OT: Philly's futility

[CrookedJ]

I say 5 or less. They are definitely the worst team ever so far. Their point differential so far is -16.5. Worst ever for a season is the 92 Mavs who lost by 15.2 per game.

No teams has ever won less than 7 games before. Even 5 seems like too many for them though.




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[hankscorpioLA]

Who knows? I am sure they will get a win somewhere down the line.

But that's not really the big issue.

Now you have Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter Williams playing losing basketball night after night after night. What kind of habits are they going to develop? How will it affect their development to be on a team where nothing is expected of them?

This is probably the biggest risk you take with the multi-year tanking approach - and I believe it is part of why we are seeing issues in Cleveland. You have one guy who has been to the Finals the past four years playing with guys who haven't even been to the playoffs.

But even the Cavs had the good sense to get some veterans to fill out the roster. The Sixers don't have anyone to serve as an example of how to be a professional and how to manage life as a basketball player. They can't even look to their coach to really guide them since he's also a first-timer.

People think that all you need to do is get a bunch of young players, put them together and they develop. They forget that the process of development is influenced by environmental factors. I would say that the Raptors are an excellent example of that - and its something where I think Casey's personality and coaching style does not get the credit it deserves.

[mtcan]

If Silver really wants to nip this kind of tanking in the bud...I'm sure he can 'influence' the ping pong balls such that the 14th worst team ends up getting the number 1 pick and the Sixers get bumped down the draft order...

[OakleyDokely]

I can't believe 15,000 actually pay to watch it.

[LieCheatSteal]

I have to defend the Sixers here since I live in Philly (former Toronto native).

What the Sixers management is doing is a disgrace and it has NOTHING to do with the city. So, stripping the franchise from the good people of Philadelphia because of this is stupid.

I feel like Philly fans know what they are doing but they don't want these losing records. I remember attending a game against Detroit with the losing streak on the line last year. The Sixer fans actually showed up in droves and supported the team to avoid setting the losing streak. Sixers, in turn, actually crushed Detroit to halt that streak. Fans don't want a loser but they know that this is short term pain. This franchise has been a non-factor since AI left and was put in a pretty disastrous place by the Bynum trade so a tank was in the cards for a while now.

The Sixers are very inexperienced. They have some nice pieces- MCW, Noah and Wroten are good but losing is taking a toll on them. MCW, in particular, is pushing himself too much. My big problem is that they haven't stockpiled any 1st round picks on their roster. 75% of the players weren't drafted. They should take shots at 1st round picks who have flamed out but might have some upside (Thomas Robinson, off the top of my head). Also, they haven't taken advantage of being way below the salary floor to pick up contracts from other teams, with picks attached to them. Since they could be penalized for being way below the floor, I feel like the Sixers will be picking up some bad contracts from teams soon, probably before the end of the season, to avoid being penalized. This includes the likes of Josh Smith and, potentially JR Smith, two players who have zero trade value but could be absorbed by the Sixers easily to give those teams salary cap room. Picking up these pieces could help them avoid the loss record.

If I was to predict the number of wins they could have, I'm thinking maybe about 11, with most of them coming at the end of the season when they absorb contracts from other rebuilding teams.

[timdunkit]

75% of the 76ers arguably do not belong in the nba. That roster is a disgrace.

Their team salary is ~$38M, $20M below the mandated minimum salary. $15M of that is being earned by Richardson (done for year), Embeed (done for the year) and Outlook (not on roster). The remaining players only Luc Mbah has being in the league for more than 2 years.

Outside of their 2 lotto picks last year + Embiid, only 2 other players have being drafted (both late 2nd round picks). Pretty much D-League talent on the roster. You would think they would at least fill the roster out with 1st rounds with potential from recent drafts who have being dropped by their teams.

It is pretty much criminal. It is not even tanking. I think it is just bad management with bad eye for talent. They should be trying to find diamonds in the rough, instead they are wasting time on players not even drafted.

That is one way to find a diamond in the rough.

Philly is taking tanking to a new level but I don't think the chances are good it pans out. Even with the worst record you are only guranteed 25% shot at the #1 pick. Tanking as I've always said has more to do with security of the pick then actually landing the #1 pick. Sure, worse your record is, the better your chances but the odds are always stacked against you. What is in your favour though is the bracket you pick in. Philly probably won't get the #1 pick but they will be guranteed a top 4 pick (Just so people know, Philly has a higher chance of getting the #4 pick, 35.7% then the #1 pick 25%).

The other part that Philly is missing is that their core is not developings winning habits. Noel sat out a season and Embiid (who plays the same position along with next years consensus #1 pick so far). MCW is a terrible defender and I don't think he's as good as advertise relative to the class of PGs in the league now. There also doesn't seem to be an offensive/defensive system in place. Also, their approach is bound to alienate players & agents.

Getting high picks is a good think but player development and developing talent is what wins game eventually.

[slothrop8]

I'm not worried about the losing impacting Noel or MCW's development. Durant won 19 and 18 games his first two years - he turned out fine. Rondo won 21 games his first year - won the title his second year. Pretty well every high draft pick in the history of the league started on a bad team - and had to absorb many losses while the franchise built around them - that's pretty much how the system is set up. When Philly is ready to win they'll bring in some veterans to provide leadership and roll the dice on some ex-first round picks etc. They don't care about any of that right now - it is most to their advantage to finish dead last - and that's what they are aiming to do. Remember, they were apocalyptically bad last year and still didn't finish dead last - this year they aren't taking any chances. They'll win 7 or 8 games, including a couple nobody sees coming (remember they almost won @ Houston last week) - finish dead last - and add another blue chip asset.
A couple years back when OKC were the most exciting young team in the league - nobody remembered the wretched teams that allowed them to land Durant, Westbrook and Harden. This Philly team will likely have the distinction of being the worst team ever - but when they get good (and it likely will be when - not if - they'll have too many assets to fail) - nobody will remember these teams either.