Elton Brand joins Philadelphia 76ers

[slamtheking]

So when you look at Philly this year... what you see right now is irrelevant.   Even the worst of their 1st rounders this year project as better than the guys starting (like TJ McConnel). 

+ a basic lock of a top 4 pick
+ Saric
+ Embiid (who I suspect will play)
+ potentially a 4-7 pick from the Lakers
+ free agents
+ [Noel Slot] (him or whoever they trade him for)
+ [Okafor slot] (him or whoever they trade him for)

Don't forget that if Sacramento is a lotto team (likely) Philly also has their chances at a top 3 pick in the mix, unless both are in the top 3 and Philly is higher.

+ a basic lock of a top 4 pick  (pretty much locked up there unfortunately)
+ Saric (no guarantee he comes over)
+ Embiid (who I suspect will play)  (no guarantee he plays or that if he does, he's effective)
+ potentially a 4-7 pick from the Lakers (no guarantee Lakers aren't in top 3 -- sitting at #2)
+ free agents (who's going to sign there that has any talent?  Elton Brand types are about what they might get)
+ [Noel Slot] (him or whoever they trade him for)  (4th year player at that point.  likely trade candidate since I seriously think he'll play out his QO to hit UFA as soon as possible to escape Philly)
+ [Okafor slot] (him or whoever they trade him for) (probably Okafor - can't give away their other center that's not injured)


Don't forget that if Sacramento is a lotto team (likely) Philly also has their chances at a top 3 pick in the mix, unless both are in the top 3 and Philly is higher. (there is that possibility but Philly is so bad, the likelihood Sac ends up with a higher pick post lottery is extremely small)

[celticsclay]

The weirdest thing for me with this is the inconsistency of assets. Oklahoma and Miami pick are somehow assets, but our low first round picks from ourselves and  Dallas  are basically worthless?

Right now the OKC pick is sitting at 26th and it is unlikely to move a ton from that spot considering how good a team they are and how many teams are under .500 in the west. The Miami pick is tied for 24th.

Are these really worth anything? Personally I would rather have the 76ers second round pick than the 26th because it doesn't lock you into a mediocre player for 3 years and you have more options for overseas players. We don't even mention the 76ers second round pick but here we have the OKC pick mentioned all the time as gold. Maddening.

I don't think anyone called those picks assets, but there is a difference in the two teams, which makes those picks more valuable to a team like the Sixers, because they can actually use the players drafted, while Boston can't really do so.  That isn't to say Philly will actually keep the picks or the players drafted, as I don't think they will as they are starting to have the too many player problem (especially if they get the Lakers pick and Embiid and Saric are on the roster next year).

well clearly the biggest factor in this comment coming from you is your longstanding belief that all the fecal brown decay of the 76ers organization is actually gold. So as I have said in the past, pretty hard to take your views on this stuff seriously at all.

aside from the personal snipes, please point out which persons called those picks assets.

it is not really a personal snipe, although perhaps should have used better wording. It is a fact. You only ever say positive things about the 76ers and never say anything negative about them. I have asked you to specifically name anything that a team that is 3-33 has done wrong over the last couple of years and you couldn't do it. So it seems pointless to have debates with you on the 76ers based on that right?

another personal snipe and you still didn't answer the question.  I'll take that as you have no answer and just made crap up and used the personal snipe as a deflection to the fact that you made stuff up.  Pretty typical.

You can take it as that if you want. Or you cant take it to mean what I said. I am not going to get in debates with you because you don't have a reasonable view of the 76ers and our conversations go nowhere. If I am banging my head against the wall trying to talk to someone on a given topic, it is good a strategy to step back and say name one thing that is bad about this person (or good) whatever the opposite viewpoint is.

If someone just says they absolutely hate Bernie Sanders, and I say well what is one thing you agree on him with or think he has done a good job with. If the person says something, I can take them as informed and have the possibility of a good conversation. Heck, I am not a trump fan and I could at least try to think of a few things to be positive about. When someone can't pass this simple test, it shows the conversation with that person on that topic is not worth having. That's where I am with you and the 76ers.

[LarBrd33]

So when you look at Philly this year... what you see right now is irrelevant.   Even the worst of their 1st rounders this year project as better than the guys starting (like TJ McConnel). 

+ a basic lock of a top 4 pick
+ Saric
+ Embiid (who I suspect will play)
+ potentially a 4-7 pick from the Lakers
+ free agents
+ [Noel Slot] (him or whoever they trade him for)
+ [Okafor slot] (him or whoever they trade him for)

Don't forget that if Sacramento is a lotto team (likely) Philly also has their chances at a top 3 pick in the mix, unless both are in the top 3 and Philly is higher.

+ a basic lock of a top 4 pick  (pretty much locked up there unfortunately)
+ Saric (no guarantee he comes over)
+ Embiid (who I suspect will play)  (no guarantee he plays or that if he does, he's effective)
+ potentially a 4-7 pick from the Lakers (no guarantee Lakers aren't in top 3 -- sitting at #2)
+ free agents (who's going to sign there that has any talent?  Elton Brand types are about what they might get)
+ [Noel Slot] (him or whoever they trade him for)  (4th year player at that point.  likely trade candidate since I seriously think he'll play out his QO to hit UFA as soon as possible to escape Philly)
+ [Okafor slot] (him or whoever they trade him for) (probably Okafor - can't give away their other center that's not injured)


Don't forget that if Sacramento is a lotto team (likely) Philly also has their chances at a top 3 pick in the mix, unless both are in the top 3 and Philly is higher. (there is that possibility but Philly is so bad, the likelihood Sac ends up with a higher pick post lottery is extremely small)

Even the absolute worst-case scenario improves Philly next year. 

And as far as free agents...  when they are ready to pay money, guys will take it.  That's the bottom line.  Especially now that they have "removed the hinkie stink" by signing Colangelo (though I honestly think signing COlangelo has more to do with placating rabblerousers than anything... either way, it's serving the purpose of removing stink)...

I'm not suggesting that Durant and Horford is coming there... but if Philly is the only team offering Mike Conley a max contract ... throwing stupid money at a Luol Deng type... or offering contracts to guys like Eric Gordon or Gerald Henderson... the money will be taken.   And fans are naive if they think otherwise.   

