End of Season Decisions

[Neurotic Guy]

Lakers won a few in the end that may cost them (hopefully) a high lottery pick.  Two teams can jump ahead of them on lottery night and push them to #6 which then goes to Philly.  This not  only costs the Lakers a good player to draft, but also eliminates them as a trade destination for Cousins.

Philly has some franchise shaping possibilities upcoming.  Best case, the 76ers can end up with the 4th, 6th and 11th picks.   Worst case they could end up with just the 4th.

[celticsclay]

I cannot believe how many people are against winning games, or even trying to win games as is the case here.

Kinda makes me sick.

Calling a win a screw up is just sad.

I can agree that maybe screw ups wasn't the right word for some of these and have changed that. However, this stuff shouldn't make you sick, its not that crazy. Debating whether a team should have played beat up veterans heavy minutes and lost their draft pick in the process doesn't make someone against winning games. Questioning whether a coach should have played impending free agents with dubious NBA futures very heavy minutes over a first round draft pick rookie  while severely decreasing the chance of getting the number 1 pick in the process is not that crazy is it?

[celticsclay]

Lakers won a few in the end that may cost them (hopefully) a high lottery pick.  Two teams can jump ahead of them on lottery night and push them to #6 which then goes to Philly.  This not  only costs the Lakers a good player to draft, but also eliminates them as a trade destination for Cousins.

Philly has some franchise shaping possibilities upcoming.  Best case, the 76ers can end up with the 4th, 6th and 11th picks.   Worst case they could end up with just the 4th.

To be fair aren't they significantly more likely to end up in the top 3 then for this to happen? I do think Miami will end up with the 10th pick but their game versus the 76ers should be very tankalicious

[Celtics18]

I disagree on most of those.  The one I disagree with the most, though, is probably your take on the Jazz.  They've done an amazing job, and I think their future is looking much much brighter than if they had been fighting the Sixers, T-Wolves, Lakers, and Knicks for the league's worst record. 

[celticsclay]

I disagree on most of those.  The one I disagree with the most, though, is probably your take on the Jazz.  They've done an amazing job, and I think their future is looking much much brighter than if they had been fighting the Sixers, T-Wolves, Lakers, and Knicks for the league's worst record.

Jeez between making the other guy sick and everyone disagreeing with me I feel like I posted that I love the Lakers or something 

[Endless Paradise]

The Jazz don't really have any needs that can be addressed with a high draft pick: there's not much sense in drafting another point guard for the third consecutive year, they've got shooting guards, they've got a small forward, and they've got their two bigs. They're more likely to trade their pick and/or players to make the next leap by attaining better depth.

[celticsclay]

The Jazz don't really have any needs that can be addressed with a high draft pick: there's not much sense in drafting another point guard for the third consecutive year, they've got shooting guards, they've got a small forward, and they've got their two bigs. They're more likely to trade their pick and/or players to make the next leap by attaining better depth.

I would say they are set at Center and Small forward. Exum has certainly been underwhelming in his rookie season, but I agree it would be strange if they drafted another PG. Seems like they could use a better shooting guard too.

[tazzmaniac]

Lakers won a few in the end that may cost them (hopefully) a high lottery pick.  Two teams can jump ahead of them on lottery night and push them to #6 which then goes to Philly.  This not  only costs the Lakers a good player to draft, but also eliminates them as a trade destination for Cousins.

Philly has some franchise shaping possibilities upcoming.  Best case, the 76ers can end up with the 4th, 6th and 11th picks.   Worst case they could end up with just the 4th.

To be fair aren't they significantly more likely to end up in the top 3 then for this to happen? I do think Miami will end up with the 10th pick but their game versus the 76ers should be very tankalicious

The chances for the Lakers are 37.8% for top 3 and 17.2% for falling to 6th or 7th and losing the pick.  Of course if two teams jump the Lakers into the top 3, there is a good chance they'd jump the Sixers as well.  I don't know if getting the 6th pick is worth it for them if their own pick drops to 5th and they miss out on Russell who seems like a great fit with Noel and Embiid.

