Do the Blazers suck?

[hoopsjock]

I don’t believe in deliberately tanking... it’s unethical to try to lose games. But you can play your young guys much more significant minutes not with the goal of losing games but with the goal of making them better in a season that’s not going anywhere anyway.

Nah, coaches aren't going to do that.

 

[riverman]

...does this count

That's a mountain of edible cannabutter!

 

[THE HCP]

If I remember correctly, the Spurs lucked into that #1 pick too. I think Boston had the worst record that year and SA the 4th.

 

[AldoTrapani]

Tanking is the way to go.

oh god now u wanna tank

 

[riverman]

oh god now u wanna tank

Stren doesn't really even like basketball....he's just on commercial break from baseball game reruns

 

[tlongII]

Okay then I'll keep throwing facts while you 'prove your point some more'.
FYI I don't expect you to know who any of these players listed are. But this is factual. read the bold.



There are also rumors that Pop(the GM at the time) fired Bob Hill shortly before Robinson was cleared from the back injury so they could make a playoff push. Only to have Robinson break is foot 6 games later.

He broke his foot on Dec.24 and was supposed to be out 6 weeks. Tank.

 

[H.C.]

He broke his foot on Dec.24 and was supposed to be out 6 weeks. Tank.

Pau Gasol.

 

[HailBlazers]

No, they don't suck. I'm so fucking tired of this narrative. Lillard is a top 5ish player. CJ is a top 20ish player. If you had King, The HCP and you as the remaining starters, they wouldn't suck......well, maybe then, but you get my point.

Olshey bombed free agency a few years ago, scrambled this year trying to salvage that and came away with talented guys that will need to gel.

Our 2nd or 3rd best player, in Nurk hasn't played.

Re-fucking-lax

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."

 

[KingSpeed]

Popovich is a loser. Yes.

the spurs artificial championships they gained by tanking to win 4 rings with Duncan won’t change that. Either will Kawai carrying his sorry ass before the Pop ran him out of town.

The Spurs are a scrub organization with false valor. Tanking is for scrubs, and Popovich wouldn’t have sniffed a ring without tanking. The Blazers should NEVER tank!

Duncan won 5 rings.

 

[mook]

How would you go about doing that, realistically?

• You use Dame's back injury to trot out the "load management" thing and tell him he's either playing 25mpg or skipping all games on back-to-backs, etc. In prior eras this would be unthinkable, but after watching Kawaii and AD, I don't think so anymore.
• When his contract becomes tradeable, trade CJ for a 3/4 who is finishing up the season injured. I don't know who that guy is right now, but you look for a Porzingas kind of situation where a guy is good but just had a freak injury. Or maybe you trade him for a bad contract and draft picks if you have a good feeling about an NBA-ready prospect in the coming draft. Or (lol) you seriously consider taking on John Wall's contract, provided they throw in unprotected draft picks.
• Trade Whiteside for the same kind of CJ deal if possible, or use his expiring contract to allow some other tanking team to offload an aging star. When we acquire that star, tell him we love him but he's only playing 15 minutes a night this year to try to stretch out his career.
• Give Nas, Skal, Ant and Trent all the minutes they can handle. Tell Hood and Baze this sucks, but it's not like you haven't lived through this shit before.
• Tell Melo to chuck all he wants for 25mpg as he learns our offense.
• Tell Nurk and Collins not to hurry back. Whenever they are healthy, play them 20 mpg. Work on your three point shot in games.

We've won 33% of our games to this point, so we're on pace for 27 wins. But there's been a lot of road games so far, and Zach/Nurk are probably coming back at some point this season. This raises us to 35 or 45 by the end of the year if Dame gets back to 100%.

The strategy above probably gets us a 20-25 win team (and at least one good lottery pick) and puts us in position to succeed next year and beyond.

This is what a tank looks like, and it's what I'd prefer at this point.

I've been watching the Lakers, Clippers, Houston and Nuggets. Those teams are so far beyond where we are that it's laughable to think our best case scenario is much better than a first round sweep.

We've made the playoffs 9 of the prior 11 seasons, and after the massive drought in the 2000's I've really enjoyed it. But it's time to take a deep breath and reload.

For those comparing this tank to, say, the Knicks Permatank, there is a difference.

• We have Dame. He's a smart dude, a fringe MVP-candidate, and a leader. The Knicks don't have that. I'm pretty sure he'll hate the idea initially, but he can also read the handwriting on the wall.
• We have a reputation as a place where guys go to resurrect their careers. Portland is finally a free agent destination. Maybe not a destination where you get A+ prime quality, but we are probably the league leaders for Scratch-and-Dent types.
• Portland has a nice track record of developing young talent.
• We've got Nurk and Collins on the road to recovery.

