Pelton: Blazers Project As 2014 Lottery Team

[magnifier661]

THAT would be the worst possible outcome.

I agree, but we won't get a draft pick any other way with our current roster. Unless we trade for one.

 

[BigGameDamian]

I agree, but we won't get a draft pick any other way with our current roster. Unless we trade for one.

Why do we need draft picks? Why not build though trades and free agency now? The Blazers could be the avg. age of 30 and we would still be calling for more draft picks in this forum.

 

[magnifier661]

Why do we need draft picks? Why not build though trades and free agency now?

Don't know why you are directing this question to me? This is in response to the peeps that want us to have draft picks next sunmer

 

[Natebishop3]

The west is very good. Lakers, Clippers, Spurs, Rockets, Grizzlies, Thunder, Nuggets and Worriers are all better. If no injures happen I think Kevin Pelton could be pretty sport on.

The Lakers?

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[Nikolokolus]

Why do we need draft picks? Why not build though trades and free agency now? The Blazers could be the avg. age of 30 and we would still be calling for more draft picks in this forum.

You need to hit on your draft picks if you want to have trade-able assets, and free agency will never be a cost effective or even just plain effective way for a small market team to build a roster. Really though, if LMA is determined to get out then we don't have enough firepower to be contending level team and the quickest route to adding that firepower is a lottery pick in what many are predicting will be the best draft class since Lebron et. al.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

The Lakers?

I agree. The L*kers are going to be fucking horrible this year and it's going to be glorious to watch.

Especially this guy:

 

[maxiep]

I agree. The L*kers are going to be fucking horrible this year and it's going to be glorious to watch.

Especially this guy:

Wow. That is the douchiest douche who ever douched. Whoa! I just noticed the title of the gif is "douche". I guess there's really no other name for someone like that.

 

[RR7]

I think Lillard takes a good sized next step, and that next step is enough to get us to the playoffs as the lead guy on this team, IMO.

 

[Rhal]

I think Lillard takes a good sized next step, and that next step is enough to get us to the playoffs as the lead guy on this team, IMO.

Thats my way of thinking. If he doesn't take that step forward then I can see us getting 9th.

 

[Shooter]

I think there's a small part of Olshey that hates how quickly Lillard adjusted to the NBA game. I don't think his rapid development was part of the plan.

So Olshey hated the fact that Lillard blossomed into a great player, won Rookie of the Year, and made him look like a genius?

 

[ABM]

So Olshey hated the fact that Lillard blossomed into a great player, won Rookie of the Year, and made him look like a genius?

Frankly, I'm not a fan of upside-down cake, either.

 

[maxiep]

So Olshey hated the fact that Lillard blossomed into a great player, won Rookie of the Year, and made him look like a genius?

I think there's a small part of Olshey that wishes he weren't so good so soon so we could have lost more games and gotten a higher lottery pick. Note the word "small".

 

[ABM]

I think there's a small part of Olshey that wishes he weren't so good so soon so we could have lost more games and gotten a higher lottery pick. Note the word "small".

JT weighs in...

http://www.csnnw.com/blog/blazers-talk/john-thompson-talks-lillard-says-he-needs-better-teammates

 

[PapaG]

I am assuming #12 will not be on the roster on opening night.

LMA is going to be on the roster on opening night. Trading him now after season ticket sales opened up would piss off the people who actually pay to watch the games. The time to trade him was during the draft. No trade that made sense to improve the team was offered, so this is the team you're going to see going into training camp.

 

[PapaG]

I think there's a small part of Olshey that wishes he weren't so good so soon so we could have lost more games and gotten a higher lottery pick. Note the word "small".

I think that's a ridiculous thought. They drafted him to be the franchise PG. If Lillard sucked last year, then it was a wasted draft pick. Why in the world wouldn't you want your lottery pick to make an immediate impact? By "small", do you mean "no part"?

 

[Pinwheel1]

JT weighs in...

http://www.csnnw.com/blog/blazers-talk/john-thompson-talks-lillard-says-he-needs-better-teammates

I know John Thompson was a great coach, but damn if he wasn't one of the worst NBA TV commentators of all time. I had flash backs listening to him just now.

 

[RR7]

I know John Thompson was a great coach, but damn if he wasn't one of the worst NBA TV commentators of all time. I had flash backs listening to him just now.

heh, I thought he had a bag full of marbles in his mouth, and when he didn't spit them out after the first 15 seconds, I stopped watching.

 

[Draco]

I think that's a ridiculous thought. They drafted him to be the franchise PG. If Lillard sucked last year, then it was a wasted draft pick. Why in the world wouldn't you want your lottery pick to make an immediate impact? By "small", do you mean "no part"?

I swear some fans think you build a winning team by acquiring bad players.

 

[maxiep]

LMA is going to be on the roster on opening night. Trading him now after season ticket sales opened up would piss off the people who actually pay to watch the games. The time to trade him was during the draft. No trade that made sense to improve the team was offered, so this is the team you're going to see going into training camp.

Perhaps, but you never know which teams are talking during this down time. Trades are a part of the NBA. As a season ticket holder, I've never felt betrayed by the Blazers because of a deal they've made.

 

[maxiep]

I think that's a ridiculous thought. They drafted him to be the franchise PG. If Lillard sucked last year, then it was a wasted draft pick. Why in the world wouldn't you want your lottery pick to make an immediate impact? By "small", do you mean "no part"?

