76ers put NBA in impossible position

[kshutts1]

My friend made an interesting connection the other day...

The league fined the Spurs for not playing their stars in a nationally televised game against the Heat a few years ago. The official reason was that the Spurs didn't give proper notice. But of course everyone thinks it was because it put out a bad product and made the league look bad.

How is what the Sixers are doing better than sitting stars for one game? How do those situations differ that greatly?

[DMAVS41]

Don't understand it from a competitive standpoint...the Sixers have hardly done anything many other teams haven't done...on purpose or not seems to be irrelevant

The Magic have been as bad or worse than the Sixers the 3 past season going into this one

I mean...they are really only 2 full years into this process and they've won pretty much every trade they've made so far

Change the rules...or stop singling out the Sixers...when other teams have been awful as well

[warriorfan]

Don't understand it from a competitive standpoint...the Sixers have hardly done anything many other teams haven't done...on purpose or not seems to be irrelevant

The Magic have been as bad or worse than the Sixers the 3 past season going into this one

I mean...they are really only 2 full years into this process and they've won pretty much every trade they've made so far

Change the rules...or stop singling out the Sixers...when other teams have been awful as well

I don't think a team has taken it to the extreme that the Sixers have though.

[FireDavidKahn]

Don't understand it from a competitive standpoint...the Sixers have hardly done anything many other teams haven't done...on purpose or not seems to be irrelevant

The Magic have been as bad or worse than the Sixers the 3 past season going into this one

I mean...they are really only 2 full years into this process and they've won pretty much every trade they've made so far

Change the rules...or stop singling out the Sixers...when other teams have been awful as well

"Won every trade" and yet they're about to set the record for most losses in a three year plan. For crying out loud, is their plan seriously a 5-7 year rebuild

[T_L_P]

"Won every trade" and yet they're about to set the record for most losses in a three year plan. For crying out loud, is their plan seriously a 5-7 year rebuild

Yes, and they said it would be from the outset - which is why I don't like the owners/league office meddling in their affairs.

[FireDavidKahn]

Yes, and they said it would be from the outset - which is why I don't like the owners/league office meddling in their affairs.

I'm actually willing to bet right now that they'll also set the record for most losses in a four year span after next year as well.

Trash organization right now.

[T_L_P]

I'm actually willing to bet right now that they'll also set the record for most losses in a four year span after next year as well.

Trash organization right now.

They might. But they could start trying next season if Embiid is healthy and if they manage to sign one really good player. We know they'll have a ton of picks this year so 30 wins next season isn't off the cards. Then the year after that they could start seriously competing.

I honestly don't see the problem. The Sixers are taking a calculated risk - it's better than what the Denver's of the NBA are doing. The only real issue is the team losing money right now because they suck, and ticket prices being so low that other teams make no money from playing them.

But in basketball terms, it should be up to ownership/the FO to build their team how they want. The Nets gave up their future to compete as soon as possible and it failed miserably, and I don't see Silver appointing someone with no connection to the franchise as their Head of Basketball Ops.

[BasedTom]

the problem is that their plan has them tanking for half a decade with no end in sight. At the very least throw in a respectable veteran in the lineup like how Minnesota has KG.

tanking is much less of a problem if its after your star player goes down, the draft happens to be loaded one year, or at the midway point you're clearly not going to make the playoffs. Philly didn't invent this.

[outbreak]

Don't understand it from a competitive standpoint...the Sixers have hardly done anything many other teams haven't done...on purpose or not seems to be irrelevant

The Magic have been as bad or worse than the Sixers the 3 past season going into this one

I mean...they are really only 2 full years into this process and they've won pretty much every trade they've made so far

Change the rules...or stop singling out the Sixers...when other teams have been awful as well

The magic had one really bad season after Dwight left but the next couple they did the best with what they had at the time and actually signed real basketball players instead of signing d-league players. They were drafting players who would actually play basketball and were active in trades too. They tanked sure but NO ONE has tanked the way philly have before. At times they were actually decent to watch as well with some players who were entertaining even though they were losing.

[longtime lurker]

NBA no doubt wants\needs this multiseason tank to end.

