Discussing Other Teams' Moves - Part 7

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Amazingly, the Bulls have interviewed Bryan Colangelo to take over running basketball operations.

How does this guy keep getting invited to the table? He's failed everywhere he's gone, plus he has that Twitter scandal on his resume -- not even 2 years ago, I think...!

[closg00]

A little content just because, Gilbert's on the list.

Watch on YouTube

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In their continuing effort to demonstrate how not to manage an NBA franchise, the "brains" who run the Philadelphia 76ers have fired Brett Brown -- the last competent person associated with the team.

They've gone from Sam Hinkie to the Colangelos to Elton Brand as ownership makes every possible move to demonstrate what utter idiots they are!

[nate33]

In their continuing effort to demonstrate how not to manage an NBA franchise, the "brains" who run the Philadelphia 76ers have fired Brett Brown -- the last competent person associated with the team.

They've gone from Sam Hinkie to the Colangelos to Elton Brand as ownership makes every possible move to demonstrate what utter idiots they are!

Interesting. Do you really think Brett Brown is a good coach?

I think the team has underperformed its talent level for a few years now. Brown may or may not be the reason, but if a team underperforms for that long, usually you try a new coach before you make drastic moves with the roster. I don't find the move surprising at all. I would have done it earlier this season.

I agree that management has been horrible, particularly Elton Brand. The Harrington trade and the Horford acquisition were two of the worst personnel moves I've seen this century. Almost as bad as the Wizards offseason of 2016 (signing Mahinmi and Nicholson).

[payitforward]

In their continuing effort to demonstrate how not to manage an NBA franchise, the "brains" who run the Philadelphia 76ers have fired Brett Brown -- the last competent person associated with the team.

They've gone from Sam Hinkie to the Colangelos to Elton Brand as ownership makes every possible move to demonstrate what utter idiots they are!

Interesting. Do you really think Brett Brown is a good coach?

I think the team has underperformed its talent level for a few years now. Brown may or may not be the reason, but if a team underperforms for that long, usually you try a new coach before you make drastic moves with the roster. I don't find the move surprising at all. I would have done it earlier this season.

I agree that management has been horrible, particularly Elton Brand. The Harrington trade and the Horford acquisition were two of the worst personnel moves I've seen this century. Almost as bad as the Wizards offseason of 2016 (signing Mahinmi and Nicholson).

I assume you mean the Harris trade, & yes it was unbelievably awful. Ditto signing Al Horford for 4 years & $109m at his stage in his career.

When the Clippers & Celtics play for the title, they should dedicate the series to Elton Brand!!

Then there was the trade of Jimmy Butler for Josh Richardson! I know you like Richardson, but.... Hey, maybe it'll be Miami vs. the Clippers -- still gotta dedicate the series to their mutual benefactor.

How about not bringing J.J. Redick back to retire in Philly? & trading James Ennis for an end-of-R2 pick.

As to Brett Brown -- in general I'd say it's pretty hard to judge coaches except in egregious cases or where a coach has been replaced & the same roster of players performs either significantly better or worse over some extended stretch. In the case of Brown we have nothing like that -- the opposite if anything, as he's coached through the whole "process" & everything since then. In fact, in his parting statement, he points out that he coached 102 players on the Sixers in 7 years -- the equivalent of an entirely new roster year by year!

For context, since 2015 -- when ownership stopped Hinkie from running the draft & then fired him -- Philly has owned 23 draft picks. They've managed to pick & keep exactly 3 good players in that stretch: Simmons with a #1 pick, Shake Milton (if we give him the benefit of the doubt as a young, developing guy), & Matisse Thybulle (a promising rookie season).

So, I really can't make a negative judgment about Brett Brown. Which is not to say that I view him as a coach with a significant positive influence on overall team results. There are very few of those. Some certainly -- but way fewer than people think.

