****The Official 2017-18 NBA Thread****

They straight up punked us. Had a feeling the second half will be a repeat of game 1. If we try to play their game its not gonna well for us.

76ers may win the east, that team is fucking stacked. Spo made some mistakes with his lineups in the second half that killed the game.

"Serpico Jones wrote:

76ers may win the east, that team is ****ing stacked. Spo made some mistakes with his lineups in the second half that killed the game.

The Belinelli and Ilyasova signings have paid off huge for the 6ers. They lucked out with those guys getting cut and then finding near perfect roles in Philly. McConnell should get more burn, imo. Redick needs to be scaled back with his shooting at times.

Wow, yay, golf clap Sixers! Lose for 2 decades and get handed high draft picks. How impressive......

Like the NFL the NBA needs to stop rewarding loser franchises for being garbage.

"Mcduffie81 wrote:

Wow, yay, golf clap Sixers! Lose for 2 decades and get handed high draft picks. How impressive......

Like the NFL the NBA needs to stop rewarding loser franchises for being garbage.

Lol the suns are following that same road to success.. they about to draft someone for booker and may tank one more year for all we know..

"Mcduffie81 wrote:

Wow, yay, golf clap Sixers! Lose for 2 decades and get handed high draft picks. How impressive......

Like the NFL the NBA needs to stop rewarding loser franchises for being garbage.

Unless you miraculously land 3 superstars through Free Agency at once (Miami 2010), there really is no other way to get a Championship team. Other teams have have done it, (Cavs had so many #1 picks after LeBron left, they got Kyrie and Wiggins, as a matter of fact it’s their fault they didn’t draft Embiid and drafted Wiggins instead. Don’t blame the Sixers there.) Teams like the Suns, Mavs are currently doing it and Knicks are close to done themselves. Sixers lucked out in the best draft recently to have #1 and that was Simmons and the smart signings of Belinelli and Ilyasova which has nothing to do with tanking to be fair, they both have vital roles that Philly needs.

I don’t see how what Miami did in 2010 is better than tanking either. While as a fan of both teams it was almost a cheap way of becoming great. As a fan of both sides, I didn’t have to suffer through mediocrity with the Heat because LeBron decided to bring his talent to South Beach, which I’m thankful for, as a Sixer fan, I had to go through years of embarrassment to get here. Sixers paid their dues. There should be no high horse from the Heat.

Whiteside took some veiled shots at Spo after the game.

"Mcduffie81 wrote:

Wow, yay, golf clap Sixers! Lose for 2 decades and get handed high draft picks. How impressive......

Like the NFL the NBA needs to stop rewarding loser franchises for being garbage.

They tried but frankly the sooner people simply understand sports is cyclical and that rebuilding is necessary as a phase of building a winner then the sooner you can stop being upset. Look, Im a Knick fan, I have no love for Philly. But as a Knick fan I can tell you I’d rather have just done the rebuild at the end of the Ewing era as opposed to trying to continuously make splashy stupid moves for the last 15 or so years. We could have rebuilt already 3x over with sustained success instead of a good year or two. Philly did it right. Bottom out, suck for Luck and get it over with. Knicks need to follow suit

Perfect night in New Orleans:

Irma Thomas sings National Anthem
Mannie Fresh does halftime show and brings out Juvenile
We crush Portland to take a 3-0 lead

Portland has a lot of work to do in the offseason. Next year is their last chance to show Liliard theyre serious about contending before he starts leaking rumors about trades

I think the Heat need to start Winslow and move Richardson to the two spot and have that lineup play a ton of minutes. We can’t out-score them so we’ll have to defend the hell out of them.

"shamegame13 wrote:

Unless you miraculously land 3 superstars through Free Agency at once (Miami 2010), there really is no other way to get a Championship team. Other teams have have done it, (Cavs had so many #1 picks after LeBron left, they got Kyrie and Wiggins, as a matter of fact it’s their fault they didn’t draft Embiid and drafted Wiggins instead. Don’t blame the Sixers there.) Teams like the Suns, Mavs are currently doing it and Knicks are close to done themselves. Sixers lucked out in the best draft recently to have #1 and that was Simmons and the smart signings of Belinelli and Ilyasova which has nothing to do with tanking to be fair, they both have vital roles that Philly needs.

