re: The importance of losing

quote:

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It's as ignorant as rooting for meaningless wins when losses so obviously help us land a starting SF in Muhammad or Porter.

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No one is suggesting Demps plug all the roster holes and send Rivers to the bench and try and win as many games as possible. The Hornets are still going to have a lottery pick, but tanking is aiming at a moving target. Just look at last year when people were freaking out about wins near the end. Beating Charlotte for the worst record would have ended up being a bad thing.

I'd rather focus on developing the players we do have and let where we fall in the draft take care of itself. Wins may be meaningless in the NBA2K Team Management sense of things, but they aren't meaningless to the players. Wins are needed for guys to buy in to Monty's system and have an established program/culture for new players to be plugged into. Wins are needed for guys to establish their role on the team. Wins are needed to encourage all the young players to keep improving their games. Wins are needed so guys like Vasquez and Lopez can keep raising their trade value. Wins are needed so Demps/Monty can feel confident in the decisions they have already made. Wins are needed to make it easier to sell the team to FAs in the off season.

I was on board the tank last year (aiming at a bottom 5 finish though, not worst place), so I don't think any less of your fanhood for wanting a higher pick, but I do think you are really over estimating the impact of a few draft slots and under estimating the impact of winning on all the other ways Demps can improve the team besides drafting 5th vs 8-10.