Will Masai Tank 4 Flagg?

[PushDaRock]

24/25 Roster:

Guaranteed Salaries
RJ Barrett
Bruce Brown - TO
Jakob Poeltl
Kelly Olynyk
Chris Boucher
Scottie Barnes
Gradey Dick
Jalen McDaniels
Ochai Agbaji
Javon Freeman-Liberty
D.J. Carton - Two Way
Mouhamadou Gueye - Two Way
Pick 19
Pick 31

Free Agents
Immanuel Quickley - RFA
Gary Trent Jr. - UFA
Jordan Nwora - UFA
Malik Williams - UFA
Garrett Temple - UFA

Let's say that both Quickley and Temple are back that puts at 14 roster spots. Going into 24/25 season. Brown could be traded for a player and a future pick. It's really hard for me to see this group be good enough as they are constructed. Seems like a 10-12 seeded team in the East. The team needs more shooting, more guard play and vertical spacing. So anyone thinking that this roster should be a Play-In team or even a low seed playoff team next year is out to lunch. They need so much more to get to that point.

As constructed, most likely you're looking at a team that is contending for the 10 spot to get in the play-in, but you're more looking at internal improvement from the core young players rather than records. If they end up not in the play-in but getting a top 10 pick to add to an improved Scottie, RJ, IQ and Gradey, you're happy with that result.

Pretty much what my expectations are for next year. If the team isn't close to being competitive guys with have extended rest days to help our draft positioning.

yeah a pseudo tank is definitely in the cards if we aren't in play-in contention at some point.

[Merit]

They would have to trade Poeltl.

-start Olynyk, defense becomes terrible

-stay on development path with minutes for Dick, Agbaji, #19, #31

IQ/RJ/Barnes aren’t good enough to carry the team above. I’m not even sure IQ or Barrett ever top out above good role player. There’s a good chance Barnes tops out at 2nd option level.

What probably should be done: see how Barnes/IQ/Barrett look for the first 20 games. If 2 of them have made a leap then stay the course. If it looks like they’ve improved (but not enough to carry this team) then pull the plug early (trade Poeltl, the only thing holding the defense together) and flip to tank mode.

Give Barnes and IQ a chance to prove themselves early in the season but pull the rip cord if it’s not going well.

And that’s what I mean by stealth tank. If we’re killing it developmentally and we hit two home runs in the draft, then of course we try and win.

Brown and Boucher and McDaniels are all salary cap and trade fodder. I’d like to see us get some 2025 picks for our trouble. The spurs could definitely use Bruce. The thunder could definitely use Jak. I, like you, am willing to punt next season if it means we develop our guys and grow. All I want to see is us being too good to tank towards the end of the season as we start to gel.

Doesn’t this defeat the entire purpose of tanking?

No. Because at the end of the season there are always phantom injuries.

What it means to me is that we pivoted mid-season and in spite of the pivot have come together as a team. I’m having, eating and enjoying my cake.

[PhilBlackson]

I find it funny when people say Masai won't tank, when he's tanked in two of the last four seasons, and one of those tanks landed us Scottie.

If the team is out of it by the deadline, he likely does what he did this year.

The draft lottery didn't work out for them this year, but maybe it does next year. Can't really control those lottery balls, especially with the flattened odds. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That's what happens when you rely on luck.

I'm not convinced he tanked this season...

Our best player got injured (Scottie) & then our best defender got injured (Yak) -- that alone made us one of the worst teams just by the numbers. But then there was unforeseen personal tragedies for both RJ & IQ that had them out. Now if we have some very "loosely defined injuries" next year as they did ONCE for Scottie that keep in mind MOST IMPORTANTLY happened during Covid when MLSE COULDN'T profit on the season NOT BY THEIR OWN CHOICE. The franchise literally had nothing to lose.

