Look... its been fun. Finding at least one good future piece in Lauri is great. We prolly one a game or two we shouldn't have... but its time to tank. Over the next couple weeks the trade market should get a bit more frothy. Whatever the best tank deal comes up is the deal we should do... whether its Mike, JC, Vando, KO.... or even yes... Lauri.
The timeline is still to try and be good in 2-3 years. If we could freeze Lauri and his contract and start it in 2 years then perfect. Whatever players we will have drafted would start to be winning players and we'd have a shot at getting some of the best of them. If you got a haul for Lauri (3 firsts) you have the ability to later trade for a player on his level with those picks... it is like freezing the asset. I'd try to trade Mike, JC, KO, Vando first... and only move Lauri if the yield for the other guys was terrible and only if the yield for Lauri was awesome.
The difference between a pick in the 6-8 range with the increased odds of landing top 4 is just so much better than getting the 12-15th pick. Winning those extra few games was great but does put us in a tough spot. So now a semi-drastic about face is required imo.
I don't buy the argument that we have too much young talent to tank... we have Lauri, Vando, Kessler, and sometimes Sexton that are young and contributing to winning basketball. Removing 2-3 of Conley, KO, JC, Vando (he's very easy to move and pretty replaceable later imo) makes us tankworthy and we can keep Lauri and build from there. Giving developing time to young players is the key to tanking.
One way or another its time to pull the plug. Its stupid the way the rules work and feels dirty but its time to get slimy.
The timeline is still to try and be good in 2-3 years. If we could freeze Lauri and his contract and start it in 2 years then perfect. Whatever players we will have drafted would start to be winning players and we'd have a shot at getting some of the best of them. If you got a haul for Lauri (3 firsts) you have the ability to later trade for a player on his level with those picks... it is like freezing the asset. I'd try to trade Mike, JC, KO, Vando first... and only move Lauri if the yield for the other guys was terrible and only if the yield for Lauri was awesome.
The difference between a pick in the 6-8 range with the increased odds of landing top 4 is just so much better than getting the 12-15th pick. Winning those extra few games was great but does put us in a tough spot. So now a semi-drastic about face is required imo.
I don't buy the argument that we have too much young talent to tank... we have Lauri, Vando, Kessler, and sometimes Sexton that are young and contributing to winning basketball. Removing 2-3 of Conley, KO, JC, Vando (he's very easy to move and pretty replaceable later imo) makes us tankworthy and we can keep Lauri and build from there. Giving developing time to young players is the key to tanking.
One way or another its time to pull the plug. Its stupid the way the rules work and feels dirty but its time to get slimy.
