2013-14 NBA Thread part 1

I would say Anthony Davis has had a better season than Noah, and probably Griffin as well.

 

After the Bucks win last night, it's down to a one game lead. Get excited!

Also, the Sixers possibly best chance to win may be their next game as they get the Pistons in the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday.

 

The most amazing thing about the NBA season is that the Sixers have lost 26 straight and the Bucks STILL have the worst record in the league. I guess Aesop was right. Slow and steadily incompetent wins the race.

 

During this streak, the 76ers have led in the 4th quarter for a total, a total, of 20 seconds. It's been 58 days since they won.

 

If the Sixers don't beat the Pistons, I can't see them winning at all the rest of the way. Let's not forget that the Sixers started out 3-0, too. But they suddenly decided around January that a complete tank job was the organizational philosophy. It has been expertly implemented.

But none of this matters because the Lakers, of course, are going to win the lottery. Everyone else is just fighting for the second pick.

 

and here come the conspiracies

 

Is Wiggins still the target of the tanking? I have read some opinions that others (especially his teammate Embiid) are more franchise player types.

 

They didn't decide in January they were tanking. They decided that last July, when they traded good-but-not-great-but-still-very-young Jrue Holiday to New Orleans instead of signing him to a big, long-term deal. I mean, the team motto is "Together We Build." As far as the recent trades, there was no point in holding onto the likes of Evan Turner and Spencer Hawes if there was no intention of re-signing them. Philly may as well just clear the decks. In a perverse way, for fans (such as my son), this is better than if the Sixers were straining for mediocrity.

After all, the Sixers already have Nerlens Noel (and, um, Arsalan Kazemi) waiting in the wings. Then, it has at least one pick in the top four of an extremely stacked draft for being so lousy. And then it has New Orleans' pick from the Holiday trade, which right now as at No. 10. And just for sheer bulk, the Sixers have at least four or five second-round picks. Plus, they'll have a ton of money to sign free agents -- like LeBron! OK, probably not.

With all that, they'll probably be bad next year -- not as bad, but bad as a young team is bad. Which means another high pick.

It's a tribute to the players and coaches that they are trying to win even when their leadership is killing time til next year.

 

I think Embiid's back injury might've changed things there.

BTW, the new narrative I'm hearing is how this mega-hyped draft class was overrated and ain't so great after all, as most of them failed to play up to the hype. The most skilled guy in the group is clearly Jabari Parker, but he doesn't play much defense and doesn't have the athletic potential as the other guys.

My guess is Wiggins will still end up going first, but that now looks like a far more questionable move than a few months ago.

 

Zach Lavine and his 9ppg is leaving UCLA for the draft. Very athletic but very raw.

 

I was really only joking about the Lakers winning the lottery, but if it does happen there will be no muzzling the conspiracy theorists.

It's too bad the Knicks don't have their pick this year. Imagine the dream scenario of the Lakers, Knicks and Celtics landing picks 1-3.

 

Wolves 143 Lakers 108.