Around the League: 2020 Offseason

[sixers4real]

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[SixthStreet]

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Seems like a Boston for the Hayward exemption if the contract fits in it.

[Stanford]

Random thought: Buddy Hield for Al Horford would have been a great trade for the Kings in the offseason.

[76ciology]

LMA would be a great fit if he is willing to play D12’s role.

We can run our offense like how we run with our starting unit. Run opportunistic scoring options then dump the ball to Biid/LMA and let them operate as last option. Both also can space the floor for Ben.

I just feel it wont work with our arrangement with D12 and I expect us to focus more on perimeter scorers

[76ciology]

Random thought: Buddy Hield for Al Horford would have been a great trade for the Kings in the offseason.

Al’s been playing well. With how the game is being played, he’ll still be good on his last 1-2 years of his contract.

Sorry my fellow Sixers fan, the Al trade can only be justified if the Harden trade went down whereas you project us to take a bigger salary so you clear the cap.

Right now, it’s a bad trade for us as long as we keep making sideways moves and not any big moves. And I expect us to make a big move sometime in the not so distant future.

[zaz102]

Random thought: Buddy Hield for Al Horford would have been a great trade for the Kings in the offseason.

Al’s been playing well. With how the game is being played, he’ll still be good on his last 1-2 years of his contract.

Sorry my fellow Sixers fan, the Al trade can only be justified if the Harden trade went down whereas you project us to take a bigger salary so you clear the cap.

Right now, it’s a bad trade for us as long as we keep making sideways moves and not any big moves. And I expect us to make a big move sometime in the not so distant future.

Maybe, but wouldn't his value have sunk even more. I haven't watched OKC to know how critical his role is, but his fit is still terrible with Embiid/Harris/Simmons. He most likely would have been a bench player here.

I don't think anyone would argue that he's not a good player and a great fit with Simmons, but otherwise a terrible fit and not helping the team much if he's playing 14 minutes a game.

[Mik317]

The Horford trade is justified because our best player didn't like playing with him and paying a dude all that money to come off the bench for ideally like 15 minutes is **** stupid. Yeah he's better than Danny Green by a lot but there is more to it than just that. Its not 2k in which you can just stack the best overalls and win....the team talent wise is worse this year but the pieces fit better so its better for morale if nothing else. People constantly ignore the human element of things when it comes to team building irl. **** is important. Its why dudes love to team up with their bros despite it not technically making basketball sense....its about comfort. Embiid is comfy as **** this season..thats all that matters rn

[the_process]

I think we all knew this was going to happen, on both sides of the Horford trade.

Horford was going to go somewhere where he fit better and look much better and increase his value.

The Sixers were going to take a talent hit and look like they wasted a pick. That being said, this team has gelled pretty well and Jo is in the best place of his career so far. And that wouldn't be the case of Horford was here.

So it was addition by subtraction. What they need to do is a follow up deal with OKC so that pick conveys in 2025. Which allows trading 3 future 1sts (and 3 swaps) if the right deal comes along.

[the_process]

PJ Tucker yanked from Houston's lineup awaiting a trade now.

I imagine you just hold tight until he is bought out at this point?

[DCasey91]

76iology is dead on with the FA stuff and the reason why our cap space is stuffed. We have to overpay middling players because stars don’t want to come/sign here.

A Previous poster too liked the idea of gathering young potential all star talent because of the rookie contract cost price involved. I’m 100% on board with that too. More bites at the cherry (Simons, NAW?).

I don’t see any all star talents from our youngsters.

There’s three that I have my eye on this year (this draft is loooooooaded). Bouknight is definitely one. He’d be the best young talent easily outside of our superstar duo. Wagner is uber talented too.
Donsumnu

If any of those three are in range to move up and get them ASAP. Because the top 5 is a lock the draft order there should be plenty of high end talents left on the board even moving up 10 or so places.

