Phx-Suns.Net

Nationally televised games this week.

Monday: None.
Tuesday: None.
Wednesday: None.
Thursday: None.
Friday: Cleveland @ Washington 8:00PM EST ESPN, San Antonio @ Golden State 10:30PM EST ESPN
Saturday: Phoenix @ Chicago 8:00PM EST NBATv
Sunday: Denver @ OKC 7:00PM EST NBATv, Boston @ L.A. Lakers 9:30PM EST NBATv

NBA News.
This is a must read article from Pablo Torre about Sam Hinkie and the 76ers. I urge each of you to read it. Pablo is one of my favorite writers that I've chatted with on Twitter and Hinkie is as reclusive as you can get for someone in such a public position. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12318 ... de-winning

NBA title contention, for all its elusiveness, is depressingly simple. You need stars. In a five-on-five sport governed by salary caps, max contracts and rookie wage scales, the biggest talents double as both the biggest difference makers and biggest bargains. FiveThirtyEight found that of the past 40 teams to make the Finals, their No. 1 player, on average, ranked in the 96th percentile in statistical plus/minus. The No. 2 player was 90th percentile; the No. 3, 79th. The real question is how to acquire them.

Ugh, that Hinkie/Sixer article doesn't give me high hopes that he would want the Morris Twins.

Good recommendation Carey. Nice Read. My friend sent me a text of Hinkie lurking behind D'Angelo Russel the other day with the caption "Soon he'll be a Hinkie guy". Its kinda creepy.

The fans here in Philly are shockingly more patient then I thought they would be with the Sixers. Although the NBA has been a distant 4th in sports since AI was here.

Very nice article, Carey. I love that for all the trashing the 76rs and Hinkie have suffered, they are not the worst team in the league. So much for all those arguments about how they are such a disgrace for the L.

Ring_Wanted wrote:So much for all those arguments about how they are such a disgrace for the L.

They are a disgrace. At least they froze ticket sales the next two years. The fan base was hammering management over ticket prices, so at the very least they listened and did something about it. But I don't think Hinkie and the Sixers come out of this smelling like roses. They're digging a deep whole and relying on a lot of young players to develop.

Why are they a disgrace? You or me might not agree with how they are trying to rebuild but they're entitled to do it however they want. I thought Embid was the top prospect in last years Draft. I also liked Saric. I thought McDaniels was a 1st rd talent and Noel was one of the best players in the 13 draft. If the owner is giving Hinkie X amount of time to rebuild no matter what why not take the players he has rated the highest? I think what I would of done differently is brought in a few vets to help MCW and and Noel deal with life in the NBA and the culture even if those vets were a guy like Luke Ridnour. I think the risk here for Hinkie and Brown is they get canned before the all this comes to fruition but clearly they have the owner on board with waiting.

It could certainly backfire and I'm not someone who relies strictly on analytics, but I don't agree with this notion that they are a disgrace for trying to rebuild in the way they are and quite frankly they might be more dangerous down the stretch then several teams with more experienced talent that aren't in playoff contention because most of there roster are fighting for jobs.

I also wonder how many of you have actually sat down and watched a sixer game as well? They actually aren't nearly as bad as they were in the beginning of the year. Some of that is improving and some of that is having MCW healthy, but they actually play really really hard and if they had any kind of outside shooting they would be winning alot more.

INFORMER wrote:

Ring_Wanted wrote:So much for all those arguments about how they are such a disgrace for the L.

Shrug all you want, but despite all the mockery and their horrible start, they are winning more games than the Wolves and the Knicks. Hardly the smell of greatness, of course, but I find highly incompatible trashing their methods with the fact that there are even worse products out there.

Sunsfan4life, I agree with your post, just wan to point that they have done the kind of move you speak about, when they traded for Mbah a Moute to mentor Embiid. And JRich is still around instead of being bought out (not that anyone would want him injuried anyways but still).

And props to Brown, who has managed to get that group to defend better than half the league, which is a proof of effort and actually getting to the players.

Good point. Mbah a Moute is a great role model to have too because he plays extremely hard. He makes the most out of his limited skill set. J Rich is essentially a corpse who can't help on the court, but can certainly help the young guys deal with life in the NBA, but he was already there before Hinkie I believe so they didn't really "acquire him" as part of the plan but I see your point.

I really don't think being able to point to other teams having worse records absolves them of anything.

Ring_Wanted wrote:And props to Brown, who has managed to get that group to defend better than half the league, which is a proof of effort and actually getting to the players.

What choice do most of these players have? They're lucky to be in the league and many will be going back to the D League after the "real" players arrive.

Easy....they can choose not to play defense and buy in because they know that they are place holders. Instead they actually play together as a team instead of trying to showcase there individual skills.

INF, I'm surprised your not impressed with how Hinkie values 2nd rd picks.

Sunsfan4life wrote:Easy....they can choose not to play defense and buy in because they know that they are place holders.

Then they would go back to the D League and others would be called up. Not a choice they'd likely make.

I wouldn't want to do what Philly is doing. Their team has been absolutely unwatchable for several years now, and they have just been a little too open about tanking and not caring about the product on the floor. It's fine if you field a team that isn't going to win a ton of games. But openly dumping talented players for essentially nothing in return, because you WANT to lose, I don't support that. And despite all the young talent they're trying to assemble, I still don't see many good guards or wings there, and they have almost no shooting to speak of. They still have a long way to go, even if several of their young big men pan out.

Mori Chu wrote:I wouldn't want to do what Philly is doing. Their team has been absolutely unwatchable for several years now, and they have just been a little too open about tanking and not caring about the product on the floor. It's fine if you field a team that isn't going to win a ton of games. But openly dumping talented players for essentially nothing in return, because you WANT to lose, I don't support that. And despite all the young talent they're trying to assemble, I still don't see many good guards or wings there, and they have almost no shooting to speak of. They still have a long way to go, even if several of their young big men pan out.

It isn't essentially nothing. They have a clip full of bullets now and I bet you see them start using them this Summer. If they get a top 3 pick this year and Embiid works out they could have a very good core in place in 2 years. They are super young, already lead the league in steals, and if they could learn the fundamentals of defense and improve their shooting things could get better very quickly in Philly.

carey wrote:

Mori Chu wrote:I wouldn't want to do what Philly is doing. Their team has been absolutely unwatchable for several years now, and they have just been a little too open about tanking and not caring about the product on the floor. It's fine if you field a team that isn't going to win a ton of games. But openly dumping talented players for essentially nothing in return, because you WANT to lose, I don't support that. And despite all the young talent they're trying to assemble, I still don't see many good guards or wings there, and they have almost no shooting to speak of. They still have a long way to go, even if several of their young big men pan out.

It isn't essentially nothing. They have a clip full of bullets now and I bet you see them start using them this Summer. If they get a top 3 pick this year and Embiid works out they could have a very good core in place in 2 years. They are super young, already lead the league in steals, and if they could learn the fundamentals of defense and improve their shooting things could get better very quickly in Philly.

I agree with how Philly is doing it. If they get Russell in this year's draft, they will be very good in a very short time and be able to add in the right pieces in veteran talent, while being able to hold onto their young players. Embiid and Saric haven't even stepped on the court yet either. They might even be competitive by next year.

I wonder if they should throw max deals at both Butler and K. Leonard on the first day of free agency. Then they could roll out a pretty impressive core of MCW, Butler, Leonard, Noel, Embid, Russell (?) and Saric.

This Draymond Green max contract talk is utterly absurd. Couple it with the ridiculousness (and ambition) of Michele Roberts, it all adds up to an epic lockout. Yay.

https://twitter.com/paulcoro/status/567763953632026624