This is LITERALLY the first rumor I’ve seen associated with the Sixers or any player on the Sixers other than us being one of like 15 teams interested in Bostjan Nachbar. Rod Thorn is either the least active GM around, or the sneakiest. I know what my money is on.
Anyway, the rumor is that Thad Young had a meeting with the Nuggets today, it went very well, and they plan to meet again. The Nuggets are in a tight spot with Nene probably leaving and free agents Kenyon Martin, JR Smith and Wilson Chandler stuck in China. They also will have money because of the points I just made.
I’d love to have Thad stay on for about $8 million per year. Get much higher than that and I become a lot less interested. Though, if we are just going to take that money and spend it on someone horrible (see Brown, Kwame) I’d rather have Thad. He’s 23, and even if he doesn’t improve at all, he’s one of the better 6th men in the league and the 3rd best player on our team behind ‘Dre and Jrue, in my opinion.
What would you guys pay to keep Thad around?
I’m a huge fan of Thad but I wouldn’t mind seeing him go if it’s part of a plan that makes this team demonstrably better. I’m not getting my hopes up, though. If Thad goes to another team and I’m watching Kwame Brown is a Sixers jersey in a month I’m going to break things.
A good update from Kate Fagan:
#Sixers prepared to match any offer in the $8mil/yr range.The 4/44 deal is scary. As much as I love Thad I don’t know that you give him that kind of scratch. Is there anyone in the NBA, not on a rookie deal, who isn’t grotesquely overpaid?
Do we have enough to offer the Hornets or Orlando? And would those two guys that don’t need to be named, commit long-term with Philly?
Is anyone off limits in a deal for either of those guys (smack yourself if the answer is yes by the way).
To get Dwight I’ll bet Orlando would require Jrue and Arenas be involved so they can save their amnesty clause for someone else (Hedo).
Might be able to get a trade together but neither would sign a deal.
If the Sixers play their cards right, they could be in a good position next year.
The Heat and Bulls are the only two teams in the East we know are going to be good for the next several years. The Celtics have a year or two left. The Magic are trading D-Howard and starting over. There is an opportunity for that 3rd spot in the East in the coming years.
If we play well this year, amnesty Brand next year, decline Nocioni’s option, we could be going into 2012-13 with Jrue, Turner, Thad, Iggy, Lou-Will and about $23 million in cap space – might be a attractive location for someone… if we end up as the 4th or 5th seed this year
I am pretty confident the Knicks will be good with Melo and Amare – at least regular season good.
The Celtics are actually like us from, except with a much better win now team if you think about it. They have a young point guard they are committed to and expiring contracts around him. When KG and Ray expire they will have a lot of money to get a guy or two to pair with Rondo long term in 2012.
Kate Fegan’s tweet – If what she says is true (matching Thad in the $8 million range), which is probably exactly what he’s worth ($7-$8 or so), then of course what will wind up happening is teams that have cap space, need youth and need SF help (Denver, Jersey, LA Clippers, G-State, Sacramento, Washington) will offer a frontloaded, over-paying his worth deal in the $9-11 range (maybe even $12 if a team real far under the cap falls in love with his upside), forcing us to make a tough decision.
I’m on record feeling that it would be a big mistake to overpay for Thad, and once the dollars hit the $10+ amount, IMO we shouldn’t be willing to keep him as a Sixer. I have yet to see any true skill that he’d be bringing to a championship level squad aside from efficient bursts of bench scoring. Anyone that says he’s “a sure-fire 20 ppg player if he had 35 mpg at the SF spot” is simply deluded…he hasn’t had the opportunity yet so we don’t know, he’s still only slightly above average from the arc, and while he hustles on defense, he’s no elite defender.
Why on earth are the 76ers not in the mix for CP3? (Dannie’s point = smart) – I’m shocked the Sixers aren’t (at least publicly) in the mix for them. If I’m Dell Demps, and Paul has said he’s not coming back, I don’t understand the mentality of appeasing the player…it’s the GM’s job to field the best talent/youth/picks in return.
