Regardless of whether the Sixers intentionally tank or not, I’m encouraged by the following factors:
1) While a lot of the lottery bound teams want to improve their odds of getting the top pick, those same teams have a lot of players who are either on the fringe of the league or are try to establish themselves as known quantities in the league. That collective group of mostly young players are playing for their NBA future right now so we’re gonna see efforts like the Nets and the Wizards gave last night. Young, hungry and playing for their next contract is a huge motivator.
2) The Sixers have three highly paid players who are essentially playing for pride right now. Also, because of the team’s contractual obligation to them, they will be treated with care as the FO has to keep the bigger picture in mind. Sure, there could be an off-season trade that ultimately could change that, but as of right now, that’s not an immediate consideration. There’s no other potential lottery teams that have as many max salary players that the Sixers do
3) Similar to #1, a lot of coaches are in this same boat. When you see multiple rows of assistant and development coaches on every NBA bench, one might think that those jobs are plentiful. However, the line of potential candidates for those roles are even greater so many of them are performing to either keep their job or make themselves enticing for a new team. One way to do that, especially as a development coach, is to help your guys grow and show that you can develop NBA talent from 2nd round picks/UDFAs.
4) We’re past the NBA trade deadline so if you’re on a roster as deep rotation/end of bench player, you’re gonna bust your ass to make your current team love you. Sure, you had that mission pre-trade deadline, but now you have a little more stability so it would make sense that a player in this situation would feel more relaxed which should help performance levels.
I'm not sure if this is a good thing but I sometimes checkup on how TJ is doing with the Pacers. That cheers me up.
Poor us. Poor AU.
Regardless of whether the Sixers intentionally tank or not, I’m encouraged by the following factors:
1) While a lot of the lottery bound teams want to improve their odds of getting the top pick, those same teams have a lot of players who are either on the fringe of the league or are try to establish themselves as known quantities in the league. That collective group of mostly young players are playing for their NBA future right now so we’re gonna see efforts like the Nets and the Wizards gave last night. Young, hungry and playing for their next contract is a huge motivator.
2) The Sixers have three highly paid players who are essentially playing for pride right now. Also, because of the team’s contractual obligation to them, they will be treated with care as the FO has to keep the bigger picture in mind. Sure, there could be an off-season trade that ultimately could change that, but as of right now, that’s not an immediate consideration. There’s no other potential lottery teams that have as many max salary players that the Sixers do
3) Similar to #1, a lot of coaches are in this same boat. When you see multiple rows of assistant and development coaches on every NBA bench, one might think that those jobs are plentiful. However, the line of potential candidates for those roles are even greater so many of them are performing to either keep their job or make themselves enticing for a new team. One way to do that, especially as a development coach, is to help your guys grow and show that you can develop NBA talent from 2nd round picks/UDFAs.
4) We’re past the NBA trade deadline so if you’re on a roster as deep rotation/end of bench player, you’re gonna bust your ass to make your current team love you. Sure, you had that mission pre-trade deadline, but now you have a little more stability so it would make sense that a player in this situation would feel more relaxed which should help performance levels.