Nazrmohamed wrote:Also I don't think people should use the 76rs as a model for tanking in the same way we're supposed to feel guilty about it. Tanking is always about acquiring assets, that's nothing new but typically when a team has done so it's to actually build a team.
The 76rs have operated beyond building a team. In some cases they've had pieces you could put together and build a team and then scrapped it for even more picks.
In English
2010 grab your C
2011 grab your PF
2012 get your SG.......and so on. That would be closer to how the Timberwolves have rebuilt than the Sixers.
Right now we're talking about how they need a backcourt. At some point during this rebuild they drafted both Michael Cater Williams and Nick Stauskas, only to flip them for more picks and grab players at positions they already had.....like three Cs for instance. Now, they're already trading those C for more picks. It's like, why didn't you just pick a different player with the original pick?
To compare what the Sixers do in Knick terms, they wouldve acquired KP two yrs ago and be on the phone with the Kings right now trying to flip him for thier 2 lotto picks, WHG would be traded for more picks.
So point is, when most teams rebuild they trade off old stars of an era that's fading, perhaps they still got skill but thier prime has past them, Anthony for example and the goal is to get expiring and picks. You trade off the supporting vets as well for the same albeit at a lesser level and you start drafting. The Sixers will trade a player drafted LAST YEAR!!!!! Trade ROOKIE CONTRACT players. That's the difference, and why one shouldn't compare us just being lousy with what the Sixer's are doing.
But who knows how it'll turn out. I hate it, but there's still time for the Sixers to have the last laugh. Cuz what was thier recourse? Think about these teams like the Celtics and Raptors......no chance to win a title. Zero chance. And to me rather than Silver spending his time punishing teams who tank because they got no choice to me this goes back to parity. Or lack thereof. THAT'S whats killing the nba, not tanking. They'll always be a couple teams that tank, always have. But today's league got two playoffs. The 14 teams that'll fail to reach the finals and the 14 teams trying to land the top two picks.
Lack of parity is why teams with no chance tank.
Lack of parity is why the best teams have THE LUXURY of resting players, cuz if seeds 3,4,5 were truly competetive you could never rest players.
Don't pick on the team trying to come up. Stop multiple superstars from jumping into the same 4 teams. Im probably exaggerating at the number 4, that's how crazy is gotten. It's probably just 2.
I sort of agree, but who is it that they flipped? Michael Carter Williams? I'd deal a guy like that too. It's funny how many people on here hate "the treadmill" but MCW? Seems like a treadmill level talent to me. I think they blew it with that pick and yet they turned it into another #1, top 5 protected.So a chance to move a #11 pick up a few slots. While maintaining the mission of being bad.
I get it. I lot of people hate the 76'ers approach. They think it skews the game and the league and goes against their sense of fair play and athletic competition. I felt exactly the same way for several years. But the more I considered it and read up on it, the more, UNFORTUNATELY, it makes total sense.
And the NBA having this issue, of a handful of teams having a handful of dominant stars, isn't new. It's just gotten worse over the years and the superfriends teams just take it to a new level. Now, this will sound like I'm some old crusty bitter guy railing against change. Nope. I sort of disliked those players doing it at first due to...hey....sense of fair play and athletic competition (sounds very familiar...) But ultimately, the rules are set as such and it's the end result of players having enough financial clout and savvy to take more control over their destiny. Can't argue that. But IMHO, it's only going to stay the same or get worse from now on, unless the league steps in in some way (probably not). Now, again, the issue predates the superfriends and has always been an issue, competition wise, for the NBA. I'm probably paraphrasing someone here (Simmons?) but in the late 70's the league had what it considered a real PR problem based on drug use/inner city black players combo that could drive away it's largely white fans. When "stars" like Bird, Magic, Jordan saved the league in terms of popularity, I think the league has run with the "star machine" hard, ever since. Like a defense mechanism that worked for a time but is sort of maladjusted but the person never drops it even when it's not working out as well as it once did
