Post#22 » by Bubstubbler » Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:21 pm
Imagine if the Sixers go this route:
draft Okafor (or Townes or some other stud)
trade Lakers' 1st (top 5 protected this year, top 3 next year) + another 1st or two for rights to D'Angelo Russell
sneak into playoffs in 2015/16 (I expect Embiid to take the league by storm, and Russell/Okafor/Noel are studs)
sign Durant, Conley, and Love in summer 2016
Their core would be amazing at that point:
Conley
Russell
Durant
Love/Noel/Saric
Embiid/Okafor
(rounded out with several other 1st rounders, some cheap ring-chasing vets, and some young role players developed by Philly)
Potential dynasty. And wow would they have a ton of trade chips.
If they need to clear extra cap space in 2016 to sign all 3 FA's, they could trade one or more of their studs on rookie deals (Embiid/Okafor/Noel/Russell/Saric) for future picks, thereby clearing capspace while retaining value. Or they could keep all their young studs and not sign one of the FA's (I'm looking at you, Love), in which case their core would still be badass:
Conley
Russell
Durant
Saric/Noel
Embiid/Okafor
So what are the Sixers doing? IMO, they're giving themselves a legit chance to assemble an all-time great team and win a long string of champtionships.