LyricalRico wrote:LOL @ Philly. MCW has regressed this year, and now Embiid is doing a Hot Plate Williams impression. Plus their duplicity with Kirilenko is turning other players off.
Rebuilding by deliberate longterm losing just isn't good for a franchise IMO.
Agreed. I think you can intentionally tank for a year and get away with it, but after that, you need to at least look like you're trying. I liked what Philly did last year. They traded Jrue away for a high pick, and drafted MCW and Noel. They then intentionally tanked. That's fine. One year is forgivable. It worked out because they got the #1 pick and landed Embiid.
At that point, they should have concluded that the core talent base was sufficient, and now it's time to start building a winning mindset. They should have tried to acquire a couple of good veteran mentors, typically overpaid guys on teams looking to shed salary. Guys like David Lee, Jeff Green, Afflalo, Wilson Chandler, etc. Maybe the could have opened up the pocketbook for a younger free agent like Bledsoe or Hayward, but they probably wouldn't have landed them. Still, it shows the right mindset. Even with a few decent vets, they would still only be a 30-win team and finish with a top 8 pick. They could then pick up one more young core player - probably a guard. Then in 2016, when their veteran mentors come off their contracts, they look to add a superstar free agent to a developing core of Noel, Embiid, MCW, 2015 pick and 2016 pick.
I actually think the Wizards in the Ted era are a decent example of the proper blueprint. The only major thing the Wizards did wrong in the Ted era was to draft Porter for a team that had no good developing big men. Noel should have been the choice. (One can argue whether it made sense to trade Lewis for Okafor and Ariza when a plausible alternative was to buy out Lewis and then trade cap room for Ryan Anderson who at least would have been around for the long haul.)
