League Circles wrote:MrSparkle wrote:League Circles wrote:I disagree, and would point out that you're leaving out Patrick for some reason, but that's besides the point. Neither team has any elite prospects, are thoroughly mediocre, and almost nobody ever reaches their ceiling. The point being that the "full rebuild" strategy ("tanking") is not supposed to work, and usually won't under the CBA rules. The only kinds of bad teams that are really projected to improve a lot are teams with a generational prospect like Wemba. Other than that, all the picks in the world don't really mean much. The Bulls aren't in a good spot at all, but neither is Houston, though they probably have more flexibility.
Sengun is a definitive future/perennial all star, barre some terrible injury (currently just a severe sprain). He’s a high-minute 22yo with a 22 PER.
Patrick’s not resigned at the moment. He’s also got worse numbers (after 4 years) than their 1-2 year prospects.
Furthermore, they’re 3 games above 500 with their best player sidelined, we’re 4 below with our best player active. We just happen to play in the much less competitive conference.
Tell Andre Drummond that putting up a big PER in big minutes for a meh team at a young age makes you a definite perennial all star. Hell, he's still putting up a 22 PER as a healthy 30 year old (and has damn near every year of his career), and he's a backup on a vet min deal. Sengun is a good prospect though and definitely has a chance to be an all star, but that's not really what I consider elite. I'm not trying to make some contentious point here: people just always have a grass is greener outlook when things aren't going well for their team. It makes it easier to cope with the disappointment if it can be easily blamed on allegedly simple alternative moves that their gm could have made that would have ensured a better situation. I just think the alternatives are often a wash.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/s/sengual01/gamelog/2024I mean, there’s no sensible reason to be black or white. Sengun and Drummond should not be mentioned in the same sentence, despite their PER. Sengun is a better player, with more skills, more minutes.
I’m not being emo or whiny. Factually, Houston’s prospects are much better than ours. Why does that make me wishing for green grass? I was Team AK to the max, but the net result is a botch job regardless of injuries. He had 1 unfortunate injury, about 3 great moves, a handful of god awful moves and a mounting pile of inconsequential, useless moves (such as making a PBev play-in run instead of tanking for Wemby). 1 playoff win in 4 seasons after acquiring a 4-year tank job with options.
Can’t we just be fair? His clock is ticking. Short of rigging the system and having some secret new Jokic plan in the Euroleague waiting for a sneaky pickup, there’s no tangible ammo for upgrading this roster. ATM we are literally faced with downgrades: paying an aging Demar more money, paying an unproductive #4 bust more money, paying your 22 PER 15 mpg backup C more money, drafting a bench ceiling role player in one of the worst drafts of the decade, being faced with trading the injured 25 PPG vet 2x star for a pack of Osco brand corn chips, and waiting for Terry, Phillips to average 1 3P make a game.
If he actually swings for a lot of moves this summer, I’m actually afraid it’ll be a repeat of last time where he gives up and sells low on some guys who were due for better performance after bad injury luck (Zach, Pat), prepares to overpay Demar, Caruso/Coby/Ayo on their extensions, and over-invests roster spots on raw bench prospects (Terry, Phillips, Bitim).
I’ve been on record- I actually like this current team. It’s just… not going to result in a deep playoff contender. It’s literally stupid expecting that to happen at this point, short of Coby/Ayo/Pat making historic jumps in their development. I mean, it happened to Lauri… so OK, there’s a chance. Problem is Lauri’s definition of struggling/low was better adv. statistical performance than Coby on a hot streak.
AK is playing checkers, and it’s fair to admit it. Could’ve worked out with less injuries, but tripling down on decisions is decidedly stupid- not bad luck. Houston is in much better shape. They made their own idiotic move trading CP and a bunch of unprotected picks for Westbrook, and they didn’t have great luck with their draft slots, but they demonstrated how to recover and develop talent.