The team already seen some impact on a once consistently sold out arena, I have major doubt that they'll allow the ticket sales to continue to dwindle, this isn't a Covid year playing in Disney. I sure as hell hope though that they will pull the plug if there's any struggles but I think they'll do the opposite when these guys have a training camp this year and will show some inkling of hope AS THEY DID in the brief time they all played together. I'm not saying they'll come out looking like a Playoff team but I don't see Masai & Co having the balls to pull the plug on the season unless we happen to again be in the bottom 6 BUT that took an extreme scenario where we had 2 major mid season trades (ONE is tough on a team) PLUS missing our entire starting lineup just to be there AND all of ATL, CHI, BKN and maaaaybe even MIA (Jimmy & RIley aren't seeing eye to eye) may be worse next season. I could easily see Trae being traded, DeMar walking away to try & join a winning team, BKN is losing their anchor (Claxton) who was even better than Yak, so what do you think will happen to them?! And again Riley was extremely critical of both Jimmy & Herro. You can claim it's "motivation" but he's already shopped Herro plenty of times and Jimmy's not the dude to publicly tell to shut up. Don't think that Riley doesn't see the talent in next year's draft either. It will be an interesting off-season....

[Jadoogar]

On what planet is 6th year Barrett, 4th year Barnes and 5th year IQ rookies? People are pretending our core are bunch of 19 year olds and not 2 years from all being Vets

that's just three guys. If the rest of the team is Gradey Dicks and Agbajis, that's going to be a horrible team. Scottie isn't good enough to lift a gleague roster. With Poeltl and Kelly, it gets a little harder since these guys are solid vets but even then, i don't think we're too far off. If Poeltl misses a few weeks, the team will plummet because we don't have any sort of replacement for him.

Are you not expecting improvement from all 3 of them? Scottie, RJ and IQ would have to be having incredibly disappointing seasons if they're all healthy and we are winning under 20 games no matter how horrific the rest of the roster is. There isn't a world where those 3 exceed expectations and we suck this badly.

Even if they didn't improve at all, if you take the Toronto numbers from RJ and IQ, they averaged 22 and 19 ppg while Scottie was at 20 a game. That's 61 ppg on slightly above efficiency between them. You would need McDaniels level production from the rest of the roster to lose that many games.

Scottie played really well last year too. Plus we had Siakam and OG. The team was still garbage.

[PushDaRock]

that's just three guys. If the rest of the team is Gradey Dicks and Agbajis, that's going to be a horrible team. Scottie isn't good enough to lift a gleague roster. With Poeltl and Kelly, it gets a little harder since these guys are solid vets but even then, i don't think we're too far off. If Poeltl misses a few weeks, the team will plummet because we don't have any sort of replacement for him.

Are you not expecting improvement from all 3 of them? Scottie, RJ and IQ would have to be having incredibly disappointing seasons if they're all healthy and we are winning under 20 games no matter how horrific the rest of the roster is. There isn't a world where those 3 exceed expectations and we suck this badly.

Even if they didn't improve at all, if you take the Toronto numbers from RJ and IQ, they averaged 22 and 19 ppg while Scottie was at 20 a game. That's 61 ppg on slightly above efficiency between them. You would need McDaniels level production from the rest of the roster to lose that many games.

Scottie played really well last year too. Plus we had Siakam and OG. The team was still garbage.

The Raptors record with OG this season was 11-16 and with Siakam it was 15-24. The team was still bad with those guys but it wasn't tanking for sub 20 wins bad which is the whole point to what I'm saying.

[OakleyDokely]

I find it funny when people say Masai won't tank, when he's tanked in two of the last four seasons, and one of those tanks landed us Scottie.

If the team is out of it by the deadline, he likely does what he did this year.

The draft lottery didn't work out for them this year, but maybe it does next year. Can't really control those lottery balls, especially with the flattened odds. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That's what happens when you rely on luck.

I'm not convinced he tanked this season...

Our best player got injured (Scottie) & then our best defender got injured (Yak) -- that alone made us one of the worst teams just by the numbers. But then there was unforeseen personal tragedies for both RJ & IQ that had them out. Now if we have some very "loosely defined injuries" next year as they did ONCE for Scottie that keep in mind MOST IMPORTANTLY happened during Covid when MLSE COULDN'T profit on the season NOT BY THEIR OWN CHOICE. The franchise literally had nothing to lose.

