Everyone is focused on the NBA Finals, and with good reason. But there are 28 other teams in the NBA, each with a plan to get where the Cavs and Warriors are right now. And if I told you the Sixers had the best plan of them all, would you believe me? Vinny DelNegro and Joel Meyers of Sirius XM NBA Radio were skeptical when the subject came up in the radio interview you can listen to below, especially when I
Teams in the NBA playoff races aren’t the only ones watching scoreboards this time of year. Take the Philadelphia 76ers, for example. The Sixers lost their first 17 games, were mathematically eliminated from the playoff race nearly a month ago and almost certainly will lose 60-plus games for the second straight season. But GM Sam Hinkie and the rest of the Sixers’ front office are tracking the results of other games almost as closely as their own. That’s because Philadelphia could have
BROOKLYN – The slogan for the Milwaukee Bucks is “Own the Future,” which is fitting because they certainly haven’t owned the present. Milwaukee is now 4-12 overall since trading for Michael Carter-Williams, including five straight losses. Keep in mind, the Bucks were at the peak of their season at 31-23 overall and coming off a four-game winning streak one day after the trade deadline. On Friday night, the Bucks fell below the .500 mark for the first time since Dec. 27 (15-16)
James Harden rightfully led Monday night’s headlines with his second triple-double of the season and a virtual ankle-breaking move on Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio. After all, there’s a reason Harden appears to be the league’s probable MVP. But rookie swingman Andrew Wiggins served notice that he could very well challenge Harden and the NBA’s other elite players in the years ahead. On the night of his 20th birthday, Wiggins notched the third 30-point game of his young career, scoring 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting
It is easy to declare the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Milwaukee Bucks the winners of trade deadline day, because both will be in the playoffs and both made exceptional moves. But the team I have declared the bigest winner of all is the Philadelphia 76ers, because they were able to get their hands on the Top 5 protected pick that the Los Angels Lakers owed to the Phoenix Suns. It is never easy trading away a player as good as
Why is the trade deadline different from all other nights of the year? It’s not. The West just got tougher. In the East, where there’s no life-or-death importance attached to getting better, the top teams sat this one out while the bad teams—your Knicks and 76ers—dumped, shut down or otherwise disposed of their best players in order to tank more definitively. [Read more…]
Once a year, we take a break from evaluating rookies and examine how second-year players are doing. This seemed like a good week to do that. Because our Rookie Rankings run every Friday, this week’s cycle saw just two actual games played due to the extended All-Star break. And no rookies from our most recent rankings played in those games. Yes, we knew the trading deadline also was this week. But we didn’t think that would impact our rankings of sophomores. I mean,
I have written this before but I haven’t written it in quite some time. When all is said and done on the Sam Hinkie Era, the Philadelphia 76ers will be counting up their multiple titles. Yes, multiple. But no, I do not expect JaVale McGee to be a part of any of that. Emmanuel Mudiay? Yes. Jahlil Okafor or Joel Embiid? Yep. The mad scientist in Philadelphia may just be a mad genius. Yes, it was fashionable to make fun of the young