+1 . Thats the main reason i think why Ainge does not want a long tank. Tanking does not attract any good players and you have to be lucky to draft 3 or 4 very good guys to have a chance. But the most realistic issue is years of mediocrity.
Or Detroit, or Houston, or Hornets, or even OKC, who has actually found great talent through the draft.
Some of you need to stop making this argument. There is minor tanking and flat out tanking. For us it would be a minor tank and it 100% would not last long. Also Orlando is less than 2 years into their tank and are clearly in a position now to exit it quickly.
Or you could try educating yourself. For OKC they did a 2 year tank and are clearly exiting it already and that is with Chet not even playing. The hornets didn't even tank. They just have bad management. Detroit and Houston clearly tanked hard but they are pretty much starting with nothing. That isn't even close to being the case with us. We have so many young pieces that we aren't even capable to tanking hard like them. We just need to take a short step back this and probably next year to take a massive step forward in 2 years.
The argument that I keep hearing about “oh you want to be OKC and tank for seven years… no thanks” is hilarious. SGA is all-nba caliber player… Giddey, Williams, Chet, Dort are all going to be good or very good… they are a .500 team and haven’t flipped the switch to start using cap space to acquire actual players and have a billion picks to add win now talent… if they wanted to be the 4/5 seed this year they could likely do it if they wanted… should be a play in team with huge upside in the next few years…
Might okc and San Antonio also have a key injury and give scrubs minutes to “develop”?
Yes… of course but those matchups mean we control our own destiny at least a little.
Detroit, Houston, Orlando are currently the only obvious tankers. Charlotte may join them if Ball keeps getting hurt. Pacers are above .500 and their winning is being driven by guys in their 20s… SA is close to .500 and has the same type of thing going… same with OKC and they now will have a hard time shutting down SGA (he’s now good enough they need to worry much more about keeping him happy than getting more high picks). Kings desperately want to make the playoffs. Lakers, Clips, Nets, T wolves have no motivation to tank. We can get to the 6-8 range by simply moving at least one vet and replacing one vet on the rotation imo. Lauri has struggled to play all 82 in the past… he misses 10-20 games and you are right there imo.
Educating myself? All I listed are teams that havent been able to come back that went to tank 2020 or earlier.
In fairness, I don't think Orlando is tanking anymore, they just still are not that good despite all that youth and upside. I honestly don't think OKC is tanking either, same situation there. Now are either of those orgs going out there moving picks and youth for vets no. I think there will be a lot of late season tanking obviously as it was in past couple years. If the Jazz are in the play in hunt I do not think they rest good players or sit them out due to minor injuries etc. If they are are already playing short-handed though, meaning they have long odds at winning in the first round, I think they will be in the lottery and nobody would say a word outside of Utah other than injuries hurt them.
Sure fire pieces are guys who are already there. You dont know where their ceiling is. Until they start winning and producing big things, they are promising prospects.
I know... OKC has SGA, Giddey, Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet... they also have a few guys that could still pop that have showed improvement. They are a good team and all the winning is being driven by their young guys. They are too good to tank down to like the high 20s in wins.