The team already seen some impact on a once consistently sold out arena, I have major doubt that they'll allow the ticket sales to continue to dwindle, this isn't a Covid year playing in Disney. I sure as hell hope though that they will pull the plug if there's any struggles but I think they'll do the opposite when these guys have a training camp this year and will show some inkling of hope AS THEY DID in the brief time they all played together. I'm not saying they'll come out looking like a Playoff team but I don't see Masai & Co having the balls to pull the plug on the season unless we happen to again be in the bottom 6 BUT that took an extreme scenario where we had 2 major mid season trades (ONE is tough on a team) PLUS missing our entire starting lineup just to be there AND all of ATL, CHI, BKN and maaaaybe even MIA (Jimmy & RIley aren't seeing eye to eye) may be worse next season. I could easily see Trae being traded, DeMar walking away to try & join a winning team, BKN is losing their anchor (Claxton) who was even better than Yak, so what do you think will happen to them?! And again Riley was extremely critical of both Jimmy & Herro. You can claim it's "motivation" but he's already shopped Herro plenty of times and Jimmy's not the dude to publicly tell to shut up. Don't think that Riley doesn't see the talent in next year's draft either. It will be an interesting off-season....

This is what tanking looks like now though. Teams trade core players at the deadline, they stretch out injuries, they give players more rest, which is exactly what the Raps did for the last 1/3 of the season.

Very few teams purposely build bad teams from the start of the season. Maybe only the Wizards expected to be really bad this season. Even a team like the Pistons expected to compete for the play-in. Most teams play it out, see how the season goes early and then adjust to the circumstances by the deadline.

[bballsparkin]

Sell hope to start the season; sell seats. Pivot to tank if/when things don't go well. Push the youth movement and development. I'd be okay using the cap space to take on a unwanted contract with reasonably short term for picks. Hopefully secure a top 10 pick in the 2025 draft. I'd be happy with lucky 7. I'm holding y'all accountable who assured me next year's draft is it.

I don't think they will ever outright tank purposefully. Plus, it would be hard to read all the criticism of Darko without people considering the context he's working in.

[Chandan]

I find it funny when people say Masai won't tank, when he's tanked in two of the last four seasons, and one of those tanks landed us Scottie.

If the team is out of it by the deadline, he likely does what he did this year.

The draft lottery didn't work out for them this year, but maybe it does next year. Can't really control those lottery balls, especially with the flattened odds. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That's what happens when you rely on luck.

I'm not convinced he tanked this season...

Our best player got injured (Scottie) & then our best defender got injured (Yak) -- that alone made us one of the worst teams just by the numbers. But then there was unforeseen personal tragedies for both RJ & IQ that had them out. Now if we have some very "loosely defined injuries" next year as they did ONCE for Scottie that keep in mind MOST IMPORTANTLY happened during Covid when MLSE COULDN'T profit on the season NOT BY THEIR OWN CHOICE. The franchise literally had nothing to lose.

And then somehow the anti-tank argument was "we were never going to outtank the bottom 3"
"we never had a chance at wemby in the first place". Yeah no **** sherlock.
The other organizations planned their timeline on landing that once in a generation player. While we always half assed-ly pivot around in response to bad occurrences in shortsighted-ness.

[OakleyDokely]

I find it funny when people say Masai won't tank, when he's tanked in two of the last four seasons, and one of those tanks landed us Scottie.

If the team is out of it by the deadline, he likely does what he did this year.

The draft lottery didn't work out for them this year, but maybe it does next year. Can't really control those lottery balls, especially with the flattened odds. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. That's what happens when you rely on luck.

I'm not convinced he tanked this season...

Our best player got injured (Scottie) & then our best defender got injured (Yak) -- that alone made us one of the worst teams just by the numbers. But then there was unforeseen personal tragedies for both RJ & IQ that had them out. Now if we have some very "loosely defined injuries" next year as they did ONCE for Scottie that keep in mind MOST IMPORTANTLY happened during Covid when MLSE COULDN'T profit on the season NOT BY THEIR OWN CHOICE. The franchise literally had nothing to lose.

