I haven't heard anybody advocate for Portland tanking for a stretch of seasons. But plenty saw where this season was inevitably headed and decided that tanking this particular season made great sense and was by far the best outcome. The "value of tanking" an already lost season, this season, is pretty damn obvious
speaking of reading comprehension:
The HCP said: "getting lottery picks aren’t the cure. Maybe staying a 45-50 win team and making the playoffs every year isn’t THAT bad". I simply pointed out that the reason that Portland made the playoffs for 8 straight years was Dame, and the reason Portland had Dame was because they had a lottery pick. I'd say it's a lack of comprehension, reading and otherwise, to conclude that discussing the 'value of lottery picks' is not germane to discussing the 'value of tanking'. And vice-versa.