Draft is a crapshoot anyway I’d live with taking SGA over Thybulle everyday of the week. SGA was always the better talent/same with Bridges. Smith, Korkmaz, TLC, Shamet, Thybulle, Overseas picks. There’s a pattern starting to emerge.

Fultz, Stauskas, Saric, Noel, Okafor etc great they all had superior talent swing for the fence roelplayers are roleplayers.

It’s how we got Embiid in the first place (Simmons was a no brainer).

Role players are easy to get/trade for. Don’t overpay them and everything is great. Talent though
is talent.

Gotta do the Hinkie thing again (should always be that way).

[Sixerscan]

Of course they had to outbid other teams to sign Horford. That’s how free agency works. Winner’s curse and all that.

Doesn’t mean they had to sign Horford though. They could have outbid teams for, say, Danny Green and Seth Curry. The issue wasn’t so much that Horford is overpaid it’s that he got to a point in his career where he had to play center which meant he couldn’t be on the court with our best player. Which was always a risk with signing someone as old as he was to a 4 year deal, the Sixers probably just hoped it wouldn’t happen until later in the deal than it did.

[DCasey91]

Of course they had to outbid other teams to sign Horford. That’s how free agency works. Winner’s curse and all that.

Doesn’t mean they had to sign Horford though. They could have outbid teams for, say, Danny Green and Seth Curry. The issue wasn’t so much that Horford is overpaid it’s that he got to a point in his career where he had to play center which meant he couldn’t be on the court with our best player. Which was always a risk with signing someone as old as he was to a 4 year deal, the Sixers probably just hoped it wouldn’t happen until later in the deal than it did.

In actuality the Horford move made perfect sense if they were more moving in a Ben centric philosophy and moving on from Embiid and getting a haul back in a trade.
Injury prone center
Or a Ben centric build with an ideal stretch center.

Outside looking in that’s what it seemed like. But the owners played chicken (haven’t really stuck fat to anything besides the updated 2017-2018 team setup this year that’s so obv flawed it’s not funny).

Stick to one thing and see it through for better or worse. Our loss ratio in assets to what our team looks like from 2018 there isn’t much of a difference just a better version but same results.

[76ciology]

76iology is dead on with the FA stuff and the reason why our cap space is stuffed. We have to overpay middling players because stars don’t want to come/sign here.

A Previous poster too liked the idea of gathering young potential all star talent because of the rookie contract cost price involved. I’m 100% on board with that too. More bites at the cherry (Simons, NAW?).

I don’t see any all star talents from our youngsters.

There’s three that I have my eye on this year (this draft is loooooooaded). Bouknight is definitely one. He’d be the best young talent easily outside of our superstar duo. Wagner is uber talented too.
Donsumnu

If any of those three are in range to move up and get them ASAP. Because the top 5 is a lock the draft order there should be plenty of high end talents left on the board even moving up 10 or so places.

Draft is a crapshoot anyway I’d live with taking SGA over Thybulle everyday of the week. SGA was always the better talent/same with Bridges. Smith, Korkmaz, TLC, Shamet, Thybulle, Overseas picks. There’s a pattern starting to emerge.

Fultz, Stauskas, Saric, Noel, Okafor etc great they all had superior talent swing for the fence roelplayers are roleplayers.

It’s how we got Embiid in the first place (Simmons was a no brainer).

Role players are easy to get/trade for. Don’t overpay them and everything is great. Talent though
is talent.

Gotta do the Hinkie thing again (should always be that way).

Thanks for the acknowledgement. Sorry if i sound repetitive.

We just have to be smart and creative with our assets.

Morey has to accumulate assets on the side while maintaining this team to be competitive. He also has to resist the temptation of sideways upgrade while sacrificing assets (i.e first round picks for lowry).

Morey should also have less sentimental attachment on guys like Milton, Maxey, Paul Reed and Thybulle. Be willing to trade them for assets that can get him a shot for stars (lottery picks via pick swap?). Or just accumulate the assets then go for upgrade then rinse repeat. Just be patient and when the opportunity comes, we’ll be ready to strike.