[I_Like_Dirt]

The thing with Brown is that he was also the guy who ran the whole show in the interim and helped pick out Brown. He's got a fair amount of say in that organization and a lot of that team was what he wanted, too. I think they need more changes than him but I have a hard time believing they'll miss him.

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[Ruzious]

Pif, they basically had to trade Butler, because Brown couldn't control him. That's why Butler became their de facto point guard towards the end of the playoffs - making Simmons look bad because that forced him to play off the ball. I think Brown lost all credibility as the leader of the team at that point. And the way Boston beat them so easily this season was the finishing touch. Brown was done.

I also think he did a poor job of coaching Embiid - using him too much as a finesse player rather than a power player - and blending Embiid with Horford. Granted, they paid too much for Horford, but Horford was very effective just 1 year ago with a MUCH better coach.

[Ruzious]

More surprising imo is that Indy fired Nate McMillan. Yeah, they got swept by Miami, but they were playing without Sabonis, and none of the games were wipeouts - though none were nail-biters either. Miami's a very well constructed team with an excellent coach and should have been expected to win the series easily, imo. Tbh, I won't be surprised if they beat Milwaukee in the 2nd round. Indy's got a bunch of good players, but the closest to being a star is Sabonis. Oladipo was a star for 1 season, but he hasn't been since and had the injury. And I never thought combining him and Brogdon made much sense because they're very similar players - with neither being a player that's great at running an offense and creating for teammates. There's no easy baskets without Sabonis in the lineup.

Woj says they're going after Mike D'Antoni. That means smallball - which likely means they will try to trade Myles Turner and perhaps Goga Bitadze. Turner played well in the playoffs after a so-so regular season. Hard to believe he's just 24, but it's going to be hard to find a team that's willing to pay him 18 mil a year for the next 3 seasons. Bitadze had a disappointing rookie year but has "upside".

[TGW]

I like McMillian a lot. He always does well even when he gets dealt a crappy hand.

Oladipo was coming off a major injury and Sabonis was out...not sure what their FO actually expected from that team other than a first or second round exit.

[nate33]

I like McMillian a lot. He always does well even when he gets dealt a crappy hand.

Oladipo was coming off a major injury and Sabonis was out...not sure what their FO actually expected from that team other than a first or second round exit.

Agreed. I'm very impressed with what McMillian did with that ball club. Bogdanovic was little more than a spot up shooter for us and Brooklyn, and McMillian turns him into a rock solid 1A scoring option. That team won 48 games last year with Oladipo missing 46 games. They were the 3rd best defense in the league with Darren Collison at PG and a washed up Wes Matthews (whom they got off of waivers) as their defensive stopper.

This year, they were on pace for 51 wins after losing 4/5ths of their starting lineup (Collison, Oladipo/Mathews, Bogdanovic and Young) and adding only Brodgon as an expected contributor. They found Warren off the scrap heap and turned Sabonis into an All-Star.

I would sign that guy immediately if I was Ted. He's better than Brooks.

[nate33]

Woj says they're going after Mike D'Antoni. That means smallball - which likely means they will try to trade Myles Turner and perhaps Goga Bitadze. Turner played well in the playoffs after a so-so regular season. Hard to believe he's just 24, but it's going to be hard to find a team that's willing to pay him 18 mil a year for the next 3 seasons. Bitadze had a disappointing rookie year but has "upside".

Would you trade Bryant and filler (Ish) for Turner? Would Indy?

I'm torn. Bryant is a better offensive player and will probably be considerably better offensive player in a year or two, but Turner is a better defensive player, and frankly, that's just so much more important for a center. Offensively, Turner is a good enough floor spacer to complement Wall and Beal.

It's probably moot because Indy wouldn't make that trade. They'd prefer to trade Turner for a true PF.

[Ruzious]

Woj says they're going after Mike D'Antoni. That means smallball - which likely means they will try to trade Myles Turner and perhaps Goga Bitadze. Turner played well in the playoffs after a so-so regular season. Hard to believe he's just 24, but it's going to be hard to find a team that's willing to pay him 18 mil a year for the next 3 seasons. Bitadze had a disappointing rookie year but has "upside".