And then somehow the anti-tank argument was "we were never going to outtank the bottom 3"
"we never had a chance at wemby in the first place". Yeah no **** sherlock.
The other organizations planned their timeline on landing that once in a generation player. While we always half assed-ly pivot around in response to bad occurrences in shortsighted-ness.

Only 1 team gets Wemby though. You can plan on being the worst team in the league (like the Pistons did) and still lose out. 13 out of 14 lottery teams lost out.

[Clutch0z24]

I'm not convinced he tanked this season...

Our best player got injured (Scottie) & then our best defender got injured (Yak) -- that alone made us one of the worst teams just by the numbers. But then there was unforeseen personal tragedies for both RJ & IQ that had them out. Now if we have some very "loosely defined injuries" next year as they did ONCE for Scottie that keep in mind MOST IMPORTANTLY happened during Covid when MLSE COULDN'T profit on the season NOT BY THEIR OWN CHOICE. The franchise literally had nothing to lose.

And then somehow the anti-tank argument was "we were never going to outtank the bottom 3"
"we never had a chance at wemby in the first place". Yeah no **** sherlock.
The other organizations planned their timeline on landing that once in a generation player. While we always half assed-ly pivot around in response to bad occurrences in shortsighted-ness.

Only 1 team gets Wemby though. You can plan on being the worst team in the league (like the Pistons did) and still lose out. 13 out of 14 lottery teams lost out.

I hate this logic behind not attempting it though....Spurs did everything in their power to get Wemby....Even 2 years before he was drafted we seen the Spurs making moves towards being a bad team the year Wemby would be drafted....They at least put themselves in the position to get a once in a lifetime player...And the only reason they did that was because there was a once and lifetime player in the class and they knew that...

Sure they could have done all that preparation to get Wemby and still lost the sweepstakes but at least they gave themselves a shot at it...And sometimes all you need is a shot and it could work out for you...And then your franchise is changed for the forseeable future ...

It would be like arguing...Every year there are lottery tickets with different amounts of money each year...Only 14 people in the entire world get to enter themselves in this lottery for said amount of money...Some years its 1 Million some years its 20 billion....When the 20 billion one comes along you say "ah screw it, I won't enter the Lottery because i lost the previous ones when it was at 1 million so i will lose again" ....Thats just poor logic to me...Its not like the Lottery is full of teams...Its just 14 teams and if you give yourself top 5 odds theres a very high possibilty that number 1 team could be you....Just like it could be you if your competeing against 14 people for 20 billion...I know everyone would take their chance at it without hesitation so why can't we as a franchise take a chance on a really good draft class to try and get a franchise changing talent?

[OakleyDokely]

And then somehow the anti-tank argument was "we were never going to outtank the bottom 3"
"we never had a chance at wemby in the first place". Yeah no **** sherlock.
The other organizations planned their timeline on landing that once in a generation player. While we always half assed-ly pivot around in response to bad occurrences in shortsighted-ness.

Only 1 team gets Wemby though. You can plan on being the worst team in the league (like the Pistons did) and still lose out. 13 out of 14 lottery teams lost out.

I hate this logic behind not attempting it though....Spurs did everything in their power to get Wemby....Even 2 years before he was drafted we seen the Spurs making moves towards being a bad team the year Wemby would be drafted....They at least put themselves in the position to get a once in a lifetime player...And the only reason they did that was because there was a once and lifetime player in the class and they knew that...

Sure they could have done all that preparation to get Wemby and still lost the sweepstakes but at least they gave themselves a shot at it...And sometimes all you need is a shot and it could work out for you...And then your franchise is changed for the forseeable future ...