Clippers offer - have offered (says one report) Eric Gordon and D. Jordan (which I think is actually a bit much, and I’m the biggest CP3 fan on the planet), 2nd report says they offer Eric Bledsoe, D’Andre Jordan and Aminu.
Warriors offer – Stephen Curry, Ekpe Udoh, Klay Thompson
Lakers offer – Have the Andrew Bynum card to play
Celtics offer – Can give a top 3-5 NBA PG for years to come in Rondo, and add probably Jeff Green.
76res could offer – Jrue + Thad; Jrue + Turner + Speights; Jrue + Iguodala (the 3 likely combo’s of major talent pieces, with fillers/picks to make salaries work)
I’d imagine that our offer of a 21 year old up and comer PG, with the addition of another young talent would certainly make Demps pause. If the Clippers don’t include Eric Gordon, ours would certainly be better than only D’Andre and Bledsoe. And whether a team would want to have Jrue vs. S Curry is an interesting question. And while Rondo and Bynum are both great, Celts can’t offer a 2nd real talent like we could, and Bynum is injury plagued.
…(p.s.) seriously, if you are Demps, and here are your packages:
a. D’Andre Jordan, Eric Bledsoe and Aminu
b. Stephen Curry, Ekpe Udoh, Klay Thompson
c. Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green
d. Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom, ________
e. Jrue Holiday, Thad Young, Speights
…am I crazy or aren’t we offering the 1st or 2nd best package there?
Guys, ask yourself this, would Paul or Dwight resign here with no talent to play with? If New Jersey loses D.Will. they are done for the foreseeable future. My issue with Paul is his knees and both he and Dwight have other destinations in mind.
I think letting Thad get an offer from another team is fine and seeing who is out there after any trades are done is smart by our management. I target guys like Biedrens and Okafor with Hawes’ and Thad’s money if they become available when this all plays out.
Question; would you guys rather have Thad at 9 million per year and Hawes or [Dunleavy, A.Thornton at 2 to 4 million per year] and a solid center to pair with Vucevic? I prefer the 2nd option.
DaveT., The clippers are including the Minn. unprotected #1 in the discussions which would give New Orleans 2 possible top 10 picks in the 2012 draft, assuming they suck after Paul leaves. We can’t top that with anything we offer can we ?
Suede – I’ with you in that I don’t trust Paul’s knees either. For every 35 pt 15 ast performance like Paul had against the Lakers in the playoffs last year, throughout the year health issues clearly forced him to play at 75% on a lot of nights. He’s 26 years old…definitely not a good sign.
My point wasn’t necessarily saying “Why arent we getting Chris Paul?!”…if he shows no interest in resigning with a time, too big a risk to take (one Jersey fortunately seems to have lucked out with).
What I’m really saying is that we have stockpiled good assets, and it’s curious to me that the Sixers never seem truly engaged or open to taking two of our best ones, and tag teaming them in an offer to a team for a legitimate, established top 20 all star player. Jrue Holiday, Thad Young, Evan Turner. Hawes, despite my utter hatred of his game as a starter, even I can admit he’d make a perfect backup on any team with his smart offense. And obviously we could always trade Iguodala with one of the above for a good player.
Not saying we should…I’m saying we can, have the talent to do so, and I just wish we heard 76ers in rumor mills more often. I feel like Stefanski played it conservative every since the Brand signing blew up in his face, and Thorn…I feel he’s overrated if you look back at his track record.
Kris Humphries – Is a guy that intrigues me that might be worth throwing some coin at as a FA. I liked his game in the one year at Minny, liked his game in spot minute bench roles, and he was a real solid contributer last year for Jersey, by all accounts works his ass off with both conditioning and improving his game, and is obviously a great rebounder.
I’m curious how much his worth winds up being on the market…all I know is it seems he’s considered a 3rd tier guy in this FA class, which I think is underrating his ability a bit. Double double 6’10 guys don’t grow on trees, and at some point we need to start thinking about Brand replacements going into the future.
On your above point it seems 2 things are stopping the sixers from getting involved; 1] not knowing the value of our young guys, and other teams not knowing. 2] all these stars not willing to sign an extension.