[76ciology]

The biggest difference this season with our team is Biid making a quantum leap with his game. Specially when he had a down year last season.

Not Seth Curry. Not Danny Green. Not Dwight Howard.

You can also say its because of coaching, where I find Doc to be a huge upgrade over Brett’s robotic and rotten vanilla level coaching.

I think we can find a 3&D SG of Green’s caliber instead of Dwight. Then Doc can run this team with that 3&D SG in our starting unit playing Green’s role. While we still have Al as our back-up and a reliable starting center when Biid is not playing.

That 2025 1st round pick, could have costed us the Harden trade. We certainly had a downgrade in talent from Green to Al. And I can’t see how the cap relief from Green will benefit us. It’s just enables you to sign a more expensive Class B role player than a class B cheap role player guy.

I just think that the Al trade was a blunder, because it was supposed to set up for an eventual big trade. Because you can’t have Biid, Supermax player (Harden?), Tobi and Al.

Right now the Al trade only benefitted Josh Harris wallet and less of the team.

Who knows.. maybe we did the Al Horford trade so we can absorb the salaries of Doc River and Morey while still having Brett and Brand on our payroll lol

[Sixerscan]

Of course they had to outbid other teams to sign Horford. That’s how free agency works. Winner’s curse and all that.

Doesn’t mean they had to sign Horford though. They could have outbid teams for, say, Danny Green and Seth Curry. The issue wasn’t so much that Horford is overpaid it’s that he got to a point in his career where he had to play center which meant he couldn’t be on the court with our best player. Which was always a risk with signing someone as old as he was to a 4 year deal, the Sixers probably just hoped it wouldn’t happen until later in the deal than it did.

In actuality the Horford move made perfect sense if they were more moving in a Ben centric philosophy and moving on from Embiid and getting a haul back in a trade.
Injury prone center
Or a Ben centric build with an ideal stretch center.

Outside looking in that’s what it seemed like. But the owners played chicken (haven’t really stuck fat to anything besides the updated 2017-2018 team setup this year that’s so obv flawed it’s not funny).

Stick to one thing and see it through for better or worse. Our loss ratio in assets to what our team looks like from 2018 there isn’t much of a difference just a better version but same results.

Maybe, I haven’t seen any reporting to that effect, and there’s been no shortage of leaks about that regime. And as far as Embiid, it seems like the thought was more that having Horford would protect their investment in Embiid by being able to limit his minutes.

I think it was more that they were focused on signing a “star” that summer and he was the closest guy that was interested in coming here. I also think Brand saw himself in Horford and underestimated where he was at in his career.

[DCasey91]

Management have always been enamored with Ben over Embiid it’s as clear as day look the team setups/philosophy it’s for Ben no question. It took Morey to change that. Not resigning Redick/Butler making Ben the pg when he definitely isn’t one.
Having no real backcourt operationally for Embiid.


I love them both but for me both would have been directly on the table for Leonard/Harden.

Embiid wasn’t healthy for two playoff runs I can see the idea but the execution was horrible.

Embiid/Ben covers a lot of shortcoming of this organization. We are a very poor talent evaluation/development club (bottom 5 imo).

Outside of Embiid (Drew was the main teacher not any 76ers coach plus he’s a savant anyway)

No one has developed in our youngster pool in what 5 years? Either they were close to their ceiling already or just not very good at all for NBA.

McConnell, Holmes, Saric is still very solid players because they are NBA players.

Surely by now 2-3 youngsters would have established themselves as very solid rotation/starting players. Most of them are bit part
so there variance are widely inconsistent.
We have Milton but that’s not saying a lot.

But it I’m repeating myself here culture is everything, many youngsters have gone bust because development systems outside of the NBA besides Euroleague is quite poor for a world elite sport. Top 16 yr olds are still versing top 16 yr olds. That’s wild to me.

