Low point in Blazer history

[THE HCP]

I’ve been watching the Blazers since they entered the league, and I don’t recall them ever sitting a healthy starting center for the last 20 games of the season to improve their position in the draft.

So you ONLY watch Blazer games?

 

[Strenuus]

I’ve been watching Blazer basketball longer than some of you have been alive, and this is the lowest point of all, as far as I’m concerned. We’re conceding the last twenty games of the season in hopes of getting a slightly better draft pick, which is sickening. Young guys like Watford and Williams and Simons are playing their butts off, and Billups is doing the best coaching he can, but the front office is doing everything they can to make sure the team loses. They’ve already removed a healthy Nurkic, and they’ll invent a reason to take another player out of the lineup if they have to. It’s embarrassing and dispiriting for our young guys, and it’s extremely bad karma. I don’t even want to watch this anymore.

Then don't. Lol.

 

[illmatic99]

I’ve been watching the Blazers since they entered the league, and I don’t recall them ever sitting a healthy starting center for the last 20 games of the season to improve their position in the draft.

did you miss dame's rookie year? check out some of our lineups to finish that season. we sat Wes/Nic with such minor injuries while dame lost 13 games in a row

 

[wizenheimer]

Our starting center is out because the Blazers took him out in order to lose more games.

you're guessing. You don't know that is true

planter faciitis is no joke and it can flare up in a hurry

 

[wizenheimer]

by the way....saying this is the franchise "low point' is loopy

2005-06 was lower than this; the jailblazers were lower than this; the disintegration of Roy's and Oden's knees was lower than this; losing to the Pistons and Bulls in the finals hurt more than this year; losing game 7 to the Lakers in 2000 was worse than this; when the Walton team fell apart it was much worse than this

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I’ve been watching Blazer basketball longer than some of you have been alive, and this is the lowest point of all, as far as I’m concerned. We’re conceding the last twenty games of the season in hopes of getting a slightly better draft pick, which is sickening. Young guys like Watford and Williams and Simons are playing their butts off, and Billups is doing the best coaching he can, but the front office is doing everything they can to make sure the team loses. They’ve already removed a healthy Nurkic, and they’ll invent a reason to take another player out of the lineup if they have to. It’s embarrassing and dispiriting for our young guys, and it’s extremely bad karma. I don’t even want to watch this anymore.

This is how Dallas got Luka, man. This is how it’s done. And this is hardly the lowest point. Losing (without trying to) with Felton playing PG. The Telfair years. Crumbling after adding Strickland in 2001. We have a true superstar in Dame. He’s just not going to play til next season. We have a bright future. That has not always been the case. I’ve followed Blazers since 1989.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

by the way....saying this is the franchise "low point' is loopy

2005-06 was lower than this; the jailblazers were lower than this; the disintegration of Roy's and Oden's knees was lower than this; losing to the Pistons and Bulls in the finals hurt more than this year; losing game 7 to the Lakers in 2000 was worse than this; when the Walton team fell apart it was much worse than this

Exactly

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Even more important, it helps ensure the team will lose enough games to get a good pick. How is Billups supposed to teach these guys to “play hard” when the Blazer organization is doing just the opposite?

This is the strategy. Play a bunch of G Leaguers and try to win. So players and coach are not playing/coaching to lose. We win another game or 2, we bench Simons but still try to win. If we do win, it’s good for the development of the young guys we have.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

“Talent discrepancy”?? The Blazers intentionally created a talent discrepancy by sitting Nurkic the rest of the year.

That’s the whole point. Roll out lesser talent and try to win.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Our starting center is out because the Blazers took him out in order to lose more games.

Which is a good thing.

 

[MickZagger]

I’ve been watching Blazer basketball longer than some of you have been alive, and this is the lowest point of all, as far as I’m concerned. We’re conceding the last twenty games of the season in hopes of getting a slightly better draft pick, which is sickening. Young guys like Watford and Williams and Simons are playing their butts off, and Billups is doing the best coaching he can, but the front office is doing everything they can to make sure the team loses. They’ve already removed a healthy Nurkic, and they’ll invent a reason to take another player out of the lineup if they have to. It’s embarrassing and dispiriting for our young guys, and it’s extremely bad karma. I don’t even want to watch this anymore.