[celticsclay]

Lakers won a few in the end that may cost them (hopefully) a high lottery pick.  Two teams can jump ahead of them on lottery night and push them to #6 which then goes to Philly.  This not  only costs the Lakers a good player to draft, but also eliminates them as a trade destination for Cousins.

Philly has some franchise shaping possibilities upcoming.  Best case, the 76ers can end up with the 4th, 6th and 11th picks.   Worst case they could end up with just the 4th.

To be fair aren't they significantly more likely to end up in the top 3 then for this to happen? I do think Miami will end up with the 10th pick but their game versus the 76ers should be very tankalicious

The chances for the Lakers are 37.8% for top 3 and 17.2% for falling to 6th or 7th and losing the pick.  Of course if two teams jump the Lakers into the top 3, there is a good chance they'd jump the Sixers as well.  I don't know if getting the 6th pick is worth it for them if their own pick drops to 5th and they miss out on Russell who seems like a great fit with Noel and Embiid.

Im a little scared of whether Russel is really that great. It seemed like against better teams he was not the same force offensively. I am trying to say this isn't all recency bias cause of performance in the tournament, but Winslow seemed more consistent throughout the year in the games I watched.

[nickagneta]

I would prefer Winslow over Russell as well.

[celticsclay]

I would prefer Winslow over Russell as well.

BTW Nick I didn't write anything back cause I don't really feel like I fundamentally disagree with you on this stuff. I think we have the same viewpoint for 99 percent of the season and I have a different take for the last 1 or 2 games. Thanks for wording your reasoning and a good convo. TP

[celticsclay]

Since this is related the Heat are resting Whiteside, Deng, Wade and Dragic tonight (starting his brother) in a last ditch effort to not give their pick to the 76ers (who they are playing). I don't really know what to say on them doing this on the heels of playing Deng 40 minutes. I realize they had literally a 2% chance still during the magic game, but this is quite the course reversal for essentially the same situation.

[nickagneta]

I would prefer Winslow over Russell as well.

BTW Nick I didn't write anything back cause I don't really feel like I fundamentally disagree with you on this stuff. I think we have the same viewpoint for 99 percent of the season and I have a different take for the last 1 or 2 games. Thanks for wording your reasoning and a good convo. TP

TP back to you my friend. Good convo indeed.

[nickagneta]

Since this is related the Heat are resting Whiteside, Deng, Wade and Dragic tonight (starting his brother) in a last ditch effort to not give their pick to the 76ers (who they are playing). I don't really know what to say on them doing this on the heels of playing Deng 40 minutes. I realize they had literally a 2% chance still during the magic game, but this is quite the course reversal for essentially the same situation.

Sixers sat Noel and Ish Smith. Heat sitting players may not matter. That Sixers team that is playing tonight could get beat by a D League team

[tazzmaniac]

Lakers won a few in the end that may cost them (hopefully) a high lottery pick.  Two teams can jump ahead of them on lottery night and push them to #6 which then goes to Philly.  This not  only costs the Lakers a good player to draft, but also eliminates them as a trade destination for Cousins.

Philly has some franchise shaping possibilities upcoming.  Best case, the 76ers can end up with the 4th, 6th and 11th picks.   Worst case they could end up with just the 4th.

To be fair aren't they significantly more likely to end up in the top 3 then for this to happen? I do think Miami will end up with the 10th pick but their game versus the 76ers should be very tankalicious

The chances for the Lakers are 37.8% for top 3 and 17.2% for falling to 6th or 7th and losing the pick.  Of course if two teams jump the Lakers into the top 3, there is a good chance they'd jump the Sixers as well.  I don't know if getting the 6th pick is worth it for them if their own pick drops to 5th and they miss out on Russell who seems like a great fit with Noel and Embiid.

Im a little scared of whether Russel is really that great. It seemed like against better teams he was not the same force offensively. I am trying to say this isn't all recency bias cause of performance in the tournament, but Winslow seemed more consistent throughout the year in the games I watched.

Winslow had a couple multi-game slumps during the season.  He also benefited by playing on a much more talented team.  Russell was about all Ohio State had.  For the Sixers, Russell's good shooting and great passing would greatly benefit Noel and Embiid and their defense would shore up Russell's defense.