I like Humphries but big years in a contract year scare me a bit. If Jersey offered to swap Humphries for Thad in a sign and trade would you think about it? Give Brackins a chance in Thad’s scorer role off the bench.
Suede - Valid point, but I don’t think contract year applies as much to Kris Humphries. We’re not talking about a perennial underachiever with talent that all the sudden turned the lights on for one year (ie: Thomas, Tim…Davis, Ricky). He’s a guy that mistakenly left Minny/college waaaay too early, and has spent time bouncing around the league as spot-minutes-backup fodder. And not from lack of skill…usually logjams if you look at his teams one by one.
He slowly improved his raw game enough to where he was trusted with more PT, and then earned even more last year and I thought brought a work-horse mentality that’s part of his character, not an aberration. He’s had to work to where he got.
Thad vs. Humphries is actually an interesting question. Depends on two factors: the unknown ceiling of Thad, and a team’s individual situation. Humphries I feel like, at best, is a 12-13 & 10 guy with 30 mpg…great rebounding, pretty good D, solid offense but nothing to write home about. He’d be great as the 4th best player on a great team, aka with Vets around him. Thad…man, hard to argue with those scoring binges and energy bursts he gives you. But he’s also not good at defense, doesn’t bring one great skill to the table, and I’m not so sure he’s cut out to be a true starting caliber SF. His ceiling is higher, but not something to bank on…certainly better for a young and up and coming team building a necleus, and not yet in serious contention. Interesting question.
I would love to know our teams’ feelings on Thad. If he can become an efficient 20 ppg. s.f. than pay him, otherwise you need D.Howard at center to start him at the p.f. spot.
Sixers close to a deal with Young according to Kate Fagan’s Twitter. Really hoping this ownership group and Thorn realize you can’t overpay for decent players.
Tony Battie is going to be back with the team. Something tells me that basically the whole team will be intact, minus Songalia (overseas) and Kapono (Lakers). Perhaps, someone new might come off the waiver wire. With Rod Thorn at the helm, you never know who that might be.
I can’t believe the Knicks are thinking of releasing Billups. If they TRULY want a winning culture, they have to have Billups, play defense, and hire a new coach. If Billups does get released, I hope Thorn can pry him for the cheapest deal available for the mininum. He would be a nice backup to Holiday, if he wants to play that role instead of Antonio Daniels. Just saying.
Anyway, glad to have the NBA and the Sixers back. Make some noise boys! GO SIXERS!!
I hope that the reports of a Marcus Thorton $40M deal with SAC are greatly exaggerated; would probably place a Thad Young deal around $40-45M. I REALLY like Thad but that’s too much money, in my opinion, for a team without a clear path to contending.
Thorton was a starting 2 guard for the Kings. I mean that does hold some weight to it IMO. Besides T Evans he was probably their best player the 2nd half of the season. Maybe not 40-45 mill worth I agree but he was borderline all star level playing. That’ll get you paid. I guess.
Thad resigns for $42 million for 5 years. I’d say he’s worth $7 – $7.5, so to pay about $8.5 per year to keep him is pretty damn good as NBA deals go. Especially if Thad does pan out, does prove he’s a legit starting SF in this league, or capable of averaging 15-17 ppg off the bench…it’s as good a contract as you could hope to get. And I’m not a huge Thad guy, but I think $8.5 mill per year is worth coughing up to see how high his ceiling is. Best part: an $8.5 million per year contract is fairly easy to move…far easier than any $10 million per year contract.
Kings & Thornton – Two reports are out…5 years for $40 million, 5 years for $32 million. They just way overpaid for a
Rip Hamilton bought out; Gil Arenas amnestied.
Seems that Harris/Aron have an urgency to boost the franchise’s stature and solvency and they’re doing that with a commitment to improve the product on the floor rather than bottoming out. I like the deal especially for the fifth year. Nice to see the new ownership identify something resembling a core – Thad, Jrue, ET – and buy in. Guess we’ll have to wait to see if Iguodala is a part of that vision.
