Even before the Bibby injury we were talking about gaining draft position to land Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, Oscar Robertson, whoever. Since the injury there has been suggestion that we undertake the earliest tank job in NBA history and start dropping games before we start taking the giblets out of the holiday turkeys.
Has recent history taught us nothing? Our friends in Boston and Memphis might have a thing or two to say about the features and benefits of tanking games, which include not giving their fan base any reason to watch the last season followed by heartbreak and rage once the ping pong balls are plucked (nice recovery by the Celtics, but that's another story).
If that's not enough, how about this random sampling of draft slot results over a 10 year period (I did not include the last three drafts as those players are still developing):
#1 We Likey Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Yao Ming.
#1 Not So Much Michael Olowokandi, Kwame Brown, Joe Smith.
#3 We Likey Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Baron Davis.
#3 Not So Much Darius Miles, Mike Dunleavey, Raef LaFrentz.
#5 We Likey Kevin Garnett, Dwayne Wade, Ray Allen.
#5 Not So Much Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Jonathan Bender, Tony Battie.
#7 We Likey Richard Hamilton, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich.
#7 Not So Much Chris Mihm, Eddie Griffin, Lorenzen Wright.
#9 We Likey Tracy McGrady, Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire.
#9 Not So Much Ed O'Bannon, Samaki Walker, Rodney White.
Conclusion? It's not where you draft, it's who you draft (thanks, Captain Obvious!). The worst record is no guarantee of the #1 pick, and the #1 pick is no guarantee of a franchise player.
So for now, I'm focused on wathcing the current squad, hoping they play their collective arses off and give me a reason to watch and root. I figure that I can re-calibrate into draft mode by the trade deadline, which conveniently occurs just a couple of weeks prior to March Madness.