Celtics-Lakers-Sixers Rivalries Renewed?

[hpantazo]

So with the results of the lottery, and the current prospects these teams already have, is this it? The official long term renewal of the Celtics-Lakers and Celtics-Sixers rivalries?

Ball in LA, Fultz in Boston, Embiid in Phili for the next ten plus years?

[Phantom255x]

Definitely starting like 3-4 years down the line.

But right now, it's Cleveland and Golden State.

Even if Philly/Lakers make the playoffs as fringe teams, I'd expect them to get swept or lose in 5 to either GSW/SAS or CLE.

[celticsclay]

Ironically 76ers could just end up as what their whole their process was set up to avoid, a middle of the road team. It really seems doubtful they are going to start getting more than 50 games a year from Embid on a consistent basis.

They didn't get the pick from the Lakers for the 3rd year in a row and who knows what they will end up with next year.

They lost Noel for nothing. Have watched Okafor Bust. Now they have the 3rd pick in what could be a two player draft, Simmons, the question mark of Embiid and a nice role player in Saric to show for the grand experiment.

I am much less fearful of them than I was a year and a half ago.

Lakers really have nothing at the moment. Randle is probably long term bench player. Russell may be an average starter. Seems hard to imagine him as an all-star. Ingram and Ball could develop, but pales to some other young teams cores.

[tazzmaniac]

Ironically 76ers could just end up as what their whole their process was set up to avoid, a middle of the road team. It really seems doubtful they are going to start getting more than 50 games a year from Embid on a consistent basis.

They didn't get the pick from the Lakers for the 3rd year in a row and who knows what they will end up with next year.

They lost Noel for nothing. Have watched Okafor Bust. Now they have the 3rd pick in what could be a two player draft, Simmons, the question mark of Embiid and a nice role player in Saric to show for the grand experiment.

I am much less fearful of them than I was a year and a half ago.

Lakers really have nothing at the moment. Randle is probably long term bench player. Russell may be an average starter. Seems hard to imagine him as an all-star. Ingram and Ball could develop, but pales to some other young teams cores.

Embiid is the Sixers immediate key.  If they can get 60-65 regular season games from him, I think their rebuild is in very good shape.  It is going to be interesting to see what they do in regards to extending Embiid this offseason.  If he stay healthy next season, there's a good chance he makes the All NBA teams and qualifies for designated rookie 30%MAX.  If he gets injured again, he's not going to get big offers and the Sixers could luck up like GSW did with Curry.  So do you extend or do you wait?  Maybe he'll take a bit less than 25%MAX for the security of a 4 year contract. 

Unless Colangelo starts giving awful contracts like the Lakers did with Mozgov and Deng, how could the Sixers become a middle of the road team?   They have lots of cap space and only Embiid and Covington need to paid after next season.  Simmons and Saric have 3 more years on their rookie contracts.  Okafor doesn't matter.  As for this being a 2 player draft that is very unlikely.  Now which teams find star talent is a question mark. 

If Embiid busts because of injuries, they'll probably end up with 2 top 5 picks in 2018 and 2 top 10 picks (maybe top 5) in 2019.  The beauty of what Hinkie did was give them lots of opportunities to get star players while maintaining lots of flexibility. 

As for the Lakers, I don't see how they improve much in the near term.  They've got 3 more years of the awful Mozgov/Deng contracts.  Lou Williams who was traded and Nick Young who probably won't be back were a big part of the limited success that they had this offseason.  I still like Ingram's upside but not particularly any of their other young players.  If they draft Ball, he's going to have 82 games of welcome to the NBA and tell your dad to shut up.  Even if they make some improvement offensively, how do they fix their worst in the league defense?   

[hpantazo]

The Lakers expect to be in the hunt to sign Paul George and/or Westbrook, and they have a young core of Russell, Ingram, Randle, Zubac, and likely Ball. They have plenty of possibilities for major improvement.

As for the Sixers, I agree, it all hangs on Embiid's health. He's the top cornerstone on any of these 3 teams if healthy, but the health is a big if. He's a transcendent player who can easily make them a contender if guys like Simmons, Saric, and whichever PG they pick up in this draft maintain good chemistry with each other. Also, they have a TON of cap space.