I'm sure that's how they drafted him. However, I don't think they expected him to be this good, this soon. Olshey has stated he made the bench purposefully bad. PURPOSEFULLY. Why would he do so unless he didn't want to be in the lottery this year? You think our late season swoon was by accident?

Dame had an historic rookie year. There's no way we could have realistically anticipated that kind of season from him.

 

[maxiep]

I swear some fans think you build a winning team by acquiring bad players.

We're stuck in the middle, which is the worst place to be. We're not bad enough to get a great player in the draft and not good enough to get to the second round.

By the way, you build a winning team by acquiring very good to great players. However, you also need to stay bad long enough to restock a roster that was this depleted.

 

[Draco]

We're stuck in the middle, which is the worst place to be. We're not bad enough to get a great player in the draft and not good enough to get to the second round.

The Pistons won a title and the Pacers built a contender without bottoming out. The teams that bottom out and rebuild to be a contender normally get ultra lucky with a Durant or Duncan, those players only come around a few times a decade; it might take a celler dweller 30 or more years to get that kind of luck. Meanwhile the team would hemorrhage money and consider moving out of Portland. I'd rather follow the Detroit/Indy blueprint.

Also, look at MVP candidates like Steve Nash and Tony Parker, they were late draft picks. Elite big men like Roy Hibbert and Marc Gasol were picked in the late first round and second round. Getting a top 5 lottery pick is not the only way to acquire contending talent. Since the team has to already be at a big disadvantage to be in the position for such picks, it can be a much harder road to contend. The last thing I would want is for the Blazers to intentionally suck for most of a decade, get lucky and draft an MVP like Cleveland, New Orleans, Minnesota, then have them walk out of town since the team was so horrible to begin with even with an MVP player they couldn't win.

 

[Natebishop3]

The Pistons won a title and the Pacers built a contender without bottoming out. The teams that bottom out and rebuild to be a contender normally get ultra lucky with a Durant or Duncan, those players only come around a few times a decade; it might take a celler dweller 30 or more years to get that kind of luck. Meanwhile the team would hemorrhage money and consider moving out of Portland. I'd rather follow the Detroit/Indy blueprint.

Also, look at MVP candidates like Steve Nash and Tony Parker, they were late draft picks. Elite big men like Roy Hibbert and Marc Gasol were picked in the late first round and second round. Getting a top 5 lottery pick is not the only way to acquire contending talent. Since the team has to already be at a big disadvantage to be in the position for such picks, it can be a much harder road to contend. The last thing I would want is for the Blazers to intentionally suck for most of a decade, get lucky and draft an MVP like Cleveland, New Orleans, Minnesota, then have them walk out of town since the team was so horrible to begin with even with an MVP player they couldn't win.

We already got incredibly lucky and drafted Oden..... but it blew up in our face.

 

[Rhal]

We already got incredibly lucky and drafted Oden..... but it blew up in our face.

Just goes to show you that even if your lucky it may not matter.

 

[Natebishop3]

Just goes to show you that even if your lucky it may not matter.

Sometimes when you think you're lucky, you're actually incredibly unlucky.

I've always wondered if the warning signs were really there, or if Oden was truly just extremely unlucky.

 

[Rhal]

Sometimes when you think you're lucky, you're actually incredibly unlucky.

I've always wondered if the warning signs were really there, or if Oden was truly just extremely unlucky.

There were warning signs but at the same time realistically Oden was the pick everyone was going to take. Its one of those times I just chalk it up to bad luck and possibly bad conditioning.

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[maxiep]

The Pistons won a title and the Pacers built a contender without bottoming out. The teams that bottom out and rebuild to be a contender normally get ultra lucky with a Durant or Duncan, those players only come around a few times a decade; it might take a celler dweller 30 or more years to get that kind of luck. Meanwhile the team would hemorrhage money and consider moving out of Portland. I'd rather follow the Detroit/Indy blueprint.

Also, look at MVP candidates like Steve Nash and Tony Parker, they were late draft picks. Elite big men like Roy Hibbert and Marc Gasol were picked in the late first round and second round. Getting a top 5 lottery pick is not the only way to acquire contending talent. Since the team has to already be at a big disadvantage to be in the position for such picks, it can be a much harder road to contend. The last thing I would want is for the Blazers to intentionally suck for most of a decade, get lucky and draft an MVP like Cleveland, New Orleans, Minnesota, then have them walk out of town since the team was so horrible to begin with even with an MVP player they couldn't win.

That sounds like the Blazers of the late 70s to late 80s. We were on the high side of mediocre, and only because we had a HoF coach. Even he couldn't push the wet noodle of a roster we had up the hill, and that roster had some great players. However, we needed more.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I am assuming #12 will not be on the roster on opening night.

If that occurs, then I may revise my statement.

 

[HailBlazers]

We're stuck in the middle, which is the worst place to be. We're not bad enough to get a great player in the draft and not good enough to get to the second round.

Don't you think it's maybe a tad bit early to make that declaration? Can we please wait till the season gets rolling a bit to try and determine the Blazers fate.

 

[maxiep]

Don't you think it's maybe a tad bit early to make that declaration? Can we please wait till the season gets rolling a bit to try and determine the Blazers fate.

It assumes we're a top-four team in the West. Who do we beat to get there? OKC? SAS? MEM? LAC? You will likely face one of those teams on the road. Man, I just don't see it.

I'm willing to give up a year of making the playoffs to get another asset. However, I recognize my viewpoint is a minority one.