5.5 Games Back

Way to stay positive after a big win. You take the playoffs all day. AD can't get that experience anywhere else.

No Tyreke, No BDJ, No Gordon, No Asik, Cole in a contract year. On top of that, Portland being better than expected gives one more team than anticipated actually trying to make the playoffs. When all you had to do was wait for the Kings implosion and hope for some Jazz injuries, there was hope. It's just not going to happen unless AD/Jrue/Ryno play out of their minds the rest of the way.

I don't think anyone has a great chance at stopping golden state this year, so why doesn't everyone just tank? (Minus 3 teams)

At least most teams have a full roster. We have no bodies left, why should we run 2nd tier players to get into the playoffs. And no, I'm not talking about Jrue, AD, or Ryno. Those are the only starting caliber players left on our team, and 2 of them come off the bench!

The choice isn't playoffs or the 7th pick though. This isn't last year where we added 2 useful players in trades and only had one player out with injury. We have 1 starter not starting and 4 starters out with injury. The choice is the 7th pick and the 10th pick. And that might not seem like much until you remember Andre Drummond at 9 and Austin Rivers at 10. Harrison Barnes at 7 and Austin Rivers at 10. A few spots in the draft can have much more impact than a few meaningless wins in a lost season. I'm not going to tell anyone they should hope for losses, we're all fans for different reasons. But you should be aware that the warm fuzzy feeling you get from wins like tonight can turn into Austin Rivers long term.

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Let's face it. We aren't beating Golden State as the 8 seed. So I'll take the bottom 5

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then, there are those of us that have played competitive sports...

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So either outcome could happen, depends on the draft year, but you are more likely to pick well picking higher rather than lower. I don't want this team to lose out, but there is a cost to the good feeling you get even from meaningless wins, if you choose to hide the cost behind a best case scenario, that's your choice, but there is a cost and we won't know what it is until after the season. Again, the stars are not aligning for a playoff run this season like they did last season, our circumstances going into the last 2 months are practically the opposite of what we saw last year. Playoffs just aren't a realistic goal. So if you aren't playing for the playoffs this season then you should be playing for the future.

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It seems we have been in this position and having these types of discussions for about a dozen seasons now.

As for me, I definitely like improved draft position, but I have always felt that unless you're picking in the top three or so (and even then there's no guarantee), the draft is always pretty much a crapshoot. Much more than the draft in other sports.

So if we're talking about a team that's on the borderline of the playoffs, I'm not so sure I value the variations in probabilities/percentages as much as some people do. And like I said, there's nothing more fun that attending a playoff series. That said, I have no illusions about his team in this year. I doubt very much that we make the playoffs. Maybe we'll catch a miracle ping pong ball. Get to work, Silver.

We're in the perfect spot to get the #1 pick. Nobody at the bottom is gonna get that pick, it's gonna be a team that's projected to get the 4-7 pick. Either take Simmons or trade it away for future picks or a player like Cousins, Love, (going left field with this last one) or maybe even Harden

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I'd definitely rather pick 7th than 10th, especially in what everyone is saying is an extremely weak draft.

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Is it though? This seems like an above average draft compared to the last several years.