76ers put NBA in impossible position

[dhsilv]

People are playing coy and defending the Sixers here but admit it, this is the most extreme example of a team going completely into the toilet you've ever seen. Someone here said their rebuilding plan is a 5-7 year plan? That's a long ass time to try to rebuild. And even then you're banking on players developing into big contributors AND no injuries AND the effort it'll take to dig themselves out of this horrible funk they've created around that organization.



I'm sorry but you don't actively turn your organization into a joke and expect people to sit and watch a team go 1-20 or whatever the number is. I mean Christ the lakers are terrible but they're at least trying to put players out there that can play ball.



As I said before even their method for obtaining players leaves me confused.

They have attempted to draft the best talent available/trade for it. As a result they've taken two big men in the draft who were injured and they took one of the top prospects in europe knowing he would not being available the next year.

Is doing this tanking?

Is trading a guy like MCW for what is likely a top 10 pick in this coming year's draft, tanking?

All of these decisions are why the sixers are not better this year, but none of those choices are bad basketball decisions historically.

[Jameerthefear]

How is that impacting the league's integrity? They did a complete rebuild through the draft. They aren't doing anything shameful, of course a team full of 24 year olds and younger will lose a lot of games. The Embiid injury really messed up the trajectory of their rebuild, he was a franchise center that is getting held back with a foot injury. The Sixers had/have their franchise guy, it's not about getting him healthy.

If they still aren't good in the next 2-3 years then the Sixers will hire another GM and go through a different rebuilding phase. Almost every team in the league is losing money, so the league isn't losing their mind over the Sixers.

It's not easy doing a full rebuild the way the Sixers did started back in 2013. Everything fell off of line with Embiid's injury. If he had progressed the way he was supposed to then you'd probably have MCW/Noel/Embiid as the core of the Sixers for the next few years.

why would people give them a pass for the embiid injury? everyone knew going in he was injury prone, hell it was known he was going to miss his entire rookie year the day he was drafted IIRC

[Jameerthefear]

and i'll tell you what, if you're mailing it in on game 1 you sure as hell better make the right pick. and the 6ers... didn't. (mcw over giannis, oak over porz)

[Mrofir]

My prediction is the 76ers are outsmarting themselves. Eventually they'll trade away certain assets that are redundant. And I predict those players will become much more productive when they are placed in functional organizations. They will have little leverage in those trade negotiations because the awfulness of the team will statistically affect the trade value of certain players. And even less leverage as Hinkie's seat heats up and he rushes to field a competitive team when he senses his time is up. I guess from that perspective it's interesting for a fan to watch. I just wouldn't want to actually go to their games.

[dhsilv]

My prediction is the 76ers are outsmarting themselves. Eventually they'll trade away certain assets that are redundant. And I predict those players will become much more productive when they are placed in functional organizations. They will have little leverage in those trade negotiations because the awfulness of the team will statistically affect the trade value of certain players. And even less leverage as Hinkie's seat heats up and he rushes to field a competitive team when he senses his time is up. I guess from that perspective it's interesting for a fan to watch. I just wouldn't want to actually go to their games.

They've gotten good value out of trading players. A big part of their offensive system is designed around making players look more valuable than they are. A lot of 3's...and things like that.

It might hurt them with bigs, but is anyone not pretty high on their bigs actually playing? I mean both can easily be trade chips as part of a bigger deal.

The 76ers just have to actually finally hit a homerun in the draft. So far they're not really getting the talent they need.

[FKAri]

Embiid might pull a Curry you never know. People said Curry was injury prone too cuz he'd keep having ankle issues. The problem is Embiid is a big and their injury concerns are more career threatening. I hope to see him play well. He is a great talent.

[oarabbus]

Embiid might pull a Curry you never know. People said Curry was injury prone too cuz he'd keep having ankle issues. The problem is Embiid is a big and their injury concerns are more career threatening. I hope to see him play well. He is a great talent.

Not even remotely the same. Steph played 80 games his rookie season. 74 after that. He then had his one injured season playing 26 games, but his trajectory is nowhere near Embiid.

Curry has been one of the hardest workers in the league.

Embiid is taking it easy and not even trying to rehab: http://www.si.com/thecauldron/2015/1...-brown-process

[Mrofir]

They've gotten good value out of trading players. A big part of their offensive system is designed around making players look more valuable than they are. A lot of 3's...and things like that.