Signing stars isn't easy... throwing money at role players?   No problem.  If anyone think the Brandon Basses of the world have avoided signing with Philly because of Hinkie, they don't know what they are talking about.   Philly intentionally avoided signing Brandon Bass types because they put a priority on losing.  When that flip switches (and it will have to switch this Summer), plan on them filling out the roster with NBA players.

[Moranis]

The weirdest thing for me with this is the inconsistency of assets. Oklahoma and Miami pick are somehow assets, but our low first round picks from ourselves and  Dallas  are basically worthless?

Right now the OKC pick is sitting at 26th and it is unlikely to move a ton from that spot considering how good a team they are and how many teams are under .500 in the west. The Miami pick is tied for 24th.

Are these really worth anything? Personally I would rather have the 76ers second round pick than the 26th because it doesn't lock you into a mediocre player for 3 years and you have more options for overseas players. We don't even mention the 76ers second round pick but here we have the OKC pick mentioned all the time as gold. Maddening.

I don't think anyone called those picks assets, but there is a difference in the two teams, which makes those picks more valuable to a team like the Sixers, because they can actually use the players drafted, while Boston can't really do so.  That isn't to say Philly will actually keep the picks or the players drafted, as I don't think they will as they are starting to have the too many player problem (especially if they get the Lakers pick and Embiid and Saric are on the roster next year).

well clearly the biggest factor in this comment coming from you is your longstanding belief that all the fecal brown decay of the 76ers organization is actually gold. So as I have said in the past, pretty hard to take your views on this stuff seriously at all.

aside from the personal snipes, please point out which persons called those picks assets.

it is not really a personal snipe, although perhaps should have used better wording. It is a fact. You only ever say positive things about the 76ers and never say anything negative about them. I have asked you to specifically name anything that a team that is 3-33 has done wrong over the last couple of years and you couldn't do it. So it seems pointless to have debates with you on the 76ers based on that right?

another personal snipe and you still didn't answer the question.  I'll take that as you have no answer and just made crap up and used the personal snipe as a deflection to the fact that you made stuff up.  Pretty typical.

You can take it as that if you want. Or you cant take it to mean what I said. I am not going to get in debates with you because you don't have a reasonable view of the 76ers and our conversations go nowhere. If I am banging my head against the wall trying to talk to someone on a given topic, it is good a strategy to step back and say name one thing that is bad about this person (or good) whatever the opposite viewpoint is.

If someone just says they absolutely hate Bernie Sanders, and I say well what is one thing you agree on him with or think he has done a good job with. If the person says something, I can take them as informed and have the possibility of a good conversation. Heck, I am not a trump fan and I could at least try to think of a few things to be positive about. When someone can't pass this simple test, it shows the conversation with that person on that topic is not worth having. That's where I am with you and the 76ers.

look the Sixers are a terrible team.  Might very well contend for the worst win percentage ever, but that was their intent.  They wanted to be bad and tank.  They probably didn't expect to be this bad in this season, but the didn't expect Embiid to get re-injured or Saric to not come over last summer.  When that happens you are going to be bad again.  The simple truth is though, the Sixers fully intended to be bad for three seasons (just not this bad), this is the third season.  That was their plan all along.  That is why they sold off their veterans and went all in on the tank by playing young players.  The fact that you can't understand that, is problematic for your analysis of the Sixers.  You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

[MBunge]

I'm not suggesting that Durant and Horford is coming there... but if Philly is the only team offering Mike Conley a max contract ... throwing stupid money at a Luol Deng type... or offering contracts to guys like Eric Gordon or Gerald Henderson... the money will be taken.   And fans are naive if they think otherwise.   

Every single one of those players would take an equal money offer from Boston or a bunch of other teams before going to Philly.  And honestly, I'm not sure Conley or Deng would sign with Philly in this off season no matter how much money is on the table.

Mike

[MBunge]

You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

Completely.  Absolutely.  Utterly.  Wrong.

If this is where they thought they would be, they don't bring in Colangelo.  And at minimum, they expected Embiid to be playing this season.  Philly didn't just give up two 2nd round picks for a crappy player they could have simply signed last off season because they "are pretty much where they thought they would be."  And they sure as heck didn't expect to find out the two healthy lottery picks they have can't play with each other.

Did Philly plan to tank?  Yes.  Did they plan to tank this year?  Yes.  But to suggest that THIS sorry situation is where they intended and even hoped to be three years into the Hinkie era is dumb.

Mike

[Moranis]

You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

Completely.  Absolutely.  Utterly.  Wrong.

If this is where they thought they would be, they don't bring in Colangelo.  And at minimum, they expected Embiid to be playing this season.  Philly didn't just give up two 2nd round picks for a crappy player they could have simply signed last off season because they "are pretty much where they thought they would be."  And they sure as heck didn't expect to find out the two healthy lottery picks they have can't play with each other.

Did Philly plan to tank?  Yes.  Did they plan to tank this year?  Yes.  But to suggest that THIS sorry situation is where they intended and even hoped to be three years into the Hinkie era is dumb.

Mike

did you read my whole post?  I addressed that.  Problem with just picking out a line or two of a post before you quote it is you miss things and get the context wrong.

[chambers]

You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

Completely.  Absolutely.  Utterly.  Wrong.

If this is where they thought they would be, they don't bring in Colangelo.  And at minimum, they expected Embiid to be playing this season.  Philly didn't just give up two 2nd round picks for a crappy player they could have simply signed last off season because they "are pretty much where they thought they would be."  And they sure as heck didn't expect to find out the two healthy lottery picks they have can't play with each other.

Did Philly plan to tank?  Yes.  Did they plan to tank this year?  Yes.  But to suggest that THIS sorry situation is where they intended and even hoped to be three years into the Hinkie era is dumb.

Mike

I get your reasoning but I think this is where Hinkie always planned to be, especially with Simmons coming up in the draft. Embid wasn't playing this season, neither was Saric.
The reality is that the 76ers planned to be exactly here. Adam Silver and some other NBA big shots got tired of the media/ownership whining and decided to 'step in' after some other owners/NBA bigshots/media coverage started using the tanking narrative as a go to story (and partly what was happening with Okafur without any veteran guidance).

-They're still the favorite for the #1 pick which was always the plan.
The NBA has stepped in to try and fix what they view as a PR nightmare (looking like they were allowing a team to purposely lose without any punishment for multiple years), and basically forced the 76ers owners to put Colangelo in there like some kind of holy basketball influence with his reputation. Guess what? They still purposely lost for multiple years....

