DuckIII wrote:I didn’t say win a title. In my two posts breaking this down - a much longer one on the prior page - I was referring to reaching the conference finals or possibly winning the conference and reaching the Finals. That is my definition of contention.
So going by contending rather than absolutely winning it all outright (the odds of winning it all outright at the beginning of a season don’t mean much because with each series win the likelihood increases considerably), Philly is a significantly better option.
1. You keep not mentioning Maxey, but that is the key here (see post on prior page).
2. Philly with Maxey, Embiid and George is at worst the #2 projected team in the East and if actually healthy in the playoffs would be in a dead heat with Boston. And only Boston.
3. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have Philly in your “top 5” to win a title in the next 2-3 years because presumably your top 5 is Boston and 4 WC teams like everyone else’s top 5 would be. Philly would only have to beat one of those teams to reach the Finals and possibly see none of them at all until the ECF.
I just don’t see any argument where Philly and LAC are anywhere near equal footing if PG is choosing based on contending for a title.
I agree with everything you said except how much you value "contending" for a title vs "having a real chance to win a title". I don't know that "contending, but nah, no real chance" is really worth that much to George. Maybe it is. I have no idea. It doesn't feel to me that guys give up tons of money to have no real chance to win a title but have deeper playoff runs, but just my gut feeling.
I also wouldn't put the 76ers are #2 in the East with those three guys next year. A fully healthy Milwaukee team is better, and any of the other up and coming teams could compete with them too.
I think he'd have more success joining Orlando than Philly and have a longer opportunity to have more success, but I'm not sure that's worth giving up the money either.
Of course, giving up the money is purely theoretical. LAC may not offer the money anyway.
Anyway, that's a deep rabbit hole for something we're probably 97% aligned on. Like I could see everything you say playing out, Philly, Orlando, and LAC seem like the most likely destinations to me.