So you’d rather we suck ass, while trying to win only to get our asses handed to us in a 1st round matchup by a team much better?

mmmmkay. That doesn’t help the franchise. Collecting assets helps the franchise in both long term and near term.

Professional sports, it’s either be good, or suck ass. Being a team that barely sniffs the playoffs or hardly misses it is detrimental to a franchise.

If you have a problem with the team taking the smart approach of trying to collect the most talent by not winning in a season where it’s obvious we aren’t doing anything in the playoffs anyways… I’d recommend you not tune in til next year and shift focus towards something that won’t disappoint you as much.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

This is fool’s gold, believe me. The draft is a crap shoot. The Blazers should know that better than anyone. They have made more bad picks than just about any NBA team you can name.

The team they had after the trade deadline won four in a row, including one over the world champions. You add Lillard and Little and acquire another player via trade this summer, and you’re in good shape.

Tanking to get a slightly better pick is just stupid. It sets a bad precedent, and it’s just bad karma.

It might be more than slightly better if Blevins stays in the starting lineup. A good pick can help “acquire another player via trade this summer.” Yes, the draft is a crapshoot but having the 4th pick gives you better odds of getting a star than the 15th pick. You’ve got to give yourself the best shot. Dallas tanked the end of Dirk’s last season. It was publically reported that Mark Cuban told the players it was better to lose. They played for real for 3 quarters and then put in their scrubs to try to win. They ended up losing a lot and got Luka.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

The lineup after the trade deadline won 4 in a row!

The Rockets won 7 in a row this season. Who cares? We need more talent. Trying for play-in is dumb. Look at Toronto last season. They purposely tanked out of the play-in last year and ended up with Scottie Barnes. Winning a play-in tournament is probably the worst thing that can happen to your team unless you haven’t been to the playoffs for 10 years.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

By that logic, every team in the NBA should start trying to lose games once they can’t make the playoffs. That would of course undermine the legitimacy of the entire season because the teams trying to improve their seeding in the playoffs would then have an automatic win every time they faced a team that was tanking. After awhile the whole season would be kind of meaningless.

Where’ve you been? Did you have a problem when we beat up on tanking teams during our final push every year the last several seasons? This has been going on for years but they’ve done two things to combat it. The four worst teams all get the same odds so once you’re there, there is no reason to tank all the way to the bottom. And secondly, they’ve added the play-in tournament to make more teams think they have a shot. A smart team doesn’t fall for the fool’s gold play-in though.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I’ve been watching the Blazers since they entered the league, and I don’t recall them ever sitting a healthy starting center for the last 20 games of the season to improve their position in the draft.

He has plantar fascitis. It is very painful. Making him play through pain to hurt out draft position makes no sense.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I’ve been watching Blazer basketball longer than some of you have been alive, and this is the lowest point of all, as far as I’m concerned. We’re conceding the last twenty games of the season in hopes of getting a slightly better draft pick, which is sickening. Young guys like Watford and Williams and Simons are playing their butts off, and Billups is doing the best coaching he can, but the front office is doing everything they can to make sure the team loses. They’ve already removed a healthy Nurkic, and they’ll invent a reason to take another player out of the lineup if they have to. It’s embarrassing and dispiriting for our young guys, and it’s extremely bad karma. I don’t even want to watch this anymore.

By the way, you’re only getting to see players like Williams work his ass off BECAUSE we are tanking. Bringing in Williams was part of the tank. And that he’s working his ass off should give you hope for future.

 

[Bingo Bango]

by the way....saying this is the franchise "low point' is loopy

2005-06 was lower than this; the jailblazers were lower than this; the disintegration of Roy's and Oden's knees was lower than this; losing to the Pistons and Bulls in the finals hurt more than this year; losing game 7 to the Lakers in 2000 was worse than this; when the Walton team fell apart it was much worse than this

All of those things were accidents. Bad luck. A Blazer curse. Call it what you will. Even the “Jail Blazers” were Whitsitt’s attempt to win a championship. This is planned, intentional losing, which turns my stomach even more than the things you mentioned.