But at the end of the day, the result is still the same- they have Okafur, Embid, Noel, Saric, their own top 3 2016 pick, *maybe the Lakers 2016 top 3 pick* and their other scrub 2nd rounders/D Leaguers.

The NBA has just stepped in to forcibly add some veteran leadership and to make them get an NBA caliber point guard- which was obviously what Hinkie was purposely trying to stop from happening. It doesn't matter so much now that they've locked up the % chance at the top pick that they wanted.

I don't think it would surprise anyone if Hinkie planned on making some moves this offseason that are similar to what's recently happened- because they'd have Saric, hopefully Embid, and Simmons or Ingram with Noel and Okafur.

Not really much has changed. They got a bench level NBA caliber point guard and a few old veterans for guidance. They're still the worst team by FAR, and they'll still get an awesome pick with more young talent coming in next season.

Colangelo is a nice symbolic move to shut the media up and to help the PR nightmare, but at the end of the day not much has really changed other than adding a bench PG and a veteran leader....

[celticsclay]

The weirdest thing for me with this is the inconsistency of assets. Oklahoma and Miami pick are somehow assets, but our low first round picks from ourselves and  Dallas  are basically worthless?

Right now the OKC pick is sitting at 26th and it is unlikely to move a ton from that spot considering how good a team they are and how many teams are under .500 in the west. The Miami pick is tied for 24th.

Are these really worth anything? Personally I would rather have the 76ers second round pick than the 26th because it doesn't lock you into a mediocre player for 3 years and you have more options for overseas players. We don't even mention the 76ers second round pick but here we have the OKC pick mentioned all the time as gold. Maddening.

I don't think anyone called those picks assets, but there is a difference in the two teams, which makes those picks more valuable to a team like the Sixers, because they can actually use the players drafted, while Boston can't really do so.  That isn't to say Philly will actually keep the picks or the players drafted, as I don't think they will as they are starting to have the too many player problem (especially if they get the Lakers pick and Embiid and Saric are on the roster next year).

well clearly the biggest factor in this comment coming from you is your longstanding belief that all the fecal brown decay of the 76ers organization is actually gold. So as I have said in the past, pretty hard to take your views on this stuff seriously at all.

aside from the personal snipes, please point out which persons called those picks assets.

it is not really a personal snipe, although perhaps should have used better wording. It is a fact. You only ever say positive things about the 76ers and never say anything negative about them. I have asked you to specifically name anything that a team that is 3-33 has done wrong over the last couple of years and you couldn't do it. So it seems pointless to have debates with you on the 76ers based on that right?

another personal snipe and you still didn't answer the question.  I'll take that as you have no answer and just made crap up and used the personal snipe as a deflection to the fact that you made stuff up.  Pretty typical.

You can take it as that if you want. Or you cant take it to mean what I said. I am not going to get in debates with you because you don't have a reasonable view of the 76ers and our conversations go nowhere. If I am banging my head against the wall trying to talk to someone on a given topic, it is good a strategy to step back and say name one thing that is bad about this person (or good) whatever the opposite viewpoint is.

If someone just says they absolutely hate Bernie Sanders, and I say well what is one thing you agree on him with or think he has done a good job with. If the person says something, I can take them as informed and have the possibility of a good conversation. Heck, I am not a trump fan and I could at least try to think of a few things to be positive about. When someone can't pass this simple test, it shows the conversation with that person on that topic is not worth having. That's where I am with you and the 76ers.

look the Sixers are a terrible team.  Might very well contend for the worst win percentage ever, but that was their intent.  They wanted to be bad and tank.  They probably didn't expect to be this bad in this season, but the didn't expect Embiid to get re-injured or Saric to not come over last summer.  When that happens you are going to be bad again.  The simple truth is though, the Sixers fully intended to be bad for three seasons (just not this bad), this is the third season.  That was their plan all along.  That is why they sold off their veterans and went all in on the tank by playing young players.  The fact that you can't understand that, is problematic for your analysis of the Sixers.  You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

I guess I will bite since you are at least trying to have a reasonable conversation here. First a point of clarification. I totally understand that the 76ers have been trying to tank. I also understand for the most, part they are where they would like to be this season given the Embiid setback (I think it is fair to say they would like to have 5-6 wins instead of 3 to reduce media scrutiny but that is a minor point). That being said, that doesn't mean there haven't been things that have gone wrong with the 76ers plan and they haven't gotten bad breaks and a few bad decision mixed in. My problem with your analysis of the 76ers and several other people that discuss them is that they have have a hard time acknowledging these setbacks and poor decisions within the process. They are viewed as being condemming of the whole process when in reality it is just pointing out a few things that they should have done differently. I will list these again for laugh. Some of these are debatable whether they are bad luck/decisions other are not

1) The Embiid reinjury. They selected this guy 3rd and will now have gone 2.5 years without playing in a competitive basketball game when he returns. If all teams knew he would miss two years and have to have two separate surgeries where does he get drafted in that draft. Mid 20's? In retrospect this was not a good pick. Although you personally I don't think have done this, fans that are starting to just blindly list him as a big asset are not really taking historical injury history into effect. Their are very few players that have come back and played NBA basketball after missing two full seasons. Ones that have often seen very reduced effectiveness. Big Z is the biggest success story I can think of and I would never call him a franchise center.

2) Overly investing in protected picks. This is certainly debatable, but I think it makes it very difficult to plan a team when you don't know when and where those picks will be. A month from the end of last season it looked like the 76ers would end up with 2 top ten picks and a few in the mid to late teens. Now a year later those picks are 25 to 27 and we still don't know what will happen with the Lakers. However, whether or not you agree that it was a mistake to get so many, I don't think it is debatable that the swaps with the heat and Thunder have not worked out. The 76ers would be in much better shape with the 16th and 17th pick in last years draft then the 25th and 27th pick this year.

3) Not signing a few veterans this offseason. The coach and team (as well as the NBA itself) has basically acknowledged this was a mistake and their team needed a few veterans to stop the players from going off the rails. In light of what has happened with Okafor and their subsequent moves it is pretty obvious even the 76ers acknowledge this was a mistake. Not acknowledging this was a mistake now as a fan seems ridiculous.

4) Drafting Okafor. In addition to troubles off the court, he does not fit with Noel. If the 76ers had drafted Porzingas their future looks a lot better right now.