Here is the catch 22. If they somehow turn into title contenders, the strategy will have worked. That would be a disaster and impact the integrity of the league. Other teams would follow suit.

If the strategy totally fails, it's a disaster. 76ers will be a joke for years, and a drag on the league both from a revenue and integrity standpoint.

The only hope is that the 76ers turn into a a mediocre borderline playoff team as soon as possible, like next season. They would STILL be a revenue drag in this scenario, but at least the basic competitive integrity is restored. No idea how that happens. This is a very fine needle to thread and I would say a unique situation in league history. Quite a bit on the line for Adam Silver imo.

There is no catch 22. The Sixers are freaking horrible and they've managed to taint the whole culture of the team. Their two best bigs can't play together and they could potentially have 5 first round picks that play the same two positions. their #1 pick this year is either depressed from all the losing or actively trying to get himself traded through self sabotage. Newsflash teams with a poisonous atmosphere, low team morale and complete lack of will to win from management don't all of a sudden turn into competitors overnight.

[Mrofir]

There is no catch 22. The Sixers are freaking horrible and they've managed to taint the whole culture of the team. Their two best bigs can't play together and they could potentially have 5 first round picks that play the same two positions. their #1 pick this year is either depressed from all the losing or actively trying to get himself traded through self sabotage. Newsflash teams with a poisonous atmosphere, low team morale and complete lack of will to win from management don't all of a sudden turn into competitors overnight.

The reason I created this thread is because I agree with you.

[dhsilv]

"Won every trade" and yet they're about to set the record for most losses in a three year plan. For crying out loud, is their plan seriously a 5-7 year rebuild

Wouldn't that be one of the fastest rebuilds ever? Seriously outside of just landing a super star out of nowhere, if you're not LA, Boston, or the spurs who has been able to rebuild any faster?

The wolves have missed the playoffs for a decade. Do you remember the clippers before they landed blake and chirs paul? What about the mavs before cuban? What about the bob cats?

This is the first year the 76ers look like the actual worst team in the nba. They have a wealth of talent/picks coming over next year.

[dhsilv]

Lol no, have you?

Newsflash, those intentionally losing startups fail all the time. The only reason VC people keep posting money in them is because the eventual payoff of a Facebook or Google outweighs 100 losses.

Does winning an NBA championship once and 9 tank seasons in 10 years outweight having a mediocre team for 10 seasons? I don't think so, the math is not the same.

Well yes I have. The model is simple. You spend money on growth once you prove you have a viable product. Anyone trying to enter into a competitive space has a risk of failure.

The difference here is that the 76er's build has multiple layers of long term planning built in. They have stock piling second round picks as late as 2022 if memory services me. That kind of long term planning is going to allow them to sustain success once they start to win. Imagine a free agent looking to make a move and they have the GM/owner explaining how the team will have 5-10 more draft picks than anyone else over their 4-5 year contract. How they have even with say signing this guy to a max deal the flexibility to add a max player when on comes available and how they have a young core of players.

Players want to win and philly is build a long term foundation that will give them an edge over most other teams down the road.

Lets also not forget how bad from a long term team building perspective philly was. They had traded away their first round picks for the first two years of Hinkie so he literally had a few decent guys who got them to the playoffs on the wrong end of their careers and not draft picks coming their way in the short term. He didn't even have cap flexibility to chase a free agent. He really only had one option if they were going to have a chance at competing for a title in the next 10 years and that was to liquidate their assets and start over by trying to maximize value a few years into the future. His approach could have been different if he'd had actual first round picks, young talent, or cap space. He didn't have any of that.

And I keep saying but I'll say it again. This year if they keep up this pace will be their first time under him having the worst record in the nba. They have NOT been putting out the worst product in the league. They have also gone to extremes to assure that the players they have drafted get proper medical treatment for their injuries. You can call that tanking, but the reality is they took a risk on two bigs with huge upsides and it really shows they value these guys (even if it's just a numbers game for them) in their willingness to let them rest. I assure you philly would like to charge more for tickets and generate more revenue. Their ownership are the founders of the freaking Apollo group for crying out loud.

[oh the horror]

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.

[Mrofir]

this is the most extreme example of a team going completely into the toilet you've ever seen.

Fairly simple and exactly correct