Are We Still the Worst Franchise?

[Akklaim1]

I think we are. Our winning percentage says it all: .389. But that's a huge raise compared to the Sterling era. It was in the .360s before Blake was drafted. The sad part is that people desperately want us to go back to our old ways, i.e. perennial lottery team. Wuith Laker fans, I understand because they don't want the little brother doing better. But league-wide, they can't wait for us to be back to our losing ways. That is why they celebrate like Quagmire in a whorehouse when we get eliminated in the playoffs.

[Quake Griffin]

what's the way it should be going?

Their plan is to accumulate as many picks, free assets, opportunities, and lotto/young talent as possible for the better part of a decade. as far as i can tell they're doing exactly that. They just recently fleeced sacramento and in years prior have been taking all kinds of freebies while accumulating loads of picks. Furthermore it's not about the talent in a vacuum. It's putting yourself in a position to keep acquiring talent that will eventually turn out into what you want. Every asset they acquire essentially has either a non-zero chance of becoming something worthy of value, whether it's turning into an actual star or turning into something that hopefully nets them a star. They saw that MCW wasn't gonna be their guy so they recycled him. And i think that's what most 76ers fans realize and why they aren't worried about the mass losing. The names of the players don't matter because they are banking on x out of xyz players to turn into stars.

Embiid being damaged goods just makes the whole point of this entire thing: any reasonable person knows that drafting is a crapshoot. Why not offset that by loading up on as many high end picks as possible before changing gears and trying to contend? Im sure they would have loved embiid to be playing this coming year but the reality is that they still would be tanking for at least 1-2 more years even if he weren't hurt.

But one day in the near enough future they are gonna feel really good about noels, one of embiid/okafor, and whoever else they got and say "ok let's sign some solid FA"s and let's try and win." it's basically the same thing OKC did but in hyperdrive. And one day they will catch a true star to make it all work and be quite competitive.

A bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush.

You're basically telling me their rebuild is going fine because even though it isn't, they have assets. Assets don't win basketball games.
Their product is terrible. Only 23 thousand fans in Philly even tune in on a nightly basis.

I'm sure the Philly fans would rather have a superstar (Durant) or two (Westbrook) out of these three lottery picks rather than just the potential to surround a future pick with other future picks. They're no different from any one else if that's the case. Every franchise is one LeBron James, CP3, Steph Curry etc. etc. away from being where they want to be…

[nickhx2]

you're right, assets don't win basketball games. and they are not trying to win. they are trying to accumulate as many assets as possible before they cash all their chips in to ensure as much success as possible. it takes incredible luck to land two superstars at the same time. hell, it take incredible luck to land just one. why not set yourself up to give the best chance to land as many as possible? that's really all they're doing.

they aren't trying to win. they aren't trying to be watchable. they aren't trying to do anything but develop young stars and get as many more of them as possible.

anyway. i suspect we will continue to disagree. regardless, here's a good article that talks about them a bit. i think it is worth a read: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/a-tale-of-two-cities-phoenix-and-philly-plot-different-courses-to-contention/

And the main point of Philly’s unprecedented strategy is that it can absorb a blow exactly like Embiid’s foot injury. If your owners are only willing to punt on two seasons, you are at the mercy of lottery balls and injury luck. Blow one draft, or fall from no. 1 to no. 4 in the Anthony Davis lottery, and the teardown gives way to panicked spending toward mediocrity.

If Philly is really willing to do this for five, six, or seven seasons, it almost cannot fail. It will either land a superstar or draft so many good players that they will gather a solid NBA team. Brett Brown may check himself into an asylum before then, but if you keep getting lottery picks, you will eventually succeed. Even when Philly was on the clock at no. 3, it was on the phone with teams in the lower half of the lottery, working to secure another high pick, according to league sources.

[Rake]

Based on cumulative history, the Clippers still are. But I sincerely doubt that the Clippers will ever regress to the darkest days which at times seemed never-ending, under Sterling. Sterling was just happy owning a team in LA to differentiate himself from his billionaire buddies and any success that his team achieved was icing on the cake and nothing more.

Money alone doesn't guarantee success, the Knicks are testament to that. But Ballmer doesn't strike me as the type of guy that will meddle with his franchise thinking he knows better than those he has hired to manage his team unlike the current laker management which is a laughable mess. And that bodes well for the Clippers future IMHO, and again he's not a cheapskate like Sterling.

[mj_shoefanatic]

We are until we make a WCF appearance and win an NBA title.

[MrHill]

Based on cumulative history, the Clippers still are. But I sincerely doubt that the Clippers will ever regress to the darkest days which at times seemed never-ending, under Sterling. Sterling was just happy owning a team in LA to differentiate himself from his billionaire buddies and any success that his team achieved was icing on the cake and nothing more.

Money alone doesn't guarantee success, the Knicks are testament to that. But Ballmer doesn't strike me as the type of guy that will meddle with his franchise thinking he knows better than those he has hired to manage his team unlike the current laker management which is a laughable mess. And that bodes well for the Clippers future IMHO, and again he's not a cheapskate like Sterling.

All valid points...Ballmer and Sterling are different animals; Ballmer seems a lot more emotionally (let alone financially) invested in the Clippers' success, and while as mentioned, Sterling was just content being an owner of a professional sports team in his hometown, and showing-off in front of his rich buddies and his C/D-list celebrity friends. I've always been of the opinion that Sterling was just oblivious when it came to all things Clippers, and it obviously showed in the majority of his time as Clippers owner.

As a fan, I have enough confidence that the Clippers will continue to strive going forward. Keeping things in perspective...I'm enjoying this growth of the franchise, and I just know it'll be a matter of time before will win a NBA title. The haters can stay feeling salty.