Finally this is a little off the point, but you went on like 8 pages of threads last season arguing how great the 76ers role and bench players were mentioning thompson, covington, wroten, marshall and a few others I am forgetting at the time. I realize there was injury involved, but wroten is now out of the league. Marshall can't get on the court. Covington can't even start and Thompson continues to be a guy that can hit 3's at a high percentage and nothing else.

[Moranis]

The weirdest thing for me with this is the inconsistency of assets. Oklahoma and Miami pick are somehow assets, but our low first round picks from ourselves and  Dallas  are basically worthless?

Right now the OKC pick is sitting at 26th and it is unlikely to move a ton from that spot considering how good a team they are and how many teams are under .500 in the west. The Miami pick is tied for 24th.

Are these really worth anything? Personally I would rather have the 76ers second round pick than the 26th because it doesn't lock you into a mediocre player for 3 years and you have more options for overseas players. We don't even mention the 76ers second round pick but here we have the OKC pick mentioned all the time as gold. Maddening.

I don't think anyone called those picks assets, but there is a difference in the two teams, which makes those picks more valuable to a team like the Sixers, because they can actually use the players drafted, while Boston can't really do so.  That isn't to say Philly will actually keep the picks or the players drafted, as I don't think they will as they are starting to have the too many player problem (especially if they get the Lakers pick and Embiid and Saric are on the roster next year).

well clearly the biggest factor in this comment coming from you is your longstanding belief that all the fecal brown decay of the 76ers organization is actually gold. So as I have said in the past, pretty hard to take your views on this stuff seriously at all.

aside from the personal snipes, please point out which persons called those picks assets.

it is not really a personal snipe, although perhaps should have used better wording. It is a fact. You only ever say positive things about the 76ers and never say anything negative about them. I have asked you to specifically name anything that a team that is 3-33 has done wrong over the last couple of years and you couldn't do it. So it seems pointless to have debates with you on the 76ers based on that right?

another personal snipe and you still didn't answer the question.  I'll take that as you have no answer and just made crap up and used the personal snipe as a deflection to the fact that you made stuff up.  Pretty typical.

You can take it as that if you want. Or you cant take it to mean what I said. I am not going to get in debates with you because you don't have a reasonable view of the 76ers and our conversations go nowhere. If I am banging my head against the wall trying to talk to someone on a given topic, it is good a strategy to step back and say name one thing that is bad about this person (or good) whatever the opposite viewpoint is.

If someone just says they absolutely hate Bernie Sanders, and I say well what is one thing you agree on him with or think he has done a good job with. If the person says something, I can take them as informed and have the possibility of a good conversation. Heck, I am not a trump fan and I could at least try to think of a few things to be positive about. When someone can't pass this simple test, it shows the conversation with that person on that topic is not worth having. That's where I am with you and the 76ers.

look the Sixers are a terrible team.  Might very well contend for the worst win percentage ever, but that was their intent.  They wanted to be bad and tank.  They probably didn't expect to be this bad in this season, but the didn't expect Embiid to get re-injured or Saric to not come over last summer.  When that happens you are going to be bad again.  The simple truth is though, the Sixers fully intended to be bad for three seasons (just not this bad), this is the third season.  That was their plan all along.  That is why they sold off their veterans and went all in on the tank by playing young players.  The fact that you can't understand that, is problematic for your analysis of the Sixers.  You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

I guess I will bite since you are at least trying to have a reasonable conversation here. First a point of clarification. I totally understand that the 76ers have been trying to tank. I also understand for the most, part they are where they would like to be this season given the Embiid setback (I think it is fair to say they would like to have 5-6 wins instead of 3 to reduce media scrutiny but that is a minor point). That being said, that doesn't mean there haven't been things that have gone wrong with the 76ers plan and they haven't gotten bad breaks and a few bad decision mixed in. My problem with your analysis of the 76ers and several other people that discuss them is that they have have a hard time acknowledging these setbacks and poor decisions within the process. They are viewed as being condemming of the whole process when in reality it is just pointing out a few things that they should have done differently. I will list these again for laugh. Some of these are debatable whether they are bad luck/decisions other are not

1) The Embiid reinjury. They selected this guy 3rd and will now have gone 2.5 years without playing in a competitive basketball game when he returns. If all teams knew he would miss two years and have to have two separate surgeries where does he get drafted in that draft. Mid 20's? In retrospect this was not a good pick. Although you personally I don't think have done this, fans that are starting to just blindly list him as a big asset are not really taking historical injury history into effect. Their are very few players that have come back and played NBA basketball after missing two full seasons. Ones that have often seen very reduced effectiveness. Big Z is the biggest success story I can think of and I would never call him a franchise center.

2) Overly investing in protected picks. This is certainly debatable, but I think it makes it very difficult to plan a team when you don't know when and where those picks will be. A month from the end of last season it looked like the 76ers would end up with 2 top ten picks and a few in the mid to late teens. Now a year later those picks are 25 to 27 and we still don't know what will happen with the Lakers. However, whether or not you agree that it was a mistake to get so many, I don't think it is debatable that the swaps with the heat and Thunder have not worked out. The 76ers would be in much better shape with the 16th and 17th pick in last years draft then the 25th and 27th pick this year.

3) Not signing a few veterans this offseason. The coach and team (as well as the NBA itself) has basically acknowledged this was a mistake and their team needed a few veterans to stop the players from going off the rails. In light of what has happened with Okafor and their subsequent moves it is pretty obvious even the 76ers acknowledge this was a mistake. Not acknowledging this was a mistake now as a fan seems ridiculous.

4) Drafting Okafor. In addition to troubles off the court, he does not fit with Noel. If the 76ers had drafted Porzingas their future looks a lot better right now.

Finally this is a little off the point, but you went on like 8 pages of threads last season arguing how great the 76ers role and bench players were mentioning thompson, covington, wroten, marshall and a few others I am forgetting at the time. I realize there was injury involved, but wroten is now out of the league. Marshall can't get on the court. Covington can't even start and Thompson continues to be a guy that can hit 3's at a high percentage and nothing else.

I never said any of the Sixers role players were great.  In fact I've pretty consistently said they were role players, which by definition does not imply great.  I have said, and maintain, that they have a number of players that would be role players on good teams because they have a unique skill or are good enough all around players that they would fine a spot on the bench.  Those players are Covington, Thompson, and Grant.  Okafor and Noel obviously have a far greater upside than that.  I've also said that Wroten and Marshall were credible enough ball handlers that when they returned from injury they would improve the play of the Sixers, but also that they wouldn't do much for the win column.  Not sure how you get I think those guys are great players (and for the record the +- for Wroten showed that the Sixers were better with him on the court than with him on the bench, so he did in fact improve the play of the team). 