I don’t see how what Miami did in 2010 is better than tanking either. While as a fan of both teams it was almost a cheap way of becoming great. As a fan of both sides, I didn’t have to suffer through mediocrity with the Heat because LeBron decided to bring his talent to South Beach, which I’m thankful for, as a Sixer fan, I had to go through years of embarrassment to get here. Sixers paid their dues. There should be no high horse from the Heat.

Come on, you cant compare an organization sucking on purpose for many years to game the system to 2 men choosing their place of employment. That plan for 2010 FA was in place for a long while and was executed. How much work does it actually take to just be as bad as possible?

Either way, gg. Ill go back to liking simmons after this series.

"BevoPhin wrote:

Come on, you cant compare an organization sucking on purpose for many years to game the system to 2 men choosing their place of employment. That plan for 2010 FA was in place for a long while and was executed. How much work does it actually take to just be as bad as possible?

Either way, gg. Ill go back to liking simmons after this series.

Again, there should be no high horse. The Miami Front Office had to do no work to pull in these great players other than put a contract in front of em. It was pure luck they chose Miami out of the 2 or three teams that were being discussed. The Front Office didn’t have to shoot in the draft. Philly ended up with a lot of duds before getting Simmons and Embiid. If Jahlil or Nerlens or MCW or Evan Turner were Superstars, the tanking wouldn’t have been necessary. I rather have a bad team tanking rather than filling out the team with mid level guys on bad contracts “trying to win” alas Charlotte Hornets this year and ending up in crappy draft position.

"BevoPhin wrote:

Come on, you cant compare an organization sucking on purpose for many years to game the system to 2 men choosing their place of employment. That plan for 2010 FA was in place for a long while and was executed. How much work does it actually take to just be as bad as possible?

Either way, gg. Ill go back to liking simmons after this series.

Is it sucking on purpose or simply not being delusional aboht where they were as a franchise? Go back 4-5 years and they had some contracts they were tied in to and not a tremendous amount of talent. So they had a choice...either try and wiggle their way out of it and possibly complicate it with more contracts or simply go the draft route. In a game thats decided by talent alone more then any of the 4 major sports, they made a practical decision imo.

Cavs just choked away game 3. LeBron had some Hassan Whiteside-type body language in the fourth.

"Serpico Jones wrote:

Cavs just choked away game 3. LeBron had some Hassan Whiteside-type body language in the fourth.

He gone.

Im tired of Whiteside dude. When Whiteside was about to check in, Spo put his hand on his shoulder and was telling him something and Hassan pretty much rolled his eyes. He’s a punk.

"Boik14 wrote:

Is it sucking on purpose or simply not being delusional aboht where they were as a franchise? Go back 4-5 years and they had some contracts they were tied in to and not a tremendous amount of talent. So they had a choice...either try and wiggle their way out of it and possibly complicate it with more contracts or simply go the draft route. In a game thats decided by talent alone more then any of the 4 major sports, they made a practical decision imo.

Yeah I realize they made the decision because they had absolutely no talent and no chance of competing, but it still is sucking on purpose. I’m not anti tanking, especially in the NFL (I hated sparano for winning those games and ruining our chances at luck) or even when the heat were 11-30..but going to the extent hinkie went year after year isn’t something I would want Miami doing. It’s not being on a high horse, I don’t care what other teams do. I’d just rather my team be an attractive location for star players to come to in FA and have enjoyable basketball seasons until then. If there’s a disaster season and we absolutely suck, I’m on board with it but I wouldn’t go into a season hoping we lose from the get go.

"Serpico Jones wrote:

Cavs just choked away game 3. LeBron had some Hassan Whiteside-type body language in the fourth.

Actually his body language was eerily similar to that in 2009-10 against the celtics when he didnt show up all series long, and then the Delonte West rumors came up and that same offseason he moved on to a different team.

"BevoPhin wrote:

Yeah I realize they made the decision because they had absolutely no talent and no chance of competing, but it still is sucking on purpose. I’m not anti tanking, especially in the NFL (I hated sparano for winning those games and ruining our chances at luck) or even when the heat were 11-30..but going to the extent hinkie went year after year isn’t something I would want Miami doing. It’s not being on a high horse, I don’t care what other teams do. I’d just rather my team be an attractive location for star players to come to in FA and have enjoyable basketball seasons until then. If there’s a disaster season and we absolutely suck, I’m on board with it but I wouldn’t go into a season hoping we lose from the get go.

