NBA 2017 - 18: 76ers Make the Playoffs? Embiid They Will

[Rhom]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

As far as KP goes, I wouldn’t trade him for Tatum, but I also don’t think you can build a team around him. He has to be your third best player if you want to build a championship quality team.

This really seems like a fair assessment of him in today's NBA to me.  In a league where you now need a Curry/Thompson/Durant or LeBron/Kyrie/Love type line up; I think if Porzingus is your third guy, then you are in good shape.  If he's your first guy, you aren't getting better than a 3 seed in the East.  (Which sounds pretty good... but we all know is hopeless to advance beyond that.)

[Jaime L]

It's super early but how about Giannis throwing his hat in the MVP ring? Dude is putting up a 38/10/5/3 through 3 games (all against playoff teams) on 67% shooting. And the guy has no discernible 3 point shooting ability so he's doing it all the hard way. Seems like he's reached a new level of young Lebronesque unstoppability attacking the rim. 

Bucks are becoming must watch TV for me just to see what he does. Lakers too, but not to watch greatness, more because I'm fascinating with Lonzo and all their weird pieces. 

[Relic]

3 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

It's super early but how about Giannis throwing his hat in the MVP ring? Dude is putting up a 38/10/5/3 through 3 games (all against playoff teams) on 67% shooting. And the guy has no discernible 3 point shooting ability so he's doing it all the hard way. Seems like he's reached a new level of young Lebronesque unstoppability attacking the rim. 

Bucks are becoming must watch TV for me just to see what he does. Lakers too, but not to watch greatness, more because I'm fascinating with Lonzo and all their weird pieces. 

Yeah a bunch of us had the Greek as a top 5 mvp candidate is preseason predictions. He's athletic ability is incredible. Him going coast to coast might be the most compelling play in the NBA right now. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Yeah, that's exactly how I see it too @Rhom, though I'm still open to him potentially being a number two. However, I don't think he can ever be a team's best player.

On Giannis, I think he's craziest stat is that he wasn't even a lottery pick in one of the worst drafts ever. And I'm not talking about just the NBA. 

[Relic]

Ok, so this is ridiculous. That is one of the best outlet passes Ive ever seen.

 

 

 

Edit - And wow, what a crazy game. Melo might have to come off the bench tho... Gibson was killing him in the first quarter. 

[Relic]

On 10/22/2017 at 0:15 PM, Relic said:

I think JR should probably be starting on this team. Wade definitely needs to come off the bench. 

Well, that was fast..

Dwyane Wade to be regular backup for first time in career and JR will be starting. I should have Lue's job.  

[Jaime L]

42 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

On Giannis, I think he's craziest stat is that he wasn't even a lottery pick in one of the worst drafts ever. And I'm not talking about just the NBA. 

And the 2nd best guy from that draft, Gobert, went 27th. Give the NBA a re-do and I think it goes Giannis, Gobert, McCollum, Porter, Adams which is actually a pretty solid top of the draft. I made fun of the 2013 draft more than anyone but now 4 years later, the 5 best players from this draft stacks up pretty favorably to 2014. And 2012 only edges it out by including 2nd rounder Draymond. 

[briantw]

4 hours ago, Relic said:

Let's play the trading game. Who could the Knicks deal with? Zingis and the loser they draft in July for Anthony Davis? To the Cavs for Love and the BK pick? Nuggets for a few dudes and a pick? 

If I'm the Cavs, no way I trade both Love and the Brooklyn pick for KP.  The Brooklyn pick could very well end up giving the Cavs a better prospect than KP in eight months.  I also don't think they're going to trade Love now anyway.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Relic said:

Ok, so this is ridiculous. That is one of the best outlet passes Ive ever seen.

 

 

 

Edit - And wow, what a crazy game. Melo might have to come off the bench tho... Gibson was killing him in the first quarter. 

Yeah, it was one of the better regular season games I've ever seen. And Wiggins absolutely dominated the final few minutes. I still have no idea why Thibs is taking him out in the middle of the third through the middle of the fourth. 

Also, no team should want anything to do with the Thunder come the playoffs. They're monsters. And @sperry, I think you might be right about Adams averaging a double-double this year, cause man he's going to get a lot of easy put backs on the offensive glass.

1 hour ago, Jaime L said:

And the 2nd best guy from that draft, Gobert, went 27th. Give the NBA a re-do and I think it goes Giannis, Gobert, McCollum, Porter, Adams which is actually a pretty solid top of the draft. I made fun of the 2013 draft more than anyone but now 4 years later, the 5 best players from this draft stacks up pretty favorably to 2014. And 2012 only edges it out by including 2nd rounder Draymond. 

Eh, Idk about that. Even with the new order its still not as good. Embiid could be the best player in the NBA if he can stay healthy. Wiggins could be a top 5 player if he can be more consistent and play some freaking defense. Parker could be an All-Star caliber player if he can stay healthy. Idk what Gordon can be, but he is talented. Exum is a bust, and that's sad because I thought he was going to be great.