Also, given the time that this took it really seems like they gauged his market (as well as the market for others) and figured what other teams were going to offer. He might not be worth 5/$43M but everybody in this league is overpaid to some extent and that’s the nature of the business right now. Happy to see him stay, he’s got a little work to do to carve out a spot for himself but I love guys that hustle like he does.
Chris – Well said!
Thad will need to reach Lamar Odom status (6th man of the year) at a minimum for this deal to be worth it in my opinion.
Just paid to tweener forward that doesn’t currently have a spot in the starting line-up, that is a weak rebounder and defender, a non passer and mediocre perimeter shooter an average of 8.6M per year for 5 years.
This will make most fans happy from a PR perspective, I get that. But I just hope their is a real long-term plan in place where this deal makes more sense.
My opinion of the Sixers is lower than Dannie’s. Thad’s deal is a shit deal for them. For that money Thad should be starting, or we better have an Iguodala deal in the works.
This deal means we’re looking at about $10M-$12M per year for Jrue in a couple of years.
Collins has a couple more years to carve out Thad’s niche. Does he put on some more muscle and try to replace Elton? Can he become an A.Jamieson type? While Brackins loses weight and works on his quickness and ability to replace Thad in his scoring bench role.
Interesting line in article by Mitchell, Kate Fagan’s new replacement states, ” League source says sixers are very high on L.Allen”. Elton gave him some props also. They aren’t blowing it up but sure are going young, if only the young guys show more than bench production down the road.
Lavoy Allen – Nice to hear Elton giving him some props. In my mind, he’s the ideal late 2nd round pick: guy with NBA size (6’10), that showed potential in college (real solid soph and junior years), and wound up pittering out in an off year senior year. I think guys like that…lot of unknowns for when players that have successful earlier seasons all the sudden have a downtrend. Smart to take a flyer on guys like that, get them in a new system, new coach, see what they can do.
Eddie Mast, Ollie Johnson, Tim Perry, Ramon Rivas, Donald Hodge, Duane Causwell, Marc Jackson.
Players association threatening filing a collusion claim against league if Paul isn’t moved by monday. League thought THAT was a lopsided deal, wait until Lakers get Dwight and get Billups if he passes through waivers.
Chauncey’s been with 6 franchises, including Denver twice. Mere coincidence – or is he regularly overesteemed? All-Vagabond.
Mr. Billups, How many guards can you stop from penetration with your 35 yrs, 77 days old legs?
Suede – What’s crazy about the now-nixed Lakers/NOrleans deal is that N. Orleans was getting a VERY good package for Chris Paul. How many times have we seen stars moved for bit parts that don’t work out, or old vets with one leg (*cough* Webber), or expiring contracts only acquired to come off the books.
The Hornets would have gotten:
-Kevin Martin (all-star level SG)
-Lamar Odom (all star, 3rd banana on a champ team)
-Louis Scola (borderline all-star/one rung below all star)
…AND two 1st round draft picks…mid 1st from Houston, late 1st from Lakers. I have no idea how you can possibly do better than that if you’re forced to give away your superstar.
You pair the above three with Okafor, who is a solid defensive big man, and a vet PG like Jarrett Jack? That’s a playoff team. Granted, not a 2nd round one most likely, but after trading a top 5 NBA player what more can you ask for? Plus, lots of maneuverability as Martin, Odom, Scola and Okafor all have mostly reasonable contracts that could help a contending team out.
You’d basically be taking the Houston Rockets of the last two years (near .500 teams) and adding Lamar Odom and Emeka Okafor to them. Pretty damn good given Demps’ crappy situation.
So far, the rookies are impressing their teammates in Training Camp. Perhaps that will help with the Sixers rebounding and kind of mask the need for a quality center. I think Spencer Hawes will resign and hopefully he continues to improve. With Hawes, he has shown stretches where he can play well even against the quality teams (see Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Magic).
Hawes signed qualifying offer [4.1 million] and will be unrestricted free agent next summer. Question; if the sixers moved L.Will. for a draft pick and cap space and signed Billups to a 3 year deal at 3 million per how much better is this team?