Well don’t you become that by sucking for a few years creating cap space and loading up with some young talent? Places like Miami, Ny, LA, Boston etc will always be attractive destinations because of tradition or location but other places need to make themselves attractive and that’s just another way.

"Boik14 wrote:

Well don’t you become that by sucking for a few years creating cap space and loading up with some young talent? Places like Miami, Ny, LA, Boston etc will always be attractive destinations because of tradition or location but other places need to make themselves attractive and that’s just another way.

I noticed you didnt bold "enjoyable basketball until then" haha

OKC is one of those smaller markets who sucked for a few years straight and nailed their picks in 3 MVPs 3 years straight, yet still no ring. Philly looks to have a bright future with Simmons and Embiid, but I'm gonna wait until they actually do something to justify all those years of suckage.

I’m not on any high horse so shut it.

I’m not mad. I just find it a pathetic way to try to compete in any sport to lose on purpose, especially for years upon years. Getting handed very high draft picks for losing is BS.

I love the way the Heat put together the very best teams possible year after year. I’ll live through the bad contracts and mistakes made (Whiteside!) if it means entertaining basketball.

“Miraculously landing 3 Superstars in free agency” isn’t the only way to put together a championship team.

"Serpico Jones wrote:

I think the Heat need to start Winslow and move Richardson to the two spot and have that lineup play a ton of minutes. We can’t out-score them so we’ll have to defend the hell out of them.

Heat should be ready to try anything, because it's hard to see how we win another game with Embiid back. He changes everything for them on defense. I don't think we have the offensive talent to score enough; Covington and Simmons can be super aggressive with him behind them guarding the rim. Would love to be wrong of course, but for us to win, it will take either a red-hot shooting night on our end or a stone-cold night from them.

"Mcduffie81 wrote:

I’m not on any high horse so shut it.

I’m not mad. I just find it a pathetic way to try to compete in any sport to lose on purpose, especially for years upon years. Getting handed very high draft picks for losing is BS.

I love the way the Heat put together the very best teams possible year after year. I’ll live through the bad contracts and mistakes made (Whiteside!) if it means entertaining basketball.

“Miraculously landing 3 Superstars in free agency” isn’t the only way to put together a championship team.

No, it’s a lot of Sour Grapes here.

Many teams “tank”. Point, Blank, Period.

Philly came away with a good bunch and that upsets you because you see what’s coming. I get it.

There was a time when everyone hated the Heat because the league felt they “bought” their titles. How your feeling now, well, when LeBron and Bosh signed in Miami, this is exactly how everyone else felt, except amplified x100, which you probably told other fans is Sour Grapes at that time because it was all good for Miami fans. So now hypocritical.

News flash. Dragic will NEVER EVER, lead a team to a NBA championship. I hope you understand. Where Miami is now, Philly was here in 2012 before the “tank” with Iguodala leading the charge but Philly soon realized that Iguodala will NEVER EVER lead a team to an NBA championship. I would not be mad if Heat decided to start bottoming out because I don’t see this roster ever winning a ECF or NBA championship. Miami may have to rip a page out of Phillys book or keep signing marginal guys with no superstars to stay hardly relevant (see: Hornets). Years on end of mediocrity in TODAYS NBA, this isn’t the 80s-90s.

Miami fans should be the last fans throwing stones considering the shiny, delicate, glass they live in themselves. The same stuff I’m hearing all this sudden about the Sixers, I heard with the Heat in 2010. It’s all the same, complaining that a team got good. Lol as any fan would say, I will just swim in the river of tears like 2010.

And while your upset we ended up with Embiid (as if he was #1 overall, he wasn’t, Cavs and Bucks foolishly passed for overhyped Wiggins and Jabari, leaving the Sixers to select Embiid), I’m still mad Sixers took bum *** Okafor over Porzingis.

It’s gonna be maddening around the NBA when LeBron decides to take his talent to Philly next year. I can already see the writing on the wall. I’ll buckle up.

A Dragic flop almost created an all out brawl...

Lovely

"Fin-O wrote:

A Dragic flop almost created an all out brawl...

Lovely

Loving every minute of it.