Of course he never directly talked about "tanking" and from what we know Rudy he never will. However, I listened to 950AM KPRC a few times and it sounds to me that Rudy is talking more and more about "progress", "development" etc. and less and less about "winning". In fact, what he is saying is essentially "we would love to win, but it is OK to lose as long as we make some progress and develop chemistry". Remember Rudy T is a very diplomatic guy. He used to openly defend and praise Matt Maloney even though he gave Matt virtually no playing time, even after Matt was released he said that he still thinks he is a very "capable" player and will play in the NBA again (yeah, right); another instance is that he always defended Pip, even after Pimple was traded he said that he talked to him and it was all "professional", to this date he never blamed Pip in public but I am sure he was pissed as hell. Anyway, when you hear Rudy talk you really have to figure out his "hidden line", I, for one, believe that his focus is more on the development or "jelling" of the team, and the way things look right now, I think we are heading to the lottery. I personally don't see anything wrong with this pholosophy. I mean, there are only 8 teams in the WC that can make the playoffs, LAL, Utah, Portland, SA are locked, Seattle, Phoenix and Sacramento are almost certain to be there, so there leaves one spot for Dever, Minnesota and us, and I think Minnesota, even though they have stumbled so far, has a more complete and "ready" team. I would love to see us winning, but realistically, I would rather be in the lottery than take the #9 spot in the Western Conference. Sometimes in order to deliver a powerful punch you have to hold back your fist first. Going into the lottery may not be as disgusting as some of you guys believe. And finally happy New Millennium to y'all! Sailor
