Call me France, but would it be so bad to surrender the eight spot? :confused:

[Yuma]

Maybe this is traitorous talk here, but would it be so bad if we had a lottery pick this off season again? I would love to upset the one seed in the West, but the odds are really against us doing that. Maybe we could get lucky and beat the ping pong balls to a higher draft spot and get lucky again in this draft like we did with Amare. I still think we are a couple players away from being in the elite teams in the NBA. I would love to see us pick up those guys in this year's draft. I would like to see us punk Houston and Yao out of the playoffs, and maybe that could be victory enough for me this year. All I want is a rookie of the year award for Amare. I would even accept a dual Yao/Amare award. That would seem fair to me.

 

[Chaplin]

The problem with that is there is virtually no difference between the #13 pick (the final lottery pick) and wherever we may fall--which would most likely fall in the 15-17 range. So not playing for the playoffs doesn't help us that much. Playing for the playoffs, however, generates more revenue, both from spectator receipts and payments from the NBA.

So, at this point, with our record, it makes good financial sense to try to get in the playoffs.

 

[fordronken]

Sorry, but chances are extremely against the team with the last lottery spot getting a top three pick. If we make the playoffs, we still get a mid level first rounder, and the team gets invaluable experience and confidence. Oh, and by the way, unless you haven't been watching the games this season or done any math recently, our chances of upsetting the number one seed are much better than our chances of upsetting the number one draft pick.

 

[cheng]

As Chaplin mentioned, there is not much of difference at pick #13 or #14 with our record. And keep in mind, The first round is best of seven now. With Marbury, Penny,Stoudemire and Marion top crunch time players, we will have a chance against anybody or at least a very entertaining playoff run.

 

[SirStefan32]

I think playoff experience + #15-18 pick is more valuable than a #13 pick. I don't expect Phonix to win a round in playoffs, but you never know, if Penny is 100%, and Marbury continues to play like a legitimate MVP candidate, with contributions from Amare, Shawn, JJ and Googs, there could be a surprise.

 

[fordronken]

Plus, I think that the way this team gets pumped up for big teams and big games, they will love the playoff stage.

 

[minercon]

These guys need momentum to carry them into next year. The only problem I see is that as each year progresses we seem to get more and more injuries. What was it like in the 80's? Did they seem to have their top 2 or 3 players always down?

 

[elindholm]

Well, Kevin Johnson was often hurt, and of course whatever undersized or undertalented person they were trying to use at center had problems. Chambers, Majerle, and Barkley tended to be healthy.

 

[Pimpin]

IMO if we do make the PO's with the 8th seed,i think our chances of advancing are very good....Why?

Penny Hardaway

Throughout Penny's entire career,he has always taken his game to another level when the playoff's start

Penny just seems to go mad in big game situations

He used to kill for Orlando and he also showed it against the Spurs and Lakers with us.

I wouldn't sleep on us with a healthy Hardaway when the PO's roll around.

Plus if things stay the way they are,we would face the Mavs,and imo we matchup very well with them since Marbury OWNS Nash.


There is no way i would rather a lottery pick over a possible chance to advance to the 2nd round and maybe beyond.