Talkhard

I hardly ever visit O-Live, but I went over there this morning and they're having quite a lively discussion about the significance of last night's game. The point seems to be that we could have screwed ourselves out of any real chance at the No. 1 pick by winning, and slipping into a higher lottery slot (8th or 10th or whatever we are now). What if the team in the 5th slot ends up winning the lottery? Will we forever rue last night's win over the Sonics?

And by the way, can anyone doubt that Portland management is trying to tank these final games? Randolph, Aldridge, Udoka, and now Roy are all out for the rest of the year. Think that's just a coincidence? I don't. I think Pritchard and Co. are looking for any excuse possible to keep our best players on the bench and increase our lottery odds.

__________________
"Damn the Blazers. Damn them to hell. They are working the rest of the league like a speed bag." --Jay, lifelong Pacers fan

Sambonius

I'm kinda mad we won but we're in 6th right now which should give us a pretty good chance to move up. Sonics might still pull off a win and if that happens, we'll be back at 5th I believe, as long as we lose the rest of our games. Let's hope Sonics beat LA tonight.

BIG Q

The best hope for a Sonics win will be the Dallas game. They have nothing to play for so hopefully they rest the entire team.

__________________
BRANDON
ROOKIE
OF THE
YEAR

Draco

Dallas will still play their starters 20mins just to keep them sharp. Dallas 6-10 guys are far better than seattles starters anyways.

Draco

What if we lose out and get to the 5th spot but the 8th spot gets the #1 pick? Then we'd feel like the biggest idiots ever that tanking the season cost us the top pick.

loyalty4life

I want to be in the best lottery position as possible, but if that happened, I'd just laugh.

__________________
Have you "pulled a Swirsky" today?™

For Three! Rip City!

Well if we don't make it into the top 4 maybe Atlanta will and be willing to pull a trade. They haven't had the best of luck with draft picks so I've been pulling for them to lose enough games to avoid giving up their pick. Maybe they would be willing to make a move. I don't think there's one other team that might go top four that would even consider it.

Public Defender

FT!RC!, I think there's quite a few teams that would be willing to part with the third or fourth pick, but I don't know that even Atlanta would deal if it landed #1 or #2.

__________________
Next year...

SLAM

I believe Phoenix owns that pick.

Blazer Ringbearer

What would happen if Portland, New York, Minnesota and Sacramento lost all the rest of their games?

We would be in a 4-way tie for 6th. As far as I know, tie-breakers do not apply for ping pong balls, but how do they determine draft position? You can't have a 4-way coin flip...

Anyway, I would expect New York to pull out at least one more win. They have no reason to tank since it's not even their pick.

If Atlanta's pick goes to Phoenix, they shouldn't be tanking either. But is it Top 2 protected?

If Phoenix got Oden or Durant, I'd be pretty pissed.

Man, those Joe Johnson and Eddy Curry deals were TERRIBLE. Talk about getting fleeced. Remember the Atlanta guy who freaked out and tried to hold up that deal? Dude was right...

Verro

It wouldn't be as painful if we were at #6 by ourselves, but if we remain tied with so many other teams at 32 wins, it'll drastically lower our chances in the lottery.

Draco

I believe Atlanta's pick is top3 protected so phoenix only gets it if its #4 or lower.

mediocre man

Absolutely meaningless win that doesn't help the franchise one bit.

Yes, if SEattle or another team with one less wins gets the 1st or 2nd pick we will regret winning that game.

__________________
"SHOW ME THE BUFFET!!!"


Former Blazer Alaa Abdelnaby on being a student athlete at Duke. "The only way I could get 5 A's at Duke was to spell my name"


I'm Mediocre Man, and I approve this message.

ebott

There's a lot of different factors. The largest, in my mind, is how the tie breakers will play out for all the teams tied with 32 wins. We could go anywhere from 6th to 9th. If we end up 9th then I'd really be pissed about winning this game. 1 game costing us 4 slots. That sucks. But if we end up 6th it's no big deal. Just 1 slot.

I try not to think about the lottery until May 22nd. There's just too much time inbetween the end of the season and the day of the lottery for me to ponder the ifs.

STOMP