Posted by TMS:
let me just preface my last comment by saying if this trade gets us into the playoffs, then i certainly won't be unhappy about it... just hope it doesn't land us in the worst possible position, which is no playoffs & a worse lottery pick, especially when neither of these guys are likely to factor into our longterm future plans anyway.
That's it in a nutshell right there. Face value, they're very good trades for capable reinforcements that don't impact the 2010 plan. So yeah, Donnie and co. did a good job and should be commended. Personally, I just don't get the facination of trying to win this year. I mean whatever you think you need to say to your devoted fanbase, then do what you gotta do to improve this team's outlook the best way possible - to me, that's immediately through the draft. I don't agree with what they did really, I don't agree with the philosophy of trying to win now, but whatever - Donnie and co. obviously do, so that's that. I've been arguing that these aren't the type of moves we need to be making. TMS is right, what if we just miss the playoffs now or even if we get in, get bounced by Boston in a best-of-5. Now possibly our draft pick went from 5-8 (the range I desperately wanted us to end up drafting at provided we shut it down for these last 29 games) to the 13-15 range. Bottom line is end result, we're not getting as good a player. Right now the draft is the most useful avenue for them to try and get better. I would've looked to put all my eggs in the draft basket at this point. Instead, they're thinking playoffs... God-willing, everything works out in the end and we get a team we can really be proud of in a few years.