Would you trade Bryant and filler (Ish) for Turner? Would Indy?

I'm torn. Bryant is a better offensive player and will probably be considerably better offensive player in a year or two, but Turner is a better defensive player, and frankly, that's just so much more important for a center. Offensively, Turner is a good enough floor spacer to complement Wall and Beal.

It's probably moot because Indy wouldn't make that trade. They'd prefer to trade Turner for a true PF.

We'd have to get a 3rd team involved that would want Bryant. I thought Turner was going to be a better NBA player than he has, so far. Turner's contract is a tough sell for me to take him - though he might end up worth it. Seems like he should be more impactful than he is, but by now he likely is going to be what he has been. So my inclination is no.

[Ruzious]

I've never been more proud of the Milwuakee Bucks. Remember, they were put in this situation - it's not the other way around. If someone's angry at them, that someone is misplacing their anger.

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I've never been more proud of the Milwuakee Bucks. Remember, they were put in this situation - it's not the other way around. If someone's angry at them, that someone is misplacing their anger.

I agree 1000%. & I'm so glad to see other teams follow their lead.

IMO no more professional sports until there's reason to believe that this country will take ACTION against the obviously ingrained racism that has developed -- has been encouraged -- in police forces around the country.

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Pif, they basically had to trade Butler, because Brown couldn't control him. That's why Butler became their de facto point guard towards the end of the playoffs - making Simmons look bad because that forced him to play off the ball. I think Brown lost all credibility as the leader of the team at that point. And the way Boston beat them so easily this season was the finishing touch. Brown was done.

I also think he did a poor job of coaching Embiid - using him too much as a finesse player rather than a power player - and blending Embiid with Horford. Granted, they paid too much for Horford, but Horford was very effective just 1 year ago with a MUCH better coach.

Makes sense. Let's see whether/how much Embiid improves under the next coach. But, the reason Boston beat Philly easily was that they are a far better team than Philly. & that is on ownership & the FO they hire, not on Brown.

Edit: I guess one thing I mean is that Philly is owned by a group that wants someone else to be responsible for the problems they create. They fired Hinkie, & they haven't hired a competent replacement in the 4+ years since then.

[TGW]

The Thunder are moving on from Billy Donovan, who got a team that was supposed to be rebuilding into the playoffs. Cracks me up that much better coaches than Brooks are getting let go, while he gets to keep his job.

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The Thunder are moving on from Billy Donovan, who got a team that was supposed to be rebuilding into the playoffs. Cracks me up that much better coaches than Brooks are getting let go, while he gets to keep his job.

Billy Donovan. You mean Bradley Beal's college coach? Who took a team of discards from the Clippers, including an aged CP3, and 2nd year player SGA, and not much else, and brought them to the Playoffs? I wonder if there is a team who could use a guy like that.

It'd be ironic though I suppose if Brooks got replaced by Donovan twice in his career.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

We have the wrong Thunder cast off.

I’d take Billy D over Brooks any day.

This is where we can test if Ted and co are actually serious about winning. Nate M or Donovan would make us much better, immediately.

[TGW]

We have the wrong Thunder cast off.

I’d take Billy D over Brooks any day.

This is where we can test if Ted and co are actually serious about winning. Nate M or Donovan would make us much better, immediately.

Right now, I think Leonsis is about saving dollars, and Brooks is being paid so handsomely that it's almost impossible to move on from him.

Typical mom n' pop operation.

[dlts20]

Donovan is good but I think that they have the most underrated roster in the league. They are deep with all good players
No weak links and then you have the ultimate leader in CP3.

Im sorry but I just want to watch something a little innovative for once. We are always boring and standard. We are the type of team that if we ever want to make it to the top then we have to go all out and take risks. Honestly I would love to see our backcourt, especially Wall under MDA. I think that we could surprise some teams.