You certainly like to insert words in peoples mouths.
Please show me where I put words in your mouth. My entire post was a series of questions, facts and personal opinions spoken in the first person.
You said:
"Minnesota landed Towns in the draft and are on their way. That to me is productive. Who had the more productive year in their quest to win a title? I say Minnesota."
What proof do you have that MIN is "on their way"? Towns hasn't played a minute of NBA ball and already you think he's leading them to a title, or at least close to one? (notice, those are both questions, not putting words in your mouth, asking you to clarify your position or add something to support that opinion). To me (and this is my opinion, not putting words in your mouth), Towns upside is a poor man's DeMarcus Cousins. And how many titles has Cousins won in SAC? You may disagree, but in my opinion Towns is not the missing piece that will turn a 16-win team into a title contender.
Additionally, I think Noah Vonleh has every bit as much potential to be a top tier big man in the NBA as Towns. Did we get Vonleh by sucking and dipping into the lottery? No, we got him because Charlotte sucked and was stupid. Same with Lillard, the cornerstone of our franchise. We didn't get Lillard because we sucked, we got him because NJN sucked (and were stupid). Heck if you go back several years and look at the best players we've had on our team (Sheed, Roy, Aldridge, Lillard), we did not get them because we sucked, we got them because someone else sucked (or in Aldridge case, sucked more) and was stupid.
There are ways to get lottery talent without sucking. I know you don't think we'll ever attract a top tier free agent (not putting words in your mouth, you've said this many times), but we can get lottery level talent through trades, which is usually how we do it. Olshey has been accumulating assets, some of them lottery level prospects, this off season even though we didn't have a lottery pick. We still have a ton of cap space. With some teams facing luxury tax penalties, or just looking to shed salary at the trade deadline, we have the potential to get back additional future assets by absorbing someone else's bad contract(s). We may also be able to ship out guys like Kaman or Henderson to a contending team that suffers an injury or just wants to bolster their bench for the post season. My point is, you don't have to suck to acquire future assets. You can leverage your current assets in exchange for future assets (like Gerald Wallace for the pick that turned into Damian Lillard, or Nic Batum for Noah Vonleh, Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff for the pick that allowed us to get Brandon Roy, etc.), I'd rather be smart than suck (again personal opinion).
BNM
