NBA News: Offseason

[Mori Chu]

My friend has a theory that Coleangelo put him on Team USA to sell it to Sixer fans when they sign him to a max deal. haha. Little far fetched, but he has no business being on TEAM USA's roster.

Yeah, that sounds totally plausible. I hope they enjoy their maxed-out new toy!

[EDC]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16597 ... imate-fall

Brillant article on Sam Hinkie and "The Process in Philly". Believe it or not Hinkie is highly regarded by alot of fans here in Philly still. I think his major flaw was expeting to be given alot of time without showing significant on court results. Think he could of added a few more vets as well to try and help situations and teach these guys how to be pros. But its undeniable how bright the Sixers future looks. I wonder if he'll ever get another crack at being a GM in the "L". Among has best moves were.
1. Taking on Carl Landry and Jason Thompson's contracts for a 1st and the right to swap 1sts with Sacramento.
2. Turning a marginal NBA starter in Michael Carter Williams into what looks like a high lotto pick (Thanks to us and Milwaukee)
3. Signing multiple 2nd rd picks to team friendly long term deals.
4. Turning the #10 pick (Elfried Payton) into the #12 Pick (Dario Saric) and a future 1st and 2nd from Orlando.

He could of drafted better then he did (Okafor ugh), but caught a really bad break with Embid's foot. I always questioned what Hinkie was doing but after the dust has settled and seeing who the Sixers r threatening to blow their money on (Harrison Barnes and Dion Waiters would have Hinkie rolling over in his grave) I feel for him a little bit Regardless, Adam Silver shouldn't stick his nose in any NBA team's business. These are the league rules. If someone wants to try a different approach to building a team within the rules so be it. If it's so bad change them.

I don't think Hinkie will ever be a GM again. You can't flaunt the fact that you are trying to lose in a competitive setting. It undermines everything. That combined with his manifesto and the fact that he didn't just stay quiet and let things die down. Instead he keeps bringing it all back up.

I believe the other owners got tired of the Sixers hurting their bottom line. So they forced the Sixers to make a change. I seriously doubt any of them would then go out and hire him.

On top of it all his process isn't successful. The lack of veteran presence has had a negative impact on their young guys. The Sixers could have brought in a few vets and tried to actually win games and still have ended up with almost as good of picks as they had. The culture of losing has set in and it will be hard to shake. Not to mention the complete lack of interest of most fans. Nothing like driving away your fans while pushing this "trust the process" bullshit. Trust the process and don't bother watching us but check back in 3 years to see if we are any good. Not a great approach for a business.

[Ring_Wanted]

I think Hinkie's problem was not the process itself or the philosophy behind it. It was the specific form it took, in terms of rookies drafted. Injuried guys, international prospect two-three years away, plus picking BPA regardless of roster composition and fit. Also worth of mention that he traded some of the very few players that were offering something tangible while being a direct result of his drafting/strategy (MCW and McDnaiels).

In a way it is so sad that he has not remained to watch the fruit of his work.

[Hermen]

I think Boston and Minnesota also didn't help Hinkie, seeing how well their rebuild went. But they had to win the lottery for it (Minny the draft one, and Boston the crazy GM/owner one, add LeBron lottery for Minny to that). I would really like to see what Hinkie would have done with the team this draft and offseason.
It was unfortunate all his picks were centers, but wasn't Noel projected as the best prospect in that supposedly weak draft (and it was also the first center)? Looking at the 2014 draft with hindsight I'd say Embiid was the right gamble as well, if they thought he can recover from the injury. And he still might, but it's been a while... And Okafor was also supposed to be a slam dunk pick. And he didn't suck in his rookie year, far from it.
And I don't think they have a losing culture, their defense wasn't that bad, and that to me is a good indicator of team morale/status. They had most of their team fighting to stay in league after all

[Superbone]

I think they did have a losing culture until Colangelo took over.

[carey]

New column by Lowe on impending FA: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16621 ... ng-shelves

[carey]

Pistons trade Meeks to Orlando for 2nd rounder: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16622 ... de-pistons

[INFORMER]

Honestly, I would probably only have Middleton on my team. You couldn't pay me to have Pat Beverley on my team.

