Philly the kings of tanking

[droopdog7]

Second straight first pick won't be available right away.  Then trade for a guy who won't play at all for a few years.  We can pretty much kiss any chance of a first round pick goodbye.

[hpantazo]

yep, I don't see Embiid playing this upcoming season at all, and Saric won't play in the league for a few years, so Phili is going to suck big time again unless Noel is a phenom

[AngryAndIrritable]

Philly GM: "How many Europeans can we draft and stash without making this tanking thing too obvious?"

[RockinRyA]

I hope the NBA changes the system, nothing too drastic but something like, if you finish at the bottom 5 of the league for 2 straight years, the next year highest pick youd get is 5. Gives the team a little incentive to at least be 6th lowest to have a chance at top 5

[Future Celtics Owner]

Its very classless. They should not be rewarded for what they r doing.

[hpantazo]

Its very classless. They should not be rewarded for what they r doing.

why not? they are operating completely within the rules, nothing wrong with it. It has already hurt their ticket sales and I'm sure will continue to for at least another season, with no guarantee of long term success at all, so the 'reward' is relative

[Waew]

Its very classless. They should not be rewarded for what they r doing.

disagreed, they risk ticket money to games and keeping free agents / contracted players, in return for their risk they get rewarded.

we had the same opportunity to get rewarded but blew it.

[GreenWarrior]

it sucks for their fans right now but I like what they're doing. if their young guys payoff they have a chance to be really good.

[Moranis]

I love the picks.  Exact same players I would have wanted Boston to take if it had those spots, plus they pick up a 2017 first which might yield something great.  Yeah Philly was bad last year and won't be very good this year (giving them another high pick next draft), but they weren't exactly winning a title with the team they had either year and now they have a real shot at being a yearly title contender in a couple of seasons.  If one of Noel or Embiid really hits, they will have their dominant big man and if both hit they would be incredible.  Carter-Williams is the rookie of the year.  Saric has a chance to be a truly great.  Add in another high pick next year (Oubre, Alexander, Mudiay) and not to mention Young, and they could be an Oklahoma City type team, except they are in a big market and could actually afford to keep their players.

[Eja117]

I wouldn't want my team to keep drafting 19 year olds with serious medical problems. I'm not a fan of what Philly is doing at all. I don't think they're outsmarting anyone. Except maybe themselves.

[cons]

its kind of easy to just suck and draft young guys w potential / stash them etc

the hard part is parlaying that into a championship team.

at some point philly will have to turn potential into reality and that's when the judgement on this experiment will be made

i'm betting they lose, big time

[Eja117]

This whole Euro stash thing...that doesn't always work out either. If you think you are some sort of genius for drafting a Euro think again....the Spurs had the time to wait and drafted guys who had achieved things overseas. I think both Splitter and Scola were MVPs of their league and Splitter is no all star.

But look at the misses.

Where is Fran Vazquez?
Where is Frederick Weis?
The 32nd pick in 2012 (Tomas Satoransky) just signed a multi year deal in Europe. That's a pretty high pick to lose
Bojan Bogdanovic.....31rst in 2011. He's 25 now. Still not here.
Where is Nikola Mirotic?
Ricky Rubio? Took two years to get here. Got here and snapped his ACL. Still can't shoot. Moving from sunny Spain to snowy Minnesota? Yeah. Let's see how that goes in the end.
Bruno Cabaclo? He's "two years away from being two years away"
31rst pick in 2010...Tibor Pleis from Germany. Anyone seen him?
Anyone seen Sofoklis Shortziandis?
Rudy Fernandez? 1rst rounder. Gone.
In 2007 with the last pick in the first round Philly got Petteri Koponen. Coulda had Carl Landry, Glen Davis, Ramon Sessions, or Josh McRoberts.

[D.o.s.]

Fernandez bailed largely because of the lockout, right?

He was a fun player to watch.

[GreenWarrior]

I think if philly's intent is to eventually have all these players play for them it's a huge risk and quite the gamble.

my thought is they're just acquiring assets. imo so far they seem to be rebuilding from the ground up the way it should be done.

[mef730]

Its very classless. They should not be rewarded for what they r doing.

why not? they are operating completely within the rules, nothing wrong with it. It has already hurt their ticket sales and I'm sure will continue to for at least another season, with no guarantee of long term success at all, so the 'reward' is relative

Curious to see what our ticket sales are next year, since I don't think we're going to be much better, either.  I'm a season ticket holder, and two years ago, I was barely able to move up after the season because so many people renewed.  This year, I could have had tickets in just about any section.  Another year of a weak team and ticket sales will suffer again.

There's a big difference between us and Philly: The Celtics management didn't aim to lose (or at least hid it pretty well if they did).  Say what you will about about whether that was the right strategy but, as a fan, there is something to be said for the fact that your management and team are out there trying to win.

Mike