Suede, I don’t think Billups wouldn’t even entertain coming to a rebuilding situation like ours. And aside from him being a nice mentor for Jrue Holiday, I’m not sure what our interest would be Billups either?
Because we’re not in contention for a championship, nor even a few steps removed from being so, our job is simply to let the youngin’s grow and see what they can do. That’s it. Any wins that happen to come is icing on the cake, and I know a lot of people on here don’t even want that and advocate tanking for draft picks (I’m far too competitive for that, but understand the logic).
Indiana – Signs David West, 2 yrs/$20 mill. Also in talks with Memphis for OJ Mayo. If they trot out a starting lineup of:
PG – D Collison
SG – OJ Mayo
SF – D Granger
PF – D West
C – R Hibbert
with B Rush, P George and T Hansbrough as your backups…that’s a much improved team.
Why in the world would we do that?
Dannie, in spite of me wanting a rebuild I think our team wants to remain competative while doing it. If Billups helped our youngins win a playoff series would that be a bad thing? And he, Elton and Iggy would of been a good mix, in my opinion.
Let’s see what Billups does in the role I envisioned him playing here, s.g., for the clipps.
DaveT., G.Lawal was waived by Pheonix and picked up by the spurs. Unknown whether his injuries or a frontcourt logjam were the reason for his release.
Watch out for the “dunking ninja” tonight. Vesely and the one guy I wanted over our pick, Singleton, will be interesting to watch tonight.
Suede – Huh? Still doesn’t make sense to me.
1. Just because our team thinks they want to remain competitive, doesn’t mean that is the right strategy to take.
2. So you want Billups to help how? I love Billups as a leader/example setter. BUT, what I care about MUCH MORE is young players actually playing in real games. And with Billups you would be keeping minutes away from Jrue and Turner. And that’s assuming 1. Billups would come here and 2. that hey would be okay playing a lot of SG.
Remember, Jrue isn’t Chris Paul. Taking a backseat to Paul can be acceptable and justified, Jrue, from Billups perspective, not so much.
That 100% outweighs any sort of leadership/playoff win my opinion.
You are just wasting time where we can’t evaluate young players as well as possible and slowing down development though real game play.
End of the day the right strategy is to fully commit to one thing – either winning now or building for the future.
What we are doing now sucks, period.
What would you do if you were the GM? Trade Igoudala and amnesty Brand?
And what would you do if you are the new owners and responsible for putting people in the seats?
Dannie, we are rebuilding through the draft. Iggy, Jrue and Thad are all top 5 players from their drafts and Turner should be also. There is nothing wrong with winning while going young if you draft well.
Unless you trade each guy you draft till you hit it big with a #1 pick I feel there is nothing wrong with their strategy. If they win a playoff series their young assets gain value and that to me is as good as losing and hoping to get lottery lucky.
As a fan I want a title but want to watch good basketball also. My biggest concern is having a Collins replacement on his staff that can continue what he is doing as far as a system, especially on the defensive end.
As far as Billups taking minutes I disagree. Turner takes over Lou’s role, similar to what he did in college and his confidence grows quicker. Meeks moves to the bench, next to a big ball dominant player, a good fit, whereas he and Lou would have defensive issues.
As for Jrue, any loss of p.g. minutes would be a wash to me with Billups’ ability to be in his ear during crunchtime situations. But it was just a thought on my part that amnesty could be a way to get a good player at a low price.
Last year’s .500 combine returns. Team’s new motto: Internal growth, true unless its false.
All I can hope is the Sixers have a plan in the next 2 years to get decernable better – BEYOND internal growth because the league and the Eastern Conference is going to shift. Big time players are moving or will be moving and the Sixers need not get left behind.