It would be like arguing...Every year there are lottery tickets with different amount of money each year...Only 14 people in the entire world get to enter themselves in this lottery for said amount of money...Some years its 1 Million some years its 20 billion....When the 20 billion one comes along you say "ah screw it, I won't enter the Lottery because i lost the previous ones when it was at 1 million so i will lose again" ....Thats just poor logic to me...Its not like the Lottery is full of teams...Its just 14 teams and if you give yourself top 5 odds theres a very high possibilty that number 1 team could be you....Just like it could be you if your competeing against 14 people for 20 billion...I know everyone would take their chance at it without hesitation so why can't we as a franchise take a chance on a really good draft class to try and get a franchise changing talent?

The Spurs got lucky. Congrats to them. But you can't plan around luck. They could have easily drafted 5th like the Pistons. Tanking for Thompson doesn't have the same impact.

[Clutch0z24]

Only 1 team gets Wemby though. You can plan on being the worst team in the league (like the Pistons did) and still lose out. 13 out of 14 lottery teams lost out.

I hate this logic behind not attempting it though....Spurs did everything in their power to get Wemby....Even 2 years before he was drafted we seen the Spurs making moves towards being a bad team the year Wemby would be drafted....They at least put themselves in the position to get a once in a lifetime player...And the only reason they did that was because there was a once and lifetime player in the class and they knew that...

Sure they could have done all that preparation to get Wemby and still lost the sweepstakes but at least they gave themselves a shot at it...And sometimes all you need is a shot and it could work out for you...And then your franchise is changed for the forseeable future ...

It would be like arguing...Every year there are lottery tickets with different amount of money each year...Only 14 people in the entire world get to enter themselves in this lottery for said amount of money...Some years its 1 Million some years its 20 billion....When the 20 billion one comes along you say "ah screw it, I won't enter the Lottery because i lost the previous ones when it was at 1 million so i will lose again" ....Thats just poor logic to me...Its not like the Lottery is full of teams...Its just 14 teams and if you give yourself top 5 odds theres a very high possibilty that number 1 team could be you....Just like it could be you if your competeing against 14 people for 20 billion...I know everyone would take their chance at it without hesitation so why can't we as a franchise take a chance on a really good draft class to try and get a franchise changing talent?

The Spurs got lucky. Congrats to them. But you can't plan around luck. They could have easily drafted 5th like the Pistons. Tank for Thompson doesn't have the same impact.

Did they really get lucky though? They were legit preparing to go after Wemby for 2 years prior....Thats more like seeing something coming that they want and doing the right steps towards getting what they want....Yeah luck plays a part...But like i said if you give yourself top 5 odds against just 14 teams ...The chances of you actually being the one team to luck out (Just like the Spurs) are still pretty good...

Its not like your going to compete against millions of different teams...Its a small pool ....So giving yourself a shot especially when there are game changing talent like Flagg/Bailey and many others in next years draft would be logical thing to strive for...Especially for a team like us who lack talent badly.

[OakleyDokely]

I hate this logic behind not attempting it though....Spurs did everything in their power to get Wemby....Even 2 years before he was drafted we seen the Spurs making moves towards being a bad team the year Wemby would be drafted....They at least put themselves in the position to get a once in a lifetime player...And the only reason they did that was because there was a once and lifetime player in the class and they knew that...

Sure they could have done all that preparation to get Wemby and still lost the sweepstakes but at least they gave themselves a shot at it...And sometimes all you need is a shot and it could work out for you...And then your franchise is changed for the forseeable future ...

It would be like arguing...Every year there are lottery tickets with different amount of money each year...Only 14 people in the entire world get to enter themselves in this lottery for said amount of money...Some years its 1 Million some years its 20 billion....When the 20 billion one comes along you say "ah screw it, I won't enter the Lottery because i lost the previous ones when it was at 1 million so i will lose again" ....Thats just poor logic to me...Its not like the Lottery is full of teams...Its just 14 teams and if you give yourself top 5 odds theres a very high possibilty that number 1 team could be you....Just like it could be you if your competeing against 14 people for 20 billion...I know everyone would take their chance at it without hesitation so why can't we as a franchise take a chance on a really good draft class to try and get a franchise changing talent?

The Spurs got lucky. Congrats to them. But you can't plan around luck. They could have easily drafted 5th like the Pistons. Tank for Thompson doesn't have the same impact.

