The golden prize = Ben Simmons... a potentially transcendent player. That was the point all along.
And the reason Philly got Simmons instead of Boston? Pure luck. Three years of some of the worst basketball ever seen in the history of the NBA...and their entire plan STILL hinged on pure luck.
That's not smart. That's stupid. Even if it works.
Mike
Yes. Luck. Which is why doing it for multi years made a huge difference. You bottom out long enough you'll eventually land a superstar. Only took Philly 3 years and they might have two of em. That's a wild success. That's exactly what Philly set out to do when they hired hinkie.
And no, the losing is not going to matter at all long term.
1. That's like saying you'll win the lottery if you just keep playing long enough. It's mathematically illiterate.
2. Philly might have no superstars. Simmons could just as easily be some version of Michael Beasley or Lamar Odom as LeBron. Embiid might never play a game. They just tried to trade Noel or Okafor and no one was willing to even approach the asking price.
3. Philly isn't getting a sit down with Durant. Boston is. Why? Because they suck and we don't. Will that change if Philly stops sucking? Sure. And how long is that going to take? Another two or three years just to get to where Boston is right now? And how many opportunities will they lose out on because they suck?
After three years of "The Process," Boston is closer to winning a title than Philly is to winning 30 games.
Mike
I love bostons situation. We are in great shape. If they land durant, they obviously are in better shape than philly.
Philly is in beautiful position as well. You don't seem to understand what is happening there. I'm fine with that. Maybe eventually you will. Plenty of time and the process is still in the infancy. We will see eventually whether or not it was successful. Should have some strong hints one way or the other next season whether Hinkie's tenure was worth it. So far, it seems it was.
Doesn't seem like it was worth it to Philly ownership. Sure doesn't seem like it was worth it to Hinkie.
I have to admit that the invincible fortress of foolishness you've constructed around your Hinkie-love is impressive, in an adolescent sort of way. It's truly impossible to argue with nonsense like your faith that everything in Philly is still going according to Hinkie's plan even though Hinkie not only quit, he publicly and pretty specifically stated that he was quitting because they weren't following his plan anymore.
Mike
I've said multiple times, I never cared about Hinkie. It was Philly's plan. They stuck with it for a few years and landed what everyone considers to be a superstar prospect. If Ben Simmons becomes the player everyone expects him to be, it will have justified everything Philly did. As soon as that lotto pick landed #1, it basically ended this discussion as far as I'm concerned.
You think Philly would rather erase the last 3 years and take back Jrue Holiday and a bag of chips? Heh. Fat chance. Pretty confident ownership is giddy with how this has turned out. They are on the verge of being a pretty hot ticket.
I'll say, Mike, that I don't disagree with your general premise. You're disgusted that Philly was able to do this. I get your point. It almost feels like it's circumventing the rules and killing the spirit of competitive sports if a team is intentionally trying to lose. I totally understand that point of view. You see it as disgraceful - and it obviously clouds your perception of everything going on with Philly. I don't blame you for being disgusted with what Philly did. I don't blame you for throwing that disgust at a single person (Hinkie)... but the fact is, Philly supported the move and the dirty lil non-secret is that as long as the NBA incentivizes losing with prizes like Ben Simmons, you can't really fault Philly for doing what they did. They certainly weren't the first team to try to intentionally lose games with hopes of a superstar prize. Our very own Celtics did it twice unsuccessfully, though they didn't commit to sticking with it for 3 years until they actually landed a prize.
I fully support the strategy. The only way to the top in this league is the land superstars. Something like 70% of them are taken at the top of the draft and others are received via trade using top draft picks. Teams can stay in the middle of the pack peaking out with their little Lowry/Derozan 56 win teams or Horford/Millisap 60 win teams - but at the end of the day it'll be the LeBrons of the world raising that trophy. That's the way it has always been and that's the way it will always be. It's a superstar's game. So kudos to Philly give giving it a big swing and investing 3 years into trying to get one. Whether or not Embiid, Okafor, Saric, Noel or Simmons ends up being that guy remains to be seen. But now that the dirty part is over with, it sure will be interesting to see if it worked out.
Meanwhile, I suggest you direct your anger at the NBA and the lottery process. It's a systemic problem. The more people make a bigger deal out of Hinkie, the more biting and cutting it will be if this entire plan proves to be successful... it will essentially turn Hinkie into a bigger martyr than he already is to Philly fans and keep the focus on how well excessive tanking works.