Everything 2024 Draft

[Primer]

How do you define tanking? Where do you get 10 teams from? To get to the top 4 being a 10th rank team that had a winning percentage of 46% is not tanking.

Like I said, only 5 teams were below .402 last year. Yet there are 7 so far this year that are in a worse draft year (potentially). And last year had a special #1.

And if we go back to Feb 5 last year.. only two teams in the West were really bad (Lakers at 13th were 25-29). In the East there were three teams (Orlando/Toronto at 11th/12th were 25-30).

So I would say you are wrong here.

10 teams were actively trying to lose by the end of the season to improve their draft stock.

[Primer]

And that's why we should go for the high pick this year. A half season has gone by with about as much disruption as you can imagine with trades, new players and a new coach. Next year can't possibly be as bad as this one in terms of wins and losses.

OK this is the best argument I've seen made for trying to keep the pick this year. We should really try though, don't half ass it and miss out on the guy we really want by a pick.

[Yuri Gagarin]

And that's why we should go for the high pick this year. A half season has gone by with about as much disruption as you can imagine with trades, new players and a new coach. Next year can't possibly be as bad as this one in terms of wins and losses.

Totally!

[golden]

And that's why we should go for the high pick this year. A half season has gone by with about as much disruption as you can imagine with trades, new players and a new coach. Next year can't possibly be as bad as this one in terms of wins and losses.

Is Darko still coaching us next year? He’s a feel good coach, not a win-now coach. You want wins, you need more hard-ass than Darko.

[LJ2]

Is Darko still coaching us next year? He’s a feel good coach, not a win-now coach. You want wins, you need more hard-ass than Darko.

I'm willing to believe everything up until the trade deadline was his hand being forced.

I thought he was the next Casey but he's spinning his wheels like Triano the first half of the season. No rhyme, reason or purpose with this team right now.

[grindhouse]

as it stands now i think 1 - 3 if you think of scottie as 4. we have talent center is a serious weakness, I would say we need a defensive anchor draft trade whatever but a rudy golbert type.

[golden]

I'm willing to believe everything up until the trade deadline was his hand being forced.

I thought he was the next Casey but he's spinning his wheels like Triano the first half of the season. No rhyme, reason or purpose with this team right now.

Nah. Before all the changes Darko had, in his own words, an all-defense NBA lineup. Jakob said he expected an elite defense (way higher than top 10) out of this group. Yet Darko coached them to a below average defensive rating.

To me, defense is always the one area where you can actually tell if a guy can coach: can he scheme, can he get guys to play together, can he make adjustments, can he hold them accountable for effort? Darko had defensive talent in spades to start the season, along with a ton of continuity... and he showed absolutely nothing on that end. And the defense has gotten exponentially worse. Oh, and don't get me started on his defensive co-ordinator, Pat Delaney.

[Kagemusha]

Nah. Before all the changes Darko had, in his own words, an all-defense NBA lineup. Jakob said he expected an elite defense (way higher than top 10) out of this group. Yet Darko coached them to a below average defensive rating.

To me, defense is always the one area where you can actually tell if a guy can coach: can he scheme, can he get guys to play together, can he make adjustments, can he hold them accountable for effort? Darko had defensive talent in spades to start the season, along with a ton of continuity... and he showed absolutely nothing on that end. And the defense has gotten exponentially worse. Oh, and don't get me started on his defensive co-ordinator, Pat Delaney.

I am so done with this coach.
Can't see any positive direction with him.
Can't coach defense, and even on offense his rotations are wonky and doesn't have feel for the game.

[LJ2]

Nah. Before all the changes Darko had, in his own words, an all-defense NBA lineup. Jakob said he expected an elite defense (way higher than top 10) out of this group. Yet Darko coached them to a below average defensive rating.

To me, defense is always the one area where you can actually tell if a guy can coach: can he scheme, can he get guys to play together, can he make adjustments, can he hold them accountable for effort? Darko had defensive talent in spades to start the season, along with a ton of continuity... and he showed absolutely nothing on that end. And the defense has gotten exponentially worse. Oh, and don't get me started on his defensive co-ordinator, Pat Delaney.

