Agreed. I'd take a first round flameout over missing the playoffs this season. On a basic level, sports are meant to be entertainment. I want an entertaining season, with at least a chance to win in the playoffs. Fans who disagree are getting too tied up in the business side of things. Leave that stuff to the front office and just enjoy the ride, like a fan.
Exactly. I want to be a lotto team this year. It gives a chance to land a player through the lottery to help us in the future. No point in us getting to the playoffs because we WILL NOT be higher than the 6th seed, at best. And who do we get to face in the playoffs? Lakers, Spurs, Blazers or Nuggets. Thats a for sure first round exit. Whats the point in that? And we need to be thinking about our future considering this season is pretty much already a bust.
While what you say makes a lot of sense, I don't think you ever say "we're going to tank". That is a decision to be quietly made in the second half of the season. If you have a chance, you take the chance. Otherwise you waste your whole season, lose a lot of your casual fanbase, hurt player morale, and maybe even season ticket renewals, just to get a chance to get a good player who A. you might not get, or B. might not pan out. It's gambling.
What, so any season where you don't have a chance at winning it all, you tank? That's pathetic and I do not want to follow a Rockets team that's going to be lazy for a draft pick. You keep playing as hard as you can, with the pieces you have. And we definitely should not be talking about it in early August.
The word "tank" is completely overused and misleading here. Nobody is expecting the Rockets to go out and start point shaving and throwing games, the more important thing is whether or not management is going to make stop gap moves in order to salvage a shot at an 8th seed or build for the future. I would suggest the latter, and would imagine Morey would opt for it too, it's just a question of getting Leslie to accept quitting his two Brokeback Cowboy Franchise Players who have very obviously seen better days. The fact is the Rockets need a new cornerstone. They ain't going to get it by scrapping their way to 42-40.
ok I think ur missing the point here...we have absolutely NO CHANCE of making any noise in the playoffs....and it is a huge stretch to even make the playoffs for this current group of players on the Rockets roster. Even if we did make the playoffs by some sort of brilliant coaching and personnel moves, wat, we're going to grasp that glorious 7th or 8th seed in the West??? Just look at the West conference landscape right now, there is almost certainly no chance we can even make the playoffs much less winning more than 2 games even if we do get into the first round of the playoffs. With absolutely no chance of playoff success in sight, and even making the playoffs is a huge stretch, why not just tank? There is certainly beneficial aspects in sacrificing winning in this season for the greater long-term success in the future. While we "tank" and risk losing games, we get to develop players and have them get meaningful playtime so when our stars come back they will have a very good idea of how to play their game in the NBA and be more than ready to help out as roleplayers. For example Ariza, he can put much more emphasis onto his offensive game at the risk of making mistakes and thus creating turnovers and losing games as those mistakes accumulate throughout a game. However when Yao and Tmac comes back he will have improved alot having been able to hone his game without being afraid of losing. We also get a much better draft pick. The player-quality difference between the 10th pick and the 5th pick can be tremedous. If we're not going to make the playoffs, then wats the point of winning 30 games as opposed to 20 games?
even if you get a player like John Wall, CP3 or Brandon Roy you still have to wait for 2, 3 years till he develops to the player you want to have and then you still have to wait to trade a superstar or two besides him. What's the use?
There is no point in that. I'd much rather miss the playoffs and get the 7th pick than get booted out of the first round and get the 24th pick. In other words, I'll happily give up a first round sweep in order to move up 15 to 20 spots in the lottery, especially since we have Morey.
The beauty of Morey's talent is to draft talent way below the lottery. Adelman develops them later on. as long as we stay above .500. all that matters to me.
What? I'm sure if Morey was being honest, he would admit that he can do a hell of a lot more with a 5-10 pick than he can with a 20-25 pick. Does a certain player drafted by Portland ring a bell? I certain player that we missed by how many picks?
Indeed, what's the use of drafting a player who can only be part of a contender after a few years. Signed, Micheal Jordan, Lebron James, Shaq O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Isiah Thomas, Charles Barkley... Do I really need to go on?
What happens if there's no franchise player like John Wall available when we pick? Should we "tank" and take the worst player available? After all, why would we want a "good but not great" player that won't do anything but worsen our draft position for 2011...
That is a good point, but honestly how many of those players come around every so often? You can't hang your hat on a 19 year old kid living up to the expectations of a #1 pick or a foreign player becoming Yao Ming. It's difficult to get the next CP3, D Wade, Melo, or D Howard. You may end up with Olowakandi, Oden, Joe Smith, or Milicic. I'd love to get a player out of the 1st group but as we all know nothing is a guaranteed in the NBA.
"Tanking", however, by definition is basically throwing games intentionally and is not the same asgiving young people time to develop. It doesn't mean putting in people like Ariza or Brooks to play well and play hard and develop their skills (which is what we're going to do if we're not taking), it means sending in Barry or Cook for significant minutes. That's the definition of tanking, and thus would hurt our young player potential. Furthermore, the result would be an irritated locker room as no one likes losing (and I'd love to see you go up to Battier or Scola and tell them they need to lose intentionally), which combined with the fact that it would mean a loss of ticket sales, would not be a good move for the franchise. Furthermore, as I have argued elsewhere, making the playoffs would actually be good for attracting any major free agents if 2010 actually becomes something worthwhile. If we can make the playoffs without an elite superstar and heck, make a little noise, then it gives one of those free agent stars a reason to come play for Houston and actually have a supporting cast worth mentioning. Add the whole honor factor, and I do not tank. Besides, under your system, if you're not one of the eight teams that's going to win this season(Portland, Denver, LA, Dallas, SA, Boston, Cleveland, Orlando), then you other 21 teams should just quit and not even try and go for the draft pick. That would be the most pathetic NBA season ever.
You should ask yourself this question instead. When was the last time a non-lottery pick led his team to the championship? High lottery picks doesn't guarantee stars. Non-lottery picks guarantee non-stars.
You still don’t get it. If we “tank” that means we want the rights to draft the number 1 best prospect coming out of college or overseas. That means your team has a low morale, the free agents hitting the market do not want to join your team, and all chemistry is lost. Everyone wants to get Bosh but why would he pick to go from a non playoff team to another non playoff team with no hope of getting anywhere. These players want to get paid and if they leave their current teams at a pay cut, do you think they’d want a pay cut to be lottery bound or a broken up team? No. Yes, non-lottery picks help get their teams to a championship on a good team but #1 picks usually go to the worst team that take time to develop as a full roster and himself as a player. Chicago got very lucky last year and so did San Antonio in ’97. They had good teams with injured players, there is NO guarantee that we will be that lucky. None.
