it's off-topic, but i couldn't help but chime in about the Sixers.
Their team sucked with Turner and Hawes and their team sucks without Turner and Hawes. IMO, their GM has done a wonderful job making lemonade from his lemons. He has MCW. He has Noel. He has 2 lottery picks. He could pick up another good player with the draft or - as many on here like to propose - he could package his top5 pick in a trade for someone like Kevin Love.
Also, he gave his team future financial flexibility with the trades. I doubt 76ers had any plans of resigning Turner and Hawes to $8m or $11/yr, respectively, which both could've commanded. Instead, he converted them to draft picks (albeit 2nd rounders) as opposed to just letting them walk away for nothing.
What will they do with the cap space? With a team of MCW, Noel, Love, they could be players in 2015. Who knows, if they package MCW+pick away for another vet like Melo, then they could sign Rondo in 2015. That's a lot of what-if's, I know, but I'm purposefully mirroring the popular posts on here to show that the 76ers haven't exactly mismanaged their situation.
Let me just say I completely disagree. In business you never hand away valuable assets. Its a losing proposition in any business.
If they were bad with those players they should have ridden out being bad and let the chips fall where they may. With two lottery picks their chances of success were already enhanced over other teams and I still couldn't see that team with Hawes and Turner being any better than Utah or LA. Signing and trading Hawes and Turner could have netted them better than the 2nd rounds and bad players they got for those players.
Either way Philly is awful for a couple years but if the S&T's worked out and some talent could have been obtained, perhaps they wouldn't be awful for the 3-4 years they are now going to be awful.
BTW, the Sixers have zero shot at landing Love without giving up both their lottery picks this year which isn't happening given the fact they gave away players to get better draft positioning. They have nothing else of value to trade for Love. So if they trade those picks, the team has Noel, MCW, Young and Love. That team is worse than Minnesota and there would be no chance Love resigns with that squad meaning, Philly had once again traded away assets for nothing.
I completely disagree with you as well. First off, you talk of business, but sports is a strange one. What other industry rewards losing other than sports? After all, the worst overall record can pick no lower than 4th, and the 2nd no lower than 5th. In any other industry, the worst performers often go bankrupt and are out of business. Not so, in sports. In sports, they can land a star which can rejuvenate a franchise. Note, i'm not even talking about competing for championships at this stage. I'm talking about bringing a franchise from "cellar dweller" to "exciting with aspirations of making the playoffs".
Secondly (but still on the business side of things) it's not as if Turner and Hawes were big draws either. Now, I don't follow the Philly fanbase closely, but I would venture a guess in saying that a bunch of them didn't really want either of those guys on the team (similar to how C's fans could easily live without Green or Bass moving forward). Furthermore, improving their "tank" chances, particularly in a year with a projected strong draft class, has likely increased fan interest for the team.
On a talent perspective, it's also highly debatable as to what more value they could've squeezed out of Turner and Hawes. Judging from their actions, it seems that the Sixers:
1) had low-to-zero interest in bringing either of those guys back on an extended contract
2) placed a premium on future flexibility
But what could they have realistically gotten in an S+T? I'll list down what I think they could've aimed for:
1. Acquire a promising prospect - perhaps, though unlikely. Highly promising players on rookie scale contracts are a premium nowadays. Plus, the prospect would likely come with some very bad, cap-killing contracts as well. Even at that point, i'm not sure the other team does it. Ask yourself, would you trade Sully for Spencer Hawes on an 11m/yr, 4-yr contract if it meant offloading Gerald Wallace?
2. Upgrade in talent via veteran - perhaps, but what would Philly want with a veteran? That is of course, unless they're going to do the quick rebuild, cash-in-all-our-assets-for-KG type, but that type of deal doesn't seem to be available right now. In all likelihood, they're moving towards a youth movement, and a veteran worth the same contract value as an extended Hawes/Turner would hamper Philly's cap flexibility in this offseason or the next.
3. Salary cap flexibility - which is exactly what they got, plus a few picks. The difference is, since they made the trade mid-season, instead of the contracts expiring in the 2015 offseason, the contracts will expire in the 2014 offseason. Is this the BEST way to go? Maybe, maybe not. I doubt there's a best way, really. But management made a decision and it's not an unreasonable one. As I stated in my earlier post, this is making lemonade from lemons.
Finally, I put the KLove scenario out there because I see it being tossed around here so often. Yes, the Sixers would surely need to include their top pick/s (as will we, if we want to land Love). However, relating it back to Turner and Hawes (which is our sticking point), I doubt either of their multi-year extended contracts would have made a difference in the trade. Also, I'm sure the trade doesn't go down unless Love agrees to sign an extension. Similar as to how Rondo can shoot trades down by telling the other team he won't resign with them. No one wants a 1-year rental.
For fun though, I pose this question: will a team of Rondo+Green+Love really be that much better than say, a MCW+Love+Noel? or even a Rubio-Love-Pekovic?
As a quirky sidenote, if it's any consolation, since the Sixers have oodles of cap space, they'll probably have enough to be able resign Hawes and Turner this coming offseason. They likely won't do it, but hey, if they feel like they made a mistake, they can rectify it.
Topic: There's no need to be outraged over losses [edited] (Read 13895 times)