick is top 40 protected this year so otherwise it goes to Denver. So if they did tank they could potentially keep two picks in this year’s draft.

    Teams will rest players near the play offs and with lottery teams tanking perhaps you can get some strange rosters come April regular season. This always goes on but it can affect teams battling the play offs, lets say the Lakers end up facing some tanking teams so their play off chances become easier.

    But what would happen if say the Spurs were playing Utah last game of the regular season and if they won the Lakers missed the play offs and Spurs met Utah again in the first round. The Spurs might much more fancy Utah than the Lakers so field a load of scrubs to virtually hand Utah the win, I’m sure that the Lakers would not be happy.

    Or the fun scenario lets say the Heat have wrapped up top seeding out East and so they field a real 2nd string side against a Portland side looking to tank to keep their draft pick, you’d almost have two teams not bothered about who wins.

    Being serious though I can see logic in Portland tanking but I’m not a great fan of it and with a deeper draft next year, they could maybe lose a better pick then. Look at say 2008 when you had Big Roy Hibbert in mid first round, you can get very good players in that area in a deep draft.

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