There is almost nothing within reason the Lakers or any other team could do to be worse than the Philadelphia 76ers. They're blazing new paths in losing and being an awful franchise. They are the worst franchise in sports.
You say that, and as much as I hate them, if Embiid comes back healthy (entirely possible) and we win a few games, they could have a frontcourt of Embiid and Noel with Mudiay and Stanley Johnson from this draft. It sucks, but they tanked so well for so long, they could have a dynasty.
Except they tried to trade Embiid at the deadline this season. Am I supposed to believe they won't stop trading away young talent? I mean hell they just traded away their Rookie of the Year in Carter-Williams. Their FO is a travesty. Honestly I think they should get their pick taken away from them. I seriously think they should. What they've done is embarrassing for the NBA and I can't get over how the media glosses over it.
They have Saric, he will have the same production like Mirotic when he comes over, who is the other one? I am waiting for a trade where they dont receive future picks, but actual players who can play.
Well of course the Laker FO is on the bottom of the list. They shot themselves in the foot trying to mesh Howard, Nash and Kobe together leaving themselves in cap hell with no draft picks.When they did it they were heralded as a great FO! Let's all see how this plays out this off season with a clean slate and some draft picks. Good chance they pick up a couple guys like Randle and Clarkson from the draft and get a top FA. Things may look a lot different next year.
MCW is not a good player. He won RoY in a historically horrible year for rookies. The rumor of them trying to trade Embiid was never really substantiated to the best of my knowledge. I agree they are an embarrassment, but to say they are a poorly run franchise is not accurate. They are playing by the rules, as despicable as their tactics are, and they could very well end up with the foundation of a dynasty.
Sorry but there's nothing anyone can say that can sway me to believe they're a well run franchise. -The Sixers haven't had a record over .500 since 2005. -The Sixers haven't recorded over 45 wins since 2003. -The Sixers haven't finished first in the division since 2001. -Since 2009 the Sixers have traded away: Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Nikola Vucevic, Maurice Harkless, Michael Carter-Williams, and Elfrid Payton. This list is also the same as all of their 1st round picks the last 5 years except for Joel Embiid who was also rumored to be traded. I could go on, but their antics irrationally anger me. You cannot possibly argue that just because they have a plan, they are a well run front office. Their plan is a travesty, their front office is a travesty, it's a joke that there haven't been sanctions taken against them. Their own players are trying to win games just to spite the front office. What planet are we on that THAT is a well run front office?
I read some chats on ESPN and BBInsiders, and when the question comes whats your opinion on Phillys masterplan almost everbodys answer is - ask me in 3 years...
It's funny I think they said that almost three years ago. Their plan is to try to rebuild what OKC has with Durant and Westbrook (and should have had with Harden and Ibaka too). The only problem is OKC was immensely fortunate in getting those two guys. If Portland doesn't blow it by picking Oden over Durant, OKC doesn't get Durant. Philadelphia's plan is to suck long enough to get the next Durant and the next Westbrook on their team. Then management will pay for them and for whomever to come play alongside them because they're not as cheap as the OKC owner. That's the worst plan I've ever heard though! Who wants to suck long enough to wait and go get the next generational player? They're going to keep trading guys until they think they've landed the next great player. Seriously that's their goal. Can you imagine the Lakers trying to pull something like that? It's pathetic.
