PMFJB wrote:BullyKing wrote:Chamberlainship wrote:Define "made a difference."
There are plenty of bona fide NBA players that could have made sixers more watchable this year and (if the long-rumored lottery proposal goes through) would not have hurt lottery odds that much.
Yes, Channing Frye would have made the Sixers better this year but Jerami Grant is more watchable to me. The definition of difference is enough to make people like you stop whining.
Loul Deng, Ariza, Chandler Parsons, Bledsoe, Lowrly, Monroe. Were all attainable and could have helped immensely.
Parsons would have filled a big need in a 3 that spaces the floor. Why not go for him?
Oh right because you are trying to put the worst possible team to get the top pick. That is what people are talking about.
You were one of the teams with the most cap space and still you didn't even attempt to get those guys.
Parsons would have fit perfectly in a young guy who can grow with the core of your team. But nope.
Look, I understand why people don't like tanking, but it is what it is. Many teams tank and the Sixers are just doing it more blatantly. It is distasteful, but so is the move towards superstar laden teams trying to corner the market ala Miami over the last few years.
Every team should do whatever they can within the rules to increase their chances of winning a championship.
The goal is to win the title and not just be respectable. Every one of the free agents that you mentioned would help to make us respectable, but NONE of them will help us win a championship.
Let's take them one by one.
Luol Deng: A good player that is near 30 years old, that is not a star
Channing Frye: a pure role player who would not have made a difference to us on the court, and would take minutes away from Noel and Joel. If we were going to sign him then we might as well have kept Hawes.
Ariza: see Luol Deng.
Bledsoe: a point guard requiring a Max contract when we already have our point guard
Lowry: a point guard require a very big contract when we already have our point guard.
Parsons: I like him, but he just got WAY overpaid
Monroe: I like him, but again he is a non fit with Noel and Joel and would require a huge contract
None of these guys help us win a title. If, two years from now we have a healthy Embiid established as our franchise player, continued development of MCW and Noel into very good allstar caliber players, a few more high draft picks, Saric coming over, a few players found in the second round, and we win around 40 games, then signing a player like Deng, Ariza or Parsons at that time would make sense.
Until you are ready to compete it makes NO sense to pay for free agent role players that are older than 25 or so, and command salaries above 8-10 million dollars.
We did exactly what the naysayers say that we should do for the last decade and got nowhere. You cannot win in the NBA by being mediocre. Historically, you can only get superstars by drafting them at the top of the draft, and mostly in the top 5, or by signing max free agents.
Max free agents go to places that satisfy one of two requirements. Either they go to a huge market team, or they go to a team that already has a superstar. So if you are not a huge market team then you pretty much have to draft a superstar to have a shot. San Antonio would have never been able to sign Tim Duncan as a max free agent for example. They had to draft him, ironically during a season of pure tanking when a contending team lost their franchise player to a back injury, fell to last place, and then kept him out beyond when he could have come back and won 21 games.
If Embiid turns in to Duncan then everything will be fine, but until we know that that is what we have, then we have nothing and have to continue to try to find a superstar through the draft. The Sixers have been doing EXACTLY what they should be doing in these circumstances. Plus they have been doing it for only about 16 months so it isn't like they have been doing it for 5 years.