Yeah, the Play Offs give you prestige. The Play In does not unless you have certainty you can win out in those Play In games and take a major seed to 6/7 games. It was just designed to give 9-10 seeds some purpose and not let them feel like losers. You really think FA star players choose Play In acclaim over riches or destination?
They were on already on fire without cp3 during the bubble. They were already on the rise, signing a player of cp3 caliber helped. Point being bs narrative that losing so much made the suns shell-shocked. They were literally on the rise to being a playoff contender after being sht for years. Adding cp3 just made them better.
It’s basically designed to punish the stupid teams by giving them a false impression that making the playin is an accomplishment.
U can view it as letting the most deserving team to play in the playoffs. But it's a bait, getting into playoffs via play in just to get smashed by 1/2 seed is not a reward
And help the other teams get that Top 5-6 pick. Now noobs think making the Play In is such an accomplishment. Just win a 10 game winning streak and be happy about that.
Booker took it to the next level, Ayton matured a tad, Bridges, Saric and the bench played well. Monte proved himself.
Tanking works, suns is literally the modern example. Folks like dd attribute signing cp3 was all it took for the suns to become the way they did but outright ignore the entire tanking process that allowed them to get to that stage in the first place.
Right, so you need to be bottom 3/bottom 4. We need to be clear, the Rockets are rebuilding their war chest of assets not rebuilding through the draft. We have no untouchable player(s) or picks, they are all for sale for a super star/franchise player. We may end up rebuilding through the draft, but most likely we will only development a few players while trading for or paying for the rest. Unfortunately, Wood and Ben Simmons are not superstars/franchise players. After losing our superstar franchise player in Harden, we have a two season window of having our draft picks before the WB trade starts haunting us again. I just don't understand why wouldn't rebuild our war chest while we have this 2 season window.
I think about the Blazers a lot, won the 1st Play In in history. Then got gentlemen swept by the Fakes, Melo then went on to join the Fakers.
There's always a risk of mediocrity. Let's say we get a top 3 pick and choose very wisely - everybody's happy. Then he breaks his leg. Hello once again, mediocrity. I'd prefer to instill a winning mentality in this franchise, no matter who comes and goes. The road to this will be to give %100 every game. Of course we will lose more than we win, but the team will not see the losses as just part of the job. In my opinion having given the game one's all is more important than getting a top 5 pick. Depending on the possibility of landing a game changer would certainly give the young ones a negative message I would rather the team showcased itself by making the play-ins and tried to attract stars with the potential they'll have shown. Add defense. Add firepower. Add proven players. Develop what you've got. You hold all the trump cards.
Who said multiple years, you can get that high pick once or twice and still try to make your Play In. Lmao. I do not trust Stone with or without Play In. Is this a Parrot rejoinder?
This is a part of the Suns equation that led them to a successful rebuild. At some point after losing and losing (while gaining high picks) the team needs to pick the players they want to build around and get what ever pieces necessary to get them to the next direction. Sometimes that means drafting those players and sometimes that means trading the players they drafted for a star player. Although it is true that there is only one CP3, getting CP3 wouldn't mean anything without Booker/Ayton/pieces. CP3 was easier to obtain than Booker would've been. So, getting Booker first was a critical piece needed for CP3 to be a meaningful transaction. Another great example is Jrue Holiday to the Bucks. Objectively speaking, Jrue Holiday is NOT worth what the Bucks paid for him without already having Giannis/core. But, since they had their MVP it was worth trading for Jrue to be the final piece. I know someone will say "but Giannis wasn't picked top 5!" No, he wasn't. But, again, you'll have higher odds drafting elite talent in the top 5 than outside of the top 5. What you do with those picks are critical. It takes competent management. The most important thing you can have in the NBA is a generational talent. The next is a duo or trio of stars. There's a a lot of ways to get there (Jordan with Chicago, Shaq with Lakers, Steph/Klay with Warriors, Giannis with Bucks, Pierce/Garnett/Allen with Boston, LeBron with Cleveland and LeBron/Wade/Bosh with Miami...). The point is there really isn't 1 single way to do it except to acquire generational talent or a group of stars. If Rockets traded Harden for solid pieces and tried to rebuild that way I'd support it as long as there's a path towards greatness and not just mediocrity. But, with the Westbrook trade (worst trade in franchise history) we basically lost our ability to trade our way into greatness and I think that was a factor in their decision making. I don't think you're wrong in your philosophy btw. There are huge disadvantages to losing season after season building a laughing stock of the league. So, there needs to be a plan, great execution, and a little bit of luck!
You have a bad team right now. Play the young guys, lose, pick up a top five pick and play to win next year and use your strategy. It makes no sense to play to win with the team currently.
Pretty much, this is what people just ignore. Outside of a few teams which are rare the vast majority of contenders are built around one or two guys you drafted, the rest are guys you sign and add around them. That's why the correct answer to me is to just play the young guys, you win with them leading the team, cool, you start to think about building around them. If you lose? Cool, you draft again.