Okafor was the right selection at the time.  I mean unless pretty much every basketball expert was wrong.  They pretty much all had Okafor as the better selection than Porzingis.  Clearly thus far this year, it appears Porzingis would have fit better, but then again Porzingis is playing with Carmelo Anthony, Aaron Afflalo, Robin Lopez, etc.  Who knows if the roles were reversed what they would look like, which is why you can't really judge a rookie halfway through his rookie season, especially when one is on one of the worst teams in history.

[celticsclay]

The weirdest thing for me with this is the inconsistency of assets. Oklahoma and Miami pick are somehow assets, but our low first round picks from ourselves and  Dallas  are basically worthless?

Right now the OKC pick is sitting at 26th and it is unlikely to move a ton from that spot considering how good a team they are and how many teams are under .500 in the west. The Miami pick is tied for 24th.

Are these really worth anything? Personally I would rather have the 76ers second round pick than the 26th because it doesn't lock you into a mediocre player for 3 years and you have more options for overseas players. We don't even mention the 76ers second round pick but here we have the OKC pick mentioned all the time as gold. Maddening.

I don't think anyone called those picks assets, but there is a difference in the two teams, which makes those picks more valuable to a team like the Sixers, because they can actually use the players drafted, while Boston can't really do so.  That isn't to say Philly will actually keep the picks or the players drafted, as I don't think they will as they are starting to have the too many player problem (especially if they get the Lakers pick and Embiid and Saric are on the roster next year).

well clearly the biggest factor in this comment coming from you is your longstanding belief that all the fecal brown decay of the 76ers organization is actually gold. So as I have said in the past, pretty hard to take your views on this stuff seriously at all.

aside from the personal snipes, please point out which persons called those picks assets.

it is not really a personal snipe, although perhaps should have used better wording. It is a fact. You only ever say positive things about the 76ers and never say anything negative about them. I have asked you to specifically name anything that a team that is 3-33 has done wrong over the last couple of years and you couldn't do it. So it seems pointless to have debates with you on the 76ers based on that right?

another personal snipe and you still didn't answer the question.  I'll take that as you have no answer and just made crap up and used the personal snipe as a deflection to the fact that you made stuff up.  Pretty typical.

You can take it as that if you want. Or you cant take it to mean what I said. I am not going to get in debates with you because you don't have a reasonable view of the 76ers and our conversations go nowhere. If I am banging my head against the wall trying to talk to someone on a given topic, it is good a strategy to step back and say name one thing that is bad about this person (or good) whatever the opposite viewpoint is.

If someone just says they absolutely hate Bernie Sanders, and I say well what is one thing you agree on him with or think he has done a good job with. If the person says something, I can take them as informed and have the possibility of a good conversation. Heck, I am not a trump fan and I could at least try to think of a few things to be positive about. When someone can't pass this simple test, it shows the conversation with that person on that topic is not worth having. That's where I am with you and the 76ers.

look the Sixers are a terrible team.  Might very well contend for the worst win percentage ever, but that was their intent.  They wanted to be bad and tank.  They probably didn't expect to be this bad in this season, but the didn't expect Embiid to get re-injured or Saric to not come over last summer.  When that happens you are going to be bad again.  The simple truth is though, the Sixers fully intended to be bad for three seasons (just not this bad), this is the third season.  That was their plan all along.  That is why they sold off their veterans and went all in on the tank by playing young players.  The fact that you can't understand that, is problematic for your analysis of the Sixers.  You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

I guess I will bite since you are at least trying to have a reasonable conversation here. First a point of clarification. I totally understand that the 76ers have been trying to tank. I also understand for the most, part they are where they would like to be this season given the Embiid setback (I think it is fair to say they would like to have 5-6 wins instead of 3 to reduce media scrutiny but that is a minor point). That being said, that doesn't mean there haven't been things that have gone wrong with the 76ers plan and they haven't gotten bad breaks and a few bad decision mixed in. My problem with your analysis of the 76ers and several other people that discuss them is that they have have a hard time acknowledging these setbacks and poor decisions within the process. They are viewed as being condemming of the whole process when in reality it is just pointing out a few things that they should have done differently. I will list these again for laugh. Some of these are debatable whether they are bad luck/decisions other are not

1) The Embiid reinjury. They selected this guy 3rd and will now have gone 2.5 years without playing in a competitive basketball game when he returns. If all teams knew he would miss two years and have to have two separate surgeries where does he get drafted in that draft. Mid 20's? In retrospect this was not a good pick. Although you personally I don't think have done this, fans that are starting to just blindly list him as a big asset are not really taking historical injury history into effect. Their are very few players that have come back and played NBA basketball after missing two full seasons. Ones that have often seen very reduced effectiveness. Big Z is the biggest success story I can think of and I would never call him a franchise center.

2) Overly investing in protected picks. This is certainly debatable, but I think it makes it very difficult to plan a team when you don't know when and where those picks will be. A month from the end of last season it looked like the 76ers would end up with 2 top ten picks and a few in the mid to late teens. Now a year later those picks are 25 to 27 and we still don't know what will happen with the Lakers. However, whether or not you agree that it was a mistake to get so many, I don't think it is debatable that the swaps with the heat and Thunder have not worked out. The 76ers would be in much better shape with the 16th and 17th pick in last years draft then the 25th and 27th pick this year.

3) Not signing a few veterans this offseason. The coach and team (as well as the NBA itself) has basically acknowledged this was a mistake and their team needed a few veterans to stop the players from going off the rails. In light of what has happened with Okafor and their subsequent moves it is pretty obvious even the 76ers acknowledge this was a mistake. Not acknowledging this was a mistake now as a fan seems ridiculous.

4) Drafting Okafor. In addition to troubles off the court, he does not fit with Noel. If the 76ers had drafted Porzingas their future looks a lot better right now.

Finally this is a little off the point, but you went on like 8 pages of threads last season arguing how great the 76ers role and bench players were mentioning thompson, covington, wroten, marshall and a few others I am forgetting at the time. I realize there was injury involved, but wroten is now out of the league. Marshall can't get on the court. Covington can't even start and Thompson continues to be a guy that can hit 3's at a high percentage and nothing else.

