I understood the preseason hype that we could compete for a 7 or 8 seed if everything went well all year, but that obviously went out the window from Day 1 when Eric Gordon's knee condition (we're giving him the benefit of the doubt for this post) was unknown and we was that the Timberwolves were legit even without Love and Rubio (and wait until they're both back - Minny could be a top 4 team in the West).
With that said, as soon as it became apparent that EG10 would miss a significant amount of time and that Austin Rivers was so raw it became a no-brainer that we want a top lottery pick for the long-term benefit of our team.
My biggest pet peeve is the conventional wisdom that the 2013 NBA Draft class is "garbage" and "useless". That is patently false. The opportunity to add an immediate asset and potential future All Star like Shabazz Muhammad, Nerlins Noel (WHICH OF THOSE NAMES IS MORE AWESOME AND MORE FUN TO SAY?), or possibly Cody Zeller is so enticing that I already find myself rooting against the Hornets literally every time we take the floor. I was even bummed that we lost to Chrissypoo Paul and Flop City earlier this week. This 2013 Draft class is improving its stock every week - and it is COMPLETELY WORTH losing for.
So what is the point of this post? I guess I'm just curious as to what others are thinking. Isn't it pretty obvious that this year is already shot? Does somebody want to convince me with logic and reason (not some dismissive "you never root for your team to lose" nonsense) why we should finish out of the lottery for "morale" reasons? Isn't it obvious that landing Anthony Davis was worth all the losses last year, and wouldn't we be willing to repeat that process for a decent-sized chance of landing another huge asset for a great rookie salary?