Agree. Teams to be reckoned with don’t stand still. Knicks just got better with Chandler addition; they’ll find a servicable PG. Celtics won’t volunteer to enter the ‘down’ elevator anytime soon. Bulls have better weapons, alert & insistent coaching. Team Howard is more than formidable, only thing sketchy is the geography. South Beach is fielding a team again. Hawks, Pacers, Bucks have some
pieces with which to contest. Yes, bold change - a deviation from organization norm - would be refreshing. But the new owners were children when Doug was an all-star player for Sixers. And their handsome bankrolls can’t outgab Doug who with his work ethic and positivity would make a fine Fuller Brush Man. Change that will fill the bowl in South Philly will likely take some time. unless this upcoming SEASON OF DEFERENCE TO AN ENTRENCHED ELDER sorely disappoints.
According to David Aldridge, the Nuggets have been talking to the Sixers about acquiring Speights for a 2nd round pick. I don’t know how to react that necessarily because he can be quite an offensive threat off the bench and light it up at any given moment. However, if he will not get consistent minutes and not play defense, I guess that would bode well to ship him. With the overload of PF hybrids, the Sixers have our two rookies and Brackins. Perhaps, Speights’ empty spot will allow the Sixers to sign another center for the minimum (Pryzbilla?)
If they trade Speights, it better be to a Western Conference team and hope we get value in return (maybe another player). Maybe if the Sixers trade him to the Suns, we could try and get Robin Lopez. You never know. Anyway, GO SIXERS!
I’ve never understood the whole “we better trade someone to the other conference!” mentality. Truly, what’s the difference? East-West teams play a total of two games, as opposed to the 3 or 4 within the same conference. So…for two games, it matters how well the ex-teammate performs? Speights would do what at his very peak best, explode for 18 pts and continue to play no defense in two extra games against us per year if in the East? Or we’d meet up with New Speights East Team in a 7 game playoff series and he’d average double figures and play no defense? What does it matter?
The only job of any GM is to make the team better. Unless a trade happened between total arch-rivals (Lakers & Celtics) or something, I think it’s fine to trade players within a division, as long as we get good assets in return. Although I will say it was a bit odd of the Lakers, who just got swept by Dallas 6 months ago, to send one of their best players to the Mavericks for nothing but a trade exemption.
Also the Sixers replaced Matt Cord with Tom Lamaine as the Sixers announcer. A trip down memory lane, I suppose.
Matt, though will be with the organization as a Sixers.com video reporter.
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillygossip/Tom-Lamaine-is-new-Sixers-announcer-Matt-Cord-moves-to-Sixerscom.html?jCount=2&#comments
Any chance Recliner GM is doing another fantasy basketball league?
Going on record saying: The Clippers made a huge mistake giving away Eric Gordon in the trade for Chris Paul. If Chris Paul was 100% healthy?…sure. But with possible bum knees and the way he coasted in the regular season last year, to include what will be a likely top 4-7 draft pick next year, AND what IMO will be a top 3 SG in the NBA for years to come in Gordon, is too much. I absolutely love Eric Gordon. The guy’s a stud: can shoot the lights out, drives the lane like a wrecking ball, is big, physical, tough minded, plays stingy defense, hustles, is a great passer for a SG, and a team player with good bball IQ. Keeping Eric Gordon/Blake Griffin/DeAndre as your core, adding Butler, and keeping Mo Williams in place while Eric Bledsoe matures into a starting role would have been the right, long term approach to go.
Then again, I’m the hugest CP3 fan on the planet, and if he does stay healthy and doesn’t coast in the regular season to conserve his health…I’ll be the first to admit that Paul could single handedly raise this team to new heights. But too risky for me. And they now have FOUR talented PGs…Paul, Billups, Mo W, Bledsoe…and even Randy Foye as a combo guard who can score in bunches. Will be fun to see how the Clippers’ season pans out.
Ummmmm, huh? Stop please:
http://wagesofwins.com/2011/12/13/a-familiar-story-plays-out-in-los-angeles/
and
http://wagesofwins.com/wins-produced/wins-produced-2011/ – so he coasted in the regular season YET was still the most productive player, hmmm.
Don’t like that metric, please look at win shares, offensive rating, player efficiency rating:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2011_leaders.html
No matter how you look at it CP3 is a top 7 player even when he isn’t 100% healthy (though I am pretty sure he is – he did play and start 80 of 82 games last year at 36 mpg).