 

[Bingo Bango]

He has plantar fascitis. It is very painful. Making him play through pain to hurt out draft position makes no sense.

Nonsense. You have apparently drunk the Kool Aid. Nurkic was playing very well and had a smile on his face during our 4-game winning streak. I hadn’t seen him have that much fun all season. They sat him because the 4-game win streak scared the crap out of them.

 

[Bingo Bango]

Which is a good thing.

So you’re rooting for the Blazers to lose?

 

[Bingo Bango]

By the way, you’re only getting to see players like Williams work his ass off BECAUSE we are tanking. Bringing in Williams was part of the tank. And that he’s working his ass off should give you hope for future.

The goal of working your ass off is to WIN. That’s what makes this all so sad. We’re telling our players to try and win games even though we don’t want them to.

 

[Bingo Bango]

That’s the whole point. Roll out lesser talent and try to win.

Uh, no, that’s not the point. You must have missed the memo.

 

[Bingo Bango]

This is the strategy. Play a bunch of G Leaguers and try to win. So players and coach are not playing/coaching to lose. We win another game or 2, we bench Simons but still try to win. If we do win, it’s good for the development of the young guys we have.

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re twisting yourself into a pretzel trying to defend the organization’s “Lose now” strategy.

 

[Bingo Bango]

This is how Dallas got Luka, man.

Dallas got Luka through a trade. And have you noticed the Blazer’s luck in the draft? Losing games to get a college player who may or may not turn out is madness.

 

[Mediocre Man]

The mid 2000’s were easily the worst

 

[Mediocre Man]

Dallas got Luka through a trade. And have you noticed the Blazer’s luck in the draft? Losing games to get a college player who may or may not turn out is madness.

So is consistently getting the 5-8 seed

 

[Blazinaway]

The mid 2000’s were easily the worst

for me the last few years of watching Stotts ISO ball and horrible defense was the low pt, to each their own. I like seeing the youngs guys get minutes, the explosion of Simons.

 

[STOMP]

He has plantar fascitis. It is very painful. Making him play through pain to hurt out draft position makes no sense.

Nonsense. You have apparently drunk the Kool Aid. Nurkic was playing very well and had a smile on his face during our 4-game winning streak. I hadn’t seen him have that much fun all season. They sat him because the 4-game win streak scared the crap out of them.

Your position that Nurk doesn't have plantar fascitis based on guessing seems pretty laughable. What gives you such great insights into the mind of what another person is experiencing? Do you often get yourself all worked up over vague guesses? I've had plantar fascitis, it's no joke.

STOMP

 

[Bingo Bango]

Your position that Nurk doesn't have plantar fascitis based on guessing seems pretty laughable. What gives you such great insights into the mind of what another person is experiencing? Do you often get yourself all worked up over vague guesses? I've had plantar fascitis, it's no joke.

STOMP

Of course it’s no joke if it’s real. It’s also a convenient excuse if you want to remove a player from your lineup.

 

[SIeepwalker]

Our young players are playing hard, and getting a ton of pt so we can see what we have in them.
Meanwhile, we are improving our odds for the draft in a lost year.

I'm sure there's been a lower point.

 

[Hoopguru]

Be easy on me now.....I feel, that if their plan is to keep hopefully the two picks then they should shop Dame and legitimately start the rebuild. If their plan is to couple a player with picks to acquire immediate all star quality help, in the front court to give Dame and the team a 2-3 year window to get it done great. There's zero guarantee either way, but Id rather keep Dame and trade the fucking picks for an all star. If Dame comes back healthy, with the emergence of Simons (if we keep him) and hopefully another youngster we could make some noise. If however the plan is to rebuild we will could be looking at a number of years to develop enough to be in the playoffs. NBA Hoops is all about playoff basketball as it does create the synergy that teams have a shot and its a clean sheet and fun. Only 11 teams of 30 have won the title in the last 40 years and there are only 3-4 legit teams of 30 that are serious contenders each year. Playoff basketball is what keeps the league alive as does the tourney for M Madness.