shi-woo wrote:This team is paying over $100 mil a year to Embiid and George over the next 3 years AFTER this year. 40 for Maxey and about 10 for Martin.
About 160 mil for just 4 players. The 1st APRn is 178 for those who didn't know, and the cap is 140.
The fact that we're talking playin here is pretty bad, especially with no guarantee that Joel or George will bounce back, and we know McCain isn't going to be doing this all year once he's no longer the new kid on the block.
I haven't seen a situation worse than this since the Pistons signed Charlie and Josh Smith.
Philly will only be signing washed vets and rookies from here on out till they move one or both of their 50 mil washed vets.
They signed those contracts too knowing the last couple years would be tough, given the age and injury history of both players, so it was all really about these first couple of years. This year is a wash, over. Next year is going to be interesting.
Even if this team won't blow it up, or can't, they should explore seeing what they can get for their other vets. Lowry, Gordon, Drummond, and Oubre might fetch them a pick or a young guy. If they do make the play in it won't be because those guys are going off, it will be because their stars will be playing. I'd try to set up for next year and beyond at this point.
That is why talking about the playin is in many ways missing the forest for the trees. The real question is Embiids health and what kind of player he is going to be going forward.
The franchise's future should be determined by the response to that question. The playin is almost entirely non-consquential to the Sixers right now; it's all about the injury situation. There is no world where the Sixers are a serious contender to win a major championship unless Embiid can return to his MVP self.
If Embiid, even after missing another thirty games or so during the season, manages to show flashes of his MVP former self, I would be a hell-of-alot optimistic about the Sixers' future, both making a run in the playoffs and in the long run, even if we finished tenth as a result of those missed games. However, if he returned and played every game going forward, but it was obvious that he would be a diminished player in the playoffs and for the remainder of his career, we should be looking at blowing things up in the offseason regardless of where we finish.
This is the same calculation that every team needs to make, and even Silver's dumb playin couldn't fix it. Making the playoffs as a below-.500 team is meaningless and doesn't make you a contender. Talent does, and if Embiid isn't right, we aren't a serious contender. I don't care if we are 5th, 7th, or 10th.