Dannie – You’re preaching to the choir about Paul’s ability. Back in that ’08 run they had in the playoffs, I would have taken Chris Paul to start a franchise with over any other player in the NBA. Kobe, LeBron, Dwight, all of them. He’s bar none the best PG in a league, period, and PG is the most position in basketball…over the C position, I’d argue, if you have a true pass first PG that knows how to run a team and score as Paul does. He’s my favorite player in the NBA.
That said, those win-share metrics don’t take into account two things:
Eric Gordon returning from an injury. And a fairly serious wrist injury, which effected his game remarkably when coming back. The first part of the year he, a natural 2 guard, was slotted in to play the Point, and did phenominally out of position in that role, proving what an excellent team leader and eye for the game he has. He also shot HORRIBLY from 3 point land to start the season (shot around 25% for the first 20 games), and STILL held that team affloat as their 2nd anchor, and it was fairly astounding to watch how lights out he was from beyond the arc, raising his % from 25% to the mid to upper 30′s by the end of the year. He was KILLING it in December and January…hitting a ridiculous three 3′s a game at a 44% clip at one point, dropping 25 ppg while still retaining nice assist numbers and getting teammates involved. After injury, a good 15 games, ended the season a good 7 ppg below his average, less assists, less rebounds, and big time less shooting clips. Those 15 games to end the season are a total statistical aberration.
The leap a 100% healthy Eric Gordon will make this year. I think the stars are aligned for this guy to be just a total beast this season. Wade, Kobe, (would have been Roy), Gordon.
Chris Paul eye-ball test – It’s a testament to the guy’s skill that he’s still a top 5 NBA player in terms of efficiency, not playing at 100%. And I’m sorry, anyone that watched the Hornets in the regular season last year, it was plainly obvious that Chris Paul was not going full gung ho throttle like he’s done in regular seasons past. Every player takes nights off and can’t give all their energy, because they obviously need to protect their long term health and fatigue for the playoffs.
But Paul often looked like Kobe in the 1st quarter (aka: not taking over, getting teammates involved, coasting offensively to conserve his body and save energy for 2nd half of game) during entire games throughout the season. The guy has knee problems, period. It showed in his aggressiveness in the regular season. And while an 80-85% Chris Paul is better than the entire league except for Deron Williams at his position, that doesn’t mean that you can absolutely bank on that holding up for the next 5 years.
It’s easy to say “Oh, look at CP3 during the Lakers series!” …if that’s the Paul the Clippers just got, for an entire regular season, than yeah, absolutely anyone trades Eric Gordon 100x in the blink of an eye for that. And maybe he’s much healthier this year, and added rest did him good. But I know what I saw last year during their regular season, and he was playing over-tentatively on offense. That’s not a good sign if you’re a 26 year old, entering your prime, and the Clippers just traded away a major cornerstone for a top flight NBA star.
I agree with Bill Simmons’ take – Clipper’s should have been patient for another 2 weeks, and the NBA would have caved and made the trade for Bledsoe, Aminu, Kaman, and Minny’s #1 pick.
I love Chris Paul, it’s going to be awesome watching these guys play, and I’m the first one hoping his knee holds up and the Clippers are a top 4 team in the West.
If Speights does not put in the effort on both ends of the floor, perhaps the Sixers could trade him and Nocioni to the Clippers for Mo Williams. Just a thought, in case one of our PGs go down with an injury.
I would rather have Randy Foye instead. Bigger guard and can hit the 3 point shot. He can get to the basket and has local ties. The clips need bigs as do the Sixers but its almost obvious Speights isn’t welcome on this team. His fault or not.
A very nice effort last night. Draft position aside, Jrue looked like the better p.g. and Washington is loaded with low bb. I.Q. players. Hawes looked very Gminski like and if he and Turner average double figures this season could the sixers have 8 guys average more than 10 per game.
I know people want a star here but this team is fun to watch, regardless. Vucevic rotated quickly defensively, passed well and set solid screens but overall had a Jason Smith in his rookie year kind of look to him. Hope he has higher upside.
