I think too many people are getting caught up in the current situation and not looking at things objectively. Everybody is ecstatic to be sitting at 5-4 while taking advantage of some struggling teams, but let's face it. Sitting around .500 isn't what Jordan is going for and it most certainly isn't what Cho is going for. The stated goal all along was to be bad enough to amass young talent in the draft and work from there. We've done a fantastic job thus far in our ONE tank season but we're getting too far ahead of ourselves in the desperation to win. You seriously can't hold out for a couple of years if it means the possibility of being a top 5 team versus being a perennial 10-6th seed? Imagine how happy we would all be raking in 50+ wins and being a championship contender instead of simply being "better than we were".
It reminds me of fellow Gamecock students and/or fans. The team has been horrible for many years. Now that we're turning it around and becoming a powerhouse, people are forgetting the fact that we need to keep moving forward. I've seen people talking about how awesome it is to win 9 or 10 games every year, even if it means we aren't in the NT discussion, while I'm going, "Why stop there?" The goal is to win a Championship, so there is no being happy with winning 10 games a year and coming in 2nd in the East. How would Alabama and their fans feel with consistent "really good" seasons instead of consistent "they could beat NFL team" seasons?
All of that to make one simple point. Open your eyes and raise your standards. Stop being fine with good and instead hope we do whatever it takes to be great.
I think people are also so caught up in their raucous to understand the point I (and a few others) are trying to make about draft position. I've watched every game so far and when we win I don't groan or complain, I hoot and holler (and piss my girlfriend off by being too loud). I want the team to win every game they play, and relish the opportunity to talk shit to all of the people on RGM who make fun of us, but I'm not blinded by a good start to the point where I think the best thing for the viability of the franchise is anything but continuing to stockpile high draft picks.
To make a seemingly unrelated metaphor. Let's say you just graduated from high school and were offered an okay job making an average of 40K for the long run, with little chance of advancement. You could take that job and be happy with "solid", or you could delay that gratification, go to college, and have the opportunity to make much more money in the long run. So what do you do? Do you gut it out for 4 (or more) years until you get that college degree and enter the workforce at a higher level with better opportunities for advancement? Or do you stop there and take what you're given? I know what I'd do.
Now for those saying, "look at our history, we've never been able to pick a star! We wouldn't be able to do it now either!" Well, go look at the general history of the draft, or if you're lazy, look at the charts (I'll repost it for the sake of visuals). Constantly picking 8th or later leaves you a very small chance of drafting a difference maker. Drafting 4 or higher, on the other hand, does. Of course our two past top 4 picks haven't exactly become the stars we've hoped they would, but they're much closer to being an outlier than the statistical mean.
http://www.82games.com/Image13.gif
Look at how dramatically better a pick in the top 4 is in relation to the rest of the draft. Our folly has been picking too high to have any sort of real statistical chance of drafting a star. Just about every single draft produces a star in the top 4 picks, usually more. The chance of stardom for the other ~56 COMBINED is much lower.
Our history has consistently been, get a little better each year, at least we're winning some games. That has manifested itself in later picks and smaller chances to improve without making cap crippling trades.
2007--8th pick Brandan Wright (traded for Richardson). Top 4 picks were Oden, Durant, Horford, and Conley
2008--9th pick DJ Augustin. Top 4 were Rose, Beasley, Mayo, Westbrook
2009--12th pick Gerald Henderson. Top 4 were Blake, Thabeet, Harden, and Tyreke
2010--16th pick (traded for Lexy). Top 4 were Wall, Turner, Favors, Johnson
2011--9th pick Kemba Walker. Top 4 were Kyrie, Williams, Kanter, Thompson
Now look at our tank season and the results:
2012--2nd pick MKG. 8-12 picks were Terrence Ross, Andre Drummond, Austin Rivers, Meyers Leonard, Jeremy Lamb.
For a small market team like ours, we don't have the ability to pay $75+ million for a contender. We don't have the luxury of throwing big money at role players, or trading away future draft picks for older, more expensive veterans. Unfortunately, we have to do it the hard way. And that hard way is through the draft by either getting obscenely lucky with a later pick or playing the numbers and getting a high one or two. MKG may very well be the superstar we've been waiting for and Kemba may very well be the #2 we were hoping for. If so, then this whole discussion is moot. But can you really blame me if I'd rather trade 35 wins and another Gerald Henderson for the shot at giving them somebody like Cody Zeller (to just pick a name) that can really help them make some noise?
That's really about as far as I care to go in the argument because I doubt many people will read that with any sort of level-headed rationality or recognition of gray area. But for those like spectre or beagle who seem to be misunderstanding my benevolence and hopes for "the greater good", I hope I laid out my platform a little more coherently. Back to your regularly scheduled hissy fits.