I’m come from a cricketing background. Their upswing development is light years is superior to NBA. A 16yr old super talent would be having practice sessions with the Lebron’s (best) of their sport easily. In fact that’s been going on for nearly 50 years now.

Major League have it correct
Tennis has a huge female presence
Soccer is the best at developing talent same with Cricket

All these sports have major big time youth advanced development systems in place.

NBA doesn’t come close to that

It’s in their groundwork.

NBA is a long way behind

[DCasey91]

My honest bet the next super freak (LBJ type prodigy) will come from overseas. A giannis type with a Durant like insanely high natural talent in possession at a very young age.

Have a Luka type upbringing (I.e be in a professional setting at 15). Imagine Lebron with a Luka type elite development pathway instead of high school/college.

How is overseas a better development pathway lol. College to NBA is too big of a gap for a lot of youngsters, don’t blame them either.

[76ciology]

Whats the story with Kevin Porter Jr? I dont know much of him.

He doesnt look like a special player in college.

He now look like a player who has lottery pick talent. Reminds me of JR Smith

[76ciology]

Management have always been enamored with Ben over Embiid it’s as clear as day look the team setups/philosophy it’s for Ben no question. It took Morey to change that. Not resigning Redick/Butler making Ben the pg when he definitely isn’t one.
Having no real backcourt operationally for Embiid.


I love them both but for me both would have been directly on the table for Leonard/Harden.

Embiid wasn’t healthy for two playoff runs I can see the idea but the execution was horrible.

Embiid/Ben covers a lot of shortcoming of this organization. We are a very poor talent evaluation/development club (bottom 5 imo).

Outside of Embiid (Drew was the main teacher not any 76ers coach plus he’s a savant anyway)

No one has developed in our youngster pool in what 5 years? Either they were close to their ceiling already or just not very good at all for NBA.

McConnell, Holmes, Saric is still very solid players because they are NBA players.

Surely by now 2-3 youngsters would have established themselves as very solid rotation/starting players. Most of them are bit part
so there variance are widely inconsistent.
We have Milton but that’s not saying a lot.

But it I’m repeating myself here culture is everything, many youngsters have gone bust because development systems outside of the NBA besides Euroleague is quite poor for a world elite sport. Top 16 yr olds are still versing top 16 yr olds. That’s wild to me.

I’m come from a cricketing background. Their upswing development is light years is superior to NBA. A 16yr old super talent would be having practice sessions with the Lebron’s (best) of their sport easily. In fact that’s been going on for nearly 50 years now.

Major League have it correct
Tennis has a huge female presence
Soccer is the best at developing talent same with Cricket

All these sports have major big time youth advanced development systems in place.

NBA doesn’t come close to that

It’s in their groundwork.

NBA is a long way behind

Its not comparable because basketball is a contact sport and NBA size is really a big difference compared to amateur leagues.

You can dominate in amateur ranks and be a star just because you are big.

I do think all is well in terms of basketball development. Luka has showed that euro is a good training ground. You also see the rise of skills coaches. Social media like youtube also plays a good factor where players are informed of the latest trends or moves in basketball.

What Im starting to see though is it’s easier to artificially build a star player. Because the game is a lot simpler than before. A lot of Iso and two man game. You dont need that much basketball IQ, unlike before.

Isolation is also simpler. Everyone is just imitating Harden. It all starts with mastering the stepback. If you can pull the defender close to you, it makes it a lot easier to drive to the rim because the defense can’t use their hands to slow you down. Then if there is a help defense to block your path, use the euro step.

Luka is good. But i just cant see him being the league’s best player. I still find that the league’s best player should be a mix between having freakish tools and elite skillset, this allows you to have the edge with the 99 percentile. Elite skillset without freakish length still allows guys like Kawhi or Ben to be able to slow you down with your skillset not being able to provide separation. Sort of an example is Zach Lavine, because he doesnt have freakish length a guy like Thybulle can blanket him on defense.

And this is what separates guys like LBJ, Giannis, KD and Biid from the rest.

[76ciology]

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