It might hurt them with bigs, but is anyone not pretty high on their bigs actually playing? I mean both can easily be trade chips as part of a bigger deal.

The 76ers just have to actually finally hit a homerun in the draft. So far they're not really getting the talent they need.

Solid post, but I will believe the value is there when the 76ers are able to post a win total somewhere north of 1-2 by Christmas.

Id also say that the fact that their offensive system is designed around making players look more valuable than they are... if true... is simply more evidence that this is flat out terrible for the nba.

[Nick Young]

Embiid is the next Oden, book it.

[SwishSquared]

This is gonna be a long post...

The problem was they were too open with their tanking. They blatantly said they were in asset accumulation mode and punted on contacting mid-level FAs- they only want to meet with stars and scrap heap guys. Teams have tanked for years, but Philly made it painfully obvious to the rest of the league. They couldn't hide behind the "incompetence" tag- teams knew they won every trade in retrospect and only made long-term moves. I think this strategy is still viable, but no ownership group has been willing to absorb losses like this to maximize optimal draft positioning. It's the antithesis of going all-in, but the strategy has its benefits. Namely, they find guys like RoCo who can contribute on good teams but they sign them to bargain basement deals, in addition to renting cap space for picks/swaps/etc.

Minnesota hasn't been in the playoffs for 10 years and they managed to trade a guy who was a top 8 or so offensive player in the league for the top pick in the draft (Cleveland overpaid for maximizing LBJ's title window). They traded a first for Thad Young when nobody was willing to give up a pick for him, rounded out their bench with vets (Mo Williams), and spent another protected first on a rookie who's ceiling looks like a bench big (Payne). They suffered injuries and had the worst record, yet nobody jumped them in the draft. They tanked once things went south. They're still technically rebuilding and may lose their pick this year (top 12 protected right?).

Sacramento has been a disaster with at least 3 regimes now. They haven't purposefully been bad, but have been brutally incompetent except for picking Cousins. Is spending money unwisely, mortgaging the future for an outside shot at the 8th seed, and churning through coaches what Philly should do?

You can definitely question Hinkie's drafting (most notably MCW over Giannis, which seemed like a "fit" pick more than anything, and passing on Clarkson). He took Okafor knowing he could generate his own offense and likely retain his value if things broke right. Porzingis would look a lot worse on offense in Philly considering for the first 20 games or so their best PG has been an undrafted rookie. Defensively, they'd be close to top 10 with Porzingis most likely. People aren't realizing how much better the Knicks backcourt is than Philly's and the effect that has on KP (not to mention having an offensive stud like Melo).

I thought that they should have thrown enough $$$ at CoJo to have a full 48 mins of at least competent PG play to start out the year (he knows Brett Brown, could start, etc.). That was a blatant tank job move to have your likely 2 best PGs be injured for 20+ games at the outset.

The 2014 draft set the team back at least 1 season and it was mostly because they got jumped by Cleveland. If they stayed at #2, there's a good chance they get Wiggins. At worst they get Parker, who even after an ACL tear has a better shot of being a star level player than Embiid right now. Embiid could recover enough to be play great in 20mpg, but it seems plenty teams would have drafted him based on at least 2 other squads trying to trade up for him.

Since the LAL/MIA/OKC picks didn't convey last year, it was thought that summer 2016 would be when Philly strikes. I think they assembled the illest fitting and most imbalanced roster to ensure they have the worst record. They need to draft a Simmons-type and that's the only reason they keep fielding this type of roster.

Hiring JC has a couple benefits- he actually will talk to the press (so the coach doesn't have to), he has a good rep with players and agents alike, and he gives the appearance to the public that the team is going to trend upwards as fast as they can. It'll be a disaster if he and Hinkie can't coexist and if he gives his son a job.

If you think Hinkie hasn't done a great job of stacking the deck in terms of future picks, you're flat out wrong. RoCo is a quality rotation piece at worst and could actually start on other teams. Noel made big strides during the year and was a legit paint anchor on D. Saric is playing well in relatively limited minutes overseas. Okafor is a legit NBA player who's hit a pretty big funk recently.

Hinkie hasn't used any of his assets or players to cash in yet. Maybe that's why they brought in JC, too.

