2023 NBA Trade Rumors & rumors FA signings

[Moranis]

What about a sign and trade of Russell from the Lakers?  Harden would fit the Lakers timeline and while Russell isn't great, he is at least a decent 3rd or 4th option for Philly.  They'd have to commit to at least 2 years though (with a 3rd year option) which would also hard cap them, so maybe they don't want to do that, but I do think that would be an interesting trade for both teams.

If VanVleet does leave Toronto, I could see them potentially being interested as they have too much talent to tank, so upgrading the PG spot to Harden might push them into a solid playoff team.  Boucher, Young, and Porter works dollar wise. 

Pelicans would be interesting as well given they are a mess.  Harden would actually provide something they need i.e. a great distributor that actually generally is healthy. 

[DefenseWinsChamps]

What about a sign and trade of Russell from the Lakers?  Harden would fit the Lakers timeline and while Russell isn't great, he is at least a decent 3rd or 4th option for Philly.  They'd have to commit to at least 2 years though (with a 3rd year option) which would also hard cap them, so maybe they don't want to do that, but I do think that would be an interesting trade for both teams.

If VanVleet does leave Toronto, I could see them potentially being interested as they have too much talent to tank, so upgrading the PG spot to Harden might push them into a solid playoff team.  Boucher, Young, and Porter works dollar wise. 

Pelicans would be interesting as well given they are a mess.  Harden would actually provide something they need i.e. a great distributor that actually generally is healthy.

I don't think Morey would dump him. The trades you suggest are essentially dumps.

[Goldstar88]

Embiid will be 30 next season. Wow. Philly is going to have some big decisions to make in the near future.

[Roy H.]

What about a sign and trade of Russell from the Lakers?  Harden would fit the Lakers timeline and while Russell isn't great, he is at least a decent 3rd or 4th option for Philly.  They'd have to commit to at least 2 years though (with a 3rd year option) which would also hard cap them, so maybe they don't want to do that, but I do think that would be an interesting trade for both teams.

If VanVleet does leave Toronto, I could see them potentially being interested as they have too much talent to tank, so upgrading the PG spot to Harden might push them into a solid playoff team.  Boucher, Young, and Porter works dollar wise. 

Pelicans would be interesting as well given they are a mess.  Harden would actually provide something they need i.e. a great distributor that actually generally is healthy.

I don't think Morey would dump him. The trades you suggest are essentially dumps.

What choice will Morey have if Harden shows up fat and lazy, or holds out?

[Birdman]

Embiid will be 30 next season. Wow. Philly is going to have some big decisions to make in the near future.

wow didn’t know he was 30 already

[Celtics2021]

What about a sign and trade of Russell from the Lakers?  Harden would fit the Lakers timeline and while Russell isn't great, he is at least a decent 3rd or 4th option for Philly.  They'd have to commit to at least 2 years though (with a 3rd year option) which would also hard cap them, so maybe they don't want to do that, but I do think that would be an interesting trade for both teams.

If VanVleet does leave Toronto, I could see them potentially being interested as they have too much talent to tank, so upgrading the PG spot to Harden might push them into a solid playoff team.  Boucher, Young, and Porter works dollar wise. 

Pelicans would be interesting as well given they are a mess.  Harden would actually provide something they need i.e. a great distributor that actually generally is healthy.

I don't think Morey would dump him. The trades you suggest are essentially dumps.

What choice will Morey have if Harden shows up fat and lazy, or holds out?

I think the Sixers would like to resolve this earlier than training camp, however, so that they can not lose players they like in free agency, such as Paul Reed.  They won’t need to dump.  They might not get top dollar, but they’ll probably get a middle tier prospect, a rotation player, and some bad salary they can stretch to create full MLE room.

[gouki88]

Embiid will be 30 next season. Wow. Philly is going to have some big decisions to make in the near future.

wow didn’t know he was 30 already

Him not playing in his first two seasons makes it a strange timeline. Feels like he should be 27

[Celtics2021]

Embiid will be 30 next season. Wow. Philly is going to have some big decisions to make in the near future.

wow didn’t know he was 30 already

Him not playing in his first two seasons makes it a strange timeline. Feels like he should be 27

He was an old freshman too — turned 20 in his only year in college.

[Kernewek]

Results of process get worse every year lol

Because I will never not attempt to dunk on The Process when given an opportunity, it’s important to keep in mind that V1 of the cult of personality extended to “we’re going to draft great players because we have analytics that are so far beyond the rest of the league, it’s going to be like Moneyball.”

Let’s keep that in mind when we consider that:

The Process starts with Hinkie drafting Michael Carter-Williams 4 spots ahead of where the Bucks drafted Antetokounmpo.

It continues through drafting Jahlil Okafor one spot in front of Kristaps Porzingis (although the 2015 draft is not very good).

Then they draft Simmons two spots in front of Jaylen Brown, and trade so they can take Fultz instead of Tatum.

The moral of the story is that getting lots of good draft picks doesn't help that much when you suck at drafting players.

