The enthusiasm for a team that has barely played together and includes 0 starters who ever been to a playoff games outside of paying for a ticket is strong.
#theprocess
The enthusiasm for a team that has barely played together and includes 0 starters who ever been to a playoff games outside of paying for a ticket is strong.
#theprocess
The Nets are still gonna be terrible for a long time, but I love their GM and coach. D’Angelo Russell under Denny Atkins is gonna be fun.
New management always hates the old management guys.
The NBA offseason might turn into the most fun part of the year now. I have to admit that even rearranging deck chairs on teams I don’t care about is kind of fun to watch from afar.
It’s the east. .500 is a playoff contender. Everyone is a player or two away.
Atlanta trades Dwight Howard to the Hornets. ESPN says the Clippers are exploring a DeAndre Jordan trade.
I can’t wait to see what a league where 28 teams are tanking looks like next year.
Woo!
Yup! The Sixers are built through the draft and Simmons and (likely) Fultz would have to be a complete bust to not be NBA players at worst and all-stars at best. Combined with what’s already in place, they should approach .500 this season and that will be good enough for the 7th or 8th seed.
28 wins to 41 is a big jump. Philly hasn’t had a season with 42 wins in 12 years. Don’t get me wrong, I like the young core, but they are switching from rebuilding to building. Which likely means winning likely close to the same amount of games, if not possibly less. Simmons / Embiid have 0 minutes played together, and adding a #1 overall pick helps for sure, but basketball is a large part team chemistry that takes seasons to develop.
I would temper expectations, though, as you said, the eastern conference is very soft. So who even knows.
But, Simmons, Embiid, Fultz have played a total of 31 NBA games combined across a combined 4 seasons. The talent is promising, they need to put in minutes though. (FYI those 3 have just a little over 13 hours of NBA game time).
Again, not to bash too much, I would rather be a sixers fan next year over the nets, magic, hornets, Knicks, pistons, heat, pacers, possibly the Bulls pending the Butler developments.
You have to take into account the rest of the squad who won games against better talent last year to help them get to 28. TJ, Saric, Holmes, Okafor, Stauskas, Covington, Henderson… and the returning Bayless, are NBA quality players who along with Embiid learned how to win last year. Simmons and Fultz are number one picks. They should be expected to add win shares, not remove them.
It’s still hard for very young teams to win in the NBA, and teams sometimes take weird steps backward you wouldn’t expect on paper.
So… the Cavs fired their GM Monday, and now the Cavs’ players who were recruiting Jimmy Butler are shouting stay away!!!
According to a Cleveland source close to the situation, several of the Cavaliers who had been prodding Butler to push for a trade from the Bulls the last five days were now warning him to stay away from a suddenly volatile situation.
With the ouster of Cavaliers general manager David Griffin on Monday, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love could be headed for an unforeseen early breakup.
Butler wants to play for a championship and was ready to push general manager Gar Forman and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson to move him to Cleveland on Tuesday afternoon before the warning shots were fired.
Talk about chaos. One wonders if the Cavs are giving up (though I can’t see why - Durant has yet to re-sign with the Warriors, as well as Igoudala).
I understand. I’m just saying that while they’re young, there are players there who have tasted winning in the prior season. They are not the Sixers of three years ago where you were lucky if anyone on the roster had played an NBA game before.
Given the way the East tends to go each season, I think the Sixers will make the playoffs this season barring a total wipeout due to injuries. I also don’t expect that to happen.
(though I can’t see why - Durant has yet to re-sign with the Warriors, as well as Igoudala).
Anything is possible I guess but do you honestly believe that Durant is going anywhere else? Everyone in the NBA world knows that he is staying put. Anyone in the NBA who makes moves based on the idea that Durant will not be in a Warriors uni next season is a complete fool.
the Cavs’ players who were recruiting Jimmy Butler are shouting stay away!!!
There is some dispute about this account, with Sam Amico saying it’s not so; https://twitter.com/AmicoHoops/status/877557941871808513
Zero truth to report that #Cavs players telling #Bulls’ Jimmy Butler to stay away, says team source. “Absolute fabrication.”
I’d take his word over Cowley’s any day, but neither are exactly unimpeachable sources.
I understand. I’m just saying that while they’re young, there are players there who have tasted winning in the prior season.
I am just saying this as a bucks fan, adding new players and having your young guys a year older doesn’t make your record go up.
41 wins, woo Giannis is a year older, more experienced, picked up the excellent center Greg Monroe off of Free Agency Woo!
32 wins… huh?
Chemistry didn’t work out, it will take 2-3 years, but they have a much more solid core than 50% of the rest of the league.
So what do you guys think will happen tonight? Let’s have some Mock Drafts!
I think there’s still a possibility of some trades happening. Would the Celtics trade out of three? For the right deal, I’m sure they would. They might even be in the Porzingis Sweepstakes that seems to be forming. I’m sure the Knicks would love to jump up there and get Josh Jackson or anyone other than who they’ll get at 8. While people have talked about the Kings trading their picks to move up, I don’t see it. I do think Vlade will screw it up somehow though.
I think the Celtics will take Jackson and that Tatum is a smokescreen.i also don’t see the Timberwolves taking monk, too many guards as it is.
Who do the T-Wolves take then? Markannen? Mitchell? Are they worth a pick that high? I think they’ll take Monk for his shooting alone if he’s still there. They need that kind of scoring to complement what they have (who doesn’t?).
Word is that the Knicks and Suns are close to a deal that would send Porzingis to Phoenix for their draft pick.
Phil Jackson has lost his mind. I fully expect a fan revolt.
It still annoys me that Phil took him one spot before the Magic. They had scouted him for years and guaranteed they’d take him at 12 if he had entered the draft a year earlier.
I wonder if he regrets not taking that offer.
If Jackson trades Porzingis, this fan of 40+ years is done. The crappy Nets w no picks in years are a more exciting team. They have a great GM and a great coach.
That said, if NYK manages to avoid shooting themselves in the foot again, I’m hoping Monk falls to 8 and they grab him.