2022/23 NBA REGULAR SEASON THREAD "TANKING FOR WEMBANYAMA"

it would be so much better for everyone involved if they just traded him but neither side will admit it, toxic relationship

i can see that a trade would be better for dame. but i can't see how turning the blazers into the washington generals for several seasons would be better "for everyone". the season ticket holders would probably disagree fairly strenuously.

hold on let me check the current standings

i thought they had a fun n scrappy roster what happened? billups already lost the locker room?

their roster just isn’t very good. their best bench players are gary payton ii, nasir little and shaedon sharpe but they also only have one borderline all star on their team. they’re top heavy without the top part even being that strong

yeah and tbf theyre just right there in the mess of the 5-12 seed madness get a little streak together and you're right back in there idk

i believe payton and little were both hurt for a stretch which was really bad for them… two weeks ago they lost to the raptors and their 5 players off the bench were sharpe, keon johnson, jabari walker, trendon walker and drew eubanks. their starters all played 39+ mins in that game but nurkic, hart and simons are not massive difference makers every night. they basically have half a covid roster except nobody has covid

they’re built like the bucks minus the part where they have giannis

going 38-44 every year because you’re afraid the season ticket holders will revolt (they won’t) is the absolute worst possible way to run a professional basketball franchise

i've been pretty pro dame sticking around in portland as i do think he has a really unique story there w/ the buzzer beaters and such, i wanted to see it work out. but it's hard to envision a scenario where they win a playoff series in the next 2-3 years and i'd wanna get off that contract before the salary number begins to start w/ a 5 or a 6. it just feels like things have run their course

i mentioned them mainly because they'd be such a conspicuous exception to "best for everyone". A ton of fans would revolt if they traded dame in order to tank this season, which is not the best possible way to run a professional basketball franchise. fans provide the mother's milk for a franchise. they are the eyeballs for tv advertisers, the gate for home games, and the ones who buy the overpriced merchandise.

someone is about the pay $3.5 billion for the franchise whether or not the Dave from Dave’s Chrysler renews his luxury box, and no matter how many damian lillard jerseys get sold. being bad for a couple years is, notably, how teams become good. The blazers were bad the year before they drafted Damian, would it have been better had they been 7th in the west and lost 4-1 in the first round that year? I just feel like you have a deeply short term view of these things whenever it gets brought up. The worst situation for an NBA team is to be mired in mediocrity, and this is widely known!

and fans can “revolt” however much they want to (what does this mean? they stop watching? I’ve stopped watching this year, the team is wack as hell), but their eyeballs and dollars will be right back on the team the very moment any single tiny good thing happens. That’s what fandom is!

whats their draft pick situation for the next few years, do they have them?

i think there was a legitimate argument to be made in favor of the blazers keeping dame and being merely pretty good when there is a very real chance that the alternative path is being a team like the wolves, magic, or kings who go into the wilderness and don't come out for an entire decade. but the blazers are 125-149 the last three seasons plus this year. the "be pretty good" argument just isn't there. they're a bottom 10 team as is

they have all their own first round picks excepting a 15-30 owed to the bulls whenever they end up 15-30. Second round picks are a mess, as usual

aimless i would keep in mind that nowadays there's so many other entertainment options that merely having one star player on a mediocre basketball team doesn't hold the appeal it did when the other things competing for your kid's attention were like "home improvement" and the local bowling alley. it's a different world now

someone is about the pay $3.5 billion for the franchise whether or not the Dave from Dave’s Chrysler renews his luxury box

somehow this kind of argument seems beside the point of whether trading dame and tanking asap is best for everyone. sure is nice for the owner, tho.

The worst situation for an NBA team is to be mired in mediocrity, and this is widely known!

Yes, but tanking is not the royal road to excellence. it just gets you access to a top three, or top five, or top seven draft pick, depending on how deep you were able to dive into that tank -- and this season the blazers have already spotted a considerable lead to the earnestly tanking teams.

The blazers were bad the year before they drafted Damian

yup. dame was a six pick. getting a HOF player at six is hardly a surefire plan for being not bad.

dame is on a franchise killing contract that wont be tradable for much longer is the prob most relevant single issue here

that contract is gonna be the most toxic asset in the league in a few years, just a monstrous situation

really no teams should trade for it now but they would they cant resist

i would resist. but thats why i'm not running teams

some teams can resist but there are a lot of teams

if he legitimately put the acquiring team over the top and won a title you'd prob happily eat the end of that contract but it's pretty hard to find that fit. maybe philly? miami? dallas?

miami is a long way from being a dame-sized piece away. dallas just seems like a bad fit with luka. philly would be interesting, they seem like the sort of put up or shut up franchise that should be willing to take a swing, but then again they’re playing pretty well right now and I’m not sure what their package would look like

philly was dying to get dame a couple years ago when he was playing chicken with the blazers (both sides lost in this game)

the master weighs in

I like the Lakers trade for Rui Hachimura. He’s long, athletic, and smart but has to get more aggressive on both ends of the court.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) January 23, 2023

honestly seems like a fair assessment

hes def long

feel like the philly thing doesn’t really make sense bcuz a harden-dame backcourt is prob too flawed to put you over the top. and you’d have to assume maxey is in the trade and a maxey, simons, sharpe core feels like creating a new set of problems. and philly is already down two firsts for harden. feel like maybe this offseason is like the final showdown on this matter if the blazers crap out once other teams see where they’re at

important lesson here is to always trade yr guys when their value is topped out and also not give them $121 million in their year 36 and 37 seasons instead

i can understand not wanting to trade yr guys but that contract was just unnecessary

similar sitch with beal tho in that case they really did need to just trade him

instead of giving a guy that much money on the books they should just write a nice check and in the memo line put "buzzer beaters"

at least dame accomplished stuff in portland and even more to the point is actually a really fun player to root for. the wizards were paying for… i have no idea really. seems like they were almost being stubborn more than anything… “oh you think we should trade this guy do ya? huh? well how about we max extend him and give him a no trade clause? then what?”

i can’t remember the sources now but i do feel like i’ve heard stuff on various podcasts & such about dame and his agent using the power vacuum in portland after paul allen died to… um… assert their voice w/in the organization, perhaps leading directly to the 2 year $120 million extension tacked onto his existing contract. so i think if you were gonna make the argument for portland not viewing dame thru rose colored lenses, you’d point to that as well

alert jonathan isaac is playing tonight

orlando’s announcers referred to isaac as the minister of defense. made me chuckle.

This is a brutal loss for the Timberwolves

— Jimmy (@_JimmyMcCormick) January 24, 2023

jalen green went off

Kings went 12/13 from 3 in the first q vs the Grizz just now. Harrison hit 8 I think lol

variance can be a bitch

Ok Harrison and Murray hit 8 combined

some of these teams should consider winning some games

Seeds 5-13 in the West all have 23, 24, or 25 losses.

— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) January 24, 2023

cant believe the kings are above the fray

salute to them

the beam rises above

Just got to New Orleans today for a little vacation, sitting at a bar watching the Nugs/Pels, life is good

Sweet, gonna be able to catch a pels game live?

love new orleans amazing place