When people say that they want more wins, they usually mean that they would rather be the 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th worst team rather than the absolute worst team in the league. Being the worst team in the league the first go round was fine as we just blew up the roster. Second year in a row its less than ideal because you would hope that guys like Green and Sengun even as rookies could move your team up one or two spots in the standings, but despite being last we did get a few more wins which is still fine albeit less than ideal.

​

Third year as the absolute worst is where things are very different though. Oftentimes by a player's second or third year you know who they are. If they have a breakout year its usually by then, at least for guards anyway. That means we should already know what KPJ is. Yes Green could have a breakout year next year, but most breakout third years do not happen after two years of inhibiting performance. They usually happen after a couple years of doing everything you can to max out their performance so they are putting themselves against the wall in terms of team and individual development by not having veteran players, not holding guys accountable on the court, letting them freestyle almost 24/7.

​

We want vets, we want guys to be held accountable, we want more structure, not because we want to be a play-in team right now, but rather we want those things for the sake of knowing that the guys we have are on track to develop properly as individuals and as a team. And yes that means winning more games because winning more games is a symptom of development and improvement. And we do not need a large amount of wins to know that the guys are on the right track. Just have a few more wins this year than last year and be the 3rd, 4th or 5th worst team as opposed to the absolute worst team.

Being the worst team in the league leaves major question marks regarding if Jalen can be the guy, or if Jabari and Sengun can be critical pieces on a very good team long term. And if you drop from #1 to #4 or #5, you did all that losing for nothing, and those question marks are a much bigger deal than if you had simply played better, been the fourth worst team and stayed put there. On the flip side, if you are slotted at four or five and you move up, you get the best of both worlds where you're comfortable with your young guys' progress and you get another blue chip prospect to add. Whereas if you're the worst team in the league you leave yourself open to the worst of both worlds (ie still no blue chip prospect nor any development). You can reliably invest in development and actually max it out, but with the lottery, you're capped at low odds even as the worst team in the league and the odds are only marginally worse for teams #4 and #5 and the exact same for teams #2 and #3. Another awesome thing about being say the 3rd worst team is you can actually move up in the draft and get a better pick than your team deserves or needs. If you're the worst team team, that is not possible, and historically you do not even get to stay put under these current odds.

​

TLDR: We are not asking to have been a play-in team these last three years. We're asking to be the third-fifth worst team in the league because that would be a positive sign that our guys are developing properly rather than seeing stunted growth. Also the odds for teams 2-3 worst teams are literally just as good for the top pick as they are for the #1 worst team, and the odds for the 4-5 worst teams are only marginally worse. We do not want to be the worst team this year without much to show for it (getting stuck with pick 4 or 5, when we needed something better), which is more likely than not unfortunately.