I never said any of the Sixers role players were great.  In fact I've pretty consistently said they were role players, which by definition does not imply great.  I have said, and maintain, that they have a number of players that would be role players on good teams because they have a unique skill or are good enough all around players that they would fine a spot on the bench.  Those players are Covington, Thompson, and Grant.  Okafor and Noel obviously have a far greater upside than that.  I've also said that Wroten and Marshall were credible enough ball handlers that when they returned from injury they would improve the play of the Sixers, but also that they wouldn't do much for the win column.  Not sure how you get I think those guys are great players (and for the record the +- for Wroten showed that the Sixers were better with him on the court than with him on the bench, so he did in fact improve the play of the team). 

Okafor was the right selection at the time.  I mean unless pretty much every basketball expert was wrong.  They pretty much all had Okafor as the better selection than Porzingis.  Clearly thus far this year, it appears Porzingis would have fit better, but then again Porzingis is playing with Carmelo Anthony, Aaron Afflalo, Robin Lopez, etc.  Who knows if the roles were reversed what they would look like, which is why you can't really judge a rookie halfway through his rookie season, especially when one is on one of the worst teams in history.

I think you are downplaying how highly you have talked of these guys in the past. If wroten does not play in the NBA again would you say you overrated him?

[tazzmaniac]

The weirdest thing for me with this is the inconsistency of assets. Oklahoma and Miami pick are somehow assets, but our low first round picks from ourselves and  Dallas  are basically worthless?

Right now the OKC pick is sitting at 26th and it is unlikely to move a ton from that spot considering how good a team they are and how many teams are under .500 in the west. The Miami pick is tied for 24th.

Are these really worth anything? Personally I would rather have the 76ers second round pick than the 26th because it doesn't lock you into a mediocre player for 3 years and you have more options for overseas players. We don't even mention the 76ers second round pick but here we have the OKC pick mentioned all the time as gold. Maddening.

I don't think anyone called those picks assets, but there is a difference in the two teams, which makes those picks more valuable to a team like the Sixers, because they can actually use the players drafted, while Boston can't really do so.  That isn't to say Philly will actually keep the picks or the players drafted, as I don't think they will as they are starting to have the too many player problem (especially if they get the Lakers pick and Embiid and Saric are on the roster next year).

well clearly the biggest factor in this comment coming from you is your longstanding belief that all the fecal brown decay of the 76ers organization is actually gold. So as I have said in the past, pretty hard to take your views on this stuff seriously at all.

aside from the personal snipes, please point out which persons called those picks assets.

it is not really a personal snipe, although perhaps should have used better wording. It is a fact. You only ever say positive things about the 76ers and never say anything negative about them. I have asked you to specifically name anything that a team that is 3-33 has done wrong over the last couple of years and you couldn't do it. So it seems pointless to have debates with you on the 76ers based on that right?

another personal snipe and you still didn't answer the question.  I'll take that as you have no answer and just made crap up and used the personal snipe as a deflection to the fact that you made stuff up.  Pretty typical.

You can take it as that if you want. Or you cant take it to mean what I said. I am not going to get in debates with you because you don't have a reasonable view of the 76ers and our conversations go nowhere. If I am banging my head against the wall trying to talk to someone on a given topic, it is good a strategy to step back and say name one thing that is bad about this person (or good) whatever the opposite viewpoint is.

If someone just says they absolutely hate Bernie Sanders, and I say well what is one thing you agree on him with or think he has done a good job with. If the person says something, I can take them as informed and have the possibility of a good conversation. Heck, I am not a trump fan and I could at least try to think of a few things to be positive about. When someone can't pass this simple test, it shows the conversation with that person on that topic is not worth having. That's where I am with you and the 76ers.

look the Sixers are a terrible team.  Might very well contend for the worst win percentage ever, but that was their intent.  They wanted to be bad and tank.  They probably didn't expect to be this bad in this season, but the didn't expect Embiid to get re-injured or Saric to not come over last summer.  When that happens you are going to be bad again.  The simple truth is though, the Sixers fully intended to be bad for three seasons (just not this bad), this is the third season.  That was their plan all along.  That is why they sold off their veterans and went all in on the tank by playing young players.  The fact that you can't understand that, is problematic for your analysis of the Sixers.  You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

I guess I will bite since you are at least trying to have a reasonable conversation here. First a point of clarification. I totally understand that the 76ers have been trying to tank. I also understand for the most, part they are where they would like to be this season given the Embiid setback (I think it is fair to say they would like to have 5-6 wins instead of 3 to reduce media scrutiny but that is a minor point). That being said, that doesn't mean there haven't been things that have gone wrong with the 76ers plan and they haven't gotten bad breaks and a few bad decision mixed in. My problem with your analysis of the 76ers and several other people that discuss them is that they have have a hard time acknowledging these setbacks and poor decisions within the process. They are viewed as being condemming of the whole process when in reality it is just pointing out a few things that they should have done differently. I will list these again for laugh. Some of these are debatable whether they are bad luck/decisions other are not

1) The Embiid reinjury. They selected this guy 3rd and will now have gone 2.5 years without playing in a competitive basketball game when he returns. If all teams knew he would miss two years and have to have two separate surgeries where does he get drafted in that draft. Mid 20's? In retrospect this was not a good pick. Although you personally I don't think have done this, fans that are starting to just blindly list him as a big asset are not really taking historical injury history into effect. Their are very few players that have come back and played NBA basketball after missing two full seasons. Ones that have often seen very reduced effectiveness. Big Z is the biggest success story I can think of and I would never call him a franchise center.

2) Overly investing in protected picks. This is certainly debatable, but I think it makes it very difficult to plan a team when you don't know when and where those picks will be. A month from the end of last season it looked like the 76ers would end up with 2 top ten picks and a few in the mid to late teens. Now a year later those picks are 25 to 27 and we still don't know what will happen with the Lakers. However, whether or not you agree that it was a mistake to get so many, I don't think it is debatable that the swaps with the heat and Thunder have not worked out. The 76ers would be in much better shape with the 16th and 17th pick in last years draft then the 25th and 27th pick this year.

3) Not signing a few veterans this offseason. The coach and team (as well as the NBA itself) has basically acknowledged this was a mistake and their team needed a few veterans to stop the players from going off the rails. In light of what has happened with Okafor and their subsequent moves it is pretty obvious even the 76ers acknowledge this was a mistake. Not acknowledging this was a mistake now as a fan seems ridiculous.

