Justin Jaudon

Look, I have no problem with any of Orlando's losses or wins this past season. We had a ghost of a roster, and that's when you just let it fly with the young guys. I'm not mad at moving on from the old guard. I get it. I just don't want this organization to think that trying to get the first pick in the draft is going to save us. This right here shows that has a very high likelihood of failing miserably.

You do realize the bottom three teams had the exact same chances of that pick, right? That win was meaningless either way. A loss would have been just as meaningless.

Bones Hyland is an absolutely special shooter. Not sure if Orlando is the right place to develop him, because, well, we haven't developed a shooter since JJ, and we legitimately don't seem to know what to do with guys who can shoot... but it's a new day, so hell yeah, bring it on.

I'm a big fan of Kenny Atkinson. Dude led U of Richmond to the sweet 16 back in the 80's, first of all. Beyond personal fan-dom, I like the guy's coaching style. He's studied under good basketball minds, offensive and defensive, and he's creative. I think Cole and Markelle would thrive under Atkinson, personally.

The entire point is that it has never resulted in a championship. That is the argument I've been making since literally the first sentence of my entry into this exchange. Feel free to debunk that argument, but teams who didn't win it all by tanking, paired with Boston who didn't tank, isn't working.

To elaborate, only Memphis among those teams tanked (had consecutive poor seasons). Their tanking resulted in Hasheem Thabeet, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley...not exactly a haul worth tanking for. They got good when they stopped tanking and got good veterans

Cool. Not new, just either a bad memory or a selective one.

Had to go back all the way to 2006 for that? How many of those seasons are relevant to the conversation?

Talk is talk. Our actions were of a team that was throwing away seasons. Trading JJ, trading Aaron Aflalo, not re-signing Anderson, those were tanking moves. We traded solid veterans for unproven young guys that were not too picks. That is not really up for debate. Again, are you new to this team?

You're already suggesting that three seasons of <25 wins wasn't enough. You are one of the people advocating this

So... Nothing that could possibly have had any effect... Okay sure.

And the difference is?

If it's over. Some people seem to be advocating intentionally being terrible again next year if we don't get a top pick

You can engage in all the absurd semantics you want. Three seasons <25 wins is tanking by any measurement, whether it helps your argument or not.

Several reports that we could have had Curry, but were worried about his injuries. Dwight was a significantly better deal than what OKC got for Harden. No reason to think OKC wouldn't have gone for it. Plenty of teams have lost great players and continued rebuilt without multiple seasons of tanking.

I'm pretty sure OKC fans are no happier with those years than fans in Houston, Memphis, Boston, or any other perennial playoff team that didn't win it all over those years, except they didn't have to suffer tanking multiple seasons.

There were other options. By all reports we could have gotten any number of players. We chose picks and expiring contracts. Hell, we probably could have gotten Harden, honestly.

Would have been the exact same result if we hadn't tanked at all so...

Are you under the impression that Rob Hennigan is still out GM?

Disagree with me all you want, Jaque Vaughn's entire tenure was losing on purpose. Unless you mean the players. In that case, sure. They tried to win. And failed. Monstrously. By design. But tell yourself what you want. If three seasons <25 wins isn't enough for you, nothing will be.

If the players lose on purpose they are idiots. It's irrelevant what I want. I would prefer we lose tonight. I would prefer the players do their best to win. GMs can tank. Coaches and players can't.

No. No you did not. You made excuses for why they didn't. I don't care about excuses. You know what other teams have excuses? Teams that didn't tank. If I have to choose which team I'd rather have been watching, a team that tried and had to make excuses for why they didn't get it done, and one who sucked on purpose for years only to end up with the same results... I'll take a team who at least gives themselves a chance.

Are you suggesting the players on the team should lose on purpose?

Did they win a championship?

Are you new? We had three straight seasons of 25 wins or less. If you want worse tanking than that, I don't know what to say. Short of just forfeiting games, that's as tanking as it gets. This is beside the point, anyway. The point of my post was to remind people that arguing for tanking harder is foolish, because it doesn't work. You're welcome to show me how I'm wrong.