And the 2014 redraft would be really strong. I'm guessing the order would be Jokic, Wiggins, Embiid, Parker and LaVine, with Embiid going first over all if he wasn't hurt. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

52 minutes ago, briantw said:

If I'm the Cavs, no way I trade both Love and the Brooklyn pick for KP.  The Brooklyn pick could very well end up giving the Cavs a better prospect than KP in eight months.  I also don't think they're going to trade Love now anyway.

They will if LeBron leaves. They'd have to do a total tear down and get as many picks as possible and accept that they'd need to be really bad for a few years. 

[Rhom]

53 minutes ago, briantw said:

If I'm the Cavs, no way I trade both Love and the Brooklyn pick for KP.  The Brooklyn pick could very well end up giving the Cavs a better prospect than KP in eight months.  I also don't think they're going to trade Love now anyway.

Eh... you’d have to believe Michael Porter or Marvin Bagley are better than KP, and at this point preseason, I’m not ready to say that.

[briantw]

4 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

They will if LeBron leaves. They'd have to do a total tear down and get as many picks as possible and accept that they'd need to be really bad for a few years. 

If LeBron leaves, I think they'd really want that Brooklyn pick for themselves. 

[Jaime L]

4 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Eh, Idk about that. Even with the new order its still not as good. Embiid could be the best player in the NBA if he can stay healthy. Wiggins could be a top 5 player if he can be more consistent and play some freaking defense. Parker could be an All-Star caliber player if he can stay healthy. Idk what Gordon can be, but he is talented. Exum is a bust, and that's sad because I thought he was going to be great.

And the 2014 redraft would be really strong. I'm guessing the order would be Jokic, Wiggins, Embiid, Parker and LaVine, with Embiid going first over all if he wasn't hurt. 

The only guy you named that's provided any actual value to his team is Jokic. Maybe this is the year Embiid plays more than 30 games. Maybe this is the year Wiggins puts up a positive VORP for the first time in his career. I'm sure Parker will return to the NBA some day. Zach LaVine likely will be the best Bulls player when he gets back which makes him probably (but not assuredly) better than the best G Leaguer. 

Honestly Tywin it's not particularly close at the moment. The best argument for the 2014 guys is that a lot of the 2013 class were late bloomers so maybe the 2014 guys will be as well. But at the moment, I have no idea who from that class will be a sustainably good NBA player. Just about everyone you named is coasting off name and flashes of raw talent...instead of y'know what actually wins games. 

[Rhom]

Sounds like Bledsoe will be on the move. I love the excuse that he was at a hair salon.   

Word is that Milwaukee is interested.  I’d love to see him play with Giannis.

[Rhom]

Markelle Fultz had fluid drained from his shoulder

Agent tells ESPN that he can barely raise his arm to shoot.  Hope the kid can recover, but with Ben Simmons putting up point forward numbers like he has been, I don't know that the Sixers need a point guard.   

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

23 hours ago, briantw said:

If LeBron leaves, I think they'd really want that Brooklyn pick for themselves. 

Oh I agree. I meant that they'd probably want to unload Love for the best package of picks and young players that they could get. Not the pick. That thing is too valuable to part with unless James signs a deal before the trade deadline.

And on that note, if James did resign and you were going to trade the pick to win now, who do you go after?

[briantw]

2 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

And on that note, if James did resign and you were going to trade the pick to win now, who do you go after?

No idea at this point.  Gotta wait and see who becomes available.  

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

23 hours ago, Jaime L said:

The only guy you named that's provided any actual value to his team is Jokic. Maybe this is the year Embiid plays more than 30 games. Maybe this is the year Wiggins puts up a positive VORP for the first time in his career. I'm sure Parker will return to the NBA some day. Zach LaVine likely will be the best Bulls player when he gets back which makes him probably (but not assuredly) better than the best G Leaguer. 

Honestly Tywin it's not particularly close at the moment. The best argument for the 2014 guys is that a lot of the 2013 class were late bloomers so maybe the 2014 guys will be as well. But at the moment, I have no idea who from that class will be a sustainably good NBA player. Just about everyone you named is coasting off name and flashes of raw talent...instead of y'know what actually wins games. 

I guess we're just looking at it differently. It seems like you're more interested what they are today and I'm looking more at what I think I can get from them in their primes. The 2013 list feels like it has one superstar, one All-Star and three guys that will range from high end role players to fringe All-Stars. That's nothing to scoff at, but I feel like the 2014 has the potential to produce three superstars and two All-Stars.

Also, I think grading them on what they've contributed to winning right now is a little misleading. I believe all your players except Giannis went to teams that already had an established star on the roster while none my players did. That does affect their ability to win this early in their careers. 

[Relic]

Tatum lighting up the Knicks up tonight. Porzingis is 1 for 12 with 6 points in the 4th quarter. Kind of funny, all considered. 

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

See, i can see where James might be losing ground as the best player in the NBA. But, when you can plug him in at PG and look probably better than you have all year it tells you just how versatile ans what a special talent he is. The man can play 1-5 on both ends of the court and hold his own at any of those positions. This talk about him being overrated has really made me watch him and see if there could be any merit to it. And, nope, i cannot find none. And i knew i wouldnt.

I think the only place you can find a glaring hole in his game is crunch time. We've had this talk here before. But, i do think he becomes a different player in those situations and it iant for the bettter. There are exceptions though, namely the 2016 Finals.