2014 NBA draft/off-season thread

[old_tony]

Is it me, or can anyone else see Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel tripping all over each other in the Sixers frontcourt?

And both suffering an injury in the incident.

 

[Boom_70]

What's the over/under on the date when Noel and Embiid are on the court playing together?

I'd be stunned if it's during the 2014-15 season.

Reminds me of when The Bulls took Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler. Never worked out for The Bulls but at least Chandler proved he could be an NBA player.
Curry showed glimpses but could not push himself away from the training
table.

I like the gamble on part of 76ers. It's not like any other draft pick would
have put them over the top.

 

[old_tony]

Steak, the ESPN and NFL Network guys agreed not to tip picks, so Jason La Canfora was the closest thing to Woj at NFL Draft. And at no point was he on top of picks the way Yahoo was -- live TV was a three-minute stagger behind the info Woj had on Twitter ... Ford had some picks ahead of the podium as well, but it was a good night for Woj.

Who really cares if you have a pick 90 seconds before Silver announces it?

Exactly. I'll save my falling all over someone when someone breaks actual news hours ahead of the competition. There really isn't a lot of effect on people's lives that someone tweeted draft picks 90 seconds before Adam Silver announced them.

There are no reporters who missed deadline last night because they weren't following Woj on Twitter.

 

[SEC Guy]

Is it me, or can anyone else see Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel tripping all over each other in the Sixers frontcourt?

They won't be able to play together, but I don't think it matters much. Their plan is to suck in the short term anyways, and one of the two will be traded before they're ready to compete again.

This could actually work out quite brilliantly for the Sixers. Taking Noel last year guaranteed another top lottery pick this year, while simultaneously stockpiling the big man projected pre-injury as the 2013 No. 1 overall pick. And taking Embiid virtually guarantees another top lottery pick next year, while simultaneously stockpiling the big man projected pre-injury as 2014's top overall pick.

By this time next year they could find themselves possessing arguably the No. 1 overall talent in three straight drafts (PLUS this year's Rookie of the Year Carter-Williams), and just think of the trade offers they'll get from big man-starved teams if Embiid and Noel get healthy and blossom around the same time.

Saric could pay off dividends as well. I would have been curious to see how high he would have gone in the draft if he was available to play next season.

I'm curious what Philly's plans are. For a team that people think is going to tank next season, they tried awfully hard to trade up and take the best player in the draft.

The ESPN announcers were just pouring so much praise on Embiid last night. I was beginning to believe it until someone said, "He's the highest rated center since Greg Oden."

But, a couple years from now, there could be a lineup of MCW, Noel, Embiid, Saric and whoever they take in the top 5 of next year's draft.

 

[SEC Guy]

What's the over/under on the date when Noel and Embiid are on the court playing together?

I'd be stunned if it's during the 2014-15 season.

Reminds me of when The Bulls took Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler. Never worked out for The Bulls but at least Chandler proved he could be an NBA player.
Curry showed glimpses but could not push himself away from the training
table.

I like the gamble on part of 76ers. It's not like any other draft pick would
have put them over the top.

Man, that 2001 draft was a horrid one. It would have been interesting to see if it would have been different for all those HS guys if the current rules were in place and they had to go to school for a year.

 

[Stoney]

Is it me, or can anyone else see Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel tripping all over each other in the Sixers frontcourt?

They won't be able to play together, but I don't think it matters much. Their plan is to suck in the short term anyways, and one of the two will be traded before they're ready to compete again.

This could actually work out quite brilliantly for the Sixers. Taking Noel last year guaranteed another top lottery pick this year, while simultaneously stockpiling the big man projected pre-injury as the 2013 No. 1 overall pick. And taking Embiid virtually guarantees another top lottery pick next year, while simultaneously stockpiling the big man projected pre-injury as 2014's top overall pick.

By this time next year they could find themselves possessing arguably the No. 1 overall talent in three straight drafts (PLUS this year's Rookie of the Year Carter-Williams), and just think of the trade offers they'll get from big man-starved teams if Embiid and Noel get healthy and blossom around the same time.

Saric could pay off dividends as well. I would have been curious to see how high he would have gone in the draft if he was available to play next season.

I'm curious what Philly's plans are. For a team that people think is going to tank next season, they tried awfully hard to trade up and take the best player in the draft.

The ESPN announcers were just pouring so much praise on Embiid last night. I was beginning to believe it until someone said, "He's the highest rated center since Greg Oden."

But, a couple years from now, there could be a lineup of MCW, Noel, Embiid, Saric and whoever they take in the top 5 of next year's draft.

Good point about Saric. I'd forgotten about him in the prior post.

Interesting how consistent Saric is with the Embiid and Noel moves. All three are guys who got drafted lower than originally projected because of complicating circumstances (injury to Noel/Embiid, the Euro contract for Saric) making them unable to play for a season or two after being drafted. Means the Sixers get to keep sucking and amassing NEW top tier lottery picks, while still stockpiling all these OTHER top tier lottery picks who haven't yet contributed on the court.

They may end up looking quite brilliant in a couple years if all these guys come together and get healthy at the same time. Even if they don't fit together position-wise on the court, it'll still be one stupendous collection of desirable young trade assets.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

In the meantime, try imagining being a cold caller in the Sixers' season ticket sales department. Call back in 2018 is about the nicest answer they'll get.

 

[Bob Cook]

Last year's tank-a-thon had the slogan, "Together We Build."

Maybe this year is "Together We Build II."

 

[amraeder]

Last year's tank-a-thon had the slogan, "Together We Build."

Maybe this year is "Together We Build II."

"Time heals all wounds"?

 

[SEC Guy]

Philly has been pretty open about this being a 3-5 year re-build.

That's remarkably patient in today's NBA.

It may be the smart move.

 

[da man]

Consider me not sold on Nerlens Noel. It's hard for me to believe the kid is going to be a superstar when he has to be taught how to shoot the ball "from ground zero" (Brett Brown's words) after getting to the NBA level. He's one of those I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it guys.

 

[Boom_70]

Consider me not sold on Nerlens Noel. It's hard for me to believe the kid is going to be a superstar when he has to be taught how to shoot the ball "from ground zero" (Brett Brown's words) after getting to the NBA level. He's one of those I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it guys.

Noel illustrates perfectly the problem with players coming out early. Most are at least 3-4 years away from making any kind of
contribution. Especially true for the big men.

Essentially half the teams in The NBA are like D League teams.