ESOMKnicks wrote:TPercy wrote:
There is more than 1 route to an NBA championship. It is possible to build slowly through draft/FA/trades and still assemble a championship level team. The Nets didn’t get their roster from tanking. Neither did Utah. Neither did that Toronto team that won 2 years ago. Mitch was a second round pick. IQ is a late first round pick. You can still get quality talent in the draft no matter the stage( especially this one if you’ve been following) it just comes down to good scouting. I want a guy like Cade as much as the next guy but the mere thought of being a laughing stock for the 5th season in a row just so that we can end up with the 6th pick is sickening. The rules have changed recently as well to discourage tanking making it even more likelier we continue to get screwed. Count me out of that.
The Nets had traded away all their picks, so their only way was to be patient and make a big splash in free agency, in which they succeeded. The fact that they made several smart player selections and developed the likes of Allen, Caris, Dinwiddie and Joe Harris was an added bonus. It so happens that they are already stacked and out of picks for the upcoming generational draft. If they fail to win a championship this year or next, they will once again be laughed at for mortgaging away their future over starphuking.
Utah hit the jackpot with Donovan. If RJ becomes like Donovan and Randle keeps up his current level of play for another 3 years, then yeah, we will be as good as Utah. But are they a contender?
Toronto is a nice case, but feels like a bit of a fluke how they got the league's best player for a single-season rental to win the trophy. But if our current level of play gets us Kawhi as an FA this coming offseason, then yeah, I will be the first one to admit that our current strategy has been the best one and Cade be damned.
Yes, no sure fire formula. As recent champions you have your Lebron and friends Heat/Cavs/Lakers and the more slow build Warriors and Raptors although there are a KD and Kahwi involved. Copycat Lebroners like the Clippers and Nets TBD (and yes the Nets get a lot of credit for getting and developing other valuable pieces on the fly). The more traditional built Bucks, Celtics, Jazz etc. to varying degrees are in the hunt (or falling away). Then you have the Tank poster boy 76ers (other perpetual tankers Timberwolves, Kings, OKC and on not in the conversation).
I'm not giving any deep analysis here, just going off the top of my head, but getting to the point of what is the template? I like the way we're doing it. The super friends concept seems to have worked (so far) only if one of them is Lebron. If the best tanking can show is Philly and a bunch of perpetual losers then that isn't for me. So you want draft picks and to use them at a maximum as much as possible and hopefully develop them. Smart FA signings and perhaps eventually a big fish. What this all says to me is that putting the organization first is the way to go. That seems to have been Rose's priority bless his heart. And now perhaps a little luck to go as the residue of design.
3/28/2021 1:14 PM