[Moranis]

Results of process get worse every year lol

Because I will never not attempt to dunk on The Process when given an opportunity, it’s important to keep in mind that V1 of the cult of personality extended to “we’re going to draft great players because we have analytics that are so far beyond the rest of the league, it’s going to be like Moneyball.”

Let’s keep that in mind when we consider that:

The Process starts with Hinkie drafting Michael Carter-Williams 4 spots ahead of where the Bucks drafted Antetokounmpo.

It continues through drafting Jahlil Okafor one spot in front of Kristaps Porzingis (although the 2015 draft is not very good).

Then they draft Simmons two spots in front of Jaylen Brown, and trade so they can take Fultz instead of Tatum.

The moral of the story is that getting lots of good draft picks doesn't help that much when you suck at drafting players.

Hinkie wasn't there for the last 2 (Simmons and Fultz) and his analytics told him to trade MCW after he won rookie of the year.  The 1st they got for him would be the one used to draft Mikal Bridges.

[greg683x]

Results of process get worse every year lol

Because I will never not attempt to dunk on The Process when given an opportunity, it’s important to keep in mind that V1 of the cult of personality extended to “we’re going to draft great players because we have analytics that are so far beyond the rest of the league, it’s going to be like Moneyball.”

Let’s keep that in mind when we consider that:

The Process starts with Hinkie drafting Michael Carter-Williams 4 spots ahead of where the Bucks drafted Antetokounmpo.

It continues through drafting Jahlil Okafor one spot in front of Kristaps Porzingis (although the 2015 draft is not very good).

Then they draft Simmons two spots in front of Jaylen Brown, and trade so they can take Fultz instead of Tatum.

The moral of the story is that getting lots of good draft picks doesn't help that much when you suck at drafting players.

You really only need to get lucky once though, and they did with Embiid.  Unfortunately they also suck at deciding which free agents to sign.  Despite all those terrible draft decisions, if that team doesn’t give Tobias Harris that awful contract, doesn’t give Al Horford his terrible deal, doesn’t let Jimmy Butler leave, and then doesn’t put all their eggs in the basket of an old out of shape Harden, they still could’ve won a title by now.

[gouki88]

Results of process get worse every year lol

Because I will never not attempt to dunk on The Process when given an opportunity, it’s important to keep in mind that V1 of the cult of personality extended to “we’re going to draft great players because we have analytics that are so far beyond the rest of the league, it’s going to be like Moneyball.”

Let’s keep that in mind when we consider that:

The Process starts with Hinkie drafting Michael Carter-Williams 4 spots ahead of where the Bucks drafted Antetokounmpo.

It continues through drafting Jahlil Okafor one spot in front of Kristaps Porzingis (although the 2015 draft is not very good).

Then they draft Simmons two spots in front of Jaylen Brown, and trade so they can take Fultz instead of Tatum.

The moral of the story is that getting lots of good draft picks doesn't help that much when you suck at drafting players.

MCW had one of the great debut games ever!

[Roy H.]

Adrian Wojnarowski: Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes – a key part of the franchise’s rise into Western Conference contention – has agreed on a new three-year, $54 million contract extension, his agent Jeff Schwartz of @Excelbasketball tells ESPN.

[Neurotic Guy]

Results of process get worse every year lol

Because I will never not attempt to dunk on The Process when given an opportunity, it’s important to keep in mind that V1 of the cult of personality extended to “we’re going to draft great players because we have analytics that are so far beyond the rest of the league, it’s going to be like Moneyball.”

Let’s keep that in mind when we consider that:

The Process starts with Hinkie drafting Michael Carter-Williams 4 spots ahead of where the Bucks drafted Antetokounmpo.

It continues through drafting Jahlil Okafor one spot in front of Kristaps Porzingis (although the 2015 draft is not very good).

Then they draft Simmons two spots in front of Jaylen Brown, and trade so they can take Fultz instead of Tatum.

The moral of the story is that getting lots of good draft picks doesn't help that much when you suck at drafting players.

You really only need to get lucky once though, and they did with Embiid.  Unfortunately they also suck at deciding which free agents to sign.  Despite all those terrible draft decisions, if that team doesn’t give Tobias Harris that awful contract, doesn’t give Al Horford his terrible deal, doesn’t let Jimmy Butler leave, and then doesn’t put all their eggs in the basket of an old out of shape Harden, they still could’ve won a title by now.

I think a lot of people thought Embiid was a risk, and I think 100% felt Simmons was #1.   Consensus too on Fultz as #1.

You have to be either better than everyone or you have to be lucky.   

[obnoxiousmime]

The problem with "the process" was a PR one. The league didn't like that it publicized and formalized tanking. Tanking is something that they prefer go on with little national fanfare or attention, but Hinkie was such a self-promoter that he made it seem like some ingenious strategy no front office had ever attempted.

Even if you end up drafting a handful of top prospects, eventually you need to pick 2-3 to give the big money contracts and roles to. Also, some of them obviously don't pan out. They eventually picked the wrong ones to build around, but that doesn't mean the general concept of "the process" was wrong. It just showed that collecting assets and stars through the draft is only the first part of building a contender.