I think its so weird that everyone wants to proclaim the Philly situation a failure even though everything is going to plan. Obviously it sucks what's going on with Embiid but the purpose of the extended tanking is so that you can miss on some swings and still come away with a superstar.
Meanwhile, they've got two potential all stars on the roster, one waiting in Europe, and 1-2 top picks coming again this summer and more farther down the line. Why would you give up on this team with that many assetts?
They're probably saying it's a failure because, I think, intentional tanking for this long is unprecedented, and it just doesn't look like they will be competitive until at least 2019-2020. That's at least 7 years down the pooper. That, for some people, is failure in and of itself. Especiallly when you compare what we are doing and what many other teams have done (toronto, atlanta, memphis)...
It's one thing to disagree with that strategy (throwing away 5-7 years) but it's another to call that strategy a failure when its working the way its supposed to, so far.
The failure element comes when you consider that at the end of 3 straight seasons and offseasons of tanking, Philly will essentially have Noel, Okafor, Embiid, the rights to Saric and that's about it. While the first two look like they might be very good, none of them right now look like legitimate championship franchise players.
If you're going into the fourth year of a strategy and you still don't have the most important piece of the puzzle, that looks a lot like a failure.
Mike
Again, this is exactly where they're supposed to be in the rebuilding process that Phily has undertaken. They have more assetts than any other team in the league (even the Celtics) and will be adding more. Calling that a failure sounds really shortsighted to me.
I obviously agree with you and have taken hell for it. When I look at the moves they have made, I can't say that they have all been "failures" yet.
They turned Jrue Holiday into Noel and Saric. Noel has proven to be a good gamble... say what you want about that kid, but defensively he's special. Saric is still an unknown. That trade was a win.
They tanked and ended up with Okafor. This isn't a situation where they tanked and ended up with some undersized shooting guard who shoots 32% and 24% from three... Okafor is averaging 19 points, 8 rebounds, 1.7 blocks with 48% shooting and he's 19 years old... You have to be slow to say that's a "failure".
The Embiid situation is a big one. Would they be better off had they taken Aaron Gordon? Probably. Exum ... probably not. Smart? I guess. Vonleh? Probably not. People are rooting for his career to be over. I've seen players return from a bone graft. It's certainly not going as well as they hoped. They gambled on him knowing he was going to be out for a year... now he's out for another year. But we've seen guys like Big Z return from this. I'd say it's more likely we see him play at some point than not. Based on his behavior this summer, he likely could have played this year if they had no concerns about his long-term future... and based on reports of how he was playing this summer... he'd make an impact.
Moving MCW for the Lakers pick is controversial. They get the pick if it falls outside the top 3 this year... it's unprotected next year. MCW has some game... but you can't possibly call that move a "failure" until we see what it results in.
They are on track to have the best odds at landing Ben Simmons this year... can't call that a failure until you see what they get with the pick.
Reports continue that Saric has game... he'll inevitably come over.
And right now, they have basically no incentive to win. Are they going to threaten for a title? Heck no. They may have been forced to extend the tank another season based on Saric and Embiid, but to call this situation a "failure" at this point is simply calling it too soon. At some point they will flip the switch and try to be competitive. Probably next year.
If we're purely talking about assets... Philly is almost unrivaled. Forget debating about Embiid's trade value right now (I'd still gamble on him for the right price), Between having the rights to Noel, Saric, Okafor, their unprotected 1st, Lakers' 2016/17 1st, Miami's 1st, Oklahoma's 1st... and lots of young players with potential like Stauskas, Wroten, Grant, etc... It wouldn't be hard for a GM to make them competitive.
Topic: Lowe article on Wolves rebuild (Read 9991 times)