Did they really get lucky though? They were legit preparing to go after Wemby for 2 years prior....Thats more like seeing something coming that they want and doing the right steps towards getting what they want....Yeah luck plays a part...But like i said if you give yourself top 5 odds against just 14 teams ...The chances of you actually being the one team to luck out (Just like the Spurs) are still pretty good...

Its not like your going to compete against millions of different teams...Its a small pool ....So giving yourself a shot especially when there are game changing talent like Flagg/Bailey and many others in next years draft would be logical thing to strive for...Especially for a team like us who lack talent badly.

the whole concept of a lottery is based on luck.

They had a 86% chance of NOT getting Wemby.

Yes, they got lucky.

You're focusing on one team and completely disregarding the 13 other teams that didn't get him.

[mihaic]

I hate this logic behind not attempting it though....Spurs did everything in their power to get Wemby....Even 2 years before he was drafted we seen the Spurs making moves towards being a bad team the year Wemby would be drafted....They at least put themselves in the position to get a once in a lifetime player...And the only reason they did that was because there was a once and lifetime player in the class and they knew that...

Sure they could have done all that preparation to get Wemby and still lost the sweepstakes but at least they gave themselves a shot at it...And sometimes all you need is a shot and it could work out for you...And then your franchise is changed for the forseeable future ...

It would be like arguing...Every year there are lottery tickets with different amount of money each year...Only 14 people in the entire world get to enter themselves in this lottery for said amount of money...Some years its 1 Million some years its 20 billion....When the 20 billion one comes along you say "ah screw it, I won't enter the Lottery because i lost the previous ones when it was at 1 million so i will lose again" ....Thats just poor logic to me...Its not like the Lottery is full of teams...Its just 14 teams and if you give yourself top 5 odds theres a very high possibilty that number 1 team could be you....Just like it could be you if your competeing against 14 people for 20 billion...I know everyone would take their chance at it without hesitation so why can't we as a franchise take a chance on a really good draft class to try and get a franchise changing talent?

The Spurs got lucky. Congrats to them. But you can't plan around luck. They could have easily drafted 5th like the Pistons. Tank for Thompson doesn't have the same impact.

Did they really get lucky though? They were legit preparing to go after Wemby for 2 years prior....Thats more like seeing something coming that they want and doing the right steps towards getting what they want....Yeah luck plays a part...But like i said if you give yourself top 5 odds against just 14 teams ...The chances of you actually being the one team to luck out (Just like the Spurs) are still pretty good...

Its not like your going to compete against millions of different teams...Its a small pool ....So giving yourself a shot especially when there are game changing talent like Flagg/Bailey and many others in next years draft would be logical thing to strive for...Especially for a team like us who lack talent badly.

Detroit took the exact same steps, where are they now?
In short, hitting 10-15% odds is lucky.

[Jcity08]

Spurs gave themselves a serious chance to get their cornerstone star for the next decade & a half. If they failed they could at least they did their due diligence in trying to go after Wemby. Lucky for them history will look at their tanking efforts kindly.

[Chandan]

The Spurs got lucky. Congrats to them. But you can't plan around luck. They could have easily drafted 5th like the Pistons. Tank for Thompson doesn't have the same impact.

Did they really get lucky though? They were legit preparing to go after Wemby for 2 years prior....Thats more like seeing something coming that they want and doing the right steps towards getting what they want....Yeah luck plays a part...But like i said if you give yourself top 5 odds against just 14 teams ...The chances of you actually being the one team to luck out (Just like the Spurs) are still pretty good...

Its not like your going to compete against millions of different teams...Its a small pool ....So giving yourself a shot especially when there are game changing talent like Flagg/Bailey and many others in next years draft would be logical thing to strive for...Especially for a team like us who lack talent badly.

Detroit took the exact same steps, where are they now?
In short, hitting 10-15% odds is lucky.

I bet you guys put all your money into a savings account to collect interest instead of making investments.