4) Drafting Okafor. In addition to troubles off the court, he does not fit with Noel. If the 76ers had drafted Porzingas their future looks a lot better right now.

Finally this is a little off the point, but you went on like 8 pages of threads last season arguing how great the 76ers role and bench players were mentioning thompson, covington, wroten, marshall and a few others I am forgetting at the time. I realize there was injury involved, but wroten is now out of the league. Marshall can't get on the court. Covington can't even start and Thompson continues to be a guy that can hit 3's at a high percentage and nothing else.

The Sixers have 4 wins (3 since the Ish Smith trade) not 3. 

Embiid was and still is the correct selection for the Sixers.  Embiid still has star potential albeit with injury bust risk.  Exum, Gordon, Smart and Randle haven't shown star potential or even proven themselves to be solid starters yet. 

Knocking the Sixers for acquiring protected picks for relatively little is nonsense.  I haven't seen you complaining about Ainge acquiring protected picks (T-wolves, Mavs, Grizz).  You can add the Kings 2018 protected pick to the list of cheaply acquired Sixers picks. 

The Lakers had the 4th worst record and were already tanking when their pick (top 5 protected last year) was acquired by the Sixers so there was little expectation that they'd get that pick last year.  Not getting either the Miami or OKC picks last year was unexpected but who did they really miss out on (Oubre?).  This year I think Miami's record is inflated since they've played 23 home games and only 12 road games so far.  Add to that their players' injury history and the stronger East.   I expect their pick will end up mid-1st but I wouldn't be surprised it ended up being late lottery.

I thought not re-signing Ish Smith was a mistake because he worked so well with Noel.  They did sign Marshall and they had Wroten.  Both were returning from injury but it was reasonable to assume they could hand the PG duties for a tanking team.  From a tanking perspective not having Smith and other veterans from the start of the season was a good thing.  The Lakers only have 8 wins. The Sixers need to make sure that the Lakers don't out tank them. 

Okafor's issues are of his own making.  I don't think a couple of veterans would have affected his actions.  Okafor was the right pick especially with Embiid's re-injury.   Okafor has played well offensively and his defense needs a lot of work as expected.  Porzingis was considered a good project but no one expected him to play this well so soon. 

[LarBrd33]

I'm not suggesting that Durant and Horford is coming there... but if Philly is the only team offering Mike Conley a max contract ... throwing stupid money at a Luol Deng type... or offering contracts to guys like Eric Gordon or Gerald Henderson... the money will be taken.   And fans are naive if they think otherwise.   

Every single one of those players would take an equal money offer from Boston or a bunch of other teams before going to Philly. 

You are completely missing the point.   I don't know if you are intentionally doing this to be annoying just don't get it.   

If every team in the league offered an overpay contract to Brandon Bass... I'm sure he'd weigh his best situation and settle in.   BUt if the only offer he gets is the Lakers...  That's just the way it is.  And this summer when Philly is finally ready to try building a team, they'll have plenty of money to offer to the Brandon Bass's of the world... and you're totally naive if you think basketball players are going to snub the opportunity to take money to have a big role in Philly because Hinkie was a meany-pants and took advantage of a weird system that incentivized teams to be bad.   Your comment suggests that the dozens of free agents are all going to sign with Boston over Philly.  It's a dumb suggestion.  There's only so many roster spots.   Philly will have no trouble adding a few vets.

Especially if Philly has a young core that is beginning to form this summer... and I think it's pretty likely they'll have a young core beginning to form this Summer..  As much as we as Celtic fans would love to see Philly fall on their face, Embiid never play, Noel get re-injured, Okafor get arrested for life, Saric sign a 10 year contract overseas, Philly fall to 4th and pick a scrub, Lakers keep their pick and end up in the playoffs next year, both the OKC and Miami picks amounting to nothing tangible, and for every free agent to snub Philly cuz Hinkie is a meany-pants.....  That's unlikely to all happen.   They'll figure out their big man log jam by getting great talent at another position of need, and have a top 4 pick... that alone improves them.

Bottom line, they are where they should be right now.  They'll finish out the tank this year and start making moves towards winning.   It's still an intriguing situation.   It will be very interesting to see what they look like in a few years.

[celticsclay]

The weirdest thing for me with this is the inconsistency of assets. Oklahoma and Miami pick are somehow assets, but our low first round picks from ourselves and  Dallas  are basically worthless?

Right now the OKC pick is sitting at 26th and it is unlikely to move a ton from that spot considering how good a team they are and how many teams are under .500 in the west. The Miami pick is tied for 24th.

Are these really worth anything? Personally I would rather have the 76ers second round pick than the 26th because it doesn't lock you into a mediocre player for 3 years and you have more options for overseas players. We don't even mention the 76ers second round pick but here we have the OKC pick mentioned all the time as gold. Maddening.

I don't think anyone called those picks assets, but there is a difference in the two teams, which makes those picks more valuable to a team like the Sixers, because they can actually use the players drafted, while Boston can't really do so.  That isn't to say Philly will actually keep the picks or the players drafted, as I don't think they will as they are starting to have the too many player problem (especially if they get the Lakers pick and Embiid and Saric are on the roster next year).

well clearly the biggest factor in this comment coming from you is your longstanding belief that all the fecal brown decay of the 76ers organization is actually gold. So as I have said in the past, pretty hard to take your views on this stuff seriously at all.

aside from the personal snipes, please point out which persons called those picks assets.

it is not really a personal snipe, although perhaps should have used better wording. It is a fact. You only ever say positive things about the 76ers and never say anything negative about them. I have asked you to specifically name anything that a team that is 3-33 has done wrong over the last couple of years and you couldn't do it. So it seems pointless to have debates with you on the 76ers based on that right?

another personal snipe and you still didn't answer the question.  I'll take that as you have no answer and just made crap up and used the personal snipe as a deflection to the fact that you made stuff up.  Pretty typical.

You can take it as that if you want. Or you cant take it to mean what I said. I am not going to get in debates with you because you don't have a reasonable view of the 76ers and our conversations go nowhere. If I am banging my head against the wall trying to talk to someone on a given topic, it is good a strategy to step back and say name one thing that is bad about this person (or good) whatever the opposite viewpoint is.

