I think you're setting up a false dichotomy here that the choices are a full-on tank or some roster balancing. I don't want to see a complete tear down and 5 years of intentional losing for ping pong balls, I just want to see a basketball team on the floor that has a chance of winning a playoff series. And acknowledging the reality of how the NBA is structured, I don't think we ever get there by buying veteran free agents or shuffling the supporting cast around a deeply flawed core.
Four months ago this team was struggling with inconsistency but there was still hope that they could right the ship for three reasons: (1) The team defensive rating was hovering around 12th, so even with all of the problems there was still a chance that they could tighten up the mistakes and win a playoff series. (2) We'd already seen mostly this same core win 3 games in the playoffs in 2023 and blow out the Warriors in a play-in game in 2024. (3) The obvious rotation holes at backup C and backup SF were fixable with a couple of deadline trades (which ironically enough, Monte did make only it was too late for them to matter at that point).
As things stand currently: (1) This team is now ranked 24th in defensive rating and really that number is even lower for this roster if you consider that's a full-season average. (2) Fox averaged 27.4 pts, 5.4 rebs, 7.7 ast, and 2.1 stls in the playoffs so those recent playoff wins are no longer relevant without him on the roster. (3) The bench rotation holes have been addressed but now we need to replace 2 positions in the starting lineup. With De'Aaron Fox and Mike Brown gone I'd argue that we actually have a problem at 3 starting positions. We're now staring right in the face of the "can you win with Sabonis as your best player" problem and as much as I like the guy, I have to admit that I think the answer to that question is "no". He's not enough of a defensive presence to anchor a lineup and not gifted enough as an offensive weapon to justify trying to play guys out of position to compensate for his limitations.
So what do we do next? If we can identify the players who will help us to achieve the goal (become a team that is capable of winning a playoff series again) and trade everyone else for assets that will help us to build around those players, we won't need to waste any time trying to lose games on purpose. There's two ways this could go in my view. There's what I would like to see happen, just rip the band aid off now and ship out Zach, Malik, Deebo, and Domas on draft day or right after it. Tell Keegan Murray congratulations, you're the face of the franchise and start drafting for size, defense, playmaking and shooting to fill the PG, PF, and C spots around Keon Ellis at SG and Keegan Murray at SF. And there's what probably will happen instead which is a long and slow process of trying to rearrange the deck chairs on a sinking ship as Monte or whoever takes his place wastes multiple assets and years on a lost cause.
I don't think wanting the team to clean house and start building toward a better future is the same thing as endorsing a tank. I want the team to build around Keon and Keegan at this point (and Devin Carter and Isaac Jones in the rotation) because those are the guys we have who are playing both ends of the floor. Get everyone else out of the way who is limiting their effectiveness and surround them with players who share their "play all 94 feet" mentality. I think sticking with this Monk/Deebo/LaVine/Sabonis core for even one more season is more likely to result in continued fan disengagement and continued franchise front-office turmoil. That's when we're staring at a tank situation because we will have burned every available asset trying to keep a bad team afloat.