[mihaic]

Did they really get lucky though? They were legit preparing to go after Wemby for 2 years prior....Thats more like seeing something coming that they want and doing the right steps towards getting what they want....Yeah luck plays a part...But like i said if you give yourself top 5 odds against just 14 teams ...The chances of you actually being the one team to luck out (Just like the Spurs) are still pretty good...

Its not like your going to compete against millions of different teams...Its a small pool ....So giving yourself a shot especially when there are game changing talent like Flagg/Bailey and many others in next years draft would be logical thing to strive for...Especially for a team like us who lack talent badly.

Detroit took the exact same steps, where are they now?
In short, hitting 10-15% odds is lucky.

I bet you guys put all your money into a savings account to collect interest instead of making investments.

You would put all your money in something that has 15% success? Might as well go to the Casino put it on roulette.

Edit: you disagree with my post, that said 10%-15% is lucky? If not why did you quote my post?

[Chandan]

Detroit took the exact same steps, where are they now?
In short, hitting 10-15% odds is lucky.

I bet you guys put all your money into a savings account to collect interest instead of making investments.

You would put all your money in something that has 15% success? Might as well go to the Casino put it on roulette.

Why dont you? it's close to 50% chance black and red. In your simplistic world those are the only 2 colors and no other factors exist. It's not going to get better than that.
With investing you study the market and look at your capital. How much can you afford to lose. Do you even have much to lose. And what are the payoffs.

Even if I didn't buy Nvidia (wemby) I was happy buying AMD (Brandon Miller)

[Clutch0z24]

The Spurs got lucky. Congrats to them. But you can't plan around luck. They could have easily drafted 5th like the Pistons. Tank for Thompson doesn't have the same impact.

Did they really get lucky though? They were legit preparing to go after Wemby for 2 years prior....Thats more like seeing something coming that they want and doing the right steps towards getting what they want....Yeah luck plays a part...But like i said if you give yourself top 5 odds against just 14 teams ...The chances of you actually being the one team to luck out (Just like the Spurs) are still pretty good...

Its not like your going to compete against millions of different teams...Its a small pool ....So giving yourself a shot especially when there are game changing talent like Flagg/Bailey and many others in next years draft would be logical thing to strive for...Especially for a team like us who lack talent badly.

the whole concept of a lottery is based on luck.

They had a 86% chance of NOT getting Wemby.

Yes, they got lucky.

You're focusing on one team and completely disregarding the 13 other teams that didn't get him.

This may be a bit to read but follow along if you want..

30 people are in a pool for a lottery...1st place wins 20 Billion, 2nd wins 10 Billion, 3rd wins 5 Billion and so on....

Out of the 30 people in this Lottery 7 of them are multi billionaires (Playoff Contenders) 7 of them are Billionaires (The playoff mid teams) 4 of them are Multi Millionaires (The play in teams) 5 of them are Millionaires (Teams hovering around playins) 5 of them are making 500k (Teams bottoming out)

To win the lottery or give yourself the highest odds you have to quit your job for the year lose out on your yearly salary, You get lets say 50k for the year to spend in total and whoever spends the least of that 50k when the year is up has the highest odds in the Lottery for the 20 billion.

Obviously the Multi billionaires would not risk giving up their money because they make over 20 Billion already, Obviously the Billionaires would not do it because they make a little bit over 20 Billion in the year already, The multi Millionaires might have incentive but they are close to becoming billionaires.

Now we are in the Millionaires/500k Club currently....If you are in their shoes would you yourself give up the salary you make for the year and live on a budget for the chance at life changing money for yourself? Even if you don't get the top prize you still could walk away with 10 Billion, or 5 Billion and even being in the lottery itself would be better for you than where you would be at working the year for your wage...

Now what are the downsides of putting yourself in the lottery to hopefully get 20 billion? Pretty much no downside besides living on a budget for the year.

Same with giving yourself the best lottery odds in the draft...Its something worth trying to win the big prize or even 2nd,3rd hell id even say top 7 in this up coming draft because there could be billions on the line just having that pick...

Theres no downside for us and more upside for us going for it this year...

[will]

More likely Masai waits way too long to make a trade, then end up with peanuts.