If someone just says they absolutely hate Bernie Sanders, and I say well what is one thing you agree on him with or think he has done a good job with. If the person says something, I can take them as informed and have the possibility of a good conversation. Heck, I am not a trump fan and I could at least try to think of a few things to be positive about. When someone can't pass this simple test, it shows the conversation with that person on that topic is not worth having. That's where I am with you and the 76ers.

look the Sixers are a terrible team.  Might very well contend for the worst win percentage ever, but that was their intent.  They wanted to be bad and tank.  They probably didn't expect to be this bad in this season, but the didn't expect Embiid to get re-injured or Saric to not come over last summer.  When that happens you are going to be bad again.  The simple truth is though, the Sixers fully intended to be bad for three seasons (just not this bad), this is the third season.  That was their plan all along.  That is why they sold off their veterans and went all in on the tank by playing young players.  The fact that you can't understand that, is problematic for your analysis of the Sixers.  You can't understand that the Sixers are pretty much where they thought they would be (especially without Embiid and Saric).  This was their plan.  Period.

I guess I will bite since you are at least trying to have a reasonable conversation here. First a point of clarification. I totally understand that the 76ers have been trying to tank. I also understand for the most, part they are where they would like to be this season given the Embiid setback (I think it is fair to say they would like to have 5-6 wins instead of 3 to reduce media scrutiny but that is a minor point). That being said, that doesn't mean there haven't been things that have gone wrong with the 76ers plan and they haven't gotten bad breaks and a few bad decision mixed in. My problem with your analysis of the 76ers and several other people that discuss them is that they have have a hard time acknowledging these setbacks and poor decisions within the process. They are viewed as being condemming of the whole process when in reality it is just pointing out a few things that they should have done differently. I will list these again for laugh. Some of these are debatable whether they are bad luck/decisions other are not

1) The Embiid reinjury. They selected this guy 3rd and will now have gone 2.5 years without playing in a competitive basketball game when he returns. If all teams knew he would miss two years and have to have two separate surgeries where does he get drafted in that draft. Mid 20's? In retrospect this was not a good pick. Although you personally I don't think have done this, fans that are starting to just blindly list him as a big asset are not really taking historical injury history into effect. Their are very few players that have come back and played NBA basketball after missing two full seasons. Ones that have often seen very reduced effectiveness. Big Z is the biggest success story I can think of and I would never call him a franchise center.

2) Overly investing in protected picks. This is certainly debatable, but I think it makes it very difficult to plan a team when you don't know when and where those picks will be. A month from the end of last season it looked like the 76ers would end up with 2 top ten picks and a few in the mid to late teens. Now a year later those picks are 25 to 27 and we still don't know what will happen with the Lakers. However, whether or not you agree that it was a mistake to get so many, I don't think it is debatable that the swaps with the heat and Thunder have not worked out. The 76ers would be in much better shape with the 16th and 17th pick in last years draft then the 25th and 27th pick this year.

3) Not signing a few veterans this offseason. The coach and team (as well as the NBA itself) has basically acknowledged this was a mistake and their team needed a few veterans to stop the players from going off the rails. In light of what has happened with Okafor and their subsequent moves it is pretty obvious even the 76ers acknowledge this was a mistake. Not acknowledging this was a mistake now as a fan seems ridiculous.

4) Drafting Okafor. In addition to troubles off the court, he does not fit with Noel. If the 76ers had drafted Porzingas their future looks a lot better right now.

Finally this is a little off the point, but you went on like 8 pages of threads last season arguing how great the 76ers role and bench players were mentioning thompson, covington, wroten, marshall and a few others I am forgetting at the time. I realize there was injury involved, but wroten is now out of the league. Marshall can't get on the court. Covington can't even start and Thompson continues to be a guy that can hit 3's at a high percentage and nothing else.

The Sixers have 4 wins (3 since the Ish Smith trade) not 3. 

Embiid was and still is the correct selection for the Sixers.  Embiid still has star potential albeit with injury bust risk.  Exum, Gordon, Smart and Randle haven't shown star potential or even proven themselves to be solid starters yet. 

Knocking the Sixers for acquiring protected picks for relatively little is nonsense.  I haven't seen you complaining about Ainge acquiring protected picks (T-wolves, Mavs, Grizz).  You can add the Kings 2018 protected pick to the list of cheaply acquired Sixers picks. 

The Lakers had the 4th worst record and were already tanking when their pick (top 5 protected last year) was acquired by the Sixers so there was little expectation that they'd get that pick last year.  Not getting either the Miami or OKC picks last year was unexpected but who did they really miss out on (Oubre?).  This year I think Miami's record is inflated since they've played 23 home games and only 12 road games so far.  Add to that their players' injury history and the stronger East.   I expect their pick will end up mid-1st but I wouldn't be surprised it ended up being late lottery.

I thought not re-signing Ish Smith was a mistake because he worked so well with Noel.  They did sign Marshall and they had Wroten.  Both were returning from injury but it was reasonable to assume they could hand the PG duties for a tanking team.  From a tanking perspective not having Smith and other veterans from the start of the season was a good thing.  The Lakers only have 8 wins. The Sixers need to make sure that the Lakers don't out tank them. 

Okafor's issues are of his own making.  I don't think a couple of veterans would have affected his actions.  Okafor was the right pick especially with Embiid's re-injury.   Okafor has played well offensively and his defense needs a lot of work as expected.  Porzingis was considered a good project but no one expected him to play this well so soon.

Come on man, this is a textbook example of the everything is perfect nothing has gone even slightly wrong viewpoint that makes the 76ers come off as complete fanatics. They have some intriguing pieces, but like all teams they have had some missteps. I could list like 20 things I don't like that the Celtics have done. You mention a few small things the 76ers could have done differently and its like I insulted mother theresa.  Also Miami is way more likely to end up the 2 seed than out of the playoffs.

[Big333223]

Why do people assume that bringing in someone like Colangelo at this stage wasn't always part of the plan? When they drafted Embiid and Saric two years ago, it was an obvious sign that they'd be punting last season and any reasonable person could see that that would mean this (2015-16) season would also be just the beginning of something and thus still bad.

So they're gearing up to try to get some real free agents this offseason and maybe make some deals for veteran talent top put around the young guys they have and have yet to draft and that means bringing Colangelo into the fold now and getting him situated to make moves after this season.

I won't be surprised in the least if Philly is playing for the 8th seed next season.