The Sixers looked fresh and were not rusty. Perhaps continuity will really benefit them. GO SIXERS!!
0 rebounds and 4 fouls in 20+ minutes should never happen, ever for a center prospect.
I agree Dannie, I was a bit disappointed but he seems to give good effort on the defensive end. He pulled a Mamula and almost had a couple “0″ boards. I was very impressed with our team defense though the Wizards aren’t a great barometer.
Suede – We are different kinds of fans, can agree to disagree.
“Good basketball” in reality is mediocre basketball. I’ve had my fill of that. Time to shake things up.
Pete – From a basketball perspective your two questions are the same. Fans are only coming to games for two reasons 1. big time player either free agent or draft pick with mass appeal 2. win a lot more than they have. Both functions of personnel and coaching decisions.
I would have offered Thad a 3-year deal with a team option for 4th and nothing more at that tenure $8.6M is easier to stomach though I would have pushed for $7M per. I am actually quite miffed at what the market was for him since we didn’t hear about a hard offer from another team. Did we essential bid against ourselves?
I tell Thad you are a small forward – go prove it. I give him a lot more minutes at small forward this year to evaluate if he could be a viable Iguodala replacement.
I start Evan Turner at shooting guard. Right now that isn’t happening for one reason, and one reason only – they believe having Meeks as a shooter in there with the starters is the best way to “compete” right now and he “fits” better.
That is shortsighted and ridiculous. You drafted Turner with a high draft pick to play shooting guard and now decide not to start him because he isn’t a shooter and doesn’t fit? Should have drafted Wes Johnson if that was the mentality.
Further, how else are you going to figure out who your core is if you don’t force the issue with Turner/Jrue/Iguodala?
I’d shop Speights for a good pick or young player that fits a bigger need (tougher/defensive big or longer term option as shooter).
I don’t know that I would have signed Hawes for qual offer. Might have tried to find a defensive center to start so we can see what it would look with this team. Doesn’t have to be create, someone that provides what Hawes clearly doesn’t and the team clearly needs.
Not resigning Hawes would have made the Vucevic draft pick easier to stomach since he is basically a clone of Hawes. Instead we drafted a Hawes replacement only to keep Hawes, how does that make sense?
I probably would have drafted any of Singleton, Johnson or Faried to see if any of those guys could become a reliable PF prospect.
This season I play it out as stated and evaluate.
Depending evaluations make moves regarding Brand/Iguodala where necessary. Regardless, put more emphasis on draft. Try getting more first rounders, increase changes of a hit.
Keep evaluating and reevaluating. One thing I would do is continue with status quo every single year like they have been doing.
Dannie, I think Turner’s confidence is also a reason why he is coming off the bench. For whatever reason he has a fragile mindset and I believe Collins is putting him between Lou and Thad for his benefit also and when he starts doing what he did this preseason consistantly things will change.
As far as him being drafted to be our s.g., that is what I hoped for but for some reason, just a hunch on my part, it seems to me our coach visualizes him in an Iggy, G.Hill type point forward role, and I hope I am wrong here.
As far as good basketball I agree to disagree with you . 500 ball won’t do but 10 games over 500 and winning a round makes for a succesful year to me and I expect that this season. The Barkley led Sixers were one of my favorite teams but I never thought they could beat the bulls.
My hope is we continue building a style and system and with good cap management an oppurtunity arises to get the final piece whereas blowing the team up and hoping to draft a star may be playing against the better odds.
By the way, an interesting quote by our coach on sportsnet this morning;” there will be no sideway moves, we WILL stick to our plan”. At least they have a plan.
K.Benson cut by the Hawks. Can Collins turn him into something?
Tell you what, rust and old legs are certainly affecting some of these teams. That’s where the Sixers have an advantage this season with fresh, young legs and their core is intact! GO SIXERS!!
We may have a center finally and if Jrue returns to last years’ form we could be pretty good. Iggy’s shot looks the same but he sure is hitting it early and Turner seems to defensive rebound like a backup p.f. off the bench.
I am rooting for us and Denver in the west, two teams trying to win the unconventional way without a superstar.