I'm curious what your take on Beverley is. IIRC you live in the Houston area? I only follow him from afar and am basing my decision on the fact that he plays tough defense and doesn't complain when he doesn't get the touches on the offensive end. I am tired of prima donnas who think defense is optional.

He did not defend well this past season. He's overmatched against most point guards. And he is a fake hustle guy.

[carey]

From the Lowe article.

One type of deal that could happen: teams getting off long-term contracts signed over the past two years. We've already seen that sort of deal with Tobias Harris, Robin Lopez and Thaddeus Young. In theory, teams shouldn't be eager to trade guys locked into affordable deals signed under the old cap regime, but someone will need to shed money in a roster pinch. Across the table, suitors should be willing to give up real stuff for guys on affordable long-term deals.

Phoenix seems ripe for a deal, though Chandler's contract is a bit of an albatross. The Pacers would probably like to dump Monta Ellis. Alec Burks will be expendable at some point soon for Utah. John Henson signed a four-year, $45 million extension last fall and barely played; if you're Boston, would you rather sign Howard to some monster one-year deal or flip a pick and a prospect for Henson?

Watch out for the so-called "Gilbert Arenas" restricted free agents with only one or two years spent in the league, especially Langston Galloway, Tyler Johnson and Jordan Clarkson. Rival teams can offer them only the midlevel exception (about $5.6 million) in the first year and a small raise in Year 2, but they can leap all the way up to the player's max salary in Years 3 and 4. (These are the trickster offers Houston used to pry away Lin and Asik four years ago.)

[carey]

Lowe hits us with a second column tonight. This one called "In search of the next DeMare Carroll." Our own Jon Leuer is mentioned. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/16623 ... ig-bargain

[pickle]

Honestly, I would probably only have Middleton on my team. You couldn't pay me to have Pat Beverley on my team.

I'm curious what your take on Beverley is. IIRC you live in the Houston area? I only follow him from afar and am basing my decision on the fact that he plays tough defense and doesn't complain when he doesn't get the touches on the offensive end. I am tired of prima donnas who think defense is optional.

He did not defend well this past season. He's overmatched against most point guards. And he is a fake hustle guy.

Gotcha. Take him off my list then. I also like Crowder and Bradley, again, from the outside looking in. They seem to fit that hustle/defense/chemistry profile. Ainge was very smart to sign those two to highly reasonable contracts.

[carey]

This probably isn't much more than a conversation piece because I don't know the formulas behind the figures listed. Anyway, someone put together a list of FAs, looked at past performance, their age, and predicted future performance then attached a dollar amount to it.

[O_Gardino]

Meanwhile, Lowe is calling Chandler's contract an albatross. smh

[Cap]

Telly is worth about the same salary as Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol? (No, auto-correct, I don't mean Pau Gasoline.)

[ShelC]

The contracts are going to be insane. I'm nauseous already. I think Leuer's a keeper, loved what I saw from him last year but if he's not in our plans, let him walk.

Regarding Beverly, I think he's a perfect backup PG. He was overrated from the playoffs a few years back and Houston thought they found a starting PG.

[carey]

Woj & The Vertical are having a free agency show tonight starting at 11:30PM EST on Yahoo. I watched the re-play of the draft show and it was interesting. I think it's cool that they gave Givony a job even though he has a lisp. He was overdue for something because he's all over the international scene and knows his stuff more than Ford. I like Mannix o.k. and Bobby Marks has some pretty good insights being a former front office guy for the Nets.

http://sports.yahoo.com/woj/

[carey]

Also, Boozer is planning a comeback after sitting out last season.

*Boozer looks around, sees Bumpy Johnson could get $10M/yr, sees Bazemore might get near $20M/yr, sees Noah getting a reported $18M/yr from NY.* "Damn, even I can pocket $5M/yr right now."

[Superbone]

I know who he's not going to. The Cleveland Cavaliers.

[O_Gardino]

Not a bad prediction.

[ShelC]

Stephen Jackson too apparently. Warriors were actually talking about him as an assistant.