[sd3035]

all non playoff teams should have one ping pong ball

[oh the horror]

Embiid is the next Oden, book it.

At this point even Oden was better off. At least he seemed like he gave a shit. Embiid is a bum.

[r15mohd]

at this point, with all the young acquisitions they have - it's time to trade up for a big name, and that includes their upcoming top 3 draft pick next summer.

they need a superstar, and certainly keep Okafor as a tandem to move forward. then look for role players next summer and hopefully begin to make a dent.

[MiseryCityTexas]

6ers just need a coach, a small forward, and a back court.

[GOBB]

This is gonna be a long post...

The problem was they were too open with their tanking. They blatantly said they were in asset accumulation mode and punted on contacting mid-level FAs- they only want to meet with stars and scrap heap guys. Teams have tanked for years, but Philly made it painfully obvious to the rest of the league. They couldn't hide behind the "incompetence" tag- teams knew they won every trade in retrospect and only made long-term moves. I think this strategy is still viable, but no ownership group has been willing to absorb losses like this to maximize optimal draft positioning. It's the antithesis of going all-in, but the strategy has its benefits. Namely, they find guys like RoCo who can contribute on good teams but they sign them to bargain basement deals, in addition to renting cap space for picks/swaps/etc.

Minnesota hasn't been in the playoffs for 10 years and they managed to trade a guy who was a top 8 or so offensive player in the league for the top pick in the draft (Cleveland overpaid for maximizing LBJ's title window). They traded a first for Thad Young when nobody was willing to give up a pick for him, rounded out their bench with vets (Mo Williams), and spent another protected first on a rookie who's ceiling looks like a bench big (Payne). They suffered injuries and had the worst record, yet nobody jumped them in the draft. They tanked once things went south. They're still technically rebuilding and may lose their pick this year (top 12 protected right?).

Sacramento has been a disaster with at least 3 regimes now. They haven't purposefully been bad, but have been brutally incompetent except for picking Cousins. Is spending money unwisely, mortgaging the future for an outside shot at the 8th seed, and churning through coaches what Philly should do?

You can definitely question Hinkie's drafting (most notably MCW over Giannis, which seemed like a "fit" pick more than anything, and passing on Clarkson). He took Okafor knowing he could generate his own offense and likely retain his value if things broke right. Porzingis would look a lot worse on offense in Philly considering for the first 20 games or so their best PG has been an undrafted rookie. Defensively, they'd be close to top 10 with Porzingis most likely. People aren't realizing how much better the Knicks backcourt is than Philly's and the effect that has on KP (not to mention having an offensive stud like Melo).

I thought that they should have thrown enough $$$ at CoJo to have a full 48 mins of at least competent PG play to start out the year (he knows Brett Brown, could start, etc.). That was a blatant tank job move to have your likely 2 best PGs be injured for 20+ games at the outset.

The 2014 draft set the team back at least 1 season and it was mostly because they got jumped by Cleveland. If they stayed at #2, there's a good chance they get Wiggins. At worst they get Parker, who even after an ACL tear has a better shot of being a star level player than Embiid right now. Embiid could recover enough to be play great in 20mpg, but it seems plenty teams would have drafted him based on at least 2 other squads trying to trade up for him.

Since the LAL/MIA/OKC picks didn't convey last year, it was thought that summer 2016 would be when Philly strikes. I think they assembled the illest fitting and most imbalanced roster to ensure they have the worst record. They need to draft a Simmons-type and that's the only reason they keep fielding this type of roster.

Hiring JC has a couple benefits- he actually will talk to the press (so the coach doesn't have to), he has a good rep with players and agents alike, and he gives the appearance to the public that the team is going to trend upwards as fast as they can. It'll be a disaster if he and Hinkie can't coexist and if he gives his son a job.

If you think Hinkie hasn't done a great job of stacking the deck in terms of future picks, you're flat out wrong. RoCo is a quality rotation piece at worst and could actually start on other teams. Noel made big strides during the year and was a legit paint anchor on D. Saric is playing well in relatively limited minutes overseas. Okafor is a legit NBA player who's hit a pretty big funk recently.

Hinkie hasn't used any of his assets or players to cash in yet. Maybe that's why they brought in JC, too.

Good post.