This is definitely more akin to the Spurs in the Duncan draft. Which I can understand some hating, but I don't.

 

[Mediocre Man]

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone."

I've always been nothing but honest. Sometimes that comes off as negative, and most Homer's can't handle that.

Portland could lose the rest of their games if they can't gel, and it wouldn't shock me. "SUCKING" is not what they are doing though.

 

[Blazers1977]

Duncan won 5 rings.

5th one he was carried by Kawai

 

[hoopsjock]

• You use Dame's back injury to trot out the "load management" thing and tell him he's either playing 25mpg or skipping all games on back-to-backs, etc. In prior eras this would be unthinkable, but after watching Kawaii and AD, I don't think so anymore.
• When his contract becomes tradeable, trade CJ for a 3/4 who is finishing up the season injured. I don't know who that guy is right now, but you look for a Porzingas kind of situation where a guy is good but just had a freak injury. Or maybe you trade him for a bad contract and draft picks if you have a good feeling about an NBA-ready prospect in the coming draft. Or (lol) you seriously consider taking on John Wall's contract, provided they throw in unprotected draft picks.
• Trade Whiteside for the same kind of CJ deal if possible, or use his expiring contract to allow some other tanking team to offload an aging star. When we acquire that star, tell him we love him but he's only playing 15 minutes a night this year to try to stretch out his career.
• Give Nas, Skal, Ant and Trent all the minutes they can handle. Tell Hood and Baze this sucks, but it's not like you haven't lived through this shit before.
• Tell Melo to chuck all he wants for 25mpg as he learns our offense.
• Tell Nurk and Collins not to hurry back. Whenever they are healthy, play them 20 mpg. Work on your three point shot in games.

We've won 33% of our games to this point, so we're on pace for 27 wins. But there's been a lot of road games so far, and Zach/Nurk are probably coming back at some point this season. This raises us to 35 or 45 by the end of the year if Dame gets back to 100%.

The strategy above probably gets us a 20-25 win team (and at least one good lottery pick) and puts us in position to succeed next year and beyond.

This is what a tank looks like, and it's what I'd prefer at this point.

I've been watching the Lakers, Clippers, Houston and Nuggets. Those teams are so far beyond where we are that it's laughable to think our best case scenario is much better than a first round sweep.

We've made the playoffs 9 of the prior 11 seasons, and after the massive drought in the 2000's I've really enjoyed it. But it's time to take a deep breath and reload.

For those comparing this tank to, say, the Knicks Permatank, there is a difference.

• We have Dame. He's a smart dude, a fringe MVP-candidate, and a leader. The Knicks don't have that. I'm pretty sure he'll hate the idea initially, but he can also read the handwriting on the wall.
• We have a reputation as a place where guys go to resurrect their careers. Portland is finally a free agent destination. Maybe not a destination where you get A+ prime quality, but we are probably the league leaders for Scratch-and-Dent types.
• Portland has a nice track record of developing young talent.
• We've got Nurk and Collins on the road to recovery.

This is definitely more akin to the Spurs in the Duncan draft. Which I can understand some hating, but I don't.

Thank you for trying but this post is the exact proof that just deciding to tank in the middle of a season without something happening is flat out ridiculous.

1) We only have 8 back-to-backs left on the schedule so doing the load management thing wouldn't make a huge difference.

2) You assuming that Dame would just "see the handwriting on the wall" is utterly laughable. Unlike you Dame wouldn't give up a season in his prime nor should anyone ask him to do that. Only when we're eliminated from playoff contention would this even become an option.

3) I know you said trade CJ when available but you can't trade CJ until January 30th so we still have 2 months of games before implementing this part of your tank.

4) Acquiring a star whether aging or not and telling him that they're gonna sit them or limit their minutes would only work in certain situations but most of the scenarios would result in free agents not wanting to come here because of the way we treat players.

5) Skal, Nas, Ant, and Trent could all earn plenty of minutes on this team even if they're winning.

6) Coaches and players do not tank. Teams with this much talent don't tank on purpose. It would take Dame getting seriously injured and no one should be rooting for that to happen. If it does then we see the silver lining but having back spasms is not going to lead the tanking process.

 

[Orion Bailey]

Does this thread suck?


Well some of it does!

 

[PCmor7]

Does this thread suck?


Well some of it does!

Generally speaking.

 

[PDXFonz]

Duncan won 5 rings.

Read like “Grizzly Adams did have a beard”