Honestly, they are rolling the dice that eventually they will get the players they want to build around in the draft. We have essentially been rolling the dice the last two seasons that we can sign someone in free agency as opposed to going after players that will improve the team. We could have gone after Isaiah Thomas (he desperately wanted to come here). We could have gone after Lance Stephenson (he may have been better here, who knows?). But instead we signed a bunch of guys to one year deals again. We are trying to field a competitive team and we are not f---ing with the integrity of the game like they UNDOUBTEDLY are. What they are doing sickens me from the perspective of a sports fan. But we are just gambling in a different way and have been for two seasons. I am pissed off at them as well. I think the rules must be changed (and they almost were). But they are playing by the rules as they are written. Of all those players you named that they have traded, Vucevic is the only one worth mentioning. The rest are either worthless or unproven (Payton). Other than Vucevic or Payton, are any of those guys really people you'd build a team around? Also, Sam Hinkie has only been on the job since 2013, so most of the crap they have done can't be put on him, and he is the current front office. Believe me, I want nothing more than to snag Okafor in this draft and have a frontline that is as good, if not better than their Embiid/Noel combo. One that we got while trying to be competitive. But Sam Hinkie has only been at this for two years, and next season he could very well have a starting five of Embiid/Noel/Stanley Johnson/?/Mudiay. Yes, it's frustrating. But the man has been on the job for two years and may have the foundation for a dynasty less than 3 months from now. It sucks, but it's true.
I'm not saying our plan has been better, but it certainly is more proven. We as a franchise have more leeway than they do. But I, along with many people, would rather they went after Monroe and Thomas or Stephenson last summer. What they're doing is trading away anyone of talent and don't tell me that Holiday didn't have talent man. They had pieces to build around and instead they have continually decided to suck. Since Hinkie took over they've won under 40 games in two years after struggling for many years before that. They've made literally no effort to be better and have actively tried to be as bad as they possibly can be. On top of that they're screwing over their players to boot. On our end we've scouted our ***es off and found at least two NBA players in the draft we can build around. Yet here the Sixers go with better picks than we got and they're worse than we are still. It's not right man. Their plan is BS and their FO is certainly not better than ours.
And OKC made 1 finals by drafting 3 of top 1-20 guys in the league ATM...Will see how it goes..will LBJ winn another chip???
What makes me the maddest is that the 76ers are actually stealing money from the Lakers to fund their craptastic tankathon. They're being absolutely terrible and being paid for it by the teams that make money. Can you imagine how quickly the league would crumble if everyone adopted the 76er way?
Yeah, I gotta disagree. I think Hinkie's done a good job with the cards he's been dealt. Sure, maybe he could've splurged on some mid-tier free agents or made some different trades to try and make the Eastern playoffs as a team barely hovering around .500. But they did not have the pieces to become a truly good team. The way they're doing things sucks for the league and for their fans, but I honestly think it's going to end up being more effective than a lot of other Eastern teams that continue paying big money just to go through the same cycle of decent to mediocre to terrible again. Even if they magically kept all the players that real listed (and again, a lot of that isn't on Hinkie), they STILL wouldn't be a good team. They realize that and instead, they've sold high on decent talent (before having to pay them big long term money) to acquire assets that might eventually become championship talent. But about the topic on hand: I think that a lot of people here sometimes get overly upset at some of the stuff ESPN says. But this is not one of those cases. This is flat out stupid. Sure, our front office tried to hit too many home runs. But guess what? It worked for over a decade. It would probably still be working if it weren't for "basketball reasons." Sure, Dwight/Nash didn't work out for us and we ended up forgoing a few seasons that could've been spent acquiring/developing assets for a legitimate re-build. But I'm sure as hell glad that we didn't do that. We still had the best player in the league in his prime (yes, I still consider pre-achilles Kobe to be in his prime and the best player in the game). We had a legitimate shot to win another championship. No, it didn't work out. But in retrospect I'm happy that we have the front office that will do whatever they can to try and win a championship during their window. After Dwight left and Kobe got hurt, THAT's when it became clear that we have to start legitimately re-building. And since then, we've done everything right. Despite throwing away assets from the previous "home-run" days, we've done an excellent job at acquiring assets and cheap young talent while maintaining the cap flexibility that has the potential to seriously accelerate our re-build. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but if you have Randle, Clarkson, Black, and another top 5 pick on rookie contracts WITH the potential to add two more max players ... there is a CHANCE that we can be legit contenders again in 2 years or so.