Despite the talent, it could have been a similar situation to last year where guys were playing for contracts couldn't it? There are a lot of reasons for why this season has gone the way it has, so I'm trying to give Darko the benefit of the doubt.

At the end of the day he's a developmental coach. Scottie has had a nice breakthrough this season and if Darko can continue that trend with RJ, IQ and any other young players we may land prior to the trade deadline then job done I suppose. Actually, if he can help Gradey become a respectable rotation player by next season then I'd be pretty happy despite the losing trend this season.

[chris]

it's a cliche for a reason to say that defense has a lot to do with effort. the defense was great to start the season when the year was full of possibilities (but the halfcourt offense was historically bad), then went downhill to bad to really bad as they started losing games and effort waned in a vicious feedback loop.

some of that's on the coach but a lot of it is out of his control.

i'm curious to see how the effort will look when the guys waiting to be traded and the guys playing solely for numbers are gone

[golden]

Despite the talent, it could have been a similar situation to last year where guys were playing for contracts couldn't it? There are a lot of reasons for why this season has gone the way it has, so I'm trying to give Darko the benefit of the doubt.

At the end of the day he's a developmental coach. Scottie has had a nice breakthrough this season and if Darko can continue that trend with RJ, IQ and any other young players we may land prior to the trade deadline then job done I suppose. Actually, if he can help Gradey become a respectable rotation player by next season then I'd be pretty happy despite the losing trend this season.

Ok, but that excuse for lack of effort and attention to detail is so lame, if true. Every team has players playing for contracts and guys on the trading block. Are the Raptors the really the most mentally fragile collection of players in the league? To the point where they are more affected by the business side of the NBA than players on every other team? Perhaps they are. And maybe that's why Masai brought in Darko and Garrett Temple to provide a safe space with good vibes. Sad, if true.

By comparison, Utah Jazz have been tearing down that team for 2 seasons now and Ainge has been trying so hard to tank, but Will Hardy won't let him. Memphis Grizzlies lineups this season are virtually indistinguishable from G-League rosters, and yet they still have a top 8 defense. These are examples of good coaching.

That said, at this point I'd be fine tanking for a top 5 pick this season (weak draft be damned)... so Darko is perfect for this season.

[LJ2]

Ok, but that excuse for lack of effort and attention to detail is so lame, if true. Every team has players playing for contracts and guys on the trading block. Are the Raptors the really the most mentally fragile collection of players in the league? To the point where they are more affected by the business side of the NBA than players on every other team? Perhaps they are. And maybe that's why Masai brought in Darko and Garrett Temple to provide a safe space with good vibes. Sad, if true.

By comparison, Utah Jazz have been tearing down that team for 2 seasons now and Ainge has been trying so hard to tank, but Will Hardy won't let him. Memphis Grizzlies lineups this season are virtually indistinguishable from G-League rosters, and yet they still have a top 8 defense. These are examples of good coaching.

That said, at this point I'd be fine tanking for a top 5 pick this season (weak draft be damned)... so Darko is perfect for this season.

So Fred and Nurse could de-rail the team last season buy letting the business side of the NBA affect things, but two core guys in Pascal and OG, plus whatever they're doing with Trent and now Brown can't do the same?

As far as Darko goes maybe they value his ability to develop players more than his ability to be a head coach? Sometimes you have to buy the cow to get the milk or whatever the saying is.

[G____Deane]

While I'm not sure in comparison to most other teams, it does appear that many of our players are soft, both physically and mentally. I noted the energy, almost a frenetic energy that the Pels were still playing with up 30 while we seem to fold down 10. And as often noted, we don't have many in-your-face dogs.

[planetmars]

I like Ryan Dunn. He's a long defense first guy. Yeah I know those guys can turn into busts. But if he can get his shot down then he'll be an OG/Herb Jones like player. Tankathon has him at 17 which is about where Indiana's pick is going.

[golden]

I like Ryan Dunn. He's a long defense first guy. Yeah I know those guys can turn into busts. But if he can get his shot down then he'll be an OG/Herb Jones like player. Tankathon has him at 17 which is about where Indiana's pick is going.

